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 SPEECH 
 
 GEN. 
 
 G. 
 
 R. 
 
 SMITH, 
 
 > 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 P 
 
 rHE 
 
 MISSOURI 
 
 STATE SENATE, 
 
 . • 
 
 
 ON THE 
 
 
 10th OF FEBKUATCY, 1805. 
 
 ST. LOUIS: 
 
 M'KEE, XISHBACK AND CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 
 1865. 
 
SPEECH 
 
 
 GEN. G. R. SMITH, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 MISSOURI STATE SENATE, 
 
 10th OF FEBRUARY, 18Go. 
 
 ST. LOUtS: 
 
 M'KEE, FISHBACK AND CO., FIUNTERS AND BINDERS 
 
 1865. 
 

 In Exchange 
 
 Jan 2- 19« 
 
RESOLUTION AND SPEECH 
 
 GENERAL G. R. SMITH 
 
 Whereas, the loyal people of this State, on the 8th day of November 
 last, by more than forty-two thousand majority, did emphatically declare 
 in favor of the unity of these United States and the speedy suppression of 
 this unholy war, begun and carried on by Southern traitors and Northern 
 sympathizers ; and whereas, a large number of this latter class are known 
 to occupy important civil as well as military offices in this State ; there- 
 fore, be it 
 
 Resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring therein, 
 That the Constitutional Convention, now in session in the city of St. Louis, 
 be requested to pass an ordinance vacating all the civil offices of this city, 
 the incumbents of which were elected or appointed previous to the 8th day 
 of last November, and that his excellency, the Governor of this State, is 
 hereby respectfully requested to have dismissed from any of the military 
 offices of this State all persons who in any manner sympathized with the 
 South in 1861, so that the rights of Union men may be secured in this 
 Government. 
 
 Mr. President : I have not introduced this resolution for 
 the purpose of defining more clearly my position, nor to satisfy 
 any one who does not know me that I am and have always been 
 loyal, thoroughly loyal — or perhaps I ought to say "Radical ;" 
 for I believe that name is now more popular in determining the 
 status of a Union man than any other, as indicated by the eager- 
 ness with which the Conservatives, of late, adopt it. 
 
 It is not long, sir — as you and every Senator upon this floor 
 well remember — since the "Radicals" of this State were de- 
 nounced by rebel sympathizers, and by every Conservative, too, 
 as Jacobins, Red Republicans and Revolutionists ; in short, the 
 most approbrious epithets their imagination could possibly invent 
 were poured out upon us as so many vials of wrath, in order that 
 they might crush out the Radical party and bring us into disre- 
 pute. But, sir, a majority of more than forty thousand uncon- 
 ditional Union ballots given for the Radical State ticket, on the 
 
8th day of last November, has, strangely enough, produced an 
 astonishing change in the conduct at least, it' it has not in the 
 opinions, of our Conservative brethren. Why, sir, we are now 
 regarded as an honorable party, and still more wonderful to relate, 
 an honest and patriotic party, deeply impressed and absolutely 
 desirous of protecting, unimpaired, this glorious inheritance of 
 Liberty and Union, bequeathed us by our fathers. Daily, sir, 
 we hear of some astonishing converssion from Conservatism to 
 our ranks ; and occasionally a spirit more daring than its fellows 
 leaps at a bound from out of the depths of infamy and treason 
 to the hight of glory in the Radical party. 
 
 But, although my party is advancing so rapidly in favor with 
 the multitude, I have not introduced this resolution to advance a 
 single personal claim or to manufacture one jot of political 
 capital. My position, Mr. President, as far as I am known, is, 
 and always has been, well understood; I have nothing to make 
 and nothing to lose by the present avowal of my opinions. So 
 long and so intimately have I been connected with the Radical 
 party, that its glory is in part mine, and no ungrateful hand 
 could, if it would, wrench it from me ; nor can I evade its re- 
 sponsibilities, but if ever its day of shame shall come — and come 
 it may — I shall enter into the shadow of its red mantle without a 
 murmur. 
 
 One principle, Mr. President, and one alone, prompts me; that, 
 sir, is to correct an outrage, — such an outrage as every Union 
 man in Missouri will bear me out in saying has been and is to-day 
 a disgrace — a burning shame — a damning outrage — upon the 
 Union party, most reluctantly and grievously borne by U9 ever 
 since this unholy and iniquitous war was forced upon our Gov- 
 ernment by a bloated and effete aristocracy. 
 
 Go where you may, throughout this State — and I understand 
 the same facts exist in every other State — and you will find in all 
 the departments of Government, either civil or military, in many, 
 very many — perhaps ;i majority— of the offices incumbents, clerks, 
 or <'iii)j!oV!'>, who were known rebels or rebel sympathizers in 
 1861, and who are now only ostensibly byal through self-interest, 
 "that thrift may follow fawning." And now, Mr. President, I 
 appeal t'» Senators upon this Hour — I implore them — to give this 
 sttbjeol their serious consideration. Shall this condition of things 
 
longer exist, without an effort at reform ? I am not bold in de- 
 claring what is on the lips o£ every truly loyal man, that this 
 class of officials cast the weight of their office and their personal 
 influence on the side of treason. Yielding obedience to the letter 
 of law, they violate its spirit. Fawning about the Goddess of 
 Liberty, they conceal a poisoned dagger for her bosom ; drawing 
 rich nourishment from the breast of their country, they would 
 behold her character prostituted, her beauty blighted, her strength 
 departed ; and as the monster Nero fiddled in hellish glee while 
 Rome burned, they would in fiendish triumph gloat over the ruin 
 of this great Republic. 
 
 Do they never declare for the rebellion?— -equally reticent are they 
 in behalf of our Government. Do they no build bon-fires over rebel 
 successes? — they are alike stoical when a Union victory electrifies 
 the heart of the nation ? Does our Government find it necessary 
 to encroach upon the ancient and heretofore recognized rights of 
 the South, (rights no longer, however,) with what "holy horror" 
 do these hypocritical pharisees roll their eyes Heavenward, and 
 shudder for the fate of the blessed "chivalry!" But when civ- 
 ilization is outraged, as at Fort Pillow, Lawrence and Centralia, 
 and when the scalping knife of the guerrilla is seen all over our 
 devoted State — when flags are at half mast, and a black pall is 
 upon our land and we miss our Lyons, our Bakers, our McPher- 
 sons, and our thousands of other noble dead ; what one of these 
 galvanized Union men was ever known to recoil from such bar- 
 barism, or propose a monument to the departed great? Be not 
 deceived. Remember Price's last raid. Their hearts are deceit- 
 ful above all else, and desperately wicked. 
 
 Mr. President, during the continuance of this rebellion men of 
 this stripe cannot be — ought not to be — trusted in office. No one 
 can faithfully serve two masters at the same time, even though 
 both be after the manner of his liking ; much less can he love 
 the one and serve the other. 
 
 Sir, the duty of every American citizen is at war with neutral- 
 ity toward this rebellion, and obliges him to lend the energies of 
 his heart and hand to its suppression. He must be more than as 
 a stranger to its interests ; he must be its active enemy. This 
 is the service every citizen owes his Government; and it is abso- 
 lutely impossible and incompatible with a single emotion of love 
 
 a 
 
or sympathy for treason. Every officer under our Government is 
 in duty bound to wield all the power in his hands against the 
 traitors who are striving tj blot out our nationality. But in per- 
 fect accord with the principles implanted in our organization by 
 our Creator, it is out of the power of any one who loves or 
 sympathizes with the cause of the traitors to rise to the fullness 
 of this duty. Why, then, I ask, are men of doubtful loyalty, 
 and others of known disloyalty, permitted to occupy place and 
 power? "The battle is not always to the strong," but often to 
 the vigilant ; "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 
 
 Grant, however, that thus burdened we can still outride the 
 storm. Is it wise? Is it just? These are important questions 
 that the members of this body cannot consider too gravel v. Is 
 not rebellion, in a bad cause against a humane Government, a 
 serious crime? Can a nation let crime go unpunished with im- 
 punity? Lb disloyalty a virtue, with a virtuous claim upon the 
 patronage of the Government against which it has raised the 
 fratricidal hand? Can any Government afford to disregard de- 
 voted loyalty and oiler a premium for treason ? Before bein<T 
 thus merciful, is it not wise to know that it is safe to be unjust? 
 
 Mr. President, I here pronounce the practice of emplovinc 
 anti-Government and anti-Administration men in Government 
 service as foul injustice. It builds a golden bridge for the return 
 of traitors to allegiance. So long as this is the policy and prac- 
 tice of our Government, treason will be easv and a traitor in < T ood 
 repute. Proper Government places citizenship, with all its 
 manifold blessings, out of the reach of rebels. 
 
 Sir, there is one fact known to us al! that makes the practice 
 
 against which this resolution militates especially obnoxious. It 
 
 is this : Throughout our whole State there are thousands of men 
 
 whose loyalty breathes the spirit of martyrdom, whom this war 
 
 has reduced to penury and unspeakable suffering, and whose wives 
 
 and daughters eke out a miserable existence, supporting them- 
 
 dru Igeriea hitherto unknown to them. Let your eves 
 
 >ur prairies, our valleys and our hills, and see the 
 
 .1 of our State ; behold the thousands of solitary 
 
 chim rred monumeuta testifying in their mournful solitude 
 
 that here d the abode of s family who lived in comfort, 
 
 perhaps in affluence, guiltless of treason, therefore broken up, 
 
scattered, beggared — nay, more, their fathers, husbands and sons, 
 in many cases, murdered ; their bones lie unburied upon the soil 
 they loved so well ; their crime was devotion to the Government 
 their fathers bequeathed them. 
 
 Let us deal thoughtfully and kindly with those who remain- 
 Go west and southwest of my home, through what may be appro- 
 priately termed the Valley of Death. Occasionally may be seen 
 a farm house still standing, the farm unmolested, the family still 
 in peace. Nine cases out of ten that family are rebels — a father 
 or son, perhaps, in the rebel army. And now, sir, I appeal to 
 the good sense of this Legislature in behalf of these long op- 
 pressed, down-trodden, suffering loyalists. Through refining 
 fires and sore trials of revolution they have remained true and 
 faithful to this glorious Union. Is it right that they should go 
 needy while the wealth of the Government is lavished by thous- 
 ands, nay, millions, upon those who were armed rebels or rebel 
 sympathizers in 1861, and who arc now only loyal so far as self- 
 interest and oaths constrain them. If wrong, ( and I honestly 
 believe we are), in the name of that God who has so long scourged 
 us for our sins, let us do right ; let patriots be rewarded and 
 traitors punished. 
 
 On the 8th day of last November the Radical Union party took 
 possession of this State and entered upon its control. Its destiny, 
 for weal or woe, is in our keeping. Two of the departments of 
 the Government are now under the control of the Radical party. 
 As one of that party, I am free to declare that, as we are to be 
 responsible for its administration, that administration should be 
 in its own hands. I am aware that in ordinary times this could 
 not be ; but now it so turns out that the people, in convention 
 assembled, have the power to do all that is necessary for the safety 
 and prosperity of the State. I would not have the offices referred 
 to in the resolution now before us vacated for my party's sake, 
 except to secure the good of this great State. I believe in no 
 other way can we so effectually protect our citizens and secure har- 
 mony in all the departments of State. I believe we owe it, in 
 justice, to th8 long-suffering Unionists of the land ; I believe it 
 richly merited by those upon whom it may fall. With traitors I 
 have no fellowship, and desire none. I know no grades in loyalty. 
 "He who is not for us is against us ;" and here, Mr. President, I 
 
do most solemnly declare, that so far as my acts as a legislator are 
 concerned, I will vote for no bill or resolution that accords to 
 traitors or sympathizers with treason equality with loyalists. They 
 may return to some of the privileges of citizenship/ but must be 
 content with an humble position. They have, by their own act, 
 forfeited every right once enjoyed in our Government, and no act 
 of mine shall restore them again to the proud title of America-, 
 citizens. I may forgive the erring, beardless boys, not -fully 
 citizens ere they became traitors, but not now ; no,' sir, not now. 
 Born and educated as I was, in what has been known in common 
 parlance as "the South," and all my associations and teachings 
 "South"— never having so much as visited a free State previous 
 to this rebellion— I know well how adroitly, cunningly and de- 
 signedly the poison of sectional prejudice has been instilled into 
 the minds of our youth. Therefore it is that I can make some 
 allowance for them ; but not yet. They must do penance for a 
 season, that they may fully appreciate the proud declaration, "I 
 am an American citizen." 
 
 Mr. President, in further justification of the resolution under 
 consideration, let me very briefly refer to some of the results of 
 this unholy war. 
 
 In the spring of 1861, just previous to the outbreak of this 
 rebellion, our State was never in so prosperous a condition. Her 
 dth was founded upon the most productive agriculture ; her 
 commerce was daily enlarging its dominions ; her manufacturer 
 were advancing to place and influence; her mountains of iron, 
 her beds of other minerals and coal, enough to supply the de- 
 mand whole world, were being rapidly developed; her 
 r:,ilri,: " Is I"'" idly to completion; her universities, 
 r ' jl! " ' • Mm* and s< hools were filled with the youth of the 
 ! 1 "' 1 ' chai »r the worship of the only true and 
 
 ; every 
 
 ' r,r ' 1 " J mel a profitable and rich k B word, 
 
 ' ll) ' N and happiness. But in an evil hour] 
 
 :1 " 1 unscrupulous Governor issued bis proclamation 
 
 i make war a 
 
 implained of— noo 
 
 •■ived from i] .-,.. 
 
 *b»ng b»t kind* . they had abnndi . be 
 
9 
 
 grateful — none whatever for enmity. But 0, ingratitude ! stronger 
 than traitors' arms. I need not hesitate to tell the truth ; the 
 world know3 our dishonor. With pain and mortification we must 
 confess that thousinds of our citizens responded to the call of the 
 arch-traitor, and locked bayonets in deadly strife with those who, 
 for their country, "dared to do and die." 
 
 From thence dates the work of death and devastation. Union 
 men were tortured and shot in the presence of their wives and 
 children, Many of us were compelled to leave our homes and 
 seek safety among strangers for our lives, our only crime being 
 devotion to that Union our fathers had bequeathed, "as a rich 
 legacy unto their issue." I will not attempt to depict, if I could, 
 the horrors that ensued and are still perpetrated upon Union men. 
 You all know them. Did every wrong have a tongue, the melan- 
 choly story of violence and blood, and "bitter, burning wrongs 
 we have in our heart's cells shut up," must still go unrelated. 
 Now, as the bloody tragedy seems drawing to a close, what is the 
 condition of our State, so prosperous when iirst her peace was 
 broken by the clangor of arms? Our people have been wantonly 
 murdered, robbed and driven from the State ; our agricultural, 
 mechanical, commercial and mineral interests lie prostrate ; our 
 railroads torn up, bridges burned, and we unable to re-build them ; 
 our universities, colleges and schools abandoned and ruined ; our 
 children uneducated and ignorant ; our asylums for the unfortu- 
 nate of our race despoiled, robbed, and the unfortunates multiplied; 
 our churches are become hospitals for the sick and wounded of 
 this war, and we have no more Sabbaths ; our people are ruined 
 by taxation, and the cry for bread is heard in our land ; the 
 farmer is still shot down at his plow, and armies are still eating 
 out our substance. 
 
 Mr. President, this is but a glimpse of the long train of evils 
 entailed upon our people by this most foul and unnatural rebellion 
 of an unprincipled set of slaveholders and their minions, to extend 
 the area of human slavery. They have dishonored the hitherto 
 unsullied name of American ; they have crushed the prosperity 
 of the commonwealth ; they have plunged millions of honest 
 people into the depths of earthly miseries, and cast upon our 
 people, for generations to come, the burden of oppressive taxation. 
 And why, sir, have they done these things ? Only that the strong 
 
10 
 
 , , i me'; Does n* posterity call to us from the bosom of 
 r tore to guard them against a curse like ours, by affixing 
 Laltv to treMon that shall for all time be a terror to tra.to » 
 „„«J that those at whom this resolut.on is d.rected were but 
 i , ^hostile, and but partially culpable. I answer, the pan- 
 me t proooed is exeeed.ngly light, aud far ess than they 
 7 Z- It'only requires thorn to descend from places they hold, 
 ^u. :.ho -U of tie people, as expressed by an overwhelm.ng 
 popular ve.dict at the last election, and return to more numb 
 spheres, b atonement for ungenerous treatment of misplaced 
 confidence and betrayal of their country. 
 
 I believe the resolution a judic.ous one, and that the great 
 mass of the Union party of Missouri desire its pasage. 1 urge 
 Too, be, representatives here not to disappoint them, but by 
 T nammous approval, apply to the State Convention, and to 
 h xcellency, the Governor, to execute the behest .t embed*.. 
 Lvc said what I have in ,ts favor from no persona, motive; 
 aUbou'-h, ,n common with others, I have felt the heavy hand of 
 ppr "ssio ,. Not my own wrongs, but the wrongs of my country- 
 men u,d my county constitute my sole opology for so long 
 occudvui" the time of the Senate. 
 
 O 1 d ILt that the fiat this resolution invokes may go forth. 
 ■PLen and not till then, will Missouri be redeemed. Then, ...dee 
 Mr President, and not till then, will wc enter upon the glonous 
 fnture that awaits us. 
 
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