Wilson's Speech. cils plot conspiracies against the Government they have sworn to defend, and clasp hands with the assassins of the Union; States vauntingly proclaim their withdrawal, and seize the fortresses of the nation; insult and fire upon the flag of the Republic. Never since the dawn of creation has there been a conspiracy against the rights of man so utterly causeless; so wicked, and regardless of the judgment of the civilized world and approval of Almighty God. No wonder that the actors in this wicked drama look in vain for one word of human sympathy. These conspirators against the unity of America, and the architects of the Southern Confederacy, receive no words of cheer from any portion of the civilized world. The Journal des Débats uttered not only the voice of France, but Europe, and all civilized men, when it said: "There is not a corner on earth where it will find sympathy and assistance.' Nor can men who plot treason against the Government appeal from the present to the verdict of the future. The destroyers of the American Union may achieve immortality as enduring as its founders, but it will be an immortality of shame and dishonor. This conspiracy was not the work of a day. Nearly thirty years ago the spirit of nullification raised its hand against the Government, and the disciples of Calhoun said that Slavery was the corner-stone of the Republic. "He then proceeded to argue that the denunciations of the North, that it hated the South, were not true. He said the citizens of Massachusetts, and the whole North, had ever treated the South with kindness and courtesy. New England, and especially Massachusetts, had been singled out for reproach. Massachusetts clings to the teachings of Webster and Adams. She reads in all history that Slavery has hastened the decay and fall of nations, and finds in the pages of Pluto, Socrates, Burke, Fox, Humboldt, Washington, Jefferson, and others, testimony which deepened her conviction against Slavery domination and expansion. He referred to the speech of the Senator from Louisiana, (Benjamin ;) under the pressure of the searching arguments of the Senator from Oregon (Baker) he lost his temper, and made an assault on Massa chusetts. Governor Andrew never said the invasion of Virginia was right, and never had sympathy with it, as the Senator from Louisiana charged. There was no truth in the accusation that Massachusetts sent Senators here to insult the South. He alluded to the threats that unless the North change its sentiments, the Union cannot remain, and contended that the sentiments of the North were those of the Declaration of Independence and founders of the Republic. The venerable Senator from Kentucky comes forward as a pacificator, with a com Wilson's Speech. promise. He accorded to the Senator from. Kentucky purity of motive and patriotic intention, but said the plan for running the line of 36 deg 30 min. was not a compromise, but an unquallified concession-a cheat and a delusion. The leaders of Slavery propagandism had fixed their hungry eyes on Cuba, Mexico, and Central America, and had fought their battles on this question. They were ignomini ously beaten and then rebelled. The Senator from Kentucky (Crittenden) proposes also to make the rule applicable to all the Territory hereafter to be acquired. The freemen of the North who fought the battle in November will never accept this. He (Crittenden) also proposes to insert in the Constitution a provision that Congress shall not abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia while it exists in Virginia and Maryland. Why should the nation bind itself to await the pleasure of Virginia? Such a proposition is an indignity and insult to the people of the United States. The Senator from Kentucky, seconded by the Senator from Illinois, (Douglas,) propose that the elective franchise shall not be exercised by any persons of the African race. Why is such a proposition made now? This class of men had exercised the rights of citizenship in Massachusetts for eighty years, and the ancestors of these men fought with heroic courage in the Revolution for liberty and independence. Men of the North could never put the propositions of the Senator from Kentucky in the Constitution. They would fear, if they did, the reproaches of insulted reason and violated conscience; that their names would be enrolled among those who have betrayed the cause of the people, and that they would be consigned to the moral indignation of history." The February 22d, being Washington's birthday, the House was not in session. Senate held a session, but nothing of interest particularly relating to national affairs trans pired. A number of petitions were presented to the Senate, Saturday, some opposing and some favoring compromise. The Post Route and the Utah Appropriation bills consumed the day in their consideration. In the House, Saturday, the Tariff bill was called up, after much fillibustering, on the part of its opponents, to prevent its consid eration. Among its opponents was Garnett, (Dem.,) of Virginia, who, in his remarks on the measure, vindicated his claim to the laurels won by Wigfall in the Senate. declamation was of the pure secession species. We will quote from the official His An Instance of Dis union Candor. THE WEEK'S RESULT. 439 report, so that no doubts | silenced by Mr. Sherman's attempt to take be cast on the record: the bill from the Committee of the Whole. “This Tariff measure on the In the course of remarks made by Sickles, necessaries of the poor, for the benefit of the iron- (Dem.,) of New York, views were expressed by mongers of Pennsylvania, is the well-known price of that member, strongly antagonistic to the her vote in November. This is your economical party! bill, and to the Republican ways and means One hundred and eight millions of dollars in of raising revenue with which to meet the debt in three months! Your President-elect has, we enormous indebtedness of Mr. Buchanan's hear, arrived this morning in the city. Has he come Administration. His remarks were quite as to restrain your imprudences? Is he in hot haste to personal as those of Garnett, though less ofcheck your reckless extravagance? Or why this fensive in terms. night march from Harrisburg? What credit he deserves for its cleverness, and the cunning contrivance by which he has set all the conspirators of Baltimore on the wrong scent! How utterly disconcerting to those terrible conspirators whom Jefferson Davis, and Yancey, and Wise, had, doubtless, placed in wait at the railway-station to assassinate him! Who could have suggested this splendid military stratagem? Was it his own unassisted genius, or was it a plan of that devoted prefect of the Prætorian bands that are to be-Lieutenant-General Scott? * * * It is certain, at least, that you will have to increase the pay of the Lieutenant-General for the signal services that he has performed. You will need a large supply of peacock-feathers for the appropriate adornment of his military dress-the reward for his profound plans and excessive toils in preparing plans of campaign against his native State, and the Southern States generally. Additional secretaries will have to be employed to draw up his bulletins and his' views' on international law, interlarded as they are with rare excerpts from Paley's Moral Philosophy, and with the yet richer display of his extensive political learning, and his command of the tritest quotations from Pope." And much more of the same sort, reckless in its insolence and indecent in its recklessness. The "gentleman from Virginia" was only At the evening session of the House, Saturday, speeches were made by Messrs. Gooch, (Rep.,) of Massachusetts; Fenton, (Rep.,) of New York; Haskin, (Rep.,) of New York; Blair, (Rep.,) of Pennsylvania; and Kellogg, (Rep.,) of Michigan. The Week's Result. The week had proven one of stormy debate, but progress had been made towards placing matters in a better position for the emergencies which seemed impending, and for the reassertion of the dignity of the Government. By the withdrawal of the Southern members, the Republicans, for the first time in the history of the party obtained a working majority. The majority in the Senate was the first in the history of the Government in which the Northern States had a ruling power in that branch. From the organization of the Government up to 1860, the Slave sentiment had had uncontrolled ascendency in the upper House-thus virtually holding the reins of government. That its sway was despotic and ended in disaster is a fact which its strongest partisans will scarcely question. CHAPTER XXXIV. REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE NAVY. LIST OF THE THE List of Vessels. THE Report of the Special Committee of Five on the President's Message of January 8th, made to the House February 21st, [see page 431,] was an interesting document, embodying facts of an important nature. It first gave a list of the entire naval force of the country and its disposition, with a list of commanding officers. The list of the vessels we give, together with their location on the 16th day of January, 1861: “East India Squadron.-Hartford, steam-sloop, cruising on the East India station; John Adams, sloop, cruising on the East India station; Dacotah, sloop, cruising on the East India station; Saginaw, steamer, cruising on the East India station; Vandalia, sloop-of-war, on the way to the station. "Brazil Squadron-Congress, frigate, cruising on the station; Seminole, steam-sloop, cruising on the station; Pulaski, steamer, cruising on the station. "Pacific Squadron.—Lancaster, steam-sloop, at Panama, January 3; Saranac, steamer, at Panama, January; Wyoming, steam-sloop, at Panama, January 3; Narragansett, steam-sloop, on the South American Coast; Cyane, sloop-ofwar, at Panama, January 3; St. Mary's, sloop-of-war, at Panama, January 3; Levant, sloop-of-war, at Hilo, September 3. "Mediterranean Squadron. — Richmond, steam-sloop, cruising on the station; Susquehanna, steam sloop, cruising on the station; Iriquois, steam-sloop, cruising on the station. "Store-ships.-Falmouth, sloop-of-war, stationed at Aspinwall; Warren, stationed at Panama; Fredonia, stationed at Valparaiso; Supply, sailed from Pensacola 12th of January for Vera Cruz; Release, returning from the Mediterra. nean; Relief, at New York. "Special Service.-Niagara, screw-frigate, special service to Japan. "Receiving Ships.-Ohio, ship-of-the-line, Boston; North Carolina, ship-of-the-line, New York; Princeton, steamer, Philadelphia: Alleghany, steamer, Baltimore; Pennsylva nia, ship-of-the-line, Norfolk; Independence, razee, Mare Island, California." There were also in the ports of the United States, dismantled and unfit for immediate service, the following vessels belonging to the Navy: "At Portsmouth, N. H.-Santee, frigate, 50 guns; Dale, slop, 15 guns; Marion, sloop, 16 guns. "At Boston.-Colorado, steam-frigate, 40 guns; Minnesota, steam-frigate, 40 guns; Mississippi, steamer, 11 guns; Vermont, ship-of-the-line, 84 guns; Vincennes, sloop, 20 guns; Preble, sloop, 16 guns; Bainbridge, brig, 6 guns "At New York-Wabash, steam-frigate, 40 guns; Roa noke, steam-frigate, 40 guns; Potomac, frigate, 50 guns; Brandywine, frigate, 50 guns; Savannah, sloop, 24 guns; Perry, brig, 6 guns. "At Philadelphia.-Pawnee, sloop-of-war, 6 guns; Water Witch, steamer, 3 guns; St. Lawrence, frigate, 50 guns; Jamestown, sloop, 22 guns. "At Washington.--Pensacola, steam-sloop. "At Norfolk.-Merrimac, steam-frigate, 40 guns; Plym outh, sloop, 22 guns; Germantown, sloop, 22 guns; Rari tan, frigate, 50 guns; Columbia, frigate, 50 guns; United "African Squadron.-Constellation, sloop-of-war, cruis. ing on the coast of Africa; Portsmouth, sloop-of-war, cruis-States, frigate, 50 guns. ing on the coast of Africa; San Jacinto, steam-sloop, cruising on the coa-t of Africa; Mystic, steamer, cruising on the coast of Africa; Sumter, steam sloop, cruising on the coa-t of Africa; Mohican, steam-sloop, cruising on the coast of Africa; Saratoga, sloop-of war, cruising on the coast of Africa. "Home Squadron.-Cumberland, sloop-of-war, at Vera Cruz; l'owhatan, steam-sloop, at Vera Cruz; Pawnee, steam-sloop, at Philadelphia; Brooklyn, steam-sloop, at Hampton Roads; Sabine, frigate, under orders to Pensacola; Macedonia, sloop-of war, on way to Pensacola; St. Louis, sloop-of-war, under orders to Pensacola; Pocahontas, steamsloop, at Vera Cruz; Mohawk, steamer, supposed to be on her station, the coast of Cuba; Crusader, steamer, supposed to be on her station the coast of Cuba; Wyandotte, steamer, supposed to be on her station, the coast of Cuba. "Al Annapolis.-Constitution, frigate, 50 guns." Of these vessels and their disposition, the Committee then say: Disposition of the Vessels. "The number of ships thus lying in port and dis mantled and unfit for service is 28, mounting in the aggregate 874 guns. None of them could be repair ed and put under sail short of several weeks time, and several of them would require for that purpose at least six months. No orders have been issued to put in readiness any of them. "The foregoing comprises the whole naval force of the country-both that which is in commission Disposition of the Vessels. DISPOSITION and in actual service and that which lies in port and is from any cause unavailable in any sudden emergency. From this statement it will appear that the entire naval force available for the defence of the whole Atlantic coast at the time of the appointment of this Committee consisted of the steamer Brooklyn, 25 guns, and the store-ship Relief, 2 guns, while the former was of too great draft to permit her to enter Charleston harbor with safety, except at spring tides, and the latter was under orders to the coast of Africa with stores for the African squadron. Thus the whole Atlantic seaboard has been, to all intents and purposes, without defence during all the period of civil commotion and lawless violence, to which the President has called our attention as of such vast and alarming proportions' as to be beyond his power to check or control. "It further appears that, of the vessels which might have been available for defence or protection in case of any sudden emergency arising at home, now at stations in distant seas, or on their way thi ther, on the 13th of October last, the Richmond left our coast to join the Mediterranean Squadron, and the Vandalia left on the 21st of September to join the East Indian Squadron, and, about the same time, the Saratoga to join the African Squadron, and others to join the Home Squadron, then in the harbor of Vera Cruz, supporting one of the revolutionary governments of Mexico. Disposition of the | been formed for the avowed "Nor has this state of lawless violence and total disregard of public and private rights been a sudden outburst of passion or discontent at some new and unexpected measure of governmental policy to which resistance had never been threatened, and could not have been provided against. But it is in fulfilment of schemes long entertained, and frequently threatened, in certain quarters of the Union. Indeed, it is resistance to the law and the Constitution, consequent upon the election of a particular person to the office of Chief Magistrate of the nation. Of all this, those charged with the execution of the laws and the preservation of the public peace had ample notice. It was for many months apparent to all but the blind that the whole current of events was turned in the direction which was to bring to the test the sincerity of the threats thus uttered. A Chief Magistrate of one of the States had, more than two years before, publicly confessed a design on his part, if the like contin "The Committee cannot fail to call attention to this extraordinary disposition of the entire naval force of the country, and especially in connection with the present no less extraordinary and critical juncture of political affairs. They cannot call to mind any period in the past history of the country of such profound peace and internal repose as would justify so entire an abandonment of the coast of the country to the chance of fortune. Certainly, since the nation possessed a navy, it has never before sent its entire available force into distant seas, and exposed the immense interests at home, of which it is the special guardian, to the dangers from which, even in times of the utmost quiet, prudence and forecast do always shelter them. But the Committee cannot shut their eyes to the fact that this re markable state of things has occurred at a period in our history without a parallel for internal commotion, lawless violence, and total disregard of the authority of the Constitution and laws, and of the rights of property, public and private-a state of things which the President himself, in the Message referred to this Committee, denominated a revolu-gency had happened at the general election four tion of such vast and alarming proportions as to place the subject entirely above and beyond Executive control.' During this period combinations have years ago, to have made the attempt to overthrow the Government, by seizing the public arms at Harper's Ferry, and marching upon the Capital itself. Disposition of the Vessels. Resignations in the the officers in the navy, caused When the Legislature of South Carolina assembled in November last to discharge the Constitutional obligations of making the choice of Electors of President and Vice-President, the Governor of the State, by special message, recommended that measures should be taken to overthrow that Constitution if the choice of the majority did not coincide | election, twenty-nine officers in the navy, citizens of with her own. In fulfilment of these open threats, Southern disaffected States, have tendered their overt acts of resistance to the Government by law-resignations to the Secretary, all of which have been less bands of men followed the announcement that the people, according to the requirements of the Constitution, had made choice of a Chief Magistrate for the ensuing four years not the choice of those who had openly avowed resistance if their own preferences should be disregarded by that majority. From that time to the present the public authority has been defied and the public rights disregarded. Yet during all this time that most important arm of the public defence, the entire navy, has been beyond the reach of orders, however great the emergency. To the Committee this disposition of the naval force at this most critical period seems extraordinary. The permitting of vessels to depart for distant seas after these unhappy difficulties had broken out at home; the omission to put in repair and commission ready for orders a single one of the twenty-eight ships dismantled and unfit for service in our own ports, and that, too, whilst $646,639 79 of the appropriation for repairs in the navy the present year remained unexpended, were, in the opinion of your Committee, grave errors in the administration of the Navy Department, the consequences of which have been manifest in the many acts of lawless violence to which they have called attention. The Committee are of opinion that the Secretary had it in his power, with the present naval force of the country at his command, and without materially impairing the efficiency of the service abroad, at any time after the settled purpose of overthrowing the Government had become manifest, and before that purpose had developed itself in overt acts of violence, to station at anchor within reach of his own orders a force equal to the protection of all the property and all the rights of the Government and the citizen, as well as the flag of the country, from any outrage and insult at any point on the entire Atlantic seaboard. The failure to do this is without justification or excuse." Canvassing the resignations and Mr. Toucey's conduct in the matter, the following emphatic statements and declarations were made: "The attention of the Committee was also drawn to the resignations which have taken place among forthwith, and without inquiry, accepted by him. The circumstances under which these resignations have been received and accepted, and the effect of that acceptance, deserve special notice. That these officers have sought to resign, and relieve themselves from the obligations to the Government imposed by their commissions, because of disaffec tion and a desire to join, and, in many instances, to lead, insurgent forces against that Government, is notorious. Qne of them, Lieutenant J. R. Hamil ton, a citizen of South Carolina, forwarded his resignation from on board the Wyoming, at Panama, dated December 1, 1860. It did not reach the Department until the 15th of the same month, and, without inquiry into his conduct, his purpose in resigning, his loyalty, or any circumstance connected with so unusual a proceeding at such a time, his resignation was accepted the same day. He im mediately, from Charleston, South Carolina, issued a letter addressed to all the officers in the navy from Southern States, urging them to resign, and join in a hostile force against the Government; and that those of them in commission should bring their ves sels into Southern ports and surrender them to the traitors already in arms, taking new commissions under their authority, and then turning their guns upon their own flag. Such conduct is nothing less than treason, and has no parallel since the attempt of Benedict Arnold to deliver over important mili tary posts to the enemies of his country. Had the Secretary declined to accept the resignation thus tendered, this man would have been subject to the trial and punishment of a court-martial, according to the rules which govern the service, and would have met the fate of a traitor. This extraordinary letter was published throughout the United States, After its circulation in the public prints in Washing ton, V. M. Randolph, a captain in the navy, a citizen of Alabama, who had been excused from active ser vice for two or three years, because of alleged illMontgomery, Alabama, his resignation to the Secre health, on the 10th of January, 1861, forwarded from tary. Before twelve o'clock, at noon of the 12th, and before his resignation had reached Washington, and while he was still a captain in the navy, he ap peared at the gates of the Pensacola Navy-yard, |