Milledgeville [ga.], December 1, 1847.
Dear Sir:
After a four days’ discussion in the Senate on the Wilmot proviso and the war
and the acquisition of Territory, the vote was taken last night. The Whigs took
high ground against the war and denounced it as infamous and iniquitous. They
also went against any further acquisition of territory, occupying pretty much
the position of Mr. Clay in his Lexington speech. You will see that a
resolution was introduced declaring that the people of Georgia will adhere to
the Missouri Compromise line in the division of territory that may hereafter be
acquired by the General Government. It was lost by a vote of 20 to 26. Of the
twenty who voted for it, 18 are D. and 2 Whigs; of those who voted against it
21 are Whigs and 5 Democrats. I think the Democrats who voted against it, were
the vote to be taken over, would record their votes in favor of it. As for the
Whigs, they are right in a political point of view, in opposing it, if they
desire to preserve the unity of the party North and South.
The Whigs I think will endeavour to nominate Genl. Taylor
for the Presidency. One of them, to wit Clayton, asked me this morning if I
would not vote for resolutions of that character.
The Legislature will hardly adjourn till after Christmas. I
know it will not, if the business even now before it be acted upon. . . .
______________
* A Democrat of Athens, Ga., at this time a member of the
Georgia legislature.
SOURCE: Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, Editor, The Annual
Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911, Volume 2: The
Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb, p.
89
