Garnett's Speech.

only necessary to show that no portion of the people in the Southern States could join them without committing themselves to a radical change in their whole

peared as one of the strang- | must ultimately control the whole of the popular est phenomena of these un- feeling in the North. It was impossible to adopt an settled times. State after opinion of this kind without making up the mind to State had seceded, and yet nothing was done. carry what it professes. In other words, it was im Minute-guns continued to proclaim the separa- possible for the Southern people to join the Republican party without a great revolution in the policy tion of fresh States. The old ship of State was of that organization; and, therefore, the Republican being broken up into fragments, and yet the must be a sectional party. In proof of this it was representatives of the people stand idly by as spectators, with folded arms and helpless in the emergency. It was, therefore, time that they should seriously address them-social, moral and political system. Therefore, being selves to the dangers which surround the country, and, rising above the horizon of party prejudices, grapple with the responsibilities which, through Providence, had devolved upon them, and which must affect generations yet unborn. It was in such a spirit he addressed them. He proceeded :"Those who would trace their difficulties and the cause of their dangers to the 6th of November last, would be shallow thinkers and very superficial observers. That cause was not merely the election of Lincoln and Hamlin. Through the machinations of the Republican party, the interests and rights of one section of the country had been imminently endangered, and that section had been denounced by the

sectional and the stronger party, they will control the Government, to the detriment of the weaker Southern section. While the stronger would engross to themselves all the emoluments of office, and enjoy the patronage of Government, the South would have to pay the taxes, help to fight the battles and extend the boundaries of the Confederacy. Thus the South would be isolated and left to gradual decay, without

hope of redemption. Thus, the Federal patronage and power, and all the moral and political influence

*

of the Government would be brought to bear against
Southern institutions, to the final overthrow of Sla-
very.
* The South could no longer
afford to hold their slaves at the mercy of the North,
and therefore they were compelled to seek safety
and honor out of the Union. If they were to remain

in the Union the South must be invested with the
power of an absolute veto in every department of
the Government. They no longer expected justice
from the North. The crisis was now upon them, ard
each must meet it as best they might."

other. Between those two sections there were wide differences of feeling and sentiment. They were dif ferent in institutions, and in some degree in race, and they were further separated by a geographical line. In times past the Anti-Slavery party had, after many vicissitudes, broken down; but upon its ruins a new party had arisen, which had burst beyond He then adverted to the position of Virthe last line of defence raised against the approaches ginia-that all her sympathies and interests of the former party. The new organization, under were with the South.* That she, too, would the name of Republicans, had gained a powerful ma- follow the Seceded States was not a matter jority of the Electoral votes in every non-Slave- of doubt. Coercion, he said, would be the holding State, with the exception of gallant little death blow to all hopes of a reconstruction. New Jersey. Since the organization of the Anti-If a blockade of rebellious ports was attemptSlavery party, every Presidential election had showned, England and France would both resist, as

on their part a steady growth, until now they have

gained possession of all the Northern States, in they must have cotton. So must New Eng

every department of the States' Government, and the control of the House of Representatives, besides a probable majority in the Senate. The life and sustaining principle of this organization was to be found embodied in one idea-hatred to Slavery. Their great party leader, Mr. Seward, said that the secret of their success lay in one idea-the equality of all men. Again, Lincoln declared that the limitation of Slavery was their avowed object, and confining it, so that all men might hope for its ultimate extinction. The emphatically declared sentiment of the party was, that Slavery was a social, moral and political evil. This was the doctrine of the men who

* Virginia's almost only product of sale has, for years, been slaves. She raised much tobacco and a little grain for the market; but, the raising of negroes for the Southern market was her surest source of revenue. The Richmond Inquirer, in arguing the question of Virginia's interest, said her revenue was four millions per year from the sale of negroes— what commerce with the North could be a substitute for that traffic in "chattels ?" The oldest families in the State-the true F.F.V.'s-derived their chief revenue from their annual sales of "black stock," which they bred for the market just as a Kentuckian bred his horses and hogs.

HOLMAN AND MORRIS' SPEECHES.

Thomas' Speech.

on his return from abroad, would have be- | Book of Fate, to pronounce against the wrong, come the instrument of the nation's ruin! the treason, the fatal madness of the disuniNero fiddled while Rome was burning, and onists and their vast conspiracy. Mr. Buchanan, while the whole Republic is In the House, Thursday, falling into ruin, complacently comes forward Mr. Thomas, of Tenn., spoke and says he is not responsible for it! But he for himself and his consti(Mr. Morris) said with the whole country, as tuents. He assumed that Lincoln was elected Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man." because of his hostility to Slavery-that he The blackness of darkness will overshadow was elected not to govern the North but the Mr. Buchanan's memory. If there were needed South, which had no more to do with his any other inscription on his tomb it should | election than it had with that of the Emperor be, "God have mercy on him." [A voice of France. He argued the rights of the South from the Republican side-" Amen !"] He in the Territories which their cash and blood referred to his former remarks, to show that helped to secure. Why parcel out these lands, his predictions have been realized respecting by Homestead bills, to foreigners, many of the breaking down of the Democratic party whom cannot speak the English language, by an odious Administration. The President and yet deny the South entrance to that comhad descended from his high position to ma- mon domain? Having been denied its rights liciously operate against Mr. Douglas. It had under the Constitution, the South had exerbeen said by outsiders that Buchanan is the cised only its "inalienable rights" of procelast of the constitutional Presidents; but it dure in leaving the Union and its tyranny. might, with more truth, be asserted that he Would coercion be attempted? It would reis the first of constitutional tyrants and usurp- sult in the solid unity of every Slave State ers. The President had virtually surrendered against the mad act. The South would never the Government to the Secessionists, who be conquered nor turned from her course. gained his ear. He traveled with them to the verge of dissolution; but, refusing to take the leap, they turn their keen blades against him, and he now cries for help. While he preaches like a patriot, his acts are like those of a traitor. He would say to him, "Deceitful man, be sure that your sins will find you out." In the course of his remarks, he said that the Administration lent itself to the Disunionists, who, emboldened by his course, destroyed the Democratic party. The Union would have been in safety if Douglas had been elected President. The Southern people are alone to blame for the defeat of Democracy, and the election of Lincoln. The object to be attained in this was the dismemberment of the Union.

Sickles' Speech.

Mr. Sickles, (Dem.,) of N. Y., followed. He took a strong stand against coercion. They could not, under any provision of the Contitution, enforce the laws against a seceding State. The law was ap plicable to individuals, and, to enforce the law against the individual you must have judges and juries, and you must proceed against him according to the Constitution in the State where the crime was committed. It was clear, therefore, that they could not enforce the law against an individual, for no jury in South Carolina would bring in a verdict of guilty upon any indictment found at this juncture and under present circumstances. It was true, there was a general demand for the enforcement of the laws; but however true as an abstraction, however ne

These words were uttered in a spirit of fervor which marked a deep and rankling feeling, and, coming from the lips of a lead-cessary at all times and imperative it might ing Douglas man, produced a sensation in Democratic circles. They confirmed the evident tendency of a consolidation of all parties in the North in that of one whose only rallying cry should be the Union and the Constitution. Speech after speech came from the Democrats, like the turning of leaves in the

be on the Government to enforce them, it was now impracticable and impossible, as well as wholly unsuited to the occasion. The question then was, What was the duty of the Administration and of Congress? It was one of pacification and reconstruction; s duty which must undoubtedly be committed

MR. ASHLEY'S SPEECH.

237

to the next Administration, and the country of that imperial city are a unit for the Union. must therefore await an appeal to the peo--Mr. S. fully conceded the property right ple. But what, in the meantime, is to be of a slaveholder to his slave, and granted done? As yet no practical remedy had been the South the right to bear slaves to the Terdevised, and State after State was going out ritories. He, in fact, took no position against of the Union. All the votes taken in the dif- the South, except upon the sole issue of the ferent Crisis' Committees tended to strengthen property of the Federal Government and its the indication that a remedy from these just claims to its national possessions. These, sources is out of the question. The domi- he assumed, must be retained-if the South nant party have shown an indisposition to seized them they must be defended or remake those concessions indispensable to a re- taken at all hazards. Upon the South alone union. Their bounden duty, then, was to rested the responsibility, if the property preserve the status quo, and to preserve the taken was not restored. existing state of things as nearly as possible -to avoid the employment of coercion. But, to do this, it was essentially necessary to their policy that a like purpose and spirit should animate their Southern friends. It would not do for the South to protest against coercion, while at the same time they seized the arms, arsenals, fortresses, navy-yards, and ships that come within their reach and power. To act thus was not and could never be peaceable secession—that would not be preserving the status quo. It was a declaration of war; and when sovereign States make war they could not cry peace, nor call for protection against coercion.

**

*

*

Ashley's Speech.

Mr. Ashley, (Rep.) of Ohio, charged that the conspirators for the overthrow of the Government had found cooperation from those connected with the Administration. If the people knew what had been going on for the last four years in every department of the Government, there would have been such an expression at the ballot-box as would have effectually silenced the allies of the South living in the North. The party who had violated the Missouri and other compromises, now ask, as a condition of their remaining in the Union, such amendments to the Constitution as will give a finality to the Slavery Whatever may be the issue of events. question. The Republican party ought to whether, happily, by conciliation and justice die if they engraft on that instrument the reto the South, we may find an honorable and cognition of property in man! That Slavery fraternal solution of our difficulties; or whe- shall be extended and made perpetual is the ther, unhappily, we blindly drift into alien- test demanded. To meet the secession moveation, war, and irrevocable separation-the ments, he would abolish all the ports of entry great commercial interests of this country re- where the laws are now obstructed, proclaim quire, the destiny of American civilization a blockade in the ports of the rebellious demands, that the political and territorial States, and let thoughtless men take the concontrol of this continent, from the mouth of sequences of their own illegal acts. Mr. Linthe Hudson to the mouth of the Mississippi, coln will be inaugurated in Washington, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific seas, shall this will remain the seat of Government so remain where it now stands—in the hands long as there can be found States loyal to the of the Government of the United States. In principles on which the Government was all the partisan issues between the South and founded. If the conspirators succeed, Washthe Republican party, the people of the City ington will not be the Capital. If the Presiof New York are with the South; but when dent had acted with firmness, these troubles the South makes an untenable issue with our would not exist. He will retire from his of country, when the flag of the Union is in- fice utterly disgraced. The speaker claimed sulted, when the fortified places provided to represent all of North-western Ohio when for the common defense are assaulted and he said that his people would demand the seized, when the South abandons its North- recovery of all the stolen property, and the ern allies for English and French coopera- restoration of the authority of the General tion, then the loyal and patriotic population | Government in all its rightful and constitu

tional avenues. No Executive, he main- | peaceable separation, be it here recommended that the several States take immediate steps by a Convention or otherwise, and make propositions to the several States, each to the other, or by a Convention of the States, as will best conduce to the restoration of peace and harmony on principles of justice and equity to all. Ordered to a second reading.

Perry's Speech.

As indicative of the cast of opinion in the Senate at this time, we may give the yeas and nays on Mr. Cameron's motion to reconsider the vote by which Mr. Clark's amend ment to the Crittenden joint resolutions was adopted.

"YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingham, Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, Johnson (Ark.), Johnson (Tenn.), Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, Sebastian and

Slidell-27.

"NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wigfall, Wilkinson and Wilson—24.

tained, could satisfactorily administer the Government who would accept any other settlement with rebellion and treason. Mr. Perry, (Rep.) of Maine, proposed to speak as a New England man, representing New England's sentiment in the crisis. Now that tyranny and treason stalk, with unblushing front, even in the halls of legislation, schemes of compromise were talked of-men would appease the monster by submitting to his voracious demands. Of course, in such schemes New England was not to be consulted. The South, indignant at the Yankees' persistent maintenance of self-respect, and their undying spirit of opposition to the spread of Slavery, proposed to rule New England out-to cut her off from the Confederacy-to-be. When that experiment shall be tried, the South would find that New England could live without the South as well as the South could live without her. He discussed the following points: First, the territory and population of New England; second, In the House, Friday, Messrs. Sherman, her social and moral condition; and third, (Republican), and Pendleton, (Democrat), of her wealth and industry. In the course of Ohio, made speeches. The latter begged for his remarks, he spoke of her devotion to the compromise and peace. He would not debate Union. She was always prompt to repel foes whether there was legal or sufficient cause from without and to meet traitors at home. for secession. Certain Southern States have She was willing to make any reasonable com- committed the act with a unanimity without promise which could not be construed into parallel in the history of revolution. He an abandonment of principle. So long as the said if this bill be passed not a dollar would men have arms in their hands, so long as they be collected at Charleston. If an army could forcibly resist the common laws of the coun- maintain the Union, half a million of men try, his voice was for war. The Government would spring up in a night. If money would that negotiates with traitors deserves the con- keep it together the soil would leap with joy tempt of the civilized world. "The Union to produce its golden harvest. If blood, old must and shall be preserved." and young men would yield it like streams In the Senate, Thursday, the Pacific Rail- | which water their soil. But an army of way bill was under discussion. Friday's session was chiefly devoted to the consideration of the bill for the admission of Kansas. The Crittenden resolutions were taken up, but their consideration was postponed to Monday, January 21st. Mr. Green, of Mo., introduced a joint resolution declaring that, for the purpose of protecting the rights of all the people and all the States as far as devolves upon the Federal authority, and to maintain the Union in all its purity and excellence, or, failing in that, to provide for a

blood and money will not preserve the Union. Justice, reason and peace may. What force can compel a State to do what is required to be done by legislation? The whole scheme of coercion is impracticable, and contrary to the genius and spirit of the Constitution. The Southern States are prepared to resist, and when armed men come together there is war. The enforcement of the laws against the Seceding States is coercion, and coercion is war. If the South say they have grievances, redress them, and calm