everything but honor to maintain it. That glorious old flag of
ours, by any act of mine, shall never cease to wave over the integrity
of this Union as it is. But if they will not have it so, in this new,
renovated Government of which I have spoken, the 4th of July, with all
its glorious memories, will never be repealed. The old flag of 1776
will be in our hands, and shall float over this nation forever; and this
capital, that some gentlemen said would be reserved for the Southern
republic, shall still be the capital. It was laid out by Washington;
it was consecrated by him; and the old flag that he vindicated in the
Revolution shall still float from the Capitol.

I say, sir, I stand by the Union of these States. Washington and his
compatriots fought for that good old flag. It shall never be hauled
down, but shall be the glory of the Government to which I belong, as
long as my life shall continue. To maintain it, Washington and his
compatriots fought for liberty and the rights of man. And here I will
add that my own father, although but a humble soldier, fought in the
same great cause, and went through hardships and privations sevenfold
worse than death, in order to bequeath it to his children. It is my
inheritance. It was my protector in infancy, and the pride and glory
of my riper years; and, Mr. President, although it may be assailed by
traitors on every side, by the grace of God, under its shadow I will
die.

JOHN JORDON CRITTENDEN,

OF KENTUCKY. (BORN 1787, DIED 1863.)

ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE;

UNITED STATES SENATE, DECEMBER 18, 1860.

I am gratified, Mr. President, to see in the various propositions which
have been made, such a universal anxiety to save the country from
the dangerous dissensions which now prevail; and I have, under a very
serious view and without the least ambitious feeling whatever connected
with it, prepared a series of constitutional amendments, which I desire
to offer to the Senate, hoping that they may form, in part at least,
some basis for measures that may settle the controverted questions which
now so much agitate our country. Certainly, sir, I do not propose
now any elaborate discussion of the subject. Before presenting these
resolutions, however, to the Senate, I desire to make a few remarks
explanatory of them, that the Senate may understand their general scope.

The questions of an alarming character are those which have grown out
of the controversy between the nor