Note 131 — ATTEMPT AT COMPROMISE: THE CRITTENDEN PROPOSITIONS.

These two were in the series of January 3, 1861, and according to Mr. Crittenden were “proposed by the honorable Senator from Illinois” (Mr. Douglas), although nothing in the Congressional Globe shows that the propositions of Mr. Douglas offered to the Committee of Thirteen (ante, p. 433) were ever before proposed in the Senate. Whatever their origin, they were adopted by Mr. Crittenden, and became part of his Compromise. Of the original copies printed for the Senate only a single copy containing the important additions remains on the files. The propositions in their first form are in the Globe, under date of December 18, 1860, p. 114, also in McPherson’s Political History of the Rebellion, pp. 64, 65. They do not appear in the Globe on reintroduction with additions, January 3, 1861, p. 237, but the first addition is found at a later date, March 2, 1861, p. 1368, when they were voted on. Nor do the additions appear in McPherson’s History. It is proper that the disfranchisement of the colored race, where already voters, should not be forgotten as one of the terms of this sacrifice.