in Orange County, Virginia, November 24th,
1784; never cast a vote or held a civil office until he was
inaugurated as President, March 5th, 1849; died at the White House,
after a few days' illness, July 9th, 1850.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE.

The Thirty-first Congress, which met on the first Monday in the
December following the inauguration of President Taylor, contained
many able statesmen of national prominence. The organization of
the House was a difficult task, nine "free-soil" or anti-slavery
Whigs from the North and six "State-rights" or pro-slavery Whigs
from the South, refusing to vote for that accomplished gentleman,
Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, who was the Whig candidate for Speaker.
On the first ballot, Howell Cobb, of Georgia, had one hundred and
three votes, against ninety-six votes for Robert C. Winthrop, eight
votes for David Wilmot, six votes for Meredith P. Gentry, two votes
for Horace Mann, and a number of scattering votes. The tellers
announced that these was no choice, and the balloting was continued
day after day, amid great and increasing excitement. After the
thirty-ninth ballot, Mr. Winthrop withdrew from the contest,
expressing his belief that the peace and the safety of the Union
demanded that an organization of some sort should be effected
without delay.

The Southern Whigs who had opposed Mr. Winthrop were vehement and
passionate in their denunciation of the North. "The time has come,"
said Mr. Toombs, his black, uncombed hair standing out from his
massive head, as if charged with electricity, his eyes glowing like
coals of fire, and his sentences rattling forth like volleys of
musketry--"the time has come," said he, "when I shall not only
utter my opinions, but make them the basis of my political action
here. I do not, then, hesitate to avow before this House and the
country, and in the presence of the living God, that if, by your
legislation, you seek to drive us from the Territories of California
and New Mexico, and to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia,
I am for disunion; and if my physical courage be equal to the
maintenance of my convictions of right and duty, I will devote all
I am and all I have on earth to its consummation."

Such inflammatory remarks provoked replies, and after a heated
debate Mr. Duer, of New York, remarked that he "would never, under
any circumstances, vote to put a man in the Speaker's chair who
would, in any event, advocate or