t body of the
people of Georgia did not think it sufficiently aggressive. Secession
now amounted to a furor. It was not the work of leaders, but the spirit
which pervaded the ranks of the people, who clamored because events did
not move fast enough. The "minute-men" declared Mr. Toombs' letter was a
backdown. They called him a traitor, and wanted to vote him a tin sword.

Congress, upon reassembling, devoted itself to measures of compromise.
The situation was one of the deepest gravity. In the House a committee
of thirty-three was raised, and in the Senate a committee of thirteen,
to look into the situation. But there was no Henry Clay to interpose,
with tact and broad statesmanship, at the supreme moment.

Twice before in our history, the "Great Pacificator" had proven equal to
a desperate emergency. Adjusting the tariff in 1832 when South Carolina
threatened nullification, he had kept the peace between Calhoun and
Jackson. Proposing his omnibus bill in 1850, he had silenced all calls
for disunion by the territorial concession. Equally lacking was the
example of Webster to face the prejudices of the North and calm the
apprehensions of the South. Perhaps it was because these men had
postponed the conflict then that it reappeared now with irrepressible
power.

The House Committee reported propositions to amend the Fugitive-slave
laws, and accepted Mr. Toombs' demand that a law should be enacted by
which all offenses against slave property, by persons fleeing to other
States, should be tried where the offense was committed.

Mr. Toombs was a member of the committee of thirteen in the Senate. The
five Southern members submitted the Crittenden Compromise, demanding six
amendments to the Constitution. These recognized slavery south of the
old Missouri line, prohibited interference by Congress with slavery in
the District of Columbia, or with transportation of slaves from one
State to another, and provided for the payment for fugitive slaves in
cases where the marshal was prevented from arresting said fugitive. The
sixth amendment guaranteed the permanence of these provisions.

The House adopted the report of the committee of thirty-three. In the
Senate a resolution was adopted declaring that the provisions of the
Constitution were already ample for the preservation of the Union; that
it needed to be obeyed rather than amended. This, upon a test vote of
twenty-five to twenty-three, was substituted for the Crittenden
Comp