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cuse me for trespassing longer on their time than I had intended.

The amendment was lost by the following vote, the ayes and noes being called by Mr. Meyer: Ayes, 2; noes, 76.

I will not argue; but permit me to remark that I would not support any proposition that is not submitted by this body to the people. There are other provisions in my bill that, in my judgment, are equally meritorious, but I will not trespass upon the Convention by Mr. HENDERSON took the floor, when, on mospeaking of them now. I may do so on some tion of Mr. Hitchcock, the Convention adjournfuture occasion. I beg the Convention to ex-ed to Thursday, June 25, at 9 o'clock A. M.

TENTH DAY.

JEFFERSON CITY, Thursday, June 25, 1863.

Convention met at 9 A. M.

President in the chair.

Prayer by the Chaplain.

Mr. SOL. SMITH (who spoke from the Secretary's desk) said: I ask the consent of the House for a personal explanation. It has been my misfortune not to have been correctly reported in the few remarks I made the day before yesterday on the subject of the public sen

On motion of Mr. ISBELL, the reading of the timent of the State; and although I have no journal was dispensed with.

By permission, Mr. LEEPER recorded his vote in favor of Mr. Drake's amendment to the ordinance presented by the Emancipation Committee, as he wished it to be distinctly understood that he was not afraid of the people, and should vote for no measure that was not to be submitted to them.

An ordinance was presented by Mr. Lindenbower, entitled "An Act to amend the ordinance providing for the organization and government of the Missouri State Militia," approved October 18, 1862; which was referred to a committee of three, consisting of Messrs. Lindenbower, Shackelford of Howard, and Bogy. A motion was made requesting the committee appointed to wait on the Governor and request the withdrawal of his resignation, to report to-morrow morning.

Mr. DRAKE. I suppose there will be no controversy on this.

Mr. HALL of R. There will be some controversy. I should be very glad to explain, were it in order to do so. I wish to state, however, that the Governor will be called upon to decide upon a matter of great importance to the interests of the State; and this Convention desires that he should act with deliberation upon the subject; and that we are not inclined to press a hasty decision. I have informed the Governor that the committee would wait upon him after he had maturely considered the

matter.

complaint to make against the reporter for the brief notice of these remarks, yet it leads to a long article in the Democrat, containing charges which I think I do not deserve. I ask leave to read the article, and to make a few remarks thereon:

THE SENTIMENT OF MISSOURI.

"From the debate on Drake's resolution for an election of State officers, it appears that several members of the Convention have been indulging in remarks respecting the people of Missouri which can be regarded in no other light than as grossly slanderous. In charging elect their own officers, they accuse them of a upon them an inability to properly and fairly want of capacity for self-government. It seems not to be enough for these gentlemen to deprive the people of a privilege which, in all free States, they are supposed to enjoy, but insult must be added to injury. It is a noteworthy fact, that the gentlemen indulging in the strain of remarks alluded to, appear to be perfectly consistent in conforming their actions to their words; for scarcely one of them but is now representing a constituency that would do almost anything before it would vote him into office; and several of them have been instructed to resign. For parties to continue in office under such circumstances, signifies a decided contempt for the people.

"Among others, we notice that Mr. Smith of St. Louis-old Sol. Smith,' as he is familiarly called-felt moved to speak, and indulged

in some remarks about a 'manufactured pub-pers, and other manufacturers of public opinlic sentiment,' implying, we suppose, that the expression which has come up from all parts of the State, from public meetings numerously attended, and exhibiting an unmistakable unanimity of feeling in favor of the freedom of the State and of distrust of the Provisional Government and its head, is fictitious, bogus, and not an honest public opinion. From what evidence such a conclusion is derived, this 'Sol' fails to enlighten us, or at least the report of his remarks does.

"We suppose the results of the three last elections in St. Louis do not, in Mr. Smith's judgment, indicate the state of feeling existing in this city. We suppose they merely prove 'a manufactured public sentiment,' and Mr. Smith feels no compunction in occupying a seat for which, if he had been a candidate at the last election, when Mr. Drake was chosen, he would have been beaten by from three to four thousand votes. It will do for parties thus misrepresenting public sentiment to sneer at it as 'manufactured.'

"But because gentlemen, who disregard public sentiment like Mr. Smith, choose to brand its manifestations with epithets of derision, it does not follow that the indications of a great movement of the public mind all over Missouri, betokening one of the profoundest revolutions of modern times, are not real. Politicians who laugh at and defy them will find, right speedily, upon how much of reality they rest. The sentiment of Missouri to-day, whether 'manufactured' or not, in favor of a thorough change of institutions and rulers-of getting rid of the men and measures which have held her back, when neighboring States have been advancing, and which have deluged her in blood while they have enjoyed peace, will be found so real and so strong, that the men who despise it and seek to deny the people their constitutional rights, will be buried so deep, and damned so eternally by it, that they will find their present lease of power very nearly at an end.

"There is something almost ludicrous in fossilized politicians, preserved in public life by the Convention, attempting to justify a flagrant disregard of the public will by such flimsy excuses as that offered by Mr. Smith, that, after all, it is only manufactured.' Who, we would like to know, has had the opportunity of getting up a fictitious show of radicalism in Missouri? Have the Radicals enjoyed power, and place, and public patronage which they could use for the purpose of buying up leaders, and newspa

ion? If so, we would like to know who the fortunate parties have been. Is the Governor of the State a Radical? Is the Commander of the Department a Radical? What Generals have the Radicals left in Missouri whose heads have not been taken off? What patronage, of any kind, do they enjoy? They have not even had a State organization, and yet radicalism has progressed with a power and a rapidity which not one of us is yet fully able to realize. Under the circumstances, the public meetings and the elections-which have displayed such a wonderful growth of radical sentiment-are the most unmistakably genuine indications of the true spirit of the times which have yet appeared. This fact is displayed, not merely in the number and the enthusiasm of these meetings, and the triumphant majorities of the Radicals in nearly all elections, but in the absence of all counter demonstrations. Whoever hears of a pro-slavery public meeting now-a-days? When and where have the people, in convention assembled, passed a vote of confidence in the "Gamble dynasty?" Nothing of the sort has occurred. And why, let us ask, in conclusion, if Messrs. Smith, Birch, Sayre, and the other 'conservative chaps' of the Convention, who oppose the idea of an election of State officers so violently, really believe radicalism does not exist among the people, are they so averse to letting them choose their own rulers? The ballot-box will best settle the question of whether the radical sentiment of Missouri is 'manufactured' and fictitious, or not."

In the few remarks I made the day before yesterday I distinctly stated that I was ready and willing, and always would be, to obey public sentiment, and that I would, as far as in me lay, represent the opinions and sentiments of my constituents. And as to whether I would be elected or not, though I do not think it is of the least consequence, I will mention that, when Mr. Drake was elected, that gentleman received something like 5,000 votes, whereas I had the great honor of receiv. ing 15,020. Certainly public sentiment then (1861) was in favor of my election and the election of my colleagues. There were thirteen of us elected by about that vote. Two, our present Governor, and the late Uriel Wright, who has since been expelled from the Convention, received about 25,000, having been nominated on both tickets. There were two tickets, both professing to be Union tickets; but one was Unconditional," and

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the other was "Constitutional" Union. The latter was put out first as a "Constitutional Ticket," and afterwards changed to "Constitutional Union Ticket," with the word "constitutional" very small at the top, and "Union Ticket" very large, so that to a person reading without spectacles it passed for "Union Ticket." All on that ticket professed to be Union men then; some have proved to be Union men since. Now, it appears there was one Judas among those fifteen that were elected—I refer to Uriel Wright—and it became necessary to elect a person in his place; this | was done last month.

It is proper to mention that there has been a division between the Union people in St. Louis, much to my regret. I do not belong to either party, Claybank or Charcoal; I never have belonged to the Republican party even. It was my hope that we might elect to fill the place of Wright an Unconditional Union man, and I hoped that this split in the Union party might be healed in that election.

I nominated Mr. Drake; that is, I was the first to put his name before the public in a newspaper, and I nominated him with the distinct understanding that he should be the candidate of the Union party, and not of the Claybanks or Charcoals; and I said in that article, that if it was to be made a party test as between Claybanks and Charcoals, I should withdraw his name. But the Charcoal clique or party, knowing that he was a popular manfor notwithstanding he has been denounced, as he says, as the most unpopular man in St. Louis, he is, and he deserves to be, a popular man- took him up and made him their candidate. Of course I had no right then to withdraw him. He accepted the nomination, but with the distinct understanding that it was on the platform of his speeches heretofore, which, I say, were not radical in any sense of the word. Mr. Drake was known as an Old Line

Whig for many years. It was reported in the newspapers, with what truth I do not undertake to say, that he was afterwards a Know Nothing; he was elected to the Legislature as a Democrat

Mr. DRAKE. I should like to know if the gentleman is going to preach a sermon upon Mr. Drake this morning.

Mr. SMITH. When the Amen comes the gentleman will know. [Laughter.] That Mr. Drake had been a Democrat, I know from his speeches in this House, while a member of the Legislature, elected to fill a vacancy. He had

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been an anti-Sunday beer-drinking man, that is certain; but, so far as I know, he had always been a true Union man; I never heard him accused of being anything else; and, from my knowledge of him from a boy up, I feel assured he will never be anything but an unconditional Union man. If he had not been made the party candidate of the Charcoals, I should have voted for him, believing him to be a conservative Unionist, which no vote he has yet given here disproves. The vote then given was no test whatever of my popularity, or of the popularity of my colleagues elected two years ago. I know of hundreds who did not go to the polls at all, who were perfectly willing that Mr. Drake should be elected, or Mr. Yeatman either-it made no difference. There was no interest taken in the election, except by the Charcoals; therefore they polled the largest vote. If the full vote of St. Louis had come out, I do not doubt he would have been elected, because, as I say, he is a good Union man; but, at the same time, it will not do for newspapers to disparage those who were not candidates, by saying that they would have been beaten by two or three thousand. Not more than about a third of the vote of our county was polled at this special election.

Mr. Yeatman had been instrumental in getting up the Constitutional Union ticket in February, 1861, and many voted for Mr. Drake in preference to Yeatman on that account. But Mr. Yeatman is a good Union man now, if he was not then, and has shown his loyalty by acts and deeds, not words, as all know who are familiar with the proceedings of the Western Sanitary Commission, of which he is the President.

The last three elections are referred to. In the first of the three, when the Legislature was elected, the Charcoals did not receive a majority of the votes, they received a plurality; so I do not think there is much to brag of. There were three tickets, and theirs received the largest number of votes. The other election was between the two Filleys, and they were both good Union men, as good as Mr. Drake or myself, or any other man, and therefore there was not much interest taken in that election; it made little difference which was elected. We felt sure of having a good Mayor, however the election might terminate.

In regard to the manufacture of public sentiment. I said it was a false sentiment, manufactured for the occasion; and if what I said had been fully reported in the Democrat, it

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would have appeared that I gave a reason for saying this. I said that a circular had been sent round, and, as far as this circular reached, those meetings had been gotten up to order. In that circular it was said that arrangements were male to have meetings of that kind in every county of the State. That is the basis of my assertion. And now we, who prefer not to be carried away by this false sentiment, are not only to be buried very deep, as has been threatened here, but we are to be damned, according to the extract I read the other day from the German paper. I have not much fear, however, of being damned for what I have done here; had I been afraid of that, I should have left this Convention two years ago. I have been threatened that if I did certain acts I should never reach home alive. I was told in the post-office at St. Louis, and in the presence of forty or fifty people, that if I voted to depose the traitor Claib. Jackson and the treasonable Legislature, that I should go to h—11! This was told me by a friend of thirty years' standing. But I never minded those threats. I was not deterred from doing my duty then, and I shall not be deterred by this threat now from the discharge of the duties I have been sent here to perform. I do not think they have the power to damn me; no one but the Pope of Rome can do that, and he has no power over me, for I am not a Catholic. We are called "fossilized politicians." I am no "fossilized politician," for I am no politician at all. I never have been one, and never expect to be; therefore their curses don't reach me. I don't object to being called a conservative, for that is what I am.

It is said in this paper that we are opposed to the will of the people, and that we object to their choosing their own officers. In my remarks, which are there misrepresented, (not wilfully, I hope,) I said, that although I might concur with the sentiment of the article which I read (from the German paper), I did not admire the language in which it was couched that is, that the Convention would be damned. That was the amount of it.

ample of their chief. I have been anxious all the time to give back to the people the powers they gave us, and have intended to give them the election of Governor the first opportunity that offered. I think, now that the cap-stone of the building is off, the people should be allowed to build the edifice anew. I do not say this because we are threatened with the guillotine, nor from threats uttered on this floor, but from an innate belief that it is our duty to restore the powers we hold to the people. I expressed these views to several of my colleagues in the morning, before I made the remarks which have been so severely criticised by the Democrat. If the Convention will pardon me I will mention, that, to Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Long, Mr. Holmes, and others, I expressed the belief that we should give back to the people the powers that belong to them.

I thank the Convention for indulging me with this personal explanation, and will conclude by saying, that, "conservative chap" as I am, "old fossil" as I may be, I am as anxious to get through with the great duties we are called on to perform, and to restore the power which fifteen thousand of my fellow-citizens gave into my hands, as the editors of the Democrat can possibly be to get rid of me. I did not seek the position I now hold, nor have I ever sought any office. I have endeavored to do my duty always, here and elsewhere; and while I possess the consciousness of having honestly carried out the will of my constituents, the threats of party newspapers and radical politicians

"Pass by me as the idle wind, Which I respect not."

Mr. PHILLIPS. I desire to give notice to the Convention, so that all parties may be duly notified, that to-morrow morning, if I obtain permission, I will offer a resolution restricting debate hereafter to thirty minutes.

Mr. HITCHCOCK. With the consent of the House, I desire to give notice that I shall, at an early opportunity, introduce a resolution that a select committee of five be appointed to take into consideration so much of the Govern

Mr. ORR. I suppose there should be no appointment of tribunals contrary to the Constitution.

The vote requesting Governor Gamble to re-or's message as refers to the appointment of consider and withdraw his resignation I con- some tribunal for trying guerrillas. sidered but complimentary. If he complies with the request, I think it will be for the good of the State; but if Governor Gamble adheres to his intention of resigning his office, then I think that the other executive officers of the State elected by this Convention should resign gracefully together, following the ex

Mr. HENDERSON. Mr. President, I shall not trespass long on the time of the Convention. What I have to say, after a few words personal to myself, will be directed to the issues before

us.

For nearly two years I have labored to this resolution to Congress, the President had accomplish what I hope is now on the eve of intimated his belief that in case the war should consummation. I have labored for it in season continue much longer the institution of slavery and out of season, and by so doing have incur- could not be preserved in the Border States. red the enmity of former political friends, and In the discussion springing up on the adoption the hatred of former opponents. Some of my of the resolution I took part, and I now beg friends, opposed to emancipation, mistaking leave to read an extract from the remarks on individual exertion for the "irresistible logic" the subject, made on the 27th March, 1862: of events, have reproached me as being respon- "Looking, then, to my own State, and I sible in some measure for the necessity of eman-speak for it alone, I am not disposed to take cipation now forced upon the State. What I issue with the President in regard to the fuhave done toward securing the general result ture results of the war. I regard his expression is but a drop in the ocean. I hoped only to as a prophecy, and not as a threat-a prophecy shorten our sufferings by hastening on to our that I feel will be realized if this war continues. destiny. When civil war had once begun, no human power could have delayed for a great period emancipation in Missouri. It followed, as an inevitable consequence, the organization of the Confederate Government. If the rebellion proved to be a success, Missouri must be a border State, whether she retained her relations to the Union, or became a member of the new Confederation. In either event, slavery was doomed. But, whether the rebellion succeeded or not, after the secession of eleven States containing all the elements of warlike power, with a larger population than was ever subdued upon the same extent of territory, it yet had sufficient vitality to force upon the country a long and exhausting war, the end of which is yet in the future.

In such a struggle, with our own population divided, and civil war raging in our midst, the rebels, basing their disloyalty upon false charges of bad faith in the Government, on the subject of slavery, thereby inflaming the passions of loyal men, who had been previously anti-slavery, and disgusting the friends of law and order, who had previously been without prejudice against the institution, nothing could be more certainly predicted than the downfall of slavery in Missouri, sooner or later.

At a very early day, this conviction forced itself upon my mind; and whatever of error or offence I have committed results from political action based on that conviction. It was this that induced me, a few days after taking my seat in the Senate, to vote for the resolution adopted by a large majority of both branches of Congress, declaring "that the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system." In transmitting

"In this view of the matter, sir, I am perfectly willing that the proposition may go before the people of my State, without at present expressing an opinion as to what course they should pursue. It is a new pledge of faith by the representatives of the people that this vexed question shall be left with the people of each State. It comes not in the spirit of arrogance, demanding conformity with the views of others, but with humility, acknowledging if slavery be an evil it is a sin for which we are all responsible, and for the removal of which we are willing to come with practical benevolence. It means more than all this. It intimates to the States that the nation would prefer gradual to immediate emancipation, and that the measures now pending in Congress, looking to such results, should be superseded by one of conciliation and good will.

"If this spirit had been more largely cultivated in days gone by, we would not this day be forced to witness a ruined South and a deeply oppressed North. Why, sir, ninety-six days of this war would pay for every slave, at full value, in the States of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. Nine months of the expenditures of this strife would have purchased all the slaves in the States named, together with those in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, thus preserving in peace the whole of the Mississippi to the Gulf. Less than two years of these expenditures would have paid for every slave that treads the soil of the nation. If Northern men had treasured these things, and learned that kind words can accomplish more than wrath, and if Southern men had resolved to look upon slavery as upon other questions of moral and political economy, and both had determined to examine this as all other subjects, in calmness and deliberation, we would have been spared the evils that now oppress us."

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