Green's Pronuncia

miento.

arm

States has to Fort Sumter, and as much right to attack it; and he pledged one feeble to act in the contingency which might arise. He commended the forbearance of South Carolina. He had feared she would be too hasty. He wanted

all the States to act. He knew Missouri to be for the Union. Even the supporters of Rhett and Yancey are for Union, but he meant a Union which would give protection to all. He was tired of all these petitions for Union. He wanted a Union about which there would be no quarreling, and which would give rights to all, or else he wanted no Union but separation. He said this was not a mere question of Slavery, but it affects every property-holder of the North. Missouri, though slow, would act; but the action of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia has been disastrous. If the Border States had acted with the South, we would have had peaceable sep.

both Houses, in counting the electoral vote.
[See Chapter XXVII.]

In the Senate, Thursday, Mr. Bingham,
(Rep.,) of Michigan, presented the joint reso-
lutions of the Michigan State Legislature,
expressing the adherence of Michigan to the
Union; offering the military force of the State
to the Federal Government, and asking that

Michigan Sentiment.

no concessions be made
to traitors. Mr. Bingham
said that these resolutions
had passed with great unanimity, and he
thought they expressed the feeling of the
State. He said that they would adhere to
the Constitution as it is, and that they had
no sympathy with treason, or those in the
Government who took measures to destroy it.
He hoped his Southern friends would yet
come to see that the best way for them was
to submit to the beneficent rule of the Govern-
ment; but if not, and they persisted in their
efforts to destroy it, they must take the

ration. Every one of the Slaveholding States ought
to have gone out together. As sure as no adjust
ment was made, all would go but Delaware, Mary-
land, and Virginia. He was afraid of Virginia, she
was so slow. Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas would
go out. [Laughter.] He said Kansas, after the hot-responsibility.
house plants of emigration die out, would fall back
into the arms of Missouri. He contended that
the secret object of the Republican party was
to circumscribe Slavery, so as to extinguish it.

"He was in favor of the proposition of the Senator from Kentucky, but there must be a reaction in the public mind of the North, or else these amendments would go for nothing. This thing must be settled

either by adjustment or separation. There could be no honorable adjustment unless there was a retraction of Northern opinion. The Senate cannot amend the Constitution, and had better let the question alone and attend to the regular business, and wait for a proper adjustment. But if there was no change of Northern opinion, he would not ask for any Union. He deprecated war, and, in this civilized age of the world, he thought all the difficulties ought to be settled without recourse to

arms and war. Let the whole Southern States act together, and let them negotiate with the North as equals, and if they cannot agree, then let there be peaceable and quiet separation."

The amendment, after this harangue, was passed-27 to 17. Among those Democrats who voted with the Republicans were Messrs. Douglas, Bigler, and Latham, and Johnson, (Am.,) of Tennessee—a vote which, in the estimation of the Southern interest, placed them in the category of friends to coercion. Wednesday (Feb. 13th) was consumed, in

Mr. Wilkinson, (Rep.,) of
Minnesota, presented a me- Minnesota Sentiment
morial, signed by all the
Repubcan and several Democratic members
of the Minnesota Legislature, calling upon Con-
gress to preserve the Constitution as it is, and
to enforce the laws; also, to keep open the
rivers, and to recapture all the seized forts.
In presenting this memorial, the Senator re-
marked that, to arrive at the wishes of the
mass of people, it was necessary to visit the
country, and to get clear of city curb-stone
influences. He said the memorial represented
the feeling and spirit of the great North-west.
"No menaces, no threats of war, no military
display, no tramp of armed men, no glittering
bayonets, would drive the people of that sec-
tion from their position."

Rice, (Dem.,) of Minnesota, also presented
a petition from many citizens of the same
State, asking for compromise.

An unusually large number of petitions were presented by Messrs. Wade, Seward, Crittenden, and Cameron-pro and con compromise. The House, Thursday, after much time consumed in "personal explanations," resumed consideration of the Corwin Report, when Campbell, (Rep.,) of Pennsylvania, delivered his views in a speech marked with

T

REPORT OF THE

CONSPIRACY

COMMITTEE.

405

Campbell's Speech.

follows:

a decision and force which
commanded attention. A
digest of his views is as

"He alluded at some length to the present state of the country—a state calculated to awaken every man to a sense of peril. If every effort at conciliation should fail, the true way was to meet the crisis as men ready for duty in a just cause— even to the laying down of their lives. If those who have seized the forts, arsenals, and other public property, surrendered them, he would hear their complaints, and, if well founded, furnish the measures of redress. What reason have the enemies of the Union to oppose the peaceful inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, who was elected strictly according to the Constitution? Though the vessel of State was now dashed about, a pilot will presently be found. He argued that our Government is a grand nation of people and not of States. It is supreme, and the heresy of Secession can make no impression on reasonable minds. Secession is rebellion. In the Se

ceded States there are men true to the Government, and who preserve their alliance to the Union. Honor and humanity demand they be protected. Any other course would sink the Government to perdition. Any Government not protecting them from persecution, confiscation, and death, is not worthy of that name. There are no grievances

which cannot be redressed in the Union. He was

willing to do something for Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other States, and for loyal citizens in Georgia and Alabama who require assistance. He argued that Mr. Crittenden's proposition, in effect, was condemned in the last Presidential election by an overwhelming majority. In the language of Clay, no earthly power should induce him to vote for a specific measure for the introduction of Slavery where it did not before exist, whether south or north

of the parallel of 36 degrees, 30 minutes. The prop osition of the Select Committee met his approval. He was in favor of the passage of the resolution recommending the repeal of the Personal Liberty laws, and of the bill amendatory of the Fugitive Slave act. It was in the power of the Slave States to quiet this agitation by abandoning extreme views, giving up the Crittenden measure, and other impossibilities, and combining on the admission of New Mexico as a State in the Union. This would settle the chief question of difficulty, namely, that relating to the Territories. Should conciliatory measures here fail, he would advocate the calling of a National Convention. At all events, Pennsylvania will stand by the Union as it is."

The Special Committee, appointed [see page 284] to inquire into, and to report on

Report of the Conspiracy Committee.

the facts as to an alleged
conspiracy to seize the Cap-
ital, reported, through Mr.
Howard, Chairman, who presented what the
Committee supposed to be a unanimous re-
port. It read as follows:

"The Committee entered upon the investigation under a deep sense of the importance and the intrinsic difficulty of the inquiry. To prove the existence of a secret organization having for its object the resistance to and the overthrow of the Govern· ment would, in the very nature of the case, be a difficult task, if such an organization really existed. On the other hand, in a time of high excitement, consequent upon the revolutionary events transpiring all around us, and the very air filled with rumors, and individuals indulging in most extravagant expressions of fears and threats, it might well be thought difficult to elicit such clear proof as would enable the Committee to pronounce authoritatively that no such organization existed, and thus contribute to the quiet of the public mind and the peace of the country. The Committee have pursued their labors with a determination on their part to ascer tain the real facts, so far as possible; and if sometimes they have pernaitted inquiries and admitted testimony not strictly within the rules of evidence or within the scope of the resolutions, it is to be attributed to their great anxiety to elicit the real facts, and to remove unfounded apprehensions. The extraordinary excitement, existing prior to the late Presidential election led disaffected persons of high and low positions, after the result of that election became known, to consult together on the question of submitting to that result, and also upon various modes of resistance-among other modes, resistance to the counting of the ballots and to the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, the seizure of the Capitol

and the District of Columbia, were discussed form

ally in this city and elsewhere; but too much diversity of opinion seems to have existed to admit of the adoption of any well-organized plan until some of the States commenced to reduce their theories of secession to practice. Since then, persons thus disaffected seem to have adopted the idea that all resistance to the Government, if there is to be any, should have at least the color of State authority. If the purpose was at any time entertained of forming an organization in secret, or open, to seize the District of Columbia, attack the Capitol, or prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, it seems to have been rendered contingent upon the secession of either Maryland or Virginia, or both, and the sanction of one of these States. Certain organizations in this District and in Maryland that, prior to the Presidential election, seem

Report of the Conspiracy Committee.

The Minority Report and Resolution.

to have been openly political | hostile enemy, and during the
session of Congress, is impoli-
tic and offensive, and, if permit-
ted, may become destructive of civil liberty, and, in
the opinion of this House the regular troops now in
it, ought to be forthwith removed therefrom."

clubs, have since assumed the character of military organizations, are now engaged in drilling, and expect to provide themselves with arms, some from the State authorities, and others from private subscriptions. But so far as the Committee were able to learn, their purposes, while they sympathized strongly with secession, there is no proof that they intend to attack

either the Capitol or District of Columbia, unless the

surrender should be demanded by a State to which they profess a high degree of allegiance. Some of these companies in Baltimore professed to be drilling for the sole purpose of preventing other military companies from passing through the State of Maryland. Whether these representations of the purposes of these companies be correct or not, the Committee have failed to discover any satisfactory evidence that they had any purpose whatever, as a mere mob, without the sanction of State authority, to attack the Capitol, or any other public property in this District, or to seize the District. If it should be admitted that any one of these organizations were hostile to the Government, or entertained unlawful purposes, they are in no proper sense secret, and are not, therefore, such as are contemplated in the resolution of the House.

"The Committee are unanimously of opinion that the evidence produced before them does not prove the existence of a secret organization here or elsewhere, hostile to the Government, that has for its object, upon its own responsibility, an attack upon the Capitol or any other of the public property here, or an interruption of any of the functions of the Government. The Committee submit herewith all the testimony taken upon the subject, and ask that the same and this report be printed, and the Committee be discharged from the further consideration of the

To render his surprise successful, the North Carolina member called for the previous question on his resolution. The Committee, however, "ventilated" the gentleman's strategy

Exciting Debate.

so much to his discredit that the resolution
was tabled by a vote of 125 to 35. English,
of Indiana, Florence, of Pennsylvania, and
one or two other Northern members, voting
with the South. Mr. John Cochrane, (Dem.,,)
of New York, sustained the Committee's re-
port, as entirely proper. If no conspiracy
then existed, the evidence was conclusive
that, at no remote period of time, there were
rumors, commanding atten-
tion, of the existence of or-
ganizations inimical to the
peace and safety of the Capital. Hence, the
assembling of troops at the Capital, as a pre-
cautionary measure, was necessary. Kunkle,
of Maryland, was very severe
on General
Scott and Governor Hicks. He said the
whole scheme of inquiry was a false and fu-
tile inquisition to furnish a pretext for the
calling of troops by the Lieutenant-General-
that the scheme originated with him for his
own justification, or else it was hatched by
the Governor of Maryland, or by his emis-
saries around the Capital. "The Governor
of Maryland," he said, " was the only respect-

able man in the State who has had the au

dacity to libel and calumniate his fellowcitizens by his published proclamation of the 3d of January. He has proclaimed that he was in possession of information not accessible to the Legislature, or to the people of the State, and that there did exist in the State an organization of his fellow-citizens, armed and prepared to invade the District and to capture this Capitol."

This bitter assault called up various parties, and, for a while, the confusion was beyond the Speaker's control. It only received its quietus in the vote to table, as recorded above.

Nothing further of interest transpired up to the hour of adjournment.

Vandever's Speech.

In the House, Friday, (February 15th,) speeches were made by Vandever, (Rep.,) of Iowa, and De Jarnette, (Dem.,) of Virginia. The Iowa member's argument was an able and thorough exposé of the duplicity practiced by the Southern leaders in the Democratic Conventions at Charleston and Baltimore, and of their duplicity towards the Union. He was interrupted much by Southern men, who sought to parry his points by references to side issues and personal matters. He disapproved the Corwin Report, and stood firmly on the principle of no more Slave Territory forever!

De Jarnette's
Speech.

De Jarnette argued, with
much feeling and no little
ability, the Southside view
of the question of Union. He was very se-
vere on the anti-Slavery sentiment of the
North, and of England; and essayed to throw
upon it the responsibility of the evils which
had come upon the country. He assumed
that England's ultimate design was to dis-
rupt the American Confederacy, and that the
North was rushing on in a scheme of mad-
ness in its crusade against Slavery-which he
regarded as not only a just and wise institu-
tion, but said it was bound to spread, not
only because of its commercial prosperity,
but from its agricultural necessity.
closed thus:

407

"Do not, I implore you, suppose that Virginia will submit to oppression. She leaves this Union and will sacrifice all, except her honor and the liberties of her people to preserve it. You now assail both. She has called her young men and her old men together around her council-board. They have left their swords at home, because their presence sometimes engenders strife.

"They want peace, and not war; and if you do not acknowledge the sovereignty of Virginia, and the equality of her people, you will find them, too, on the war-path."

This speech, violent as it was—and, indeed, as was all the declamation of disunionist speakers-was charged with a wild eloquence and feeling which rendered it, for the moment, impressive. It served the purpose, however, of fanning the slumbering fires of secession in the State, through which it was quite studiously circulated. When such a speech was delivered, it was spread on the very wings of the wind throughout the South-when a Union speech was made by a Southern man, its echo scarcely reached beyond the walls of the Capitol, except towards the North.

Saturday's session, in the Senate, was devoted entirely to a consideration of the Morrill Tariff bill.

Saturday (February 16th) was private bili day. At the evening session the Corwin He Report, being the special order, was before the House, when Somers, (Rep.,) of Maine, Burnham, (Rep.,) of Connecticut, and Waldron, (Rep.,) of Michigan, Beale and Duell, (Reps.,) of New York, Walton, (Rep.,) of Vermont, all delivered speeches of a strongly anti-compromise tone. The first was particularly pointed and forcible in his remarks. We may quote:

"You can never induce England to remain hostile
to the South, because she is dependent on the South.
From her trade with it she derives, annually, an in-
come of more than six hundred millions, besides
giving employ to millions of her starving people.
What does she derive from the export trade of the
North? Not one cent; because it is all consumed.
Her bread, when there is a failure in the European
crop,
she sometimes gets from your ports. That is
all. But that does not constitute a basis of trade,
because it is consumed, and hence is no source of

income.

"The difficulties that threat

en the peace and stability of A Breeze from Maine. the nation are the results of an

attempt to override Civilization by forcing Slavery on enlightened communities. The advocates of Slavery are trying to harmonize an intensified des

"We at the South understand the strength of our
position. The step we are about to take is not onepotism with free schools and Christianity; they
of our own choosing, but one of necessity. That ne-
cessity you have created, against our repeated pro-
tests, as well as against our threats. You have not
heeded our solemn protests, and you have laughed
to scorn our threats. As you have scorned our
threats, so now we scorn yours, and we defy your
power!

insult the intelligence of the North by declaring that wrong is right, and they propose to gag all who presume to differ from them. They had undertaken to unite two repellant bodies, and, because they will not fuse, they threaten to break the crucible; any political chemist could have foretold the result. The framers of the Constitution, while planting

A Breeze from Maine.

* *

A Breeze from Maine

into a ditch sooner than a coward into camp. Save
the Free States from humiliation, the Border States
from Secession. By compromise you encourage
treason and enhance the danger. I hope that the
Union will be saved, but it must not be by striking
hands with wrong. Let us have liberty and Union
if we can; but liberty without Union rather than
Union without liberty."

Slavery as a necessity there, | prevent it-better prepare for yet provided in the Constitution it in season. Aggressions on means for carrying out the Northern men in the Slave theory of equal rights, namely: Free speech and a States must cease, rebellion must be put down, or the free press. They feared not error so long as truth power of a consolidated North will sweep away all was free to combat it. Our Southern friends under- resistance; unless the South retreats from its treason, stand the power of truth as well as Napoleon the Slavery is doomed, and will go out in blood. Seces. First did, and fear it more. Its present game sion, compromise, and reconstruction is now the plat of forcing the North into compromise is one of brag; form of the odds and ends of the Democratic party; conventions are cheap, and resolutions cheaper. Secession to force compromise-compromise to desWe have had numerous Southern Conventions and troy the Republican party and reconstruct the old Deresolutions for direct trade and magnificent steam-mocracy on its ruins. Let us meet this courageously ships, but they have floated only in the imaginations--the people sustain brave men, and follow a hero of the resolvers. But you say now they have certainly seceded; have seized public property, and threaten war. I know it, and this is the very card to bring Congress to its knees, and they know it. I admire their boldness. They stake all on a small pair, and then, without moving a muscle, look their opponent in the face until he quails, and lays down his hand. They play the game more desperately than they first intended, for they did not expect firmness in the people of the North. If that which was intended for a farce results in a tragedy, the getters-up of the piece will be alone responsible. * Be warned of the fate of those who have compromised with wrong. The Fugitive Slave law was framed to satisfy the slave power, and was made so heavy that it crushed its Northern champion—the greatest man of the age; and carried down a President and the Whig party. Are you not satisfied with such a feat, or have you got your eyes on another crop of great men, and a successful party, whose necks you wish to place under their modern guillotine called compromise? Several are on their backs already, looking up at the glistening

A sham

This sounded like the stern North wind
cutting through the pines. It was, unques-
tionably, Maine sentiment. Its last sentences
sounded like grim prophecy. Compromise
with revolutionists, and concessions to
Slavery, found no response save that of defi-
ance from the real Northmen.
as unbending in their sense of right as the
pines in their primeval forests. It was Histo-
ry telling her beads over again.

They were

The speeches of Burnham, Beale, and Walton were reassurances of the feeling rapidly growing, against compromise, in their States, as was evident from the satisfaction with

blade, but they are unwilling to die alone, so they which they were received by their constitu-
beckon us on to share their inglorious fate.
ents. How it must have pained the heart of
compromise will do the South no good-for a real
one there is no basis. The Border States, for their the noble Kentucky Senator to have heard
own safety, must ally themselves with the North. these daily protests against his well-meant,
Emancipation is sure to come in time-nothing can but weakly cherished offspring!