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T HE JAC OISINhi OF MISSOUKI AND MARYI,AN1). 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 —OF— 
 
 OF MISSOURI, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 27, 'G4 
 
 Mr. Chairman: The nfTairs of my own and some other border States ha^ been 
 drawn into the debates of this House. I believe that when I addressed the House 
 some time since, and alluded to a certain transaction which had taken place at the other 
 end of this Capitol, I gave the true explanation of the motives for bringing Missouri 
 -'"airs so often before the public and before Congress. Certain transactions which havH 
 iirred there are sought to be made issues in the next presidential election. My ex- 
 i ^oC for again alluding to these matters is the prominence which has thus been given 
 to them. 
 
 My own conduct has been frequently brought under revi^iw, in considering these affairs. 
 I am content to be silent as to the manner in which I have borne myself duriug thi^j 
 rebellion, believing that I have discharged my duty to the Government to the best ot 
 my ability, and being most willing to leave ray record to stand the comparison with that 
 of those who have thought proper to criticise or condemn my course. 
 
 Things have occurred in Missouri and the other border States not so easily under; 
 stood by those who come from happier regions, uuvisited by the calamities of war. LJh 
 Missouii, at the outbreak of the rebellion, and for a long time afterwards, the State was 
 a prey to the worst disorders. The country was ravaged and destroyed, and a feeling 
 of bitterness has been engendered which is almost witiiout a parallel. Upon this spirit 
 of exasperation, retaliation, and revenge, the so called radicals of my Srats have un- 
 dertaken to build up a party. Is this a fit foundation for any party to rest upon ? Can 
 peace, pro>perity, and tranquility be expected from those who act from such motives V 
 Can any secu'C or enduring principles of government be based upon such sentiments? 
 It may be and it is impossible for men to free themselves from the passion of revenge, 
 ^and the desire for retaliation on those who may have inflicted injuries on them ortheir 
 (friends and neighbors. It may be utterly impossible to expect that men can free them- 
 , selves entirely from such influences. But, on the other hand, is it natural, proper, or 
 , wise, that the President and the great statesmen who ar« directing the affairs ■ f the 
 ' Government, and whose duty it is to educe peace and good will out of these scenes of 
 anarchy and disorder, shou'd be actuated by the feelings of bitterness which have grown 
 up among the parties to this strife? Such passions are in some degree excusable in 
 those who have suffered injury ; but with what face does a man set himself up as a states- 
 i^an or paity leader, who will fan such pactions; who will contribute to the pub ie ex- 
 1 asperation ; who will rekindle these smouldering fires ; and who seeks even to drag into 
 them and destroy the Chief Magistrate of the country, when he decliues to he the instru- 
 ment of such malignant passions? Yet this is the position of the Jacobin leaders in 
 Missouri and their confederate Jacobins in Maryland. They appeal to the Umoii men 
 of other States to support them in their » fforts to keep up the sirife in States in which 
 the rebellion has bet n put down, instead of fighting to put down the rebellion wh-re it 
 , still exists. They appeal to the Union men of other SiatPs again&t the President's po- 
 iSlicy of amnesty, by which the armies of the rebels are being demora ised and depleted, 
 becaue they desire to glut their vengeance and their lust of spoils. They seek to make 
 a direct issue with the President, to defeat his re election, in order that thov may enjoy 
 
,5« 
 
 West. r«s. HlBt. Soo. (3 
 
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 ^!x^^^.^e•'< t\ 
 
 the license of another French Revolution under some chief as malignant as themsclve?!. 
 
 The S.ate of Missouri cast but seventeen thousand votes for Mr. Lincola ; yet she has 
 contributed sixty thouf-and men to the volunteer army of the United States. The State 
 has also a reserve force of sixty or seventy thousand militia, ready at a moment's notice 
 to spring to their arms in deft-nee of the State and the nation; and how well and how 
 often they have performed this duty the House already knows from the speech made by 
 my venerable colleague, [Mr. Kikg.] These men have flocked to the standard of the 
 country, and given their best efforts to its defence, because the Presid-tnt called upon 
 men of all parties, without regard to political differences, to rally to the defence of ihe 
 Union. Suppose be had erected the standard now unfurled by the Jacobins of Mis- 
 souri and Maryland, proscribing all who do not hold their present ultra dogmas, how 
 many men would have enrolled themselves in Missouri under such a standard? I doubt 
 whether we could have contributed half the number that supported the election of Mr. 
 Lincoln. Happily for the country, the counsels of such people did net prevail at the 
 outbreak of the war. All men who were willing to defend the country against its ene- 
 mies, without regard to their opinions on the subject of slavery, or any other subject, 
 were invited to take arms. They were not asked to lay down their political opinions, 
 and accept those of the President or of his party. Now, these radical Jacobins deuounce 
 allwho»do not agree with them, whether they have taken arms in defence of their coun- 
 try or not, OS traitors, and as unfaithful to the cause of freedom. The Missouri State 
 militia, whose valor and services were so well described by my venerable colleague, 
 [Mr. King,] and but for whom these gentlemen would have had no districts to repre- 
 sent, and no homes to which they could return, have nevertheless been made the subject 
 of the slanders and revilings of my revolution broaching colleagues. 
 
 I do not consider -it necessary to add anything to my description of my four radical 
 colleagues which was given the other day by my venerable colleague, [Mr. King.] The 
 picture wiil be recognized wherever they are known. I may say, however, that the 
 artist [Governor King] was a supporter of our great Senator Benton in his attempt to 
 suppress the furious pro-slavery sentiment which has at last burst forth in rebellion, 
 when they were one and all, without an exception, the persecutors of Col. Benton &nd 
 bis frienda. My four Jacobin colleagues were at that time pro slavery to the backbone. 
 Now, as is often the case with renegades, they have gone far beyond those of us who 
 have consistently supported the Government, and consistently opposed slavery ; and 
 they denounce us as unfaithful to the cause of human freedom. 
 
 A Membbf. One renegade is worse than ten Turks. 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. I accept the suggestioQ. Ir, is not only applicable to the 
 Missouri radicals, but also those of Maryland. It behooves them to purge their own 
 pro-slavery records by some appreciable service in the cause of freedom and emancipa- 
 tion before they should be i: ermitted to denounce those who have passed through the 
 fires of persecution (and they the persecutors) on account of their devotion to thar, 
 cause. 
 
 I hope I shall not be regarded a? uncharitable, but I cannot avoid looking at the 
 course of these men as dictated more by a desire to cancel and obliterate the memory 
 of their old crimes against the cause, rather than to advance its success in the future. 
 Their ultra doctrines are so much bsitter calculated to bring us defeat instead of victo- 
 ry, that it looks in the light of their past history as if this was their object; and the 
 great b?.dy of the true Union men in other States have been sagacious enough to per- 
 ceive this fact, and patriotic enough to act upon it. Hence, in the great State of New 
 York, at the last election, the supporters of th<i Administration, and of the war, en- 
 larged tlie name cf the Republicans, and held the election under the name of the 
 "Union" party, and nominated on thoir ticket men who had been life-long Democrats. 
 My colleague, [Mr. Blow,] who has just dropped his pro-slavery pen-feathers, and who 
 •absented himself from the country on a foreign mission in the hours of its sorett trial, 
 in a speech which he made to p.ttack me during my absence in the field, denounced and 
 assailed the platform of the Union men of New York as a weak-kneed Union ail'air, 
 because I hr^d referred to it as a proof of their moderation and good sense in refusing 
 to allow dififerencea of opinion which have become trivial to peril the restoration of the 
 Union. In the State of Ohio, also, the friends of the Administration have nominated 
 and elected Democrats for Governor of the State for two successive terras, without re- 
 ,'F.rd t'T' t^-o!" former or present opinions on the subject of slavery. 
 
It is left for these Jacobius and rcvolutionista to erect a loftier standard of loyaltr 
 .and patriotism; to represent Ihemselvoj as pi-rsfcuteil martyra of a causo of wbicu 
 'hey are only the eleventh hour supporters ; a cause whiih they would have Htran^'Icd 
 in its birth if they had the power to striiujfle it, aud to wliich they havn only brnu/ht 
 their hupport when the battle wns won, and their aid wiks not nee<leJ. 'I'tx'v are like 
 cauip followers, uuki.own aud unheard of while the battle ra^ed, but are Bwiii lu plun- 
 der the dead, and merciless to the wounded. Like old .lack i'dlataff, they muiiUte ihe 
 dead Percy, slaiu by another hand, bearing Lis body clF on their backs as a proof of 
 their desperate valor. 
 
 My colleague [Mr. Blow] in his speech the other day, undertook to draw the line of 
 distiuction between himself and mjself; between his principles and those which I a-l- 
 vocate. He asserted that the radical party of Missouri was in favor of immediate aud 
 unconditional emancipation; and that I and the friends with whom I act wt re in favor 
 of gradual em^ncipat on. 1 have always been wiliiug to accept gradual emancipation, 
 or any oiher step in the right direction. 1 favored immediate emancipation in my own 
 .State, relying upon the comppneation to loyal owners of slaves tendered by Congress ; 
 and whenever the people of Missouri or any other State desire it, and adopt this plun, 
 I am more than willing to accept immediate emancipation. I cannot regard any one 
 as an honest, man who wishes to place the whole burden on the elaveholderd, and who 
 is unwilling to bear his share of the expense in accomj)li3hing the gcueral benefaction. 
 
 We have had recently an opportunity to test the sincerityof the Jacobins of Missouri 
 on this question, and I intend now to expose the hypocrisy of their professions in favor 
 of immediate emancipation to the very men tbey have deceived aiid misl-d by their 
 clamors and misr-preeenta'i ns. When the last Legislature which satin Missouri lir.-t 
 assembled, the constitution of our State permitted emancipation by the JiCgislature, 
 either by the consent of the owners of slaves, or upon fair compensation to ba made to 
 them. The Congress of the United .States had prior to that time, and upon the recom- 
 mendation of Mr. Lincoln, pas.sed a resolution pledging the General Government to 
 pay for the slaves in any of the border St.ates which should adopt measures for the abol- 
 ishment of slavery. The radicals, combined with the other Union men in favor of 
 emoncipatiou, composed a large and overwhelming majority in the Missouri Legisla'urc. 
 My friends offered various bills in flivor of emancipation upon compensation. Tijeradl 
 cals voted against and defeated every measure of this kiud that was proposed. Con- 
 grei=s at its last session passed a measure in this House appropriating §10,000,000 to 
 pay for the slaves of Missonri; the bill went to the Senate, and the sum was increased 
 to $20,000,000 ; it came back to the House and was reduced to $15,000,000. I under- 
 take to say that the Sec ate, which had voted $20,000,000, would not have hesitated to 
 give the $15,000,000 agreed to by this House, if the measure offered by my friends in 
 the Missouri Legislature had not been defeated by the Missouri radicals. A leading 
 member of that faction in the Missouti Legislature, Mr. Charles P. Johnson, openly 
 proclaimed his gratification, in a social gathering of the brotherhood, at the failure of 
 the appropriation by Congress to pay for the slaves of Missouri. The sectimcnt was 
 received with applause by his brother radicals. 
 
 The statement I have made would appear almost incredible to those unacquainted 
 with the Jacobius of my State ; but the record stands to prove the truth of my state- 
 ment, and to show that these men have been and are still dithonestly clamoring for 
 what they do not want, and will not have : that in fact they wanted slavery to remain 
 as a bone of contention, or else were unwilling that loyal owners should receive pay- 
 ment for their slaves, even when the money was offered by the Federal Government. 
 But my colleague says he is for emancipation without doing injustice to loyal slave- 
 holders. I deny it, and appeal to the records of the L'^gislature of Missouri to make 
 good my denial. The rreasiire was again and again tendered to them by the Union 
 emancipationists of Missouri, aud was as often refused It was under these circum- 
 stances that the convention, a body elected prior to the rebellion, and which was in- 
 teiided by the secession leaders to cxrry the State out of the Union, but refused to do 
 it, was called together, and upon the recommendatiou of our lati Governor, and in 
 obedience to the wishes of the people, passed an ordinance liberatirg the slaves of 
 Missouri at the end of seveii years, holding them to service for the intermediate period, 
 and tubsequertly placing the younger slaves in the condition of apprentices until thpy 
 atained mature years, in lieu of compensition to their owners. That ordinance waj 
 
denounced by the radicals iu my State, who had proven themselves so false to the 
 cauae of emancipation, as a measure for the continuation and perpetuation of slavery. 
 I accept- d it as a step in the right direction, believing at ibw time, aud knowing now 
 that the people of the State were fftSt becoming reconciled to this measure, ai/d that 
 every slave in the State would be emancipated before the time fixed ia that ordinance. 
 
 But the revolutionary faction had whai they desired, Tbey had a bone of contention, 
 and having refused to vote for immediute emancipation when their votes would have 
 secured it, they cUmored against the gradual emancipation given them by the conven- 
 t'O', and ar- clamoring still for another convention to give them immediate emancipa- 
 tion, which fhey refused to take when it was in their power, w ih the money to nny rhe 
 loyal slaveholders, offered them by the Governmi nt of the Uiiited Staies. This is a 
 brief and truthful sketch of the chicanery practised by the malcontent lyaders wao 
 would turn hypocritical cant lor fr^edom to account to aid their ambit'on. 
 
 Another p-dnt of differrnee alluded to by ray colleague, [Mr. Blow,] and which is 
 urged more elaborately in the speech of the d'slinguished geutUman from Maryland, 
 [Mr. Davis,] who makes common cause with him, is found in the fact that the Union 
 emanoipa'iouisrs of Missouri adhere to the policy of the Pr-sidr-nt in favor of the colo- 
 nizatioa of the free negroes. Toese gentlemen arc opposed to this p jlicv. Here is ih<» 
 programme which the representatives of the Jacobins of Maryland aud Mi-sotiri wo'dd 
 substitute for the policy proposed by the two PiCsidents, Jefferson and Lincoln, for the 
 establishment of the negroes in a country of their own, in which they could be govern- 
 ed by their own laws, and be free from the crushing weight of prejudice which always 
 wotild depress them in the midst of another race, superior in numbers, aud wielding 
 the powers of Government. The representative from Missouri iLays: 
 
 " We have no such theories, have indulged no such unkindness to the rmforfcuHate blacks. 
 We are content to let them remain where God in His providence placed them, and with a more 
 elevated sense of justice, to amelior ite their condition at once, and elevate them as speedily as 
 pos-siile on the soil that has been enriched by the sweat of their brows through years of unre- 
 quitted toil, and crushtd and bleeding hearts." 
 
 The member from Maryland is even more pointed. He exclaims : 
 
 " The folly of our ancestors and the wisdom of the Almighty in its inscrutable purposes, 
 having allowed them to come here, and planted them here, they have a right to remain here, 
 and they will remain here to the latest recorded syllable of time. And wnether triey heeome 
 our tq-ials or our superiors, whether they blend or remain a distinc'. race, your posterity will 
 know, for their eyes wdi behold them as ours do now. These are things ".hieh we cannot con- 
 trol. Liws do not make, laws cannot unmake them. Jf God has made them our et|U.il8, then 
 they will work oai the problem wbich he has sent them to work out ; and it Gud has stamped 
 upon them an ineradicable inferiority, yon cannot make one hair white or black, or and a cubit 
 to their stature." 
 
 I regret very much that neither of these geiitlem=n have found it convenient to be 
 present in the House to day. I should like very much to ask them t > be a little more 
 explicit I wish to know exactly what ail this flourish hbout " the elevation of the ne- 
 gro' means. Does it mean that they are to be endowed with the rights of suffrage and 
 of citizenship and of oilicial position ? Are they to have a full share in the govern- 
 ment established by our ancestors, and a fair start in this race for superiority ? It can- 
 not be that these gentlemen intend to thwart the " providence ot God " by placing 
 legal impedimcLt^ or obstacles in the way of the negro, to impede hi,i progr ss in this 
 contest for f^uperioriy with our own r-'.ce in its inherited domidiou ; but unfortunately 
 for me and the people to whom this country belong?!, neither of ihes ■ gentlemen are 
 here torespond to the inquiries which I desire to make ; and I must look for liyht on 
 this interesting point in the utterances heretofore made by one of those gentlemen. I 
 find in a speech delivered by the distinguished geitleman from Maryland at the Cooper 
 Institute, in New York, on the 9ih day of October last, the following c'ear and pointed 
 declarations, which throw a flood of light on the question under consideration: 
 
 "If we should confer freedom and leave the negro a helpless and disarmed, disfranchised 
 individual you have left him the prey of those that wield political power over him. It will 
 never bo that there shall be consolidated liberty at the Soith nntil the President shall not mere- 
 ly have proclaimed freedom, but ta ght the negro the cse of arms, and organized him for free 
 doni." 
 
 '■Tnere can be no liberty in he world withont adequate gnarantee. The only guarentee to 
 be given to the nejjroea e, that at t\n end of the war large masses of them shall be iu arms, 
 
whom it will bo more dilUeult to reduce to slavery than tol-t them remain free. (-Thkl'tto*.) 
 iJreat will be our infamy if we Bhould attempt to txpel the neKroffrom oor boII." 
 
 Wendell Phillips has seized upoa this happy tliuuj^'ht, .un\, in a rtcenl speech de- 
 livered iu the saflQC house iu the same city, during the present month, thus givcH it ut- 
 terance: 
 
 " Sncli deeds are God's mtans for making you willing that the negro ehould occui)y IhU 
 place in the nation's history, with the powers of the while man, lifiel to the elecUve franchl»c, 
 which protects him and insures na. Break up the land into farms, pit two hundred ihoaeaud 
 negroes, with aritle in each right hand and an oilieer of their own choe'ng a. the r he*d ; pal 
 three handred thousand bla.k and white farmers by their s de, and the South will rl[)en Iteclf 
 into a democracy. That is natural law out there. Then 1 would have civil law here matire 
 the same thing." 
 
 Thi", then, is the Winter Davis- Wendell Phillips program -ne, and ehowa that they 
 do not wish to give the White man the start of the negro iu the grent contest for su 
 perioriiy. Mr. Phillips says the negro is to be " lifted to the elective franchise." The 
 gentleman from Maryland is not conteat with leaving the negro a " disfranchised indi- 
 vidual." Both of them agree that they shall be armed amid the unarmed population 
 of the S)uth ; and then, in the language of the gentleman from Maryland, " whether 
 they become our equals or superiors, whether they blend or become a distinct race, 
 your posterity will know."' 
 
 This settles very satisfactorily the meaning of that part of the gentleman's pro- 
 gramme in which he goes so earnestly for the elevation of the negro. But I do not see 
 how it is to be reconciled with another theory broached by liim in his late speech. He 
 tells us in this elaborate and well-considered effort that the idea of hostility of races is 
 one that is unknown to history ; and he calls upon those who have advanced that theory 
 to point to a single instance where such a thing as hostility of race has ever manifested 
 itself. Then why arm the negro ? Why at the end of the war must we have '' masses 
 of them in arms whom it will be more difiBcult to reduce to slavery than to let them re- 
 main free." Is it not perfectly apparent that the gentleman feels and recognizes the 
 hostility of these races, when he demands ^hat they shall be armed to defend their free- 
 dom from another race which will seek to reduce them to slavery ? Indeed, why has 
 this rdC3 been so long in servitude in our land except that they are negroes and of 
 another race than ours? Is not this the defence and justification that has always been 
 urged for their enslavement? Would our fathers ever have brought them here or their 
 children retai led them in bondage, but that the fact of their being of another race 
 gave them a pretext ? I will not go outside of the speech the gentleman made on this 
 floor the other day to show that he is himself animated by the very sentiment, hogtility 
 of race, which he so stoutly and so earnestly denies the existence of. In the very ex- 
 pression of his disbelief in the theory of the hostility of races, he cannot restrain him- 
 self from the exhibition of his hatred for Irishmen. He says : 
 
 "Bat the attack of the Irish on the negroes in 2s"ew York Is the only example of the colli- 
 sion of races to sustain the theory. I agree that it is possible that such a class of population 
 as that might be tempted to oppress the negro, but no cla^s of American population woald 
 condescend to do it." 
 
 '' Have not an " American population" held them in bondage for over two hnndrcd 
 years'? Was not this oppression? Does not the gentleman demand that they shall be 
 armed to prevent an "American population" from reducing them again to slavery ? 
 The old leaven of Know Nothingism works so strongly in the gentleman that he can- 
 not make an argument without upsetting it by an exhibition of his spleen against a 
 foreign and what he considers an inferior race — the Irish. " Won't jou sak," he .-^nys, 
 " as a matter of kindness, to tran.splant the Irish back to Ireland ?*' I certainly sh«uld 
 if all Americans Ijore the hostility to them he manifests. 
 
 The political origin of the gentleman from Marylaml is identical with that of my col- 
 league, [Mr. Blow,] for they are twin brothers of the dark-lantern fraternity: the chief 
 iogredients of which organization was hostility to kindred races of white men of for- 
 eign birth. Taken in connection with the protest of his New York speech against 
 leaving the negro a "disfranchised individual," he wou'd lead me to the conclusion that 
 he would perfer to se3 Irishmen and other foreigners disfranch'sed rather than the ne- 
 gro. He would take care of the latter by arming and embodying them and instructing 
 them to defend their franchise. But the doctrine and practice be l.irought forth into 
 
6 
 
 political life from a Klow Nothing lodge arrajed rancorous partisaus of niilive biitli 
 to drive naturalized citizens from the polls. His followers were guilty of deeds of un- 
 exampled ferocity to deter Irishmen and Dutchmen fror-n the exercise of tbeir legal 
 franchise, and with arms and bloody instruments to withhold from them the privileges 
 he now demands for the negro. Notwithstanding his heart has so recently relented to- 
 ward the negro, yet his last speech proves (hat his hatred and detestation of ihe Irish 
 still survive, and he is ihe last man in this House or out of it who should venture to 
 stand up and deny that which is attested by all hibtory, and to the truth of which he 
 becomes an unconscious witness in one of the closing paragraphs of his speech, saying: 
 
 " Allow me to beseech gentlemen to recollect tha*. we j: eop'e in America are not the only ones 
 who have \ rejudices, and that negroes are not the only p oecribed race in the world ; that other 
 nations have been a^ tinjustanda^ inclined looppres', r.nd : hat we in some regions of the world, 
 wosld fare no belter than negroes do here. How Ion? has it been since ' Dog of a Christian' 
 was the most i olite word to us in the Moslem's mouth ? How long has it been & nee a Br.hmin 
 would condescend to sit at tab'e wi h the most aristorcati?. Engl shman ? 
 
 The only observation I shall make upon this is that it seems to me that the gentle- 
 man's mind is so truthful, and his knowledge of history so accurate, that he cannot 
 make an erroneous argumcLt without exploding it and bringing himself to a sound 
 conclusion. 
 
 I submit it to the candor and good sense of the country which propositioa is the 
 most benevolent and humane toward this oppresssd and much abused African rare — 
 that of Jefferson and Lincoln, or that of the Jacobin leaders of Maryland and Missouri. 
 Is it not better for the negroes to have provided a country for them in which they can 
 govern themselves by their own laws, in which they will have no superiors, but will be 
 protected by the power of our Government, rather than remain here as au ialeriorand 
 subject race — a race of outcasts, so far as social and political rights are coDceruiid— 
 or even under the New York programme, broachf d by the gentleman from Marj'land 
 and Mr. Phillips, to attempt to put them oa an equality with white people, which both 
 of these gentlemen say would require to be maintained by force of arms, to prevent the 
 reduction of the; negroes to slavery? Can any American citizen find in his hevrt to 
 inaugurate such a contest as tbat forefhadowed by these gentlemen? He cannot delude 
 himself into the belief that the riot in New York is au isol ted instance Tbat which 
 occurred there has taken place in almost every large city i nthe country, in Cincinnati, 
 in Philadelphia, and in the city of Baltimore, where the white caulkem drove away the 
 uegro caulkers from the shipyards. He well knows that itwiU require'' large masses of 
 these negroes to be in arms at the end of the war," not to prevent them from beii;g re- 
 duced to slavery, for the Government which gave them liberty will secure it to them, 
 but to clothe them with that franchise which he demands for them. 
 
 I prefer Mr. Lincoln's humane, wise, and benevolent policy to secure the peace a^d 
 happiness of both races; and nntil that can be accomplished, and while both races are 
 being prepared for this great change, I shall repose in perfect confidence in the promise 
 of the President given in his last message, in which he proposes to remit the control 
 of the freedmen to the restored States, promising to support "any provisions which 
 may be adopted by such Stat3 government in relation to the freed people of such State 
 which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their educa- 
 tion, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present 
 condition as a laboring, landless and homeless class." 
 
 I desire at this point to make some observations upon the action of the recent con- 
 vention held in Baltimore, and from the proceedings of whieh the gentleman from 
 Maryland gave us an exlracU After nominating Mr. Lincoln for re election to the 
 Presidency, and instructing its delegates to vote for him, " first, last, and ail the time," 
 the convention passed this singular resolution, which the gentleman read to this House. 
 This resolution was all the comfort the gcntlman could extxact from the proceedings 
 of that body, and it remains to be sceu whether that will prove a substantial cdmfort 
 or not : 
 
 "Resolved, That th's convention is in favor of the entirv; and imtiiediate abo'iiiou of ela 
 very in ttls State a: d In tr.e fjtate in rebellion, and is opi r scd to any re-rganizat oc of State 
 gove nments in th as States whi:h d j not lecogn z the immed'a'e and final aSiU' hment ff 
 elave y aj a crnditl n piccedi nt. Thar, tb's convention f xp ess 'her tymv athy with the radi- 
 cal emanci atloniets in Mi eouri, and in A'l ans«e, T nnessee and Loti^siana, and regrel that 
 
influfncoi in lh> ChbiH«t h-TO in Mary'nnd (.nd Ihcee Hues, depreesod Iho t ITd: te f f t^c mdl- 
 0»1 frier ds of iho Admir.Mra I n au<\ i f rm'Uicli'a iou, »bd f,'ivfn pramincnce to ttoso wo 
 are uow.llia;^ advo.at s if cuian^'p tion " 
 
 Hero is a coiiventiou uomiimiiu^' Mr. Lincoln, and tyinp its delegates up to vote for 
 him 80 tijjht ibut it is impossiblo to chtat in that, nml tben turning around and extend- 
 ing the right haud of fellowdbip and expres3iii«( Kyinpaihy for tho Missouri radicals, 
 who cauiiut find epithets vi!o enough to apply to him. All (he radical racmberH from 
 Missouri in this House and th i other branch ot Congress are deadly hostile to the Presi- 
 •dent, jet they have the sympathy of the Bait more convention, which nominated Mr. 
 Lincoln. The rad-cal members of the Missouri Legislature — the party associates of 
 the members on thid flor.r now co]a])orers 'with the gentlemen from Maryland — voted 
 aga'nst, Mr. Lincoln's re;iominat.iou, and a;^ainst the resolution approving his adminis- 
 tration, yet they all have the sympathy of the Maryland convention which instructed its 
 delegates to vote for Liacoln, " first, last, and all the time." The radical members from 
 Missouri to the convemion of Jacobins at Louisville all voted to nominate an indepen- 
 dent caudida'e :)g^iast Lincoln. How delighted they will all feel when they find that 
 they have the "sympathy' of the M ryland convention which has indorsed President 
 Lincoln, and made him their candidate ! Every radical newspaper in Missouri is un- 
 sparing in its drnunciation of Lincoln, and most of, them are p-edged to oppose his 
 election, even if he is nominated by the National Convention of the Union. How 
 pleasing the information will be to them that they have the sympathy of the Maryland 
 conveniion which nominUed Liacoln and handcuffed its delegates io^jreuew^^AeircAea^ 
 ing h im ! 
 
 I am afraid the Missouri radicals wiU not be able to s^e the point of this joke with- 
 out soma explanation ; and as the gentleman from .Maryland did not see fit to go into 
 the matter, I shall undertake the task myself. Thy late Baltimore conventinn nomi- 
 nated Mr. Lincoln because they could not help themselves. They were compelled to 
 it. by the overwhelming publi copinion of the Stale. There are certain dark-laulern 
 associations still existing in Maryland, by which bogus delegates were sent from three 
 couu'ies, and they were fraudulently allowed to retain their scats, to the exclusion of 
 the rightful delegates. But even \h.\A convention did not dare to outrage the sentiment 
 of the°peopIe so far as to vote against Lincoln; but they sought, while thus putting the 
 left aim around his neca, say ing, " How art thou, my brother?" to stab him under the 
 fifth rib. They tried, therefore, while nominating Lincoln, to put forward delegates 
 who are expected to act as certain Democratic delegations did to Van Duren in Is 11. 
 They went to the convention instructed to vote for him, but betrayed their trusU I have 
 heard, but don't know certainly whether the fact is so or not, that one of these dele- 
 gates, appointed with instructions to vote for Lincoln, " first, last, and all the time," 
 being one of Mr. Chase's cificeholders, has already declared his intention not to vole 
 for Lincoln, but for whom he pleases. And since these gentlemen have chosen to go 
 out of their way to make war on the real Ujiion men ot my State, and express their 
 sympathy for the Jacobins of Missouri, I do not consider it inappropriate to show up 
 their double-dealing. They sought iu every way to escape these binding instructions,^ 
 and send their delegates untrammeled. Mr. Sterling, a great friend, I understand, ol 
 the distinguished gentleman from Maryland, [Mr. Davis,] stated that he did not want 
 any instructions, because that would prevent Maryland from having any influence in 
 regard to the candidate for Vice President. In other words, it would prevent the del- 
 egation from trading oflf the Presidency to obtaili the candidate for Vice President 
 from " my Maryland." , . . j j 
 
 The resolution winds up with regrets that inflaences in the cabinet have depressed 
 the efforts of the radical friends of the administration, '^ and given prominctue to those 
 who are unwilling advocaies of emancipation." Who are these unwilling advocat<s 
 of emancipation ? Was he an unwilling advocate of emancipation who first unfurled 
 that banner in Missouri on the Buffalo platform in ISIS in defiance of the pro-slavery 
 sentiment of his State, and in opposition to the views of his great friend Colonel Ben- 
 ton, and who has maintained it ever since ? Is he an unwilling advocate of emaaci- 
 pation who presided at the Pittsburg convention which formed the Republican party? 
 Or ig that man an "unwilling advocate" who voted against Banks for Speaker; who 
 voted against Sherman for Speaker ; who voted against Lincoln and for John Bell, 
 always a trimmer and at last a traitor ; and who, not two years ago. denounced the ad- 
 
ministration and its anti-slavery policy in speeckea delivered in Brooklyn and Balti- 
 more ? Let any honest man answer. • 
 As I said in the outset of my remarks, this whole business in Missouri and Mary- 
 land, in the form and shape in which it has made its appearance in these halls, has 
 been concocted for the purposs of defeating the re-nomination of Mr. Lincoln. Does 
 any sane man suppose that those seventy-odd gemtlemen came all the way from Mis- 
 souri as a grand committee of radicals to ask for the removal of Schofield and with 
 no higher game in view ? Would they have gone to call on Mr. Chase in 'a body to 
 express to him their thanks for the help and sympathy he gave them, and to toast him 
 as their candidate for the Presidency, unless they desired to notify the whole country 
 that they were suffering a great grievance from the President, and that they looked to 
 the Secretary for succor ? Does anybody suppose that this grand protest would have 
 been gotten up against Schofield's confirmation, after an agreement to let the thing 
 drop, and that my friends from Iowa would have been prevailed upon, by misrepresen- 
 tations, to append their names to such a statement ? Can it be supposed that such pains 
 would have been taken to draw them into this trap merely for the purpose of procuring 
 the removal of Schofield ? 
 
 Mr. GRINNELL. I wish to say to the gentleman from Missouri, as one of the Iowa 
 delegation which signed that representation in behalf of our State, that the voters of 
 my district, many of them, reside on the borders of Missouri, and are competent to 
 judge cf the condition of affairs over the border, and that I signed that paper in per- 
 fect good faith. 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. I have no doubt of that. 
 
 Mr. GRINNELL. We believed that one county in my district was in great danger, 
 as there had been frequent raids into the southern portion of Iowa. I did not sign 
 that paper with any intention of taking part against President Lincoln or Postmaster 
 General Blair, nor for the purpose of affecting the political relations of the State of 
 Missouri. I spoke of what I knew, and with good intentions. 
 
 Mr. WILSON. Will the gentleman yield to me one moment ? 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missoixri. Let me first say a word in reply to the gen.leman's col- 
 league. I did not intend to say anything, nor do I mean to be understood as saying 
 anything to indicate that that gentleman, or any part of the Iowa delegation, were 
 privy to the design for which the protest was gotten up. I say they were entrapped 
 into it. That is my opinion about it, and whatever the gentleman may think about 
 the condition of affairs in Missouri, I think he is very much mistaken about it, and the 
 facts have shown that he was mistaken. I did not intend to say that he was privy to 
 the designs of the men engaged in this business, which designs are shown by the utter 
 want of foundation in fact for the statements they made, (I mean the protest, not the 
 statement of the Iowa delegation,) and by their criticism of military affairs, which they 
 were wholly incompetent to criticise, by the manner in which that pretest was pro- 
 duced in the Senate — a memorial against the confirmation of a general officer read in 
 open session, and not in executive session, where such confirmations are only consider- 
 ed — everything connected with it shows that the design was to attack the President 
 who had denied the validity of the charges against Schofield. I now yield to the gen- 
 tleman from Iowa. 
 
 Mr. WILSON. I do not know but the gentleman from Missouri "has a perfect right* 
 to speak for the President of the United States in all matters ; still I do not know that 
 he has ; and I may say that I do not Lolieve that he has that right. When he speaks 
 of the Iowa delegation being drawn into a trap in signing the paper to which he has 
 referred, I with to tell him as one member of the Iowa delegation that I fell into no 
 trap. I know not what that paper was ; I know what it contained, and I know that it 
 contained the truth. That is all I have to say in reply to the gentleman. 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. I do not dispute that the statemeut of the gentleman is 
 in accordance with his view of the matter; but I maintain the statement I have made. 
 
 Mr. GRINNELL. I wish to say one word more 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. I cannot yield if these interruptions are to be taken from 
 my time. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. It will be taken from the gentleman's time unless unanimous 
 consent be obtained that it shall not be. 
 
9 
 
 Mr, ELDRIDGK. We object if it is to be taken iroin the limo of the geolleman 
 t'rora Missouri. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. If tlure be no objection tlie time occupied by interruptionii 
 will not be taken from the hour to wiiich the gentieraan is entitled under the rule 
 
 There was no oljjoction. 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. 1 yield to the pentlcman from Iowa. 
 
 Mr. GRIN NELL. Mr. Chairmnu : The Gentlejnan from Missouri could not have 
 been cognizant of the facta to which I alluded, i aiu very f,Mad to bear evidence to the 
 fact that the <;entlenian was at that timo'.himsclf leadinrj lowri soldiers in battle ; and 
 I honor him for the position he occupied at the time of these occurrences. Bui, Hir, I 
 eay there was a rebel correspondence between northern Missouri and the southern 
 portion of my district for a long time. I say that these borJer men of .Mis.souri, under 
 the name of Missouri State militia, did come over into my district, and did there 
 threaten loyal men. They did steal horses and rob hen roosts. I say these northern 
 Missouri men, under the name of Missouri State militia, did conspire with men in 
 southern Iowa to blow up the court-house in one of the southwestern counties They 
 did come over there and unite themselves with Knights of the Golden Circle for the 
 •purpose ofre>sisling the draft and preventing L^niou men from filling up the quota of 
 Iowa. I know these facts, and while I give the gentleman from .Missouri full credit 
 for his valor and full credit fur his patriotism, still I must say that he is not acquainted 
 with these facts. 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. The mere fact that a few marauders did cross the border 
 and commit depredations is no justiilcation for the harsh measures resorted to agaias'. 
 General Schofield. It was well understood that the attention of the commanding officer 
 of that department was then directed to another quarter, and that it was impo?s;ble to 
 spare troops to guard the long line between the States of Missouri and Iowa. Iowa is 
 so loyal a State, and so remote from the scene of real hostility, that no cfficer would be 
 justified in placing troops to guard its borders from mere imaginary dangers, or to 
 prevent horse-stealing and hen-roost robbing. Do such facts, conceding them to be 
 true, form any good ground for asking the removal of the general commanding a mili- 
 tary department ? Such trifles it appears to me brinsj; shame to those who would make 
 them the- ground for the removal and degradation of a brave and meritorious officer. 
 
 Mr. GRINNELL. One word more, with the permission of the gentleman from 
 Misseuri. It was charged by him that the Iowa delegation in signing that Mis-ouri 
 protest had fallen into a trap. I wish to say that I signed that paper with my col- 
 leagues with my eyes open. There was no trap. I believed, and my constituents be- 
 lieve to day, that the general then in command in St. Louis was not as true as he 
 ought to be to his position : I believed that he was using his official position ior the 
 purpose of degrabiug tho=e who are called radical men, like myself. There were men 
 connected with the Army who believed this : and it is my belief now. 1 believe it from 
 the be^t of testimony. He may have been a brave mna, he may have been a true man ; 
 but still the facts 1 have staged are true ; and those of my cjus ituenta whj hud suf- 
 fered by the raids of ihese Missouri State militia, whom he was upholdi'g, had a right 
 to enter thoi: prote'st as theydid- 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, my opinion has not been changed by 
 anything which has been said by the two gentlemen from Iowa. I concede to them 
 entire honesty in their views and purposes; still I believe their inlerfere'-ic wi'.s atked 
 and obtained" by misrepresentations. It was not against General Schofield that the 
 originatori of tois scheme sought the aid of the Iowa Delegation. Thtir purpose was 
 to level a blow at the President, and induc3 the Senate of the United Stares to deal 
 that blov/. 
 
 Mr. GRINNELL. I wish to distinctly deny that the Iowa delegation had any part 
 or any design to bring an accusation again-.t the President of the I nitcd Stales. lh.al 
 delegation, sir, are notag-iinst th,- President. 
 
 Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. I have again and again said that I did not suppose ihey 
 had any such desiga. I put it upon those who originated th^s atVair, and who, having 
 obtained by misrepresentations the statement of the Iowa delegation, used it not 
 against General Schofield, but against the President, as the whnle transactun in the 
 Senate ehows upon its very face. Now, sir, whj is -his General Schrheld . 1 knew 
 
10 
 
 him as the officer who mustered the fir.it troops from Missouri at the beginning of 
 the war, iu the mklst of dangers that the men who are now denouncing him shrank 
 from in disoiay. *They shrank away in alarm, and their arms hung nerveless by their 
 sides when this officer stood forward bravely in the performance of his duty. He was 
 the companion and trusted friend of the hercdc Ljoa, who fell dead on the bloody 
 field of Wilson's Creek, almost in his arms. He bas t^pproved his loyalty and effici- 
 ency on the field of battle ; he has tested his valor and devotion to ihe country. His 
 revilers are that class of noisy patriots whose devotion to the Government is attested 
 only by their clamors. 
 
 I do not myself approve of his entire administration in Missouri, but I honor bis 
 patriotism and ability, and appreciate the difficulty of his position, made more so by 
 those who have done more complaiaing than fighting. General Sohofield a,ssented to 
 the order by which four counties in my State wera depopulated, and the wives and 
 children of twelve hundred Union men then in the United States Army were driven 
 from their homes. He assented to this order given by General Ewing. I did not 
 approve of it. It was a concession to the radicals, who threatened to overthrow the 
 State government, but did not conciliate them. 
 
 My colleague [Mr. Blow] asserted ia round terms that at a meeting or caucus of 
 my friends in St. Louis, in August, 1862, I had advocated the removal of General 
 Schofield and the substitution of another in the command of the department of Mis- 
 souri, and that I had deputed him to bear my complaints to the President. I denied 
 the statement ; and whea, in August, 1862, he came to this city and used my name 
 with the President and General H^slleck to efl^ct that purpose I sent a telegram to 
 General Halleck in the folio, ving words : 
 
 St. Louis, Missouri, Aug. 12, 1862. 
 Major General H. W. Halleck : 
 
 Nobody 13 authorized to ask Schofield's removal in my name. I have written to Hon. Mr, 
 Blair asking that his po ^'crs may be more ample, and that he may be disembarrased from liie 
 authority of Governor Gamble. 
 
 ril\NK P. BLAIR, Jr. 
 
 [Telegram.] 
 (Oflficial copy.) 
 
 Headquarters, February 25. 1864. 
 
 D. C. WAGER, A. A. G. 
 
 General Halleck informs me that he told my coUeague that he had received this 
 dispatch, and thinks it probable that he showed it to him, and he therefore knew that 
 I did not assent to, his coming here to represent me. He knew this when he made the 
 statement on this floor a few days siiice. 
 
 I will state that a meeting of our friends did take place about the time indicated. 
 Many complaints were made in that meeting by my friends against General Schofieli. 
 ffe was no', however, in command of the department : no department commander had 
 ilieu been appointed to succeed General Halleck, who had been ordered here to the 
 chief command a short time previous. General Schofield was in command of the dis- 
 trict; Curtis commanded another district ; and Schofield had expressed his desire to 
 do what our friends complained of his not doing, but alleged that he had no authority, 
 as he was only a district commander and did not have the authority necessary. I ex- 
 plained this to those present at that meeting. All that I S'lid was in explanation of 
 the matters alleged againtt General Schofield, based upon his own statements. The 
 only resolution which I proposed was one asking that a department commander might 
 be appointed, and the dispatch 1 have quoted and the letter referred to in it show very 
 plainly thai 1 would have been well satisfied with the appointment of Gen. Schofield. 
 The statement of my colleague is utterly devoid of truth. 
 
 Schofiald some time afterwards gave m^ to understand that the iMOtives of my col- 
 league's volunteering to come to Washington and misrepresent me were that he was the 
 owner of a li-ad mine iu southwest Missouri, which he was desirous should be wel! 
 guarded by United States troops ; that he (Schofield) did not consider it as important 
 
11 
 
 as seme other iuterejta, and that he could not spare the troops to advance my col- 
 league's private Bpeculatioii, and he attriljuted his hostility to this caus". 
 
 The great point of attack made by my colleague in his Bpecch was the resolution 1 
 offered in this House, asking a committee to investigate the operations of iho Treasury 
 Department in tbt^ regulation of the commercial intercourse with the Slaten in iusur- 
 rection. He paesed a hij^h eulogiuni upon the distinguished Secretary of the Treasury, 
 and denounced me for presuming to introduce such a resolution. Lie denied that there 
 was any ground for the investigation, and yet he was cautious to vote against my reso- 
 lution, and so did all the friends of that distinguished gentleman. I say that there^ is 
 ground for it. I say here in my place and upon my responsibility as a Uepresenlative 
 that a more profligate administration of the Treasury Department never existed under 
 any (loverumeut; that {he whole i^Iississippi valley is rank and fetid with the Jraud 
 and corruption practiced there by hia agents ; that " permits " to buy cotton are just 
 as much a marketable commodity as the cotton itself; that those permits to buy cotton 
 are brought to St, Louia and other western cities by p'-iliticians and favorites from 
 distant parts of the country, and sold on 'change to the highest bidder, whether he hf'. 
 a secessionist or not, and that, too, at a time when the best Union men in these cities 
 were refused permits, That is equally true of the "trade stores," as they arc called— 
 monopolies of trade in certain districts or cities in the South. Thf se "trade stores 
 are given to political partisans and favorites, who share the profits with o her men 
 who furnish the capital, Mr. Chase furnishipg capital to his friends and partisans^ in 
 the shape of a permit or privilege to monopolize the trade of a certain city or district; 
 and furthermore, it can be estabiished that the practice of taking bribes on the part 
 of these Treasury agents for permits to trade, and for conniving at violations of la^y, 
 is EO common that it has almost ceased to attract attention or excite comment. It is 
 the most corrupt and demoralizing system that ever was invented, and has become a 
 public scandal. No wonder that General Grant, in his remonstrance agauist this 
 system, said, 'No honest man could do business under such a system."' 1 am satis- 
 tied that, upon a rigid and honest scrutiny, the statements I have made can be estab- 
 lished by competenc proof. Here is a statement which 1 find in the Biltimore Ameri- 
 can, a stanch Union paper, and which appears to be vouched by the name of a party 
 whom I take to be responsible and respectable, for otherwise that journal would kirdly 
 have inserted his statement. It is as Ibllows : 
 
 Baltimore, February •^, L^u^. 
 
 Messrs. Editors of the Baltimore American : 
 
 I desire to make known throngh yonr paper, to the community generally, Boraelbing which 
 I am sure will aBtonish every Union man in our city who has not previously he:.rd ot it, ana 
 they, I think, are few. It is this, Mc^f^rs. Editors, that on Saturday, 30:h ult., ihe scDcon-r 
 Ann Hamilton, Captain Sterling, witb Samuel Q. Miles on board, as the agent of anoiter 
 party, cleared from this port witti a cargo of flfry sacks of salt, and a general assortment oi 
 merchandise, valued perhaps at 810,000 with permission from Mr. Rii^ley, the agent ot ine 
 Treasury Department, and sanctioned by General Butler, to take the same within tie rti)Ci 
 lines, that is to say, to the counties of Kortiiumberland and Lancaster, State ol Virginia. 
 
 Had Jeff. D.vvis himself requested the Government authorities to send him the amount oi 
 goods taken from here by Mr. Milos, and the auLhorili'.s had consented to grint the sa™e, l 
 am sure I would not have been more astonii-hcd. It is well known, Messrs. Edi.ors, that the 
 Govemmtnt has no troops in either of those two countits, has no custom ( (licers to examine 
 what may be proposed to be landed, ana that that section is as much under reljel jnriBillcllon 
 as Charleston, South Carolina. As to the truth of this B'atcment I can point out to Tf>ii 
 dozens of men in the State of Maryland who have been compelled to flee their Loui«^ hua 
 ff^milies in those two counties, and who dare not return to the fame. No Lnion man can go 
 to either of them for the Bimpie reason that he would be immediately a.rerted and fcnt on nis 
 
 But while it is a matter of astonishment that a cargo of goods should be allowed by those 
 in authority to go there (a portion of country entirely ncder rebel rtile.) It Is *^;]["*''y *° *"" 
 Mr. Mike, a man known to almost every Union man in Baliimnre to be one of tte "'"ere" 
 rebels we have amons us, who has from the commencement doue and said »;ii'"»^ "^ "^i;."" 
 against the Government ; a man who could not engage in thu worship of OoU in iiu' ^-^w 
 Assembly Rooms- could not think of such a thing, because General Schenck had OTdtrKa ine 
 Stars and Stripes to be suspended in the room; a man who indorsed and c^^mmcnUea ine*^- 
 tion of the mob on the 19th of April. 1861, in murdering Massachusetts soldiers In our s.rtcie. 
 
12 
 
 and one perhaps who has rendered more aid and comfort to the rebels, or as much, at least, 
 as any man in our city, by sending goods to the very counties named ever since the rebellion 
 commenced, setting at defiance the blockade ; that such a man, a known enemy of the Gov- 
 ernment, should be allowed to take within the rebel lines a large number of boxes of mer- 
 chandise said to contain certain articles, as per manifest, and the vessel, too, commanded by 
 Captain Sterling, who, I am informed, has long ago made the acquaintance of Fort McHenry 
 on account of his bloikade-running proclivities— if this is not astonishing, then, Messrs. Edi- 
 tors, what would be I 
 
 But, sirs, there is something also to be looked at in this affair. Who are the parties who 
 have thuB imposed on General Batler? for no one believes, who knows the General, that he 
 would ever have consented to this project had he known the character of Mr. Miles. Some 
 parlies professing to be Union men must have imposed on Mr. Risley and General Butler 
 also; and I think, sirs, the community ought to knovr who they are. I, for one, cannot be- 
 lieve that General Butler would ever have consented to allow such a privilege to one so well 
 known in this community as one of the greatest friends of those in arms seeking to destroy 
 the very Government that he (General B.) has been so nobly and skillfully upholding, 
 
 I could give you many proofs of the truth of what I say in regard tc Mr. Miles ; and as to 
 the facts of the vessel clearing from thip port, that can be obtained by calling upon the proper 
 officers at our customhouse. I will only add, Messrs. Editors, that if such a privilege is 
 granted to Mr. Miles, and they ar§ fully aware of his sentiments, &c,, I think the authorities 
 ought to carry the matter a little further, and return to him the amount of money they have 
 received from the sale of his goods they have captured while trying to run the blockade — more 
 especially those captured on board the schooner Hampton, Captain Roe, (in one of the very 
 counties to which he now goes,) about a year since - aa that was quite a snug little sum. 
 
 By publishing this letter in your valuable journal, thereby calling the attention of the two 
 gentlemen who I am sure have been grossly deceived in tbe matter, you will much oblige your 
 friend. 
 
 STEPIOE B. TAYLOR. 
 
 Is this a matter worth inquiring into ? Such an act iu aid of the rebels in arms 
 would send any one, except a Treisary Agent, to Fort Lafayette. 
 
 Sir, if the friends of the SdCietary of the Treasury had not felt that these facts 
 could be proven they would not have voted against investigation, but would, on the 
 contrary, have invited it. The friends of the Secretary of the Navy when assailed by 
 the friends of Mr. Chase have invited scrutiny and have not asked that those gentle- 
 men who desired to investigate his proceedings or the affairs of his Department should 
 be kept off the committee of investigation. The cotton-spinner (Assis'ant Secretary 
 Fox) to whom the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Davis] alludes so contemptuously, 
 (fergetting for the moment that he is now attempting to patronize that most meritori- 
 ous class of New England men,) has brought with him from his northern home the 
 same sturdy honesty that distinguishes the men with whom he labored, as well as the 
 honor of the Navy, which has never been tarnished and iu which he gained his first 
 distinction. He and the Pecretary of the Navy will not permit their friends to shield 
 them by voting against resolutions of inquiry or investigation, and are ready to commit 
 the inquiry to those who make the accusations. 
 
 My colleague ] Mr. Blow] was very apprehensive lest I should be put on the com- 
 mittee which I bad moved, and gives that as a reason f.>r voting against the scrutiny. 
 1 do not think the action of the speaker in that regard need strike him with any great 
 tremor. There has been no disposition on tbe part of the Speaker to place me upon 
 committees when he could avoid it I came here somewhat late, having "lingered 
 in the field," as my coU-ague says reprovingly, until active operations were over, and 
 stood upon no commiuce. Soon afterwards a committee was created on the conduct 
 of the war, and to examine into fraudulent contracts in tho War Department. There 
 was immediately "a double shuflle"' of the cards in the face of toe House, One of 
 my colleagues [Mr. Ljan] resigned h's place on the ]\rilitary Committee, and was 
 pUced on the new committee, and 1 was put into his old sho33. It would seem, there- 
 fore, that the Speaker is not anxious to place me where I could p'y into these deli- 
 cate matters. 1 cannot perceive the propriety of the gentleman's doubts as to the 
 Speak«;r's entire impartiality. He has already declared in a public card that he is not 
 for Lincoln for tbe next Presidency, and even goes so far as to say that he is for none 
 of the prominent candidates named for that high place. No man could possibly occupy 
 a more impartial attitude. [Laughter. | 
 
 No one can have failed to observe the broad distinction between the conduct of the 
 
friends of the S crelary of the Nuvy and that of the fricadn of the Secretary of the 
 Trtatiury upon niuttera of ihid ki. d. The Seer lury of ihe Navy hm inviti.-d «cruiiiiy 
 iuto ihe jilfairs of his Uep^irtinciil, aud ihi.sc who have iimdo hc u.sutiuds uud lu.jved 
 rciolutioiis of inquiry have b. come conductors of the scrutiny without complaint or re- 
 sistance on the part of his fneuds. 'Ihis is proj)^r and jarliumeniary ; any other 
 course wjuld siifie investi^at on and be unfair to those who make ihi: accusa ions, 
 i'he liw of parliaLCUtary prociedin,,'s says that '• the chdd is not to be put to a uurs* 
 that carea not for it'" — an iuves-i^'aiiou is nor, to be committed to those who opjjose it. 
 •• It IS therefore a constant rulf," says the ilanatii, '• that no man is lu be employed 
 iu any mattrr who has declared himteif agauioi it." "And wh. n i ny member who i^ 
 agaiu.-.tihe bill (or inquiry) htars himselt named of its commiitee he ought lo a.^k lo 
 be recused. " (Barclay a Digest, p. 81 ) If the scrutiny is mtrusttd to iUi.se who are 
 opposed to it, of course uulhmg will be fou.id ; nur is it fair to him who alleges, upon 
 his responsibility us a member, that there is ground for ii.vcsii^'utiou, to deny him the 
 opportunity ot establishing it. What 1 a>-k in this matter is that the fneuOs of ihe 
 yeerelary ol the Treasury will concede what is doinaudrd by pailiameutary Uw, and 
 iheu 1 will stand or full by the result. I am without, the power, pos tion, or abili v of 
 (he disliuguished Stcietary, but my reputation is as dear to me as his can be to him or 
 his friends. I have made he >tllegaiions, and 1 have otlVred to put ^hem to the test. 
 His Iricuds have refu.-ed it, and iu doing so have siabbed tbeir fiiend. 1 have aKen 
 this course beciUse lime and a^ain remonstrances have be; n made a^ainsi the iiefari- 
 ous aysiem which iuHictn ^o much iijury upon my coustituems and ihe whole VVutt; 
 the Secretary has treated tbe.-e represtruia ions with contempt; and his advocates 
 when hard pressed, have sought to shift the burJeu upon the shoulders of ihe Presi- 
 dent and (Jen ral Grant. Not content wnh using thii vas- pairouage to undermine the 
 man who gave him his position, he se^ks to cast the odium ol his own corrupt acts 
 upon hioi whose contidence he has thus betrayed. 
 
 What right under t|i« Jaw had bo to impose its restrictions within the S'tate of Mis- 
 souri? Tue law wis enacied to r. gulate irade and intercourse between loyal States 
 and States in iusuneenoii. Does it allow restrictions wilhiu ihe Siate ot Oh o? Has 
 Missuuri e-er been deciared m insurrection? Missouri has always bad a bjyil "-ov- 
 e<niuent, recognized by every depattment of the Federal Government ; and although 
 her territory has been invaded by the eneinv, yet ior a year past no loice j-.s lori-ud- 
 able as that with which John Moigan invaded Indiana and Ujio has troddeu uj;on 
 her ,oil, cr remained iher*- as long or fared better during their tojouru. Why, then, 
 keep these resiriciions ia Missouri, and not in Ohio ana Indiana ? Until w ihin the 
 last mon h a man liting m Missouri, twenty miles Irom St. Lou.-, could no ge. a bar- 
 rel of S:tlt or flour from that cuy without paying for a permit, i am tuld that a jud^/e 
 of our sup'cme court living in ihe adji.ining county ot So. Charles, paid lor a p.rmit 
 in fcit. Louis to take a picture; cf GeLcral Washington to his home as a Christmas 
 present to his chi.dren. This thing ha-i been continued tj wi bin the las;, twrutj 
 days; and for the la^t six mouths lu organized force of the enemy has penetrated 
 north of ihe Arka.sas river. It, was at, lasr. disconiiuued on ihe pditi m ol my dis- 
 tinguished radical colleagues, aud blazoned as a triumph ef their mlluen e. The 
 Secretary could not h »ve oeen hurried any by my resolution, lor he felt himself sife 
 here in the bauds cf hi« inends. It was brought to me to sign I bigned, not that 
 pe'ition, but a statement " ihat in my opinion there had bten no excuse for this thing 
 tor the last six months ;" but for fear ot iffending the august Secretary my protesi aud 
 signature were erased. My cdleague launcs me with my zeal lor uiy 'trad ng friends.'" 
 f have none who would '• trade " oil' the rights intrusted to their defense for the tmiies 
 of a man in power. 
 
 The permit sy.stem has finally been abandoned in Missouri, but the agents atd otS- 
 cials who formerly spread this netivork over our desolated Stdte and pii'chtd its ruined 
 iuhabitints, still rema n. i'Lese dependents on the Secretary, these missionaries 
 of his presidential asjira'ioas, are itdl extant, and i-eceive their salaries. Some 
 of them, I suppose, employ ihemnclvesm dis-eiainating thac '•strictly priv.ae'' circular 
 whio c^me to 1 fe the other d.y, which informs us tha. the fr ends if M-. Ch^se, who 
 have ^o feelmyly denounced ail open tff^^ns to bring lorward a candidate or the Prt-ai- 
 dency, have been secretly Ibrmi-jg an organization m his tavor all over thi couf.try, 
 
14 
 
 and which charges the administration of Mr. Lincohi with "corruption." None Ivpo^ 
 better than the friends of Mr. Chase at whose door that corruption lies, as their efforts 
 to stifle investigation here so plainly prove. 
 
 It is a matter of surprise that a man having the instincts of a gentleman would re- 
 main in the Cabinf-t after the disclosure of such an intrigue against the one to whom 
 he owes his portfolio. 
 
 I preiume the President i.s w II content that he should stay; for every Lour that he 
 remair.s sinks him deeper in the contempt of every honorable man. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I give notice that on Monday nexr, or as soon thereafter as I am 
 permitted to do so, I will r<- introduce the resolution which I have already had the honor 
 to propose to the House, and if not again refused ])y the fdends of the Secretary, I will 
 either establish the facts I have alleged, or I will make the amplest reparatiou in my 
 power to the distinguished gentleman at the head of the Treasury. 
 

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