/f63 f '5 TRS OOirSORIPTI^N Bllili. . !i) ' I ov SPEBCHi^,, ZJ-^.^l ' HON. S. S. COX, OF OHid! DKLIVEEED IN THE HO USE OP BEPEE8ENTATIVE8, PEBEUAEY 28, 1868. O '* Tfite House having under consideration the bill to call out the national forces, Mr. OOX satd: Mr. Speaker. I am obliged to the Chair for the prompt manner in which he has protected my right to the floor, and for the emphasis with which he brought down the gavel for that purpose [Laughter.] I hope now that I shall not be further mterrupted. Mr. Speaker, I was somewhat amused and instructed by what fell from my reverend brother [Mr. Fkssenden] from Maine, who has just taken his seat. It was proper that he should defend his clerical brethren. But after the high wrought eulogy which he uttered in their behalf, I was surprised at the lame conclusion to which he arrived. How could he as a patriot argue that so val- uable a class of citizens should be excluded from serving their country in the army ? If they are as worthy and as patriotic as he believes, will they seek exemption? The very argument of the gentleman, combining with other reasons which I may give but from which he will doubtless dissent, compel me to oppose the exemption of the clergy from this sweeping couscription. There are some clergymen for whom I have an unbounded reverence and respect — men who preach the gospel of "peace on earth and good will to - men." They do not turn the living word into reproach by "vain disput«k- tiona." They do not create jar and conflict on earth and ill will to men. From the first settlement of the region from which the gentleman comes down, to the present time, the largest part of the clergy seem to have been specially commissioned, in their own opinion, to read lectures upon political matters to the people of this country and to ail mankind. They have descended from their spiritual elevation to grope amid the passions and corruptions of parti- zan strife. They have thus, divided the churches and degraded the mission left them by their loving Master. Mr. S. C. FESSENDEN rose. Mr. VOORHEES. I object to interruption. Mr. COX. I will yield to the gentleman if he wants to say somethinir. Does he want to ask me a question ? jo Mr. S. C. FESSENDEN. I challenge the gentleman to produce the proof of that assertion- *^ Mr. COX. I refer the gentleman for the proof, to New England history from the days of Cotton Mather and the burning of witches, down to the present unhappy time. Why, sir, let the dominant clergy of New Eogland continue to have way now as they had it once when Catholics, Episcopalians Baptists and Quakers were persecuted, punished, exiled and murdered for conscience Bake, and the gentleman will live to witness, perhaps with transport Episco- palian and Cathohc clergymen garoted and burned in the streets of Boston [Laughter.] Mr. S. C. FESSENDEN. Will the gentleman allow me now t .c/^n^ Mr. COX I have no objection if the gentleman wants to ask a qnestloa. Objected to by a member from the Republican side of the House. Mr. COX. That objection does not come from this side. Mr. Speaker, there is a certain class of preachers to -whom gentlemen on this side of the House are under no special obligations. They have prayed U8 frequently into the nethermost abysses. [Laughter.] And why ? Because we belonged to that old Democratic party which baa been coeval with this Government — which has never, as an organization, been unfaithful to the interests and honor of the whole country, and which has never lost its chivah ic respect for the safeguards and immunities of the Union aed Consti<^"tion. Simply to have affiliations with that party bos always been suffident to bring down the anathemas, by "bell, bo('k and candle," of tho* clergymen who now through the ministerial member from Maine, seek exemp- tion from the inconvenient consequences of the troubles which they have themselves been mainly instrumental in bringing upon our beloved land. Long before the radical politicians, north and south, began to rend the nation in their hate, these preachers had riven the churches in their crazed and demoniac fury. 1 ask you men of the South yet remaining with us, as I ask you Northern Representatives — is any one more responsible for the present un- nappy condition of the country than these firebrands of the sanctuary — north and south ? Have not the fiercest zealots of secession and abolition been found among those who have kindled on God's altar, the unhallowed embers of sectional asperity? The gentleman from Maine wants proof. Why, sir, it is easy enough to furnish it. Go back to the three thousand clergymen of Kew England, who, in the name of the Most High, felt themselves accredited to send to the Con- gress of the United States, a special denunciation of Stephen A. Douglas for hie championship of the rights of the people of the Territories. Their anti- elavery evangel was met by, him with the same defiance which the Democ- racy displayed in the days of Jefi'erson, when the Kew England clergy re- viled that apostle of our political faith. The impertinent and improper inter- ference by a portion of the clergy in the politics of the country, is not pecu- liar to our day, though never before has it been so conspicuous as in foment- ing the troubles which have culminated in this calamitous war. There are two kinds of clergymen in this country-. I have before me a description of one class with which I have no doubt gentlemen on the other side are more familiar than with those who minister in the church in which I happen to worship. [Laughter.] I will recite the description : "A minister, whom hell had sent, To spread its blast where'er he went, And fling, as o'er our earth he trod, Hii shadow, betwixt man and God." Now, sir, all ministers who come within that definition I want to see enroll- ed in the Army and marched to its front There let them do their duty, and Bee whether they cannot help to put down this rebellion which they have been eo long instigatirig. Let them suffer some of the consequences that our brothers undergo in ihe Southwest and along the Rappahannock. ] would not have them go merely as clerks, letter writers, or chaplains. Let them shoulder the twelve pound musket, do picket duty, and trudge like our brave boys anaid winter snows, spring mud and summer suns, under th« packed knapsack, and my word for it, they will come back sanctified by grace. [Laughter.] After the eulogy pronounced upon the clergy by the gentleman from Main«, may we not presume that they would be in a better condition for the sacrifice, than many an unsanctified Democrat? Would they not ascend into the realms of glory with less inconvenience or delay? [Laughter.] Very many of them, from my observation would not be as much loss to the country as my clerical friend over the way would suppose. But, Mr. Speaker, I would not have addressed the gentleman from Maine in this style, had it not been that he wrung into his speech over and over again, what has been wrung into the speeches of other gentlemen on that side of tb« House since this debate began, as well as into newspapers and stump speeches, 3 the usual quantity of malignant talk about " Copperheads " and the disloyal Democracy. Arery beautiful mode of argumentation this! It is calculated to produce a very pleasing impression on this side of the House 1 The debate on this mea- sdPB from its opening has been characterized by this tender affability of man- ner! One would have supposed it would have been wise to have made the effort to conciliate this side of the House in favor of this measure; but you Bought to conciliate nobody. War Democrats — peaee Democrats — to use your inapposite language, are all alike. My eloquent friend from New York who has spoken so well for the Governor of his State, and the rights of his State, sod who expressed his willingness to sustain through the States, your calls for aid, — he is no exception, [Mr. Steele.] You sought not to conciliate my friend from Indiana [Mr. Holman,] who has been laboring for thejast two hours at my side, to make this bill, if possible, less objectionable by a substitute — he too has the fang and poison of the Copperhead. Yon sought not to cono liate any class of opinion, however loyal and conscientious. Youjwere unwilling when this bill came in first, to allow it to be scrutinized? You sought to force it through without amendments, without discussion ; and but for the determined nerve of this side of the Chamber, you would have accomplished your purpose and passed the bill with all of its infernal enginery of oppression. Gentlemen, you did not know us. We Were determined in the first place to have discus- sion; and in the second place to get the bill back into a position where it could be amended, and as many of its obnoxious features removed as it was possible tO; remove in this Congress. What we resolved to do that we have accomplish- ed. Before I come to the discussion of the bill itself, I owe it to the people of my district to repel the charges made by you upon their representative. The three Republicans who have last spoken [Messrs. Dunn, Stevens, and Fes- se^en] have charged that we are disloyal to the country, to the country we love as well — I will not say better than you — to that country which we love only less than we should love our Heavenly Father. From the beginning of the debate we have heard nothing but contemptuous scorn and contumely hurled against this, side of the House. Do you believe that members of this House, though iff.a minority, who are your equals here, will silently permit such language to gp>unlashed? If we were dishonored at home, do you think we are craven aaaugh to receive such epithets without giving scorn for scorn ? But being in fact the majoi-ity, having received the approbation of our constituents at home, da you imagine that we will sit here in timid crouching and receive your con- tumely without making some fit reply ? Do yon expect that we will, under the forms of courtesy, mouth honied words for your abuse? Do you imagine we cannot tell denunciation from debate? You forget that we come fresh from the people, covered all over with their generous approbation. My eloquent friend from Indiana [Mr. Voorhees] told you last night that you were but corpses ^talking against public decency, for a short time only, before the public gaze. [Laughter.] A nice party, indeed, this company of corpses, to talk to us, the Kfipresentatives of the people I [Laughter.] The gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. Dunn,] conscious of his defunct condition, talked to us, as he confessed, from the confines of his sepulchre. " Hark, from tlie tombs, a dolefal sonnd, Mine ears attend the cry." [Great laaghter.] If yon gentlemen who play the political phantom wish to carry out the proper definition of a ghost, cease to squeak and gibber your abolitionism and go back into your cerements, for daylight, thank Godl has begun to dawn. [Laughter.] Do you suppose that we, who are fresh from the people, have ajiy reason to distract our minds at what you utter against us? Do you sup- pose, for instance, that we who represent Ohio, where we had nineteen mem- oers of Congress to elect, and, under an infamous gerrymander which allowed U^ only two democrats, and who will come back to the next Congress fourteen tQ your five, are to be lectured by you for disloyalty ? Do you take us to be as contemptible as yourselves? You ghosts of the dead past mistake the temper o< our constituents as you have mistaken us. We know our rights under the Ocwm^tution, We have a sound record, to which we can forever point; for •we have stood by the country when you failed it We have, tinder the ine- ladicable love of law and order, stood by your own Administration when you have stigmatized and denounced it. We did our best in Congress before this, to settle these troubles, when adjustment was easy. We labored, with aaxious care, that peace might continue in the land. The people believe tbl^t you were recreant then ; that you are responsible for the failure to settle thes« difficulties by compromise. You know that the people so believe, for that w^s a part of their decision at the recent elections. If you still entertain any doubt about your recreancy and responsibility, read this letter, recently produced in the Illinois legislature by Hon. Mr. Eay«i, from Judge Douglas, dated the 29th of December, 1860. In it he says : " 7%6 South icouUT take 7ny proposition if the Republicans would agree to it. But the extremcB, North and South, hold off, and are precipitating the country into revolution and •Wl war. " "While I can do no act which recognises or countenances the doctrine of secession, iny policy is peace, and I will not consider the question of war until every effort has been made for peace, and all hope shall have vanished. When that time comes, if uufortimalely it sliall come, I will then do what it becomes an American Senator to do on the then state of fect^ Many of the HepuhHcan leaders deaire a dissolution of the Union, and urge irnr aa a means of acctmiplishiug disunio^i ; while others are Union men in good faith. We havp now reached the point where a compromise, on the basis of mutual concession, or disunion and war are inevitable. I prefer a fair and just compromise." If you still doubt, read again another letter from the same honest and nobis man, with which the country is familiar, in which he attributed the defeat of all amicable adjustments to the partizan desire of the Republican Senators, to confirm certain appointments by the (then) incoming Administration. Tlw Republican Senators wished to have a majority in the Senate for this ptu- pose. But for this petty political object, Judge Douglas thought that they would have passed some compromise. They wanted the seceded States to go out — they wanted the Southern Senators to leave the Senate. Becaue*, without their absence the Senate would never have approved of such abolition apf ointments as Cassius M. Clay as Minister to Petersburg ; which I believe he yet holds in connection with Simon Cameron, and a majo»- feneralship in the army, Paughter,] and which offices he is filling to the resident's contentment, by philandering around Willards' Hotel m theSa several capacities, [laughter,] if indeed he has any capacity. [Langhter.J The Republican Senators knew that the President might send in the nomir nation of such a man as Carl Schurz, as Minister to Spain, a German abolition infidel, who brought to this country the belief that license was liberty, and that Almighty God was a figment of the brain — some strange abstract en- tity, with the concrete attribute of drinking lager beer in the regions above the sun. [Great laughter.] They wanted to confirm another class of abolitionists like the inveterate abolitionist who used to represent the Ashtabula district of Ohio in this House. I mean the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, now Consul Gen- eral to the Canadas. They wanted to confirm Helper, the authorof the Helper Book endoi'sed bj' the Republican members of Congress, and which urged rob- bery, murder, and insurrection, in order, by violence, to rid the country of slavery. J might enlarge the catalogue of abolitionists until the House wer« surfeited. Hence it was that Judge Douglas declared that the Republicana were responsible for not making an amicable adjustment of our troubles. In his opinion, they were willinc: to welcome civil war, and all its attendant hor- rors, from a mere greed for office, and to reward the anarchs and destruction- ists of the land. Hence it is that, before God and the country, I hold you, on the testimony of Douglas, responsible for the failure to settle these difficulties. But after all had failed through Republican partisanship and greed for offio«, we came to the extra session of Congress. You will remember that, with Douglas, we doubted if ever war could reclaim the Sotithern States. We thought then, that war alone would widen the abyss. We plead — jou know how even so humble a member as myself plead — against the arbitrament of the sword, for the settlement of these feuds of the sections. But we plead in vain. Douglas told you war was disunion. But war came! It is unnecessary for me to say who struck the first blow. It is idle now to argue \iho provoked the blow thai waa first struck. You know it all. We came to the exti'a session of 1861. tie roH, n^ ' f 'l^'M^'^y^^' 'aw-abiding. We vrere billing to do oitr all for 5r!m„ f K, '!5\ ^.^^^"^^ "^^ted as the coadjutors of forob. But the "re at dramaof blood having been begun, not by our aid or comfort we acted on 8oVeIp\?God?""""'°'^^"^^"^' ^-l^'-d'y- We co-H not do'othertise! The record of that session will show how w»> «nnnf^..fo^ fu» ka ^- • i. i.- ob;gT[;r„rha^rt;r„^uy'a?raSaL^^^ ^ «>«- constitutional numbr& J^l\^S'm5r"bTne^^^^^^^^^^ '"^^ any a„,ouat of a.oney and any rebellion, and the permanent resSoVof the Ped^^^^^^ °f '^'^ its and jurisdiction of the United States " ^«^'"^*' authority everywhere within the lim- I find nearly every member of this' House, upon this side votin^ver d« not deserve the contempt.ous reproaches cast upon us by in|.-ates upon the o her side. Copperheads, are we? Copperheads! I would not follow this piteable example o discourtesy by speaking of other sorts of heads. eitheT cab bage heads or blockheads [Laughter.] I would not hurl such ep thets acroL this chamber. It would be unparliamentary, and I forego the luxury of be?^ 6 out of order here, I know the gentlemen are dead heads, and that is the reason why — on the principle of " nisi bonum, ftil mortuiis, " — I speak of them with respect. [Laughter.] It has been laid down by the best ethical writers upon free government, that it is perfectly right and proper to encourage criticism upon the administration of pubiic affairs. "We were taught that, in the first English literature we read in our language. John Milton dedicated his grandest work, the "Areopigitica," to the defence offree speech and unlicensed printing. Even in the Corps Legislatif of Fran.ce now, the fullest debal e is allowed to the opponents of the reigning dy- nasty and its measures, even of war. The noblest use of free speech in this or any free country is to criticize closely the political conduct of our agents. Hence in England it became a part of the Constitution to have what is called a "con- stitutional opposftion. " There is always a party out of power to watch th* party in power. Why ? Because, as was remarked the other day, powcf tends to slide from the many to the few. It tends to aggrandize itself. It grows by what it feeds on. A healthy state of the body politic requires a party at all times, standing upon the fundamental law as the basis of its existence, and fearlessly vigilant against the encroachments of power. This is the present mission of tne Democracy. We assume now no further respctosibility. We have never failed to appeal to the Constitution as the guide of our conduct We who have opposed this and similar bills, have done so because we thought them infringements upon the Constitution. It is for this that gentlemen on the other side hurl at us epithets of " secession sympathizers," " disloyal men, " " Copperheads. " I am yet to learn that any member upon this side, has yet gone outside of the proper constitutional opposition to this Administration. You cannot point to a single act, or to a single vote, or to a single speech uttered by us, looking to any opposition to this Government. Our opposition is to the continued and persistent breaches of our Constitution. Every vote upon this side, and every speech, has been in favor of some mode, one mode by one, and another mode by another, of sustaining this Government to the end. No proposition for a separation of the Union has ever come from this side of the chamber. None, none. The onl}' proposition of that sort, as was remarked the other day by my friend from Indiana, [Mr. Holman,] emanated from a gentleman who has always acted with the other side, [Mr. Conway.] He tried the other day to explain his position. I have since read his resolution in order to get the benefit of his explanation. But as I read his resolution, it says, as re- ported in his printed speech, "that the Executive be, and he is hereby re- quested to issue a general order to all commanders of forces in the several mili- tary departments of the United States to discontinue offensive operations against the enemy, and to act for the future entirely en the defensive." "Resolved, That the Executive be, and he is further requested to enter Into nef^otiations with the authorities of the Confederate States, with reference to a cessation of hostilities, based on the following propositions : EecognitiuD of the independence of the Confederate States." What does that mean ? It was not offered by a Democrat. No Copperhead offered it What does it mean f Gentlemen upon this side of the chamber de- nounced that resolution. No man upon that side has yet risen to denounce it. Mr. BLAKR I want to say to the gentleman, that every gentleman upon this side of the House denounced it by their vote. Mr. COX. I know they voted against it. I wish they would confine their denunciations of the Democracy to their silent votes. Mr. BLAKE. That we are doing. Mr. COX- I do not mean to include my colleague among those, who have so off<:nsively denounced Democrats. But all who have spoken have denounced us although they know that we have again and again asserted that we are for the Union at all hazards, and by every means which will in our judgment se- cure its Integrity, We were for this Union by war when war seemed a neces- sity. We are for this Union by peace whenever peace is honorable and possi- ble. We are oppos«d to any war like that for the abolition of slavery, that ■will make disunion eternal. We are opposed to any peace that will mutilate the Republic. That is the " Copperhead " policy, and I ask my friend from. Maine to pray over it to-night and see if he cannot think better of ua., [Laughter.] Mark the Democratic policy : No peace with the idea of dis- memberment; no war that is fatal to the Union; everything for the Union under the Constitution ; we will never break that instrument to bring back the Union, for when the Constitution is broken, there is no Union, but a unity of territory, a despotisSi of power. My honorable friend from Massachusetts,. [Mr. Thomas,] told you at the last session that you could not hold the sword, in one hand to defend the Constitution while in the other you held a hammeir to breaV it to pieces. Mr. Speaker, I desire now to discuss someiof the features of the bill before us. I will ba very brief; for they have been thoroughly dissected by members, upon this sidoof the House. I want to refer to only one or two propositions in that connection. I proposed two days since to amend the bill by inserting the word "white "in the first section. At that time the gentleman from New York, [Mr. Olin,] advised us that no amendments would be permitted at all and no discussion either. One good thing we have gained by this discussion at. least, apd that is that if this bill is to pass at all, it will pass in a less obnoxiousi shape. The leader of this House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stb-i VKNS,] in the speech he made a while ago proposed radical amendments. The SPEAKER pro tern. The gentleman will suspend his remarks while tile Clerk reads a clause from the Manual. The Clerk read as follows : " No person in speaking is to mention a member then present by his name, bnt to describe.' him by his seat in the House, or who spoke last, or on the other side of the question." Mr. VALL ANDIGHAM. It is always in ordei'^to name a member after hiv- ing described him. Mr. COX. No, I do not think it is perfectly in order. I differ with my col- , league. It has become a bad habit here and I have only followed the precedent set me by distinguished members. The SPEAKER pro tern. The gentleman will proceed in order. Mr. COX. I am very glad the Speaker mad« that point on me, for I shall take it more good naturedly than some others might have done. The SPEAKER jaro rms of conflicting passion. Not alone to Jefferson and Madison, or the Supreme Court, will I go for the rule of construction as to the Constitution. Even that great apostle of con- solidation, Hamilton, in order to secure the adoption of the Constitution by his own State of New York, presented this exposition of our Government: ■"•If the State governments were to be abolished, the question would wear a different face; but this idea la inadmiRsible. They are absolutely necessary to the system. Their axistene* must form a leading principle in tlie most perfect Constitution we could form. I iasist that it can never be the rnterest or desire of the national legislature (much less the President) to destroy the State governments. It can derive no advantage from such a result; but, on th« contrary, would lose an indispensalil-e support, a necessary aid, in executing the laws and Convering the influence of Government to the doors of the people. The Union is dependent on the will of the State governments for its Chief Magistrate and its Senate. The blow aimed at the members nnist give a fatal wound to the head, and the destruction of the States must beat once'political suicide. Can the national Government be guilty of this m.idncgs? * * "•And again I have stated to the oorammittee abundant reasons to prove the entire safety of the Stivte goremmenti and of the people. I wish the committee to remember that tha Cdnslitutlon, under examination, is framed upon truly republican principles, and that, as it iserxpressiy designed to provide for the common protection and general welfare of the United States, it must be utterly repugnant to this Constitution to subvert the State goveromeHtt or opprert the people " This doctrine of State rights, Mr. Speaker, does not carry us into secession, for, according to the doctrine laid down by Jefferson, Madison, and others, there is a line drawn, bej'ond which State rights cannot go, but within which there is perfect immunity to the exercise of powers by the States in their sep- arate and sovereign capacity. If the State is aggrieved, it can neither nulliry or secede. Mr. Jefferson, in his letter to Cartright, referred to in the "Private Correspondence," denied the right of any number of single States to arrest tba execution of a law of Congress, or secede from the Federal system. A conven- tion of the States, under the Constitution, he hailed "as the peaceable remedy for all the conflicting claims of power in our compound Government. " In the future complications to which this and similar bills will give rise, I can: See no other than the Madisonian remedy for our safety and regeneration! — ■ A Co.VVENTION OF THE StATKS UNDER THE CoNSTrrUTION. I. believe that this bill not only subverts the State governments, but thatti will suppress the people. Tt breaks down the barrier which the people erected agsipst consolidated power; for never in the history of this or any other Gov- ernment has anoh a etupeudous power been reposed in one man, as the power reposed by this bill in the President of the United States. It makes this 6o»- ermfiftnt, so guarded in its delegation of power, so full of reservations to tltf 11 8<)UPte of all power, th« people — tux irreepoDsible despotism, worse than tjw^'of I'rance and more tyrannical than that of liussia. You have already given to^is Administration the purse, you now throw the sword into the scale, and nothing is left to the people but abject submissioL or resistance. It becomes Congress to see to it before it entrusts such a power to any one man — first, whether it is Clonstitutional, and, if Constitutional, whether it is expedient to entrust it toihe present Chief Magistrate of the country. For my part, sir, 1 do not trust the present Chief Magistrate. I have my reasons for it. These reasons spring out of his conduct with regard to the slavery question. Again and again, beginning W}th his inaugural message, down to the last conference which he had with the Border-btate members of Congress, who now sit around me, he asseverated that he would iiu'i, interfere in any way with the Constitutional rights of the iStates Wilh regard :o ctgcj slavery. He said he hud oio rigiii, and no jnciiurtion thus to interfere ; and he kept his word for a brief time. But abolition pres- sure was brought to bear upon him. Abolitionists improved every oppor- tunity to poison his mind, and to salute his ear with tlieir flatteries, itiey made him believe that he was the saviour of the black race. In the very face of his own declarations to the contrary, and after he had promised solemnly to the Border-State Congressmen, in a public conference witii tliem, that he would do nothing to injure either the sensibilities or the interests of then- States with regard to slavery, he issued that proclamation which has been tio fatal to the army, fatal to "a united North," fatal to the Government, and will be, I fear, fatal to this Union, unless gentlemen on the other side come ^ip boldly and manfully and demand of him to repudiate it forever. Let them prepare him for the retraction by the repeal of their counscatiou measures us useless, impotent, and unconstitutional. Let the President then follow them and withd»aw his proclamation. Let us start anew. Go back to the Cm tenden resolutions, or if you cannot, by war. restore the federal authority, try some other mode. Withdraw the negro entirely trom your counsels, and conduct and make one grand etfort to preserve this Government of white men. Will you do it? If you would thus resolve to act, you would need no conscription to increase and inspirit jour army. "You would then invig- orate the public heart. You would restore again the public confidence There is your path. Will you follow it? I believe that yon will get no men under this bill. You will get no men through your depsicable and irre- sponsible provost marshals. This bill will only make trouble. 1 fear mure than 1 dare say. I fear you do not expect to get men under this bill. If the bill means anything in reason, it is a bill to enslave the people of the North, and not a bill to put down the rebellion. It gives you the power to annihilate the ballot box, destroy personal liberty, and scatter your spies and iulormers all over the country as thick as the locusts of Egypt. 1 pro- tect against it as a needless torture to the citizen, and as a cruel insult to the patriotism of a proud and free people. I wish 1 could see in this bill anything good. It will simply irritate the peo- ple of the iS'orth It will not bring about that harmony among the people which is indispensable to the success of an army against this rebellion. You have tried many expedients against our warning and failed. At first you had the whole JNorth, twenty millions of people, forgetting their divisions and sustaining the Government on the plain question for the restoration of the Constitution. You had victories on that policy. Your organs, like the Tri- bune, boasted, after the fail of Sumter, that — All party prejudices and passions were forgotten, and the new adniiuisiratiou, .-itrengtbcn- ed by an assurance of popular confidence, stood before the world the uuqaestioned repr«een- Uitive of tlie whole loyal people of the Union. Who and what has changed all that? Your President and his abolition ad- visers and policy. The Proclamation sounded : and lo I the Rebellion was to falL "The war would not last till Christmas," said the zealots of the liour "By a single blow the President has palsied the rebellion," said the Tribune Fatal delusionsj But will you learn nothings This bill will prove more im- potent against "the South and more miachievious in theiSortb than your'^^ro- oalmations an^ confiscations. 12 "0""013 703 697 6 A good deal has been said about the Democre ^ . g, ^v-^ai Why, sir, we weat from this Hall at the close of the last session of Congresa and, found the President's call for volunteers among the people. We went before our constituents and asked for soldiers to fill the new regiments called for by the Governors in pursuance of that call. My colleague over the way [Mr, Harrison,] will bear me witness, with what zeal we endeavored to fill our quotas in order to save our respective counties from a draft In my own county at the capital of the State, we succeeded in raising the requisite num- ber aud there was no draft. My colleagues, [Mr. White, Mr. Moreis, Mr. Noble and others,] found it not hard by their appeals to fill the call in their localities This, however, was before the proclamation. When that masterpiece of f^lly and treachery was issued, farther enlistments became almost impossibly. We cottld then make no more speeches for recruits. Why f We had told the people that this was a war for the Union and for the Constitution. When it was thus perverted by base treachery and falsehood from this, its proper pur- pose, we took our appeal directly to the people, aud denounced the treachery and unveiled the falsehood of this Administration. The people understood and endor: