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 IR K ]SI 7*^ R K S 
 
 OF THE 
 
 'CONAUG-HY, 
 
 SENATOfi FROM ADAMS AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, 
 
 OlA THE RESOLUTION ENDORSING THE ACTION OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES SENATE IN REINSTATING E. M. 
 
 STANTON AS SECRETARY OP WAR. 
 
 r)l::LIVERED JANUARY 21, 1868. 
 
 Mr. Davis (ot'Be^:ks) having in the course 
 tJf his remarks spoken as follows : 
 
 '•\V(5 know that sometimes a scavenger 
 must be employed to do dirty work. But it 
 is not customary anionj^; gentlemen to treat 
 Jiim as an equal, much less to eulogize him 
 as a su'jierior being." 
 
 "This base cruelty, committed by Edwin 
 M. iStanloa, will cling to him living, like tlie 
 poisonoJ shirt, and dying, sink him deeper in 
 iho bottomless pit than ever was sunk an or- 
 dinary murderer." 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY_. Mr. Speaker, the 
 Senator from Berks [Mr. Davjs] has well 
 said, that, a scavenger is needed when dirty 
 work is to be done. Sir, I will not dispute 
 lliat proposition with him. He has demon- 
 strated it now and here beyond all doubt. 
 Sir, there must be something beneath ^11 this 
 bitter hatred — this malignity v^hich is so in- 
 tense and fearful that it would seem as if it 
 could only have emanated from that being 
 whose presence the Senator summoned into 
 this Chamber, when he endeavored to solve 
 his enigma. The spirit that is here exhibited 
 is so malignant tJiat it could only have 
 emanated from those dejiths in which that 
 spirit of evil, that great prototype and univer- 
 sal symbol of malignity delights to breathe 
 and live. And, sir, to a careful and observ- 
 ant man there is, something deeper than all 
 this, underlying this vidictive ebullition. 
 Why this hatred, why this animosity, why 
 this spirit which in cold blood would strip 
 the skin from the victim from his scalp to his 
 toe ! Sir, it is that spirit which is more dan- 
 gerous to American liberty than 'anything 
 else of which we have ever read or 
 dreamed — the bitter malignity of po- 
 litical hatred. That spirit is more danger- 
 ous to the success of the cause, of republican 
 
 liberty, than all other adverse inflaences which 
 it has to encounter. 
 
 When, sir, the future historian comes to 
 write the name of Edwin M. Stanton among 
 the great ones of the age, when he seeks a 
 legend with which to express the character o^ 
 that man, he will inscribe upon his historical 
 monument these words: "This man lovcc; 
 his country more than party." There, sir, i. 
 the solution of the whole question. It is '<■ 
 this they hate him. 
 
 Sir, go back to 1860, to the epoch when re- 
 bellion threatened and the Government "vni, 
 under the administration of a Democratic 
 President, Mr. Buchanan. Who were his 
 counsellors? Democrats, all. What did 
 they, sir, when the hour of peril came ? Did 
 they stand by the Government? What did 
 his Democratic Secretary of the Treasury, 
 Howell Cobb? He withdrew from his place 
 in the cabinet "on account tif his duty to 
 Georgia." What did his Democratic Minis- 
 ter of War, John B. Floyd? After attempt- 
 ing to rob the Government of the arms for 
 its defense, and thus securing to himself the 
 un iviable epitliet of 'the thief,' he withdrew 
 "because the President declined to order the 
 garrison from the harbor of Charleston alto- 
 gether." 
 
 Sir, what did the Democratic Attorney Gen- 
 eral, Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania? 
 He made vacant his office after seeking in a 
 State paper to demonstrate that the Govern- ' 
 ment could not coerce a State in order to 
 crush rebellion and preserve its own existence. 
 Sir, it was at that time that Mr. Buchanan, that 
 poor, miserable, tottering old man at the helm 
 of State, without moral courage enough to 
 stand by the land which gave him birth, 
 and invested him with the highest office in its 
 gift, in his extremity called to his aid that 
 noble and courageous man, Edwin M. Stan- 
 
^^4T 
 
 ton. He invited him into his cabinet at the 
 recommen'^ation of Judge Black. He came 
 at the summons and stood amid that band of 
 conspirators, like an unwelcome spectre at a 
 council. He told them to their teeth that they 
 were the assassins of liberty, and that he 
 would stand by the Government, let them do 
 as they would. He held up that old man who 
 would have fallen into the yawning gulf of per- 
 dilion which gaped before him, had it not 
 been for the brave and patriotic Stanton. 
 There is one thing about this man's history 
 that must have impressed every intelligent 
 reader of American politics. At the close of 
 Mr. Buchanan's administration, in the mo- 
 ment of imminent danger, he is called into 
 the cabinet alone on account of his pre-emi- 
 nent abilities. All through the administrar 
 tion of Mr. Lincoln he was his chosen and 
 constant trusted counsellor and minister at the 
 head of the department of wdr, both during 
 his first term and his second, until stricken 
 down by the hand of an assassin. And even 
 then, when the apostate reached the Presiden- 
 tial chair, he leaned and relied upon the Sec- 
 retary of War, sir, because of his prominent 
 abilities which, during all these years of war 
 -_j J igj,^ ^g^g ^j. i,^yj^|yjj{^jg important- 
 Ill •, e country. i 
 _Su, wv aeed nothing more than his public 
 bistory, nothing more than the unwilling 
 Iribule from the Buchanan administration, 
 rom the present administration to sig- 
 i— .- . iLc virtues and services of Edwin M. 
 Stanton. Sir, it is because he would not 
 abandon hiscountry, because he stood by the 
 cjuuti-y of his birth and his love in utter disre- 
 gard of his olden party ties ; it is for this reason 
 that gentlemen on the other side of the cham- 
 ber cannot find -language to express their 
 hatred of him. What does the Senator from 
 Berks resort to in his vain ofiort to sustain 
 the bill of indictment which he has brought 
 against him ? He resorts to the irresponsible 
 and ephemeral writings of a nev/spaper cor- 
 respondent. He takes up Mr. Brown, or Mr. 
 Smith, or some other penny-a-liner who is 
 engaged in correspondence v/ith • one of 
 the city dailies— he produces him aS' his 
 solitary witness against the man v/ho, by the 
 devotion of his great talents and years 
 of unceasing labor, has proven his fidelity 
 to the interests of this country, and who has 
 stood through this war a monument of loy- 
 alty and dauntless courage and patriotic de- 
 votion. Sir, there is one cbaracteristicTof Ed- 
 win M. Stanton I admire above all others, and 
 that is, that glorious backbone — that spirit 
 of patriotic resolve— that firm, unflinching 
 bravery — with which he stood, ever fearless 
 and bold, to fight, and fall if need be, battling 
 with the enemies of his country. 
 
 I was astounded, Mr. Spealcer, that the 
 gentleman should have read what he did in 
 the audience of this Senate. When he was 
 
 rehearnii)g those deeds of horrid crueJiy, he 
 was reading to us the acts of his frieo-ds — 
 of the members of his own political paJi'ty, 
 the Southern Democracy of this country — the 
 elegant gentlemen of *his country — the aristr*^ 
 cratic Democrats of this land — the men wIW)» 
 have left a blot upon the American character,, 
 which all the waters of the earth cannot w^^shi 
 out. 
 
 Mr. BURNETT. I desire to ask the gen- 
 tleman one question, if he believes the New ■ 
 York Tribune association would employ the . 
 services of a rebel for its correspondent dur- 
 ing the rebellion ? 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY. Not consciously, 
 although I have no doubt that it did. But, 
 sir, I believe 1 am not apprehended by the 
 Senator [Mr. Burnett]. I was speaking of 
 the high-toned gentlemen who conducted the 
 rebel prisons of the South; those prisoHpens 
 which have become a part of the history of 
 this rebellion ; those prison pens of which 
 Jefferson Davis, formerly a Democratic 
 United States Senator, and the Democratic 
 Lee, were not unconscious and not unknow- 
 ing ; those prisons, sir, which have stained 
 with infamy the people of the South, who un- 
 dertook to destroy this Republic, and erect 
 upon its ruins a grander government ; one 
 which should have a black foundation and a 
 white pinnacle ; the same party that now iti 
 the North arrogates to itself the classic epi- 
 thet of the White Man's Party. 
 
 Why, sir, the question involved here is one 
 that ought not to have called for such a tor- 
 rent of defamation upon the Minister of War. 
 As I understand it, the question is simply 
 this : Under the Constitution the President's 
 cabinet advisers are to be appointed with the 
 advice and consent of the Senate. Congres.'s 
 from time to time has made statutory regula- 
 tions for carrying out that provision of the 
 Constitution. The Pi-esident is to nominate- 
 and the Senate is to confirm, if in its judg- 
 meet it can approve. 
 
 Now, sir, Mr. Johnson undertook to sus- 
 pend Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War from 
 the exercise of his office for reasons which, 
 under the Constitution, he presented as sulH- 
 clent. But the Senate sitting upon the 
 reasons assigned, has pronounced that they 
 were not sufficient. Aiid hence this din and 
 outer)' about a violation of the Constitution by 
 the action of the Senate. Sir, I wish it to be 
 known, when this country was in imminent 
 danger, and when tke issue came whether it 
 should exist or not; when the question was 
 wkether this Republic, in addition to the other 
 excellencies of human governments, had the 
 inherent power which was necessary for its 
 own maintenance againstall enemies, external 
 and internal — when that issue was to be de- 
 cided there was in the Presidential chair a 
 Democratic President. That question arose, 
 and Mr. Buchanan, the then- President, an- 
 
fiwered it thns. I read from his message, in 
 December, 1860: 
 
 "The question fairly stated is, has the Con- 
 stitution delegated to Congress the power to 
 (•oerce a State into submission which has at- 
 tempted to withdraw or has actually with- I 
 drawn from the confederacy. After much seri- 
 ous reflection I have arrived at the conclu- ' 
 sion that no such power has been delegated 
 to Congress, nor to any other department of j 
 the Federal Government." ; 
 
 Mr. BURNETT, I desire to interrupt { 
 the gentleman. Will the Senator alllow me ! 
 to ask it? 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY. If it is pertinent j 
 to the question I am discussing i 
 
 KFf, BURNETT. Did not the New York \ 
 Tribune take the same position ? 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY. I am not the keeper 
 of the New York Tribune, and I would not 
 be the keeper of the man who became bail 
 for Jefferson Davis. 
 
 I was attempting to show the position of 
 the Democratic party by the utterances of its 
 President, when this issue was forced upon 
 the country. "After much serious reflection 
 I have arrived at the conclusion that no such 
 l«)wer has been delegated to Congress nor 
 in any other departm^it of the Federal 
 <iovernment." Now, just at that crisis Mr. 
 Stanton was called to advise the President. 
 Mr. Stanton entertained no such doctrine. 
 
 He believed that this Government had the 
 power to coerce a State ; the people believed 
 it, and the country believed it. And the 
 strong arms of the noble men of this country 
 made it a historical fact that this nation can 
 and will coerce and suppress every power 
 that would stand in the pathway of its pro- 
 gress. 
 
 Now, sir, I propose to look, for only one 
 instant, at the attitude of the Democratic 
 party four years later than the advent of the 
 rebellion. I desire that history shall not be 
 forgotten. And in this connection, I read 
 from the speech of Henry Clay Dean, made 
 in the Democratic National Convention, held 
 at Chicago, in 1864 : 
 
 "For three years Lincoln has been calling 
 for men and with all the armies placed at his 
 command be has failed, failed, failed ; such 
 a failure has never been known, such a de- 
 .stTuction of human life has never been known 
 .Mnce the destruction of Sennacherib by the 
 breath of the Almighty." 
 
 This is the charge made by one of its lead- 
 ers, who was cheered to the echo in that 
 Democratic National Convention, in the 
 midst of a terrible war when the existence of 
 the nation had become a question of doubt, 
 iMid the Government was struggling for life. 
 1 read further from his speech : 
 'Still the monsterusurperwanted raoremeu 
 for his slaught'jr pens. Ever since the usurp- 
 er, triiitor, and tyrant had occupied the Pres- 
 
 idential chair, the Republican party bait 
 shouted war to the knife and the knife to th^ 
 hilt ! Blood had flown in torrents, anW yet 
 the thirst of the old monsterwas not quenched. 
 His cry was for more blood." 
 
 That is but one of the many like haranguer, 
 that were freely uttered in that convention. 
 And the resolutions breathed the same spirit. 
 I will ask the Clerk to read the second reso- 
 lution, known as the second platform of the 
 Democratic party, adopted in the Chicago. 
 Convention of 1864. 
 
 The Clerk read the resolution as follows:: 
 '■'Resolved, That this Convention does ex- 
 plicitly declare, as the sense of the American 
 people, that after four years of failure to restore 
 the Union by the experiment of war, during 
 which, under the pretense of a military ne- 
 cessity, of a war power higher than the Con- 
 stitution, the Constitution itself has been dis- 
 regarded in every part, and public liberty and 
 private right alike trodden down, and the ma- 
 terial prosperity of the country essentially 
 impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the 
 public welfare demands thatimmediate efforts 
 be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a 
 view to an ultimate convention of all thp. 
 States, or other peaceable means, to the end 
 that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace 
 may be restored on the basis of the Federal 
 Union of the States." 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY. "Cessation of hos- 
 tilities!" "Peace!" "Peace!" when the 
 armed hosts of the rebellion, bold, insolent 
 and defiant, were threatening the very capital 
 of the Ration, aye, thundering at its gates ! 
 What man, or what woman, within the 
 sound of my voice has forgotten that summer 
 of 18G4? Sir, it was a time that tried the 
 hearts of all true men in this nation. It was 
 a time when the most hopeful, the most loyal, 
 the most ardent, began to doubt and to trem- 
 ble with apprehension for the result. And, 
 sir, the nations of the earth — the old monar- 
 chies and despotisms across the sea — were 
 gazing with anxious interest, hoping for the 
 downfall of this young republic. Then it was 
 that the Democracy of the land, in national 
 convention assembled, in the audience of the 
 world, passed these resolutions, declaring 
 them to be the sense of the American people ! 
 . But, sir, the great, loyal heart of the coun- 
 try repudiated and scorned them. The noble 
 and true men of the nation rallied again, as 
 if. aroused to a new energy, and rushed 
 to the rescue. They sustained President 
 Lincoln nobly, with a majority of four hun- 
 dred thousand votes. Again he was inaugu- 
 rated President of the United States, and 
 trusted, honored and revered by the people 
 for his single-hearted, patriotic devotion, I 
 desire to aild, sir, in this connection, that 
 when the Senator from Berks [Mr, Davis] 
 and his confreres assaulted and denounced 
 Mr. Stanton as the Secretary of War, they 
 
issa\iUed and defamed the noble and sainted 
 Lincoln. Mr. Stanton, in the conduct of the 
 War Department, received the most hearty 
 and constant concurrence and approval of the 
 1 resident. I iim aware that it is within the 
 personal knowledge of the Senator from Erie 
 [Mr. Lowry], that at the very period so se- 
 verely criticised by the Senator from Berks, 
 the course of Mr, Stanton in regard to the 
 exchange of prisoners was thoroughly and 
 cordially approved by President Lincoln. I 
 sippeal to the Senator from Erie if such is not 
 his personal knowledge. 
 
 Mr LOWRY. That is mv personal 
 knowledge. 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY. Then, air, when 
 .Senators rudely assault },lr. Stanton, they 
 attack with him the man whose name is never 
 uttered but with love and reverence by all 
 true sons of America. Where is the man, 
 et his political status be what it may, who 
 has forgotten the day that the telegraph car- 
 ried throughout the whole length of this 
 country the intelligence that a Democratic 
 assa^sni had struck down the President of 
 the United States in the capital of the nation? 
 A thrill of horror ran throughout this land. 
 Men sorrowed as though thev had lost their 
 lirothers or their fathers. ^Voraen wept and 
 .■strong men wept. And, sir, who was that 
 man who committed this great crime? He 
 was an insignificant actor. Individually he 
 was nobody; but he was a representative 
 character. He was a type of a sentiment 
 that tien actuated and pervaded manv. We 
 have a reflection of his spirit even here. He 
 was s man with whom those who now assault 
 Ldvviri M. Stanton liave more sympathy than 
 iliey ha<d for President Lincoln, living or 
 dead. It cannot be mistaken. This strug- 
 gle in this Republic has been so bitter thattt 
 has gone down to the depths of the heart, 
 and it cannot soon die out. 
 
 I have been betrayed into more than 1 in- 
 t<>nded tosay. I rose because an honest in- 
 • liguation would not permit me to remain in 
 •ny scat, as it wa;i my wish to <lo, throughout 
 this discussion. ' . 
 
 Sir, I have felt every year of my lifo, since"! 
 the rebellion was stricken down, a love and I 
 devotion for the men and the cause which ! 
 
 saved this Union, which deepensandgrowsoon 
 tinually stronger. AVhatsaved this country ? I 
 ! was nothing more or less than the action and tilt 
 unfaltering devotion of the Republican party, 
 and the trije men who, loving country more 
 than olden party ties, rushed to swell its num- 
 bers, when the war commenced. It was the 
 great Republican party that rallied to the de- 
 fense of the Government, and beneath its 
 standard there came also such men as Geary, 
 Stanton, and Holt, and Sickles, and Lo<^an; 
 and Meade, and Grant, and Butler. [Laugliter 
 on the Democratic side of the Senate.] 
 
 Mr. M'CONAUGHY. Aye," Butler, hatJ 
 him as you will, and a host of others whop*^ 
 will not take time to enumerate. M^fiTsir. 
 who, when the issue was between,jK)untrya.«f' 
 party, did not for a moment hesitete to-decidfc 
 for and stand by their country aud against all 
 its enemies. 
 
 And, sir, the anathemas that have proceed] 
 ed from the Vatican were never so bitter as 
 those which proceed from the Democratic 
 party, and which are hurled by the self con- 
 stituted leaders against all who dare to prefer 
 country before it. It reijuired true nK.ral 
 courage, sir, not only to confront the enemy 
 from without, buf to break nnay fio.M all tlic 
 strong ties and associations of party and to 
 brave the relentless hatred and rancor with 
 which the Democracy pursue all who have 
 the shameless effrontery to rpfuse obedienc<> 
 to its behests. Men who have had moral 
 courage enough to brave and to endure all 
 this were not the men to ftilter, and to palter 
 in a double sense, when traitors in its coun- 
 cils proposed to destroy this Union. 
 
 Now, sir, I have simply to conclude with 
 the remark, that, the great, glorious and j.a- 
 triotic heart of the country will uphold tli.i 
 men who fought out this war, both in th. 
 Cabinet and in the iield. But, sir, although 
 they may erect to them a monument, stone 
 upon stone, riaing and swelling in grand and 
 beautiful proportions, until its glorious pin- 
 nacle will even pierce above the clouds, to 
 where eternal sunshine shall rest upon itr, 
 head, yet they cannot prevent the toad and 
 the reptile from leaving their slimc upon its 
 base. 
 
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