aiding the rebellion ten thousand times more than the socalled disloyal speeches of the malcontents of the House.

Not content with the fatal neglect of indispensable action, this body must superadd an equally fatal positive act. Unsatisfied with helping on the Southern rebels by depriving Our Government of the sound credit which is its life, they must put into the hands of the Northern Copperheads a weapon of more deadly potency than they have ever yet handled or hoped for. How is it possible for true men so to misunderstand the American people, as to suppose they will submit quietly to this destruction of free debate in the council halls of the nation? What hellebore have they been drinking in Washington that has drugged their old perceptions? Are we to be told that American liberty is of the bastard type these men would make it? Has it, indeed, so degenerated since it was transported from its native land? Is our national Capitol so much below Parliament House, that men may only talk in it "by the card," and with bated breath? For the last hundred years who has heard of a parliamentary expulsion in England for words spoken in debate? If the House of Representatives expel Mr. Long, as attempted, it will prove beyond all possibility of question or cavil that the freedom of debate, under our boasted republicanism, is not even what it was under the British monarchy, against the tyranny of which we revolted. Every American school-boy knows that the language used in Parliament against the Government in favor of the American rebels, was a hundred times stronger than any that has been used in Congress against our Government in favor of the Southern rebels, and that it was used with perfect impunity in the very face of overwhelming Government majorities. Said Lord Chatham, in the House of Commons, in 1777, "If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms-never, never, never!" Has anything like that been heard in Congress from the sympathizers with our rebellion? Said Fox, "There is not an American but must reject and resist the principle and the right." The worst that Mr. Long said falls far short of that. We are as sure as of the sun at mid-day that the people are not satisfied with either the past inaction, or the present action of their Representatives in Congress; that among great numbers of those most earnest in their loyalty, there is a discontent verging closely upon disgust. This discontent we do not deplore. It comes from the very highest and best qualities of the American nature. Were it absent, we should despair of the cause. A people that could be unmindful of

such neglect in their public servants as these Representatives have displayed during the four months they have been in session, at such a critical period for the Government, and that could be insensible to the violation of parliamentary freedom, the most sacred principle in every representative government, would be a people alike unworthy and unable to maintain a conflict like this for the salvation of human freedom. Thank heaven, it is not so. There is discontent-for the most part silent, as yet, but, for all that, profound and intense. The so-called servants of the people in the Capitol of the nation are the source of it, and the object of it. It behooves them to give it heed.-New York Times, 1864.

THE DEMAND.

MR. SPEAKER, the voice of the people of the United States cannot be mistaken. They demand of us, their Representatives, that the institution of human slavery, which has from the beginning been our national reproach, the fruitful source of sectional enmity and strife, the obstacle to the development of one-half of our territory, the secret enemy which has for seventy years sown our vineyard with tares and brambles, which has alienated brethren of the same blood, which has proscribed education, fomented discord, encouraged opposition to our republican system, weakened the ties of national allegiance, and at last arrayed itself in bloody war against the Government, shall be forever blotted out in the Rebel States, and that upon its ruins shall be written a legend like that which indignant France wrote over the gateway of rebellious Lyons, "Slavery made war upon the Republic; slavery is no more!" They demand this as the right of war against the public enemy. They demand it in the name of that very Constitution which is sought here to be made its shelter and its shield. They demand it as the only adequate compensation for the sacrifices which they have made and the sufferings which they have endured. They demand it in the name of liberty and of humanity. They demand it as the only pledge of future union and tranquillity. They demand it for their own peace and safety, and for the repose and security of their children. Already, its grim and terrible form, weakened by its wounds, begrimed with the dust of battle, and covered with the blood of brave men which has been shed in this sanguinary war, cowers and reels before the banners of the Republic. As it falls, let it hear ringing

in its ears the decree for its extermination pronounced here by the Representatives of the people.

Hon. M. R. Thayer, May, 1864.

HOW TO RESTORE THE UNION.

My heart's desire and prayer to God is for peace and union to this distracted land. While urging undiminished and increased exertions by our army and navy to secure union, I have been ever ready to heal the wounds and check the ravages of war by all rational methods used among civilized nations. To those who can entertain but one idea at a time, this position has seemed inconsistent; but to those who have read history it will appear that to check strife and restore harmony in civil or international conflict, negotiation and friendliness are indispensable.

There is one hope left. If the bayonet shall be unfixed at our polls, if no persuasive appliances of money shall attaint an honest election, I do not despair of a verdict in favor of that party whose principles I have loved for their national history and unsectional spirit. Fond as I am of historic research, I cannot follow my friend in mourning over the dust of departed empire. I read in the decline and fall of republican governments lessons of wisdom and hope for our own guidance. In the remarks which I shall submit I propose to show from history how statesmanship has saved the falling columns of constitutional liberty, how the victories of war have been crowned by the more renowned, important and difficult victories of peace, and how allegiance has been rekindled by the sweet breath of kindness fanning the almost dying embers of patriotism. This may seem like a thankless and useless task, in view of the convulsions and prejudices of the hour; but the issue to be presented next November demands such an exposition. That issue is, shall freedom, peace and union be restored by a change of rulers and policy, or shall we set aside the teachings of the past, and permit the work of disintegration and ruin to go on?

I propose to apply the lessons of history, by inquiring whether, even admitting all these plans of reconstruction to be legal, and even if decided to be so, some wiser, better and more practicable plan may not be adopted. Is there no amnesty—no accommodation possible? There is. I believe that the restoration of the Union is possible, if we pursue a proper policy. The restoration of the Union as it was is only

impossible to those who, for other objects, do not desire it. The reconciliation of all the States is possible-nay, probable -with the restoration of the doctrine of local self-government and State sovereignty on matters not delegated to the Federal Government. I know no other hope. If this fail, all is dark and chaotic. Diversity of interests and systems find their unity alone in this system of laissez faire to the States. How then is it possible to restore local and State sovereignty, and thus unite our hapless and lacerated country? History never presented so grand a problem for statesmanship. I approach it with something of that awe which solemnizes the soul when we enter within some vast and consecrated fabric-vistas and aisles of thought opening on every side-pillars and niches, and cells within cells, mixing in seeming confusion, but all really in harmony and rich with a light streaming through the dim forms of the past, and blessed with an effluence from God, though dimmed and half lost in the contaminated reason and passion of man. Conscious of the magnitude of this rebellion, and oppressed with the feebleness of the policy directed against it, I still believe in the restoration of the old Union. Hence, whatever method I should advocate for the conduct of the war, or the celebration of peace, I am forever concluded against one conclusion, the independence of the South. I believe the principle of unity to be absolutely superior to the right of sectional nationality. The destiny of these United States is to continue united, and, perhaps, to add other States, until the whole continent is in alliance. Our fate is to expand, and not to contract our influence or our limits. All other notions are but transitory and evanescent.

To restore allegiance and inspire nationality, let the individual rebel in arms against us be reached by the arms of our soldier, and, when a non-combatant, by the moderation and paternal care of the Government. Let the military power of the Confederates be broken. Use those and only those severities of war which civilization warrants, and which will make the military power of the South feel the power of the nation; but do not place any longer in their hands the armament of despair. They have had that weapon for over two years. Let our rulers forego their ostracism of the misguided citizen. Let an amnesty be tendered which has hope in its voice. Give forgiveness to the erring, hope to the desponding, protection to the halting, and allay even fancied apprehensions of evil by the measures of moderation. Thus, by confiscating confiscation, abolishing abolition, and cancelling proclamations, by respecting private property and State

rights, prepare that friendliness which will beget confidence in the individual citizen. Thus will minorities be transferred to majorities South, and the States discarding the rebel authorities betake themselves to their normal and proper sphere under the old order. If this cannot be done by the present rulers, let other rulers be selected. History teaches in vain if it does not contain lessons of moderation in civil wars. How were the feuds of the Grecian federation accommodated? How were the civil wars of Rome ended? How were the intestine troubles of England assuaged? How was La Vendée pacified by the generous Hoche? How is it ever that unity of empire and consentaneity of thought are induced? How, except by the practice of that mildness which cares for and does not curse the people?

Hon. S. S. Cox, 1864.

THOROUGH WORK THE BEST.

EACH speaker that has risen on this platform to-night has declared his hatred of slavery. Why do you hate it? and, hating it, what will you do when you have abolished it? Why do you hate it? Do you hate it because it has been the cause of discord and contention between you and your brethren at the South? You do well to hate it for that reason. Do you hate it because it has often menaced the integrity of the States, and, at last, has rent those States in twain? You do well to hate it for that reason. Do you hate it because you believe that no solid peace, or future union, or any great and durable nationality can be yours while slavery remains? You do well to hate it for that reason. But do you not hate it for other reasons? and when it shall be abolished, will you not prove that you hate it for other reasons? Will you not prove that you did not put it down simply to restore the Union; that you did not put it down simply that thereafter you might be a united, and prosperous, and strong, and great nation? I trust that you mean to do more than to put down slavery; and I trust that you hate it not simply because it has rent your Union asunder, and has filled your land with the harsh sounds of the alarms of war, but because, during your history as a nation, it has made merchandise of the bodies and the souls of men. Oh, what an evil has slavery been to this country! Methinks that, if the fathers of your Revolution, the men who framed your Declaration of Independence, and who established that Constitution which has