Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania, followed:"If it be asserted with any degree of authority by the gentleman from Kentucky, that five hundred thousand men will not be able to subdue the rebellion in the southern disloyal States, then I am for employing twice five hundred thousand men, and the eighteen States of the North are in favor of doing the same thing. We intend that the Constitution and the Union shall be maintained; and we intend that rebellion, come in what shape it may, and backed by what numbers it may be, shall not be enabled to destroy either the one or the other. I trust in God that the gentleman from Kentucky does not speak even the sentiment of his own section, much less the sentiment of his State; but, whether he does or does not, permit me to say to him here, very frankly, that it matters not to those who are engaged in this work of preservation whether he does or not; for, no matter what their opinion may be, this Government will be preserved, and the gallows will eventually perform its office."

Mr. Burnett, in answer, said: "I tell gentlemen now, carry out the picture painted in full; carry on this war; drench this country in blood; have your armed five hundred thousand men in the field; desolate the fair fields of both sections of the country; let the streams run with blood; let all that the gentleman from Pennsylvania can desire be accomplished; and then tell me, will you, what your country is worth when the finale comes? Tell me, will you, what will your Government be worth when you have accomplished all that you ask shall be done? Sir, when the pen of the historian shall come to write the history of the times in which we live, I tell gentlemen upon this floor now, there will be a fearful accountability for some of us to render. Sir, when the gentleman tells me that this war must be prosecuted, I say, go on; you have the power; I prefer peace to war, but I am powerless here. Let me remind him that when my venerable colleague (Mr. Crittenden) and other southern men in this House, and at the other end of the Capitol, were begging you, at the last session of Congress, on bended knees, and with tears in our eyes, to give us something to restore peace and fraternity to our common country, and to stay this revolution, all those appeals and entreaties were not only resisted, but treated with silent contempt and indignant scorn; and all propositions looking to that end were voted down; and now, by the act of the President of the United States, without authority of law, and in violation of the Constitution, war has been inaugurated; and here, as one of the people's representatives, I boldly enter my solemn protest against it."

Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, said it was not a question whether this war, or this suppression of rebellion, shall be carried on till the Stars and Stripes float in every place where they have a right to float.

"The question is, who is to do it? The ques

tion is, shall it be done by the increase of the regular army, or whether you will take these patriotic volunteers, who have flocked here in thousands and thousands, and let the citizen soldier accomplish this, his appropriate work! That is the question, and I will not allow the issue to be changed. Take your men, in God's name. You can have half a million or a million of them; you can have four or five hundred million dollars. The people are pressing the bit like a restive horse to put down this rebellion. I am willing to carry on this war until, if it is necessary, some future historian shall write of us as Tacitus wrote of the Romans: Solitudinem faciant et pacem appellant. Aye, sir, if there is no other way to quell this rebellion, we will make a solitude, and call it peace. And I tell the gentleman from Kentucky that he need not make any appeals to us about peace; he need not talk to us about the shedding of blood and the burning of houses, and villages, and cities. There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God;' there is no peace to these rebels and traitors, who have raised their hands against the Government. We will carry on this war; the people will carry it on; the citizen soldier will fight this battle. He is impatient to do it now; but we do not want-certainly not now -to increase the regular army."

Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, desired to vote for all measures asked for to enable the Government to maintain its honor and dignity, which might be sanctioned by the Constitution, and by any reasonable view of the necessity of the case. He would heartily, zealously, gladly support any honest effort to maintain the Union, and reinvigorate the ties which bind these States together. But he was not willing to vote for more men or more money than the Administration asks; more than it can fairly use; more than General Scott, who advised and controlled the Administration, tells us he thinks necessary.

Mr. Blair, of Missouri, was of the opinion that if more men should be needed after Congress had adjourned, it was proper to put it in the power of the President to call for them.

Mr. Diven, of New York, would give the President a million if half a million of men were not sufficient to put down this rebellion.

Mr. Hickman again alluded to the question of subjugation of the South, and said: "I entertain the opinion now, and I have long entertained it, that one hundred thousand men will be entirely sufficient to accomplish the restora tion of the Constitution in the seceded States; but the smaller the number of men employed the greater will be the length of time necessary to accomplish the object in view. I do not see, myself, that increasing the number of men will necessarily increase the hazard of subjugating the South. I do not myself know whether it is contemplated to subjugate the South. I do know, however, that it is fully contemplated to force the South into submission. There can be no loyalty without submission; and these men

are to be taught by a strong hand that they are to pay the same regard to the Constitution and laws as commoner people are forced to render to them. These men believe that they have a right to declare themselves out of the pale of legitimate Government whenever it shall suit their interests to do so, or whenever it shall be in accordance with the lead of their passions to do so. We, the people of the North, of the loyal States, and all who act with the North, intend to educate these men in a different doctrine; and if we shall eventually be forced to bring them into subjection-abject subjection to the Constitution of the United States-it will be their fault, and not ours.

"Now, sir, an army will be needed upon the southern coast. Every foot of the southern coast will have to be threatened; and perhaps every foot of the southern coast will eventually have to be invaded. An army will have to be started upon the nearest southern frontier here, and it will have to be marched until it shall meet the army threatening the coast; and perhaps it will be necessary-it is well for gentlemen from the southern States to consider whether it may not be necessary-to leave the track of the chariot wheels of war so deep on the southern soil that a century may not obliterate it. I am not willing to stint the Government either in men or money. I am determined, so far as my influence, and my voice, and my vote, will go, to make this war an effectual one-a terror to evil-doers for all time to come; so that, when the Constitution and Union shall be reëstablished, they shall have a permanence which shall satisfy all true lovers of liberty."

Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, said that the member from Pennsylvania did not conceal his purpose; he tells the country that it is the purpose of the eighteen northern States to reduce the southern States to abject submission.

Mr. Hickman replied: "I believe my remark was at least I intended that it should be -this: that our intentions are to bring the disloyal to submission or acquiescence. I understand that to mean submission to the binding obligation of the laws. That is what I mean. Whether it shall be necessary to go further than that, is for the gentlemen who occupy the position of rebellion to determine."

Mr. Vallandigham, of Ohio, offered the following proviso:

Provided, further, That before the President shall have the right to call out any more volunteers than are already in the service, he shall appoint seven commissioners, whose mission shall be to accompany the army on its march, to receive and consider such propositions, if any, as may at any time be submitted from the Executive of the so-called Confederate States, or of any one of them, looking to a suspension of hostilities and the return of said States, or any one of them, to the Union, and to obedience to the Federal Constitution

and authority.

On a division, there were only twenty-one votes in its favor':

In the Senate, on the 26th of July, Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, offered the following resolution:

been forced upon the country by the disunionists of Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has the Southern States now in revolt against the constitutional Government and in arms around the capital; all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect that in this national emergency Congress, banishing only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Conthe rights or established institutions of those States, stitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought

to cease.

Mr. Polk, of Missouri, proposed to amend it so as to read:

That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern and the Northern States; that in this national emergency, &c., &c.

This was voted down by ayes, 4; noes, 33. Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, thus expressed his views of the object of the war: "I trust this war is prosecuted for the purpose of subjugating all rebels and traitors who are in arms against the Government. What do you mean by subjugation?' I know that persons in the southern States have sought to make this a controversy between States and the Federal Govern- . ment, and have talked about coercing States and subjugating States; but, sir, it has never been proposed, so far as I know, on the part of the Union people of the United States, to subjugate States or coerce States. It is proposed, however, to subjugate citizens who are standing out in defiance of the laws of the Union, and to coerce them into obedience to the laws of the Union. I dislike that word in this connection. In its broadest sense I am opposed to it. If it means the war is not for the purpose of the subjugation of traitors and rebels into obedience to the laws, then I am opposed to it. I trust the war is prosecuted for that very purpose."

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, explained the resolution in these words: "The resolution simply states that we are not waging a war for the subjugation of States. If the Constitution is maintained and the laws carried out, the States take their places and all rebel citizens must submit. That is the whole of it."

Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, declared that he was for subjugation, in the sense in which that word was ordinarily received. He did not mean its classic meaning. He knew its literal, classic meaning was to pass under the yoke, sub juga. He proposed to pass nobody under the yoke; but in the ordinary and popular acceptation of that term he used it, that is, that all the people of the United States shall submit to the laws and Constitution of the United States everywhere.

Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, said: "I do not

want to carry on this war for the purpose of subjugating the people of any State, in any shape or form; and it is a false idea gotten up by bad men for bad purposes that it ever has been the purpose of any portion of the people of this country. I am willing, therefore, to meet them face to face, and say I never had that purpose, and have it not now. But we say, notwithstanding we have not that purpose, and distinctly avow it, we have a purpose, and that is to defend the Constitution and the laws of the country, and to put down this revolt at whatever hazard; and it is for them to say whether it is necessary for us in the course of accomplishing a legitimate and proper object to subjugate them in order to do it. I hope not; and if it is necessary and we could do it, I should want to keep them subjugated no longer than was necessary to secure that purpose. That far it must go, and no further. To that it must go at all events and hazards. As to the word, sir, I would as soon take that as any other. It expresses the idea clearly, and I am satisfied with it."

Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, regarded the resolution as an act not altogether legislative in its character, but as a declaration of the purpose of the Government. It was a deed in that sense, which is to have its effect upon the American people, and he desired that it should be passed in the language in which it had been presented.

Mr. Willey, of Western Virginia, stated the views of the people of the Old Dominion on the war. He said: "There is a fear among many, there is a prejudice wide extended in the public sentiment of Virginia, that the design of this war is subjugation; that the design of this war is to reduce the Old Dominion into a province; that the design of this war, literally, in the language of the honorable Senator from Vermont, is to pass our people under the yoke.

"Sir, I do not understand such to be the purpose of this war. The Legislature of the State which I represent does not understand such to be the purpose of this war. My constituency are for the preservation of the Union, the vindication of the Constitution, and the execution of the laws. We believe that in the success of this war, in carrying out these legitimate purposes, is involved the great question of constitutional liberty itself now and forever among our people, and among all people; and I here, from the Old Dominion, as an humble member on this floor, am instructed by my Legislature, and am prepared to vote for every necessary measure, and for every necessary man, without stint, let, or hinderance, to carry on the war until all resistance to lawful authority is put down; until the Constitution is vindicated, and restored to all its legitimate supremacy; and until the Union is reestablished on a basis never to be overthrown.

"But, sir, candor constrains me to say, that if any different purpose shall be avowed, if it shall ever be intimated or declared that this is

to be a war upon the domestic institutions of the South, and upon the rights of private prop erty, every loyal arm on the soil of the Old Dominion will be instantly paralyzed. Sir, pass this resolution in the language in which it is printed, and you give muscle and vigor to every loyal arm in the Old Dominion, and you will multiply the friends of the Union by thousands whenever our people are disimbued of the prejudices that exist in their minds."

Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, stated that he had repeatedly, as long as he had been in Congress, and before that, avowed his sentiment to be that the Government had no morə right, no more legal or constitutional authority to interfere with slavery in the States than they had to interfere with the condition of the serfs in Russia, or with the rights and wrongs of the laboring classes in England. "I said that when I acted-I was going to say with the party out of power; but when I acted out of power, without a party-when I acted as the soldier did, fighting on his own hook. That has always been my sentiment. I have always proclaimed it, whenever I had occasion to speak upon it; and, acting with the party that is in power today, I am willing to stand by the profession that I made when I was out of power. I believe that the General Government have no power upon this subject at all, and that they cannot have under the Constitution."

Mr. Kennedy, of Maryland, thus expressed his views: "I indicated by my vote a few minutes ago that my opinion is that this deplorable civil war has been forced on the country by the disunionists of the Southern and Northern States. I wanted to go no further, but merely to express that idea. I am not prepared to admit that it was brought on exclusively by the Southern States, because it will be very well recollected by gentlemen here that there were propositions of peace offered at the last session of Congress, in the very closing days of that session, which, if they had been accepted at that time by the majority party in the Senate, would have avoided the war which is upon us to-day.

"It was the refusal in part of the majority party to accept of measures of conciliation and peace before Congress adjourned last spring. It is also perfectly true that if the members of the Southern States who vacated these seats long before Congress adjourned, had remained here, there would not have been war. I believe that if the majority party had pursued a different course before Congress adjourned than the one that they elected in rejecting every overture and every proposition for peace, we should have been to-day without the sad calamity that has befallen us."

Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, could not vote for the resolution, because he did not agree with the statement of facts contained in it. He said: "I do not intend to go into the antecedents of this unhappy difficulty. My own opinion is, that there have been errors upon

both sides; my own opinion is, that these sectional Federal difficulties might have been settled last winter; my opinion is, that the present condition of affairs is due, principally, to the absolute refusal of the majority in this Chamber to agree to any proposition of adjustment, as I have taken occasion to state, and tried to show heretofore; and I think to that persistent and obstinate refusal, more than to any other cause, is due the present condition of public affairs.

"I think, sir, that this war is prosecuted, according to the purposes of a majority of those who are managing the legislation that leads to its prosecution, for objects of subjugation. I believe that, unless_those_States which have seceded from the Federal Union, lay down their arms and surrender at discretion, the majority in Congress will hear to no terms of settlement, and that those who may attempt to mediate will speak to the winds. I believe, therefore, that the war, in the sense and spirit entertained by these gentlemen, is a war of subjugation. The eminent Senator from Ohio, (Mr. Sherman,) not less conservative than a majority of the organization with which he is connected, went so far, in the warmth of his feelings, the other day, as to declare that, unless the people of certain States in the South yielded willing obedience, he would depopulate them and people them over again. That I call not only a war of subjugation, but a war of extermination.

"On the day before yesterday, I think, sir, an amendment offered by the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Trumbull) to one of the general bills before the Senate, received the vote of an overwhelming majority of this body, which declares that any person held to service or labor, who should be employed to aid the rebellion in any form, should be discharged from service and labor. These were the general vague terms of that proposition. I think I have the very words.

"I consider that amendment passed by a vote of the Senate, so far as the vote of this Senate can go, a general act of emancipation. I should like to know if those held to service or labor, who are employed as agricultural laborers in the South in raising cotton, in raising corn and other products which are used by the mass of the population, cannot readily be considered by a rampant and fanatic spirit as being employed in aiding the rebellion. Certainly as readily as every means of subsistence can be cut off from that whole country by the act of the Executive, approved by the legislative department of the Government."

Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, followed, saying: "The Senator from Kentucky and the disunionists of the Southern States have no right to come to me and say, 'you have involved your country in civil war because you would not do as we wanted you to do.' Because we would not change the Constitution, because we would not ingraft new provisions in it that were un

known to it; especially because we will not disregard the popular voice at the last election, we are charged with involving our country in civil war. It is idle to answer this kind of argument.

"Mr. President, the disunionists of the Southern States are traitors to their country; they must, and I repeat they will, be subdued. This war is prosecuted for the purpose of subduing those men, and compelling them to obey the laws, just as you, sir, and I, are bound to do; to make them just as loyal subjects as you and I now are. Because this purpose is announced and declared by the resolution introduced by the honorable Senator from Tennessee, we are to have clamor about subjugation. I am a subject; you are a subject; there is not a Senator within the sound of my voice who is not a subject. The Lieutenant-General is a subject, the President of the United States is a subject, just precisely in the same sense that we intend to make all these people in the Southern States subjects to the Constitution. All this clap-trap about subjugation, it seems to me, ought to be dismissed from the Senate. These men must be subjugated to obedience to the Constitution; and when that is accomplished, then this resolution declares our purpose to be to give them all the rights conferred upon them by the Constitution, and that the very moment the object is accomplished the war shall cease.

"In regard to the proposition offered by the Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Trumbull,) I have but this to say: if a slave is used by his master in the actual prosecution of this war, that slave ought to be freed; the master ought to forfeit all right to him. Does the Senator deny this? If a slave is used by his master to accomplish the work of treason-I mean actively, according to the language of that billought that master still to own the labor of that slave? Certainly not; and yet it seems to me, in declaring this principle, we do not interfere at all in the slightest degree with the relations of master and slave, except where the master uses that slave as an instrument to erect barricades—to accomplish treason. As a matter of course, then, he ought to lose his right to the slave-all claim, ownership, or control over him. There is no objection to this doctrine."

The debate was continued by Mr. Breckinridge, to whom Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, replied: "The Senator charges upon the majority, or those representing the majority upon this floor, the responsibility of involving the country in civil war. He charges that last winter, if the majority had yielded to the demands of the minority, the country would now be at peace. Sir, what were those demands made by the minority? Not to support the Constitution; not to stand by the Constitution as it is; but to make a new Constitution, and a new Constitution by the provisions of which the institution of slavery should be carried into all the territories we now have south of 36° 30', and all the territories we can ever acquire,

even to Cape Horn. Sir, not only did they make the demand of a new Constitution, but they demanded it with arms in their hands. Do you suppose, when a demand like this was made, with arms in the hands of a minority, threatening to overturn the Government, that such a demand would be acquiesced in by the representatives of a majority of the American people?

"Does that honorable Senator, when defeated in the election, suppose that the majority, under the Constitution, would yield to the minority, who were already in arms to prevent the inauguration of their candidate? That because the majority refused to submit to this humiliating demand of a minority, as a condition precedent, the majority are responsible for this war? Behold those gentle advocates of peace seizing our forts, firing upon our flag, at the mouths of their cannon demanding a new Constitution, or that the old one should be overthrown! Worse than all, Mr. President, when the question was put to the representatives of this minority in the peace congress, 'If we yield to your demand, if we now agree that the Constitution shall be changed so that the institution of slavery, by virtue of the Constitution, shall be carried into all the territories we now have south of 36° 30', and all we may ever acquire in Mexico, Central and Southern America, will you then give up your doctrine of secession and stand by the Union?' the answer was, 'Not at all.' Sir, we could have no Union worth having on any terms whatever." On a division, the resolution was adopted. Ayes, 30; noes, 5.

On the 15th of July, Mr. Wood, of New York, offered the following resolution :

Resolved, That this Congress recommend the Governors of the several States to convene their Legislatures for the purpose of calling an election to select two delegates from each congressional district, to meet in general convention at Louisville, in Kentucky, on the first Monday in September next; the purpose of the said convention to be to devise measures for the

restoration of peace to our country.

51.

This was laid on the table. Ayes, 92; noes,

On the same day, Mr. Allen, of Ohio, offered the following resolutions:

Resolved, That whenever the States now in rebellion against the General Government shall cease their rebellion and become loyal to the Union, it is the duty of the Government to suspend the further prosecution of the present war..

Resolved, That it is no part of the object of the present war against the rebellious States to interfere with the institution of slavery therein.

These were ruled out of order, as in conflict with the resolution prescribing the business of

the extra session.

On the same day, Mr. McClernand offered the following preamble and resolution :

Whereas, a portion of the people of the United States, in violation of their constitutional obligations, have taken up arms against the national Government, and are now striving, by aggressive and iniquitous war, to

overthrow it, and break up the Union of these States: Therefore,

Resolved, That this House hereby pledges itself ta vote for any amount of money and any number of men which may be necessary to insure a speedy and effectual suppression of such rebellion, and the permanent restoration of the Federal authority everywhere within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States.

This was adopted. Ayes, 121; noes, 5. On the 22d of July, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, offered in the House the following resolution:

Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capital; that in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

The resolution was decided to be divisible, and the first part of it, to wit:

Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capital

was adopted. Yeas, 121; nays, 2.

The remainder of the resolution was then adopted. Yeas, 117; nays, 2.

In the House, on the 24th of July, a bill was reported to appropriate $100,000 in payment of the police force organized by the United States in the city of Baltimore.

Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, in opposing the bill, said: "I tell you, gentlemen, that you may carry on these acts, for there is no one here with power enough to prevent them; but you will be held responsible for all that has been done here. You are writing, by indorsing and ratifying the illegal acts of this Administration, one of the saddest, blackest pages in the history of this country."

Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, in reply, took occasion to make some statements, which, although not applicable to the subject under debate, yet belong to the facts of history. He said: "I have desired, during this entire session of Congress, to say a word or two to my friend from Kentucky, [Mr. Burnett.*] More than any other man in this house he is responsible this day for the condition in which the country now finds itself. When he aided, by his counsel, advice, and cooperation, the division of the Democratic party at Charleston

Mr. Burnett returned to Kentucky at the close of this session of Congress, and subsequently became, during the year, a member of the Confederate Congress from Kentucky, and took a seat in that body at Richmond.

« AnteriorContinuar »