"[15]
After a protracted and earnest debate, these resolutions were adopted
_seriatim_, on the 24th and 25th of May, by a decided majority of the
Senate (varying from thirty-three to thirty-six yeas against from two to
twenty-one nays), the Democrats, both Northern and Southern, sustaining
them unitedly, with the exception of one adverse vote (that of Mr. Pugh,
of Ohio) on the fourth and sixth resolutions. The Republicans all voted
against them or refrained from voting at all, except that Mr. Teneyck,
of New Jersey, voted for the fifth and seventh of the series. Mr.
Douglas, the leader if not the author of "popular sovereignty," was
absent on account of illness, and there were a few other absentees.
The conclusion of a speech, in reply to Mr. Douglas, a few days before
the vote was taken on these resolutions, is introduced here as the best
evidence of the position of the author at that period of excitement and
agitation:
Conclusion of Reply to Mr. Douglas, _May 17, 1860_.
"Mr. President: I briefly and reluctantly referred, because the
subject had been introduced, to the attitude of Mississippi on a
former occasion. I will now as briefly say that in 1851, and in
1860, Mississippi was, and is, ready to make every concession
which it becomes her to make to the welfare and the safety of
the Union. If, on a former occasion, she hoped too much from
fraternity, the responsibility for her disappointment rests upon
those who failed to fulfill her expectations.
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