They made an exhaustive analysis of the situation in plain language.

They reviewed ably and conclusively the report made by Mr.Corwin for the majority of the committee, and spoke as became men who represented the justice and the power of a great Republic.

They vindicated the conduct of the General Government, and showed that the Union was not to be preserved by compromises nor by sacrifice of principle.

They regarded the discontent and hostility in the South as without just cause, and intimated that those States might purchase at a high price some valuable information to be learned only in the school of experience.

They embodied their entire recommendations in a single resolution in which they declared that the provisions of the Constitution were ample for the preservation of the Union; that it needed to be obeyed rather than amended; and that "our extrication from present difficulties is to be looked for in efforts to preserve and protect the public property and enforce the laws, rather than in new guaranties for particular interests, or in compromises, or concessions to unreasonable demands." When the report of the committee of thirty-three came before the House for action, the series of resolution were first tested by a motion to lay upon the table, which was defeated by a vote of nearly two to one; and after angry debate running through several days, the resolutions, which were only directory in their character, were adopted by a large majority.