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Original sixteen page pamphlet, never bound with a
little wrinkling, edgewear and minor toning, yet overall very
clean. RARE FIRST EDITION WITH NO OTHER
COPIES FOUND FOR SALE.
Morris discusses his view on the several compromise measures proposed to
avoid disunion and Civil War.
The speech given before Abraham Lincoln even took office
and just days before the Confederate States of America were officially
formed. Six of the Southern States (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana ) had already seceded from the Union. Five
more states (Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia) would
soon join them in creating the Confederate States of America. It would be
over three months until the firing on Fort Sumter.
Extract,
"Great as are the perils by which the Union is
surrounded, I cannot permit myself to believe that they are insurmountable,
unless we are destitute of the virtues to which it owes its origin. I
trust that we are not so much estranged by sectional animosities as to be
unable to agree on some plan of conciliation for the preservation of the
Union. Convinced, as I am, that there is no just cause for the present
troubles, and least of all in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the
Presidency, I am, nevertheless, disposed to assent to any honorable plan of
settlement which shall secure permanent peace between the two great sections
of the country."
"As I said, sir, in the outset of niy remarks, I am willing to vote for any
honorable plan of settlement. I do not think the Crittenden propositions, as
they now stand, have any chance of adoption by Congress ; but I will
cheerfully vote to refer them to the people, and abide their decision. The
border State plan is less objectionable,
and, if I understand it aright, I can vote fo:- it without any compromise of
principle. For the propositions of the committee of thirty-three I
shall vote with great pleasure ; and it seems to me they ought to satisfy
every reasonable man. The admission of New Mexico as a State, as proposed,
will introduce into the Union all the
territory south of 36° 30', and which is at all adapted to slave labor. That
slavery will be established there 1 doubt, as the climate and products of
that Territory do not require slave labor for the development of its
resources. When New Mexico is admitted as a State, we shall be rid of the
slavery question, so far as it
depends on the present territory of the United States, and there will be, I
trust, a lasting peace on that troublesome question."
Edward Joy Morris (July 16, 1815–October 31, 1881) was a Whig and
Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
Morris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the common
schools and the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. He graduated
from Harvard University in 1836, studied law, was admitted to the bar in
1842 and practiced in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Pennsylvania
House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843. He was elected as a Whig to the
Twenty-eighth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1844.
He served as Chargé d’Affaires to Naples from January 20, 1850, to August
26, 1853. He was a member of the board of directors of Girard College in
Philadelphia, and again a member of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives in 1856. Morris was elected as a Republican to the
Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, and Thirty-seventh Congresses and served until
his resignation. He was appointed Minister Resident to Turkey and served
from June 8, 1861, to October 25, 1870. He died in Philadelphia in 1881.
SOURCE
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