the monarchies of Europe? They have not only called for volunteers, but they have drafted. They have not only drafted, but cut off both commutation and substitution. They have gone further. They have adopted conscription proper- the old French conscription of 1797—and have declared that every man between sixteen and sixty years of age is a soldier. But we stand here bartering blood for money, debating whether we will fight the enemies of the nation, or pay $300 into its treasury. Mr. Speaker, with this brief review of the grounds of our hope, I now ask your attention to the main proposition in the bill before the House, the repeal of the commutation clause. Going back to the primary question of the power to raise armies, I lay it down as a fundamental proposition, as an inherent and necessary element of sovereignty, that a nation has a right to the personal service of its citizens. The stability and power of every sovereignty rest upon that basis."

His fidelity to his friends and comrades led him to make another speech during his first session, which gives his opinion of his old chief, General Rosecrans, and also of General Thomas, and deserves a place in history. It was made upon a resolution of thanks to General Thomas, for his generalship in the battle of Chickamauga.

'This resolution proposes to thank Major-General George H. Thomas and the officers and men under his command for gallant services in the battle of Chickamauga. It meets my hearty approval for

what it contains, but my protest for what it does not contain. I should be recreant to my own sense of justice did I allow this omission to pass without notice. No man here is ready to say, - and if there be such a man I am ready to meet him, that the thanks of this Congress are not due to Major-General W. S. Rosecrans, for the campaign which culminated in the battle of Chickamauga. It is not uncommon throughout the press of the country, and many people, to speak of that battle as a disaster to the army of the United States, and to treat it as a defeat. If that battle was a defeat, we may welcome a hundred such defeats. I should be glad if each of our armies would repeat Chickamauga. Twenty such would destroy the rebel army and the confederacy, utterly and forever. What was that battle, terminating as it did a great campaign, whose object was to drive the rebel army beyond the Tennessee, and to obtain a foothold. on the south bank of that river, which should form the basis of future operations in the Gulf States? We had never yet crossed that river, except far below, in the neighborhood of Corinth. Chattanooga was a gateway of the Cumberland mountains, and until we crossed the river and held the gateway, we could not commence operations in Georgia. The army was ordered to cross the river, to grasp and hold the key of the Cumberland mountains. It did cross, in the face of superior numbers; and after two days of fighting, more terrible, I believe, than any since this war began, the army of the Cumberland hurled back, discomfited and repulsed, the com

bined power of three rebel armies, gained the key to the Cumberland mountains, gained Chattanooga, and held it against every assault. If there has been a more substantial success against overwhelming odds, since this war began, I have not heard of it. We have had victories - God be thanked-all along the line, but in the history of this war I know of no such battle against such numbers; forty thousand against an army of not less by a man than seventy-five thousand. After the disaster to the right wing, in the last bloody afternoon of September 20th, twenty-five thousand men of the army of the Cumberland stood and met seventy-five thousand hurled against them. And they stood in their bloody tracks, immovable and victorious, when night threw its mantle around them. They had repelled the last assault of the rebel army. Who commanded the army of the Cumberland? Who organized, disciplined and led it? Who planned its campaigns? The general whose name is omitted in this resolution - Major-General W. S. Rosecrans.

And who is this General Rosecrans? The history of the country tells you, and your children know it by heart. It is he who fought battles and won victories in Western Virginia, under the shadow of another's name. When the poetic pretender claimed the honor and received the reward as the author of Virgil's stanza in praise of Cæsar, the great Mantuan wrote on the walls of the imperial palace:

'Hoc ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.'

So might the hero of Rich mountain say, 'I won this battle, but another has worn the laurels.'

From Western Virginia he went to Mississippi, and there won the battles of Iuka and Corinth, which have aided materially to exalt the fame of that general, upon whom this House has been in such haste to confer the proud rank of lieutenant-general of the army of the United States, but who was not upon either of these battle-fields.

Who took command of the army of the Cumberland, found that army at Bowling Green, in November, 1862, as it lay disorganized, disheartened, driven back from Alabama and Tennessee, and led it across the Cumberland, planted it in Nashville, and thence, on the first day of the new year, planted his banners at Murfreesboro', in torrents of blood, and at the moment of our extremest peril, throwing himself into the breech, saved by his personal valor the army of the Cumberland and the hopes of the republic? It was General Rosecrans. From the day he assumed the command at Bowling Green, the history of that army may be written in one sentence, it has advanced, and maintained its advanced position, and its last campaign, under the general it loved, was the bloodiest and most brilliant. The fruits of Chickamauga were gathered in November, on the hights of Mission Ridge and among the clouds of Lookout mountain. That battle at Chattanooga was a glorious one, and every loyal heart is proud of it. But, sir, it was won when we had nearly three times the number of the enemy. It ought to have been won. Thank

God that it was won. I would take no laurel from the brow of the man who won it; but I would remind gentlemen here that while the battle of Chattanooga was fought with vastly superior numbers on our part, the battle of Chickamauga was fought with still vaster superiority against us.

If there is any man upon earth whom I honor, it is the man who is named in this resolution, General George H. Thomas. I had occasion, in my remarks on the conscription bill, a few days ago, to refer to him in such terms as I delighted to use; and I say to gentlemen here that if there is any man whose heart would be hurt by the passage of this resolution as it now stands, that man is General George H. Thomas. I know, and all know, that he deserves well of his country, and his name ought to be recorded in letters of gold; but I know equally well that General Rosecrans deserves well of his country. I ask you, then, not to pair the heart of a noble man, who will be burdened with the weight of these thanks, that wrong his brother officer and his superior in command. All I ask is that you will put both names into the resolution, and let them stand side by side."

All I ask is that

When the important question arose in Congress concerning a through line of railroad from Washington to New York, there was considerable opposition from the Camden and Amboy railroad, and from the officials of the New Jersey State government, and the question whether the State of New Jersey had the right to prohibit the construction of a national.