' ictton but Destruction,
" -JA Oi" L. N.J AS. BROOKS,
OF SKW TOKK,
Urllirrcd lu the Housrof rtcpraacutatUcs,
July , IrHit.
The House resumed the considera
tioo of bill of the Houso (No. 128)
supplementary to an act entitled "An
act to provide for the more efficient
government of the rebel Stated," paw
ed on the 2d day of March, 1807, and
the aet supplementary thereto, passed
on the 23d day of March, 1807.
Mr. Brooks Mid : 1 have no desire
to address the House, and I do not
flatter myself that anything which
anybody tan say will change any
body's vote ; but it appears to me
that, as tho minority member of the
committee reporting the bill, I ought
to say something at least in tho way
of protest. But before I proceed lur
ther I crave the protection of the
Speaker to enforeo the rules of debate,
so as to save me from those points of
interrogation or exclamation that so
often crop out or popvput frdm gen
tlemen skilled in dialectics-, who inter
ject speeches within speeches, and
thus destroy all unity of argument or
thought. I crave this also because
of the very serious subject matter
beforo us, because of the brief time
allowed us, (only an hour and a half,)
and I Deed all of my little portion of
that time without rejoinder or sur
rejoinder, rebutter or surrebutter.
Tho Speaker. The gentleman from
Xew York gives notice that be will
not be interrupted in his remarks,
and he will proceed.
' Mr. Brooks. Twenty-four years
ago there assembled in Feneuil Hall,
Boston, a little convention of men,
one of whom has recently received
the thanks of the Duke of Argylo and
other noble lords of England for the
destruction they have perpetrated
upon the Constitution and institutions
of the United States thanks natu
rally enongh fluffing from such an
oligarchy who see that success with
ub is death to them, and thanks, there
fore, easily to be accounted for from
such a high-born, aristocratic quarter.
This little Fancuil Hull convention
then founded a great party, which,
spreading beyond Massachusetts, em
braced at last both the middle and
the western States; and the platform
upon which they established their
party was tho following :
"Haolnd, That the Constitution of the failed
States is m covenant with death mnd an as reemrnt
with ncU.whieh ought to be immediately annulled."
Our Peter, the Hermit, tho great
fanatical Crusader, having accomplish
ed his object the forcible emancipa
tion of four million slaves at a cost of
at least four billion dollars to his
country, the legacy of a most oppres
sive and apparently inextinguishable
debt, which not only grinds tho labor
er to the dust, but in every way crip
ples nil working capital having wit
nessed the slaughter of half s million
of his countrymen, and heard the
cries of widows and orphans almost
innumerable, naturally enough deemed
his mission accomplished, and went
over to England to be feted, thore to
repose among dukes and duchesses,
grateful to him for his great work of
destruction. J. he party, however,
which ho then and there formed in
Faneuil Hall, we now see entering
upon a new mission, into fresh cru
sades, not now for the emancipation
of four million blacks, hut for the en
slavement of eight million whiles
men of their own kith, kin, and color,
and physical organization. And we
have here in the bill before us, in sub
stance soon to become a luw, a bill of
destruction, which will entitle these
new crusaders, if they ever go over
tho sen. to like honors Irom liesh
dukes of Argylo, or other noble lords
of F.ngland. The work to be accom
plished by this bill is the complete
annulment of the Federal Constitu
tion, that covenant with denth, that
agreement with hell, to bring ubont
the end of what Garrison began twenty-four
years ago in Boston.
What is first worthy of nolo in the
hill before us is, that in s time of pro
found peace, when all war has been
over, two years and more, save from
the yell of the Sioux or Cheyenne, we
have introduced a martial bill, full of
martial pains and penalties, as if,
flagrante Ixllo, we were amid the very
roarof cannon or in the clash of squad
rons of infantry and cavalry. Peace
everywhere, save on ibe prairies or
plains, blesses our great country. But
now, long after the Temple of Janus
is closed, we have martial law, mili
tary commissions, tho destruction of
courts and of all civil law proposed.
Tho only other war existing is one of
those hitherto pcncelul wars hotwoon
the democratic and some other ever
opposing party, when now tho anti
Domocrutie party, in order to keep
itself in office, und to keep us out,
overrides, obliterates, tramples under
loot ten Stales of our Union and the
twelve million people that dwell in
them.
That such a bill, which I ahull pro
ceed to analyze, has never before been
contemplated by the leaders of the
majority party in this House, nay,
not until this fato period, when it sees
party power constitutionally depart
ing, "is not only evident from its hith
erto recorded history in the journals
of Congress, bnt clear also from the
decision of their own Chief Justice,
who, prior to these military bills, in
the Indiana military commission case,
though of tho Republican party, ex
pressed his judicial condemnation of
nil such military bills in time ot peace.
We by no means assert thatCongress
can establish and apply the laws of
war whore no war has hoen aec.la'-oa
or exists," said Chlof Justice Chase
from the minority in the Indiana mil
itary trihunul case. "Wht:e peace
exists the laws of peace must prevail."
"Where peace exists," expressly ra
the Chief Justic, "tho luws of peace
must prevail." But here, in a time cf
profound peace, th' re i embodied in
this bill, in tho most objectionable
form, almost every article of the laws
of war. Here, too, is a bill which
subverts from top to lttom, in it
very fourdalioiia, the C'-nstitution of
the United States, and which, amid
its many iniqu'ties, one of the least
though, violates that guarantee of the
Constitution, (article four, i-ection
four) that secures to every Stato of
this Union a republican form of gov
eniment,forno republican form of gov
erumtnt. nor the shadow of one, cau
CLEARFIELD
GEO. B. GOODLAyDEB,.?roprietor. ' PRINCIPLES NOT MEN. TEEMS-$2 per annum, in Advance,
VOL. 38-WIIOLE NO. 2028. CLEAliFIELD, PA., THURSDAY, JULY 25, 18C7. NEW SERIES-VOI, 8, NO. j.
exist under the outragoous provisions
of this bill.
This bill itself in its grand outlines
is a l'cntarchy a bill creating five
monarchs a bill subverting Magna
Charts a bill ignoring tho Declara
tion of Independence and tho Consti
tution of tho United States, and over
ten States of this Union installing tho
peutnrchy, or five monarchies, more
fearful, more odious, more damnablo
even than any that reign over Eu
rope or Asia, or even Africa. Let us
analyze this bill, then, and see whether
I exaggerate its character. What is
its first section f It subverts the Gov
ernments in four ot the old States of
this Union and in six o'.hcr States not
oi the original thirteen. It goes fur
ther than tho two bills which have
preceded it, making worse what soera
ed as bad as possible before, in not
only declaring those State govern
ments "illegal," but by going furthor
and declaring them "void." Hitherto
we have heard of "dead Stutes" an
idea first started, I think, in the Son
ate of the United States States whoso
corpsos only were existing. But here
for tho first time it is proposed to put
into the form of law tho solomn
declaration that the Governments of
ten States are void ; that those Slates
arc dead, their governments not only
illegal, but void ; and these ten States
of our Union, four of them of the orij
inal thirteen that formed tho Consti
tution of the Unitod States.
Mr Speaker, in framing this bill no
regard has been paid to the history
of tho past, not even to a sentiment
nor a recollection. Wbon the name
of Greece or Rome or any classic land
or classic institution is tingled in our
ears, whenever we read of them in
history, there is associated with the
Parthenon, or with Marathon, or with
the Pantheon, the Capitoline Hill, or
Tarporan rock, something thut touch
es the heart and makes the blood run
warmly through all our voins. But
here is a State across tho Potomac
whose history is ours, that did more
for the creation of this government
than any other State whatever; a
State more classic and glorious in its
history than tho Parthenon of Greece
or the Pauthcon of Rome; a State
struck out of existence by 'lie first
section of this infumous bill. Sir, I
have been upon the plains of Mara
thon and by tho passes of Ybormopy
lu, and my heart has warmed as 1
re Hoc tod upon the history of tho nohlo
Greeks that there saved their native
land ; but never, never, amid all such
classic scenes have I ever felt the
enthusiasm which iuspired me upon
the rising grounds of Mount Vernon,
before the Tomb of Washington, or
upon the plains of Montpelior, or upon
the heights of Monticullo, or when I
have fallen uon my knees before the
tomb ot Marshall. In no part of the
earth wherever an American may go,
in no placo where history mukes a
a record of life, is there ground so
classic and so glorious as that within
a fifty miles' radius around the city of
Richmond, in Virginia. Tlicro, with
in that radius, was born the father of
his country ; there flashed nut the
fiery and electric eloquence of Patrick
Henry ; there was born tho President
of the First Congress ; there the homes
of the Randolphs and Harrisons; there
tho illustrious Jefferson and Madison
and Monroe ; there was born our Win
field Scott, and there have been nurs
ed into existence some of the most
illustrious commanders of our own
Federal Arm.
And yet this State whose record is
thus bright nil ovor in history, a de
formed Congress, a mutilated Con
gress, a Congress born from the blood
and genius of Virginia, strikes out
from the Union that glorious star,
the star of Virginia, a lost ploiad in
in our own history ; apleiad that will
return back with some returning orb
to shine brighter and more beautiful
in the constellation of our country,
brighter than Orion or tuo Pleiades
ever shone in tho astronomical history
of tho geographer.
South Carolina, too, is struck out,
the land of Rullcdgo and of Pickney,
and of Marion and of Sumter ; Geor
gia, also, that gave the country the
two great States of Mississippi and
Alabama. Sir, whatever may have
been the errors of those States of the
original Thirteen, whatever wrongs
in tho tuisjudgnienl of the Constitu
tion they may have inflicted upon the
country, whatever crimes they may
have committed, in the warmth of
your hearts, if you were but mon in
your feelings and sympathies, you
would feel now as you foci for strug
gling Greece or for tho Cretans in
their contest with the Turks, who arc
not inflicting upon those p-oplo bar
barities in principle greater than those
you propose to inflict in the act before
you.
Now, sir, two of these ten States,
Louisiana and Arkansas, obliterated
by vour bill, are port of the great
Louisiana purchase. The faith of,
t eaties in the most solemn of obliga
tions is violated here in the aet which
you proposo to )ass into a law by J
depriving them of all protection forj
their liberty and proporty. Arkan-
sss, you will remember, or you all
know, is a part of the Louisiana pur-1
chaso. Arkansas and Louisiana were ,
parts of that territory of France, and )
which nndorthe treaty of thut pur-j
chase (lti3,) articlo three, has the
following solemn compact :
"The Inhabitants of the ceded rserttory thall he I
ImtMporated into the I, am of the tailed States I
and admitted ai "on aj poesitits according to the j
principle of the Federal ConstitoOon. to tbeenjoy-
lent of all the rights, adraotares, and immunities .
of eitttens af the L nited Stale. : and ia the mean .
tin. thev thai) be maintained and protected in the
ei ioyment rf tbetr liherty, property, and the reii
(100 which they profess."
This bill violates that treaty, that
solomn treaty ; and France, with all
her rower, will have tho right, the
lejjal right, if this bill becomes a law. j
to appear before us, and to claim that
all the civil institutions, all tho rights
the rights of liberty and property
which wo have shall also be theirs as
citizens of tho United States. We
aro solemnly pledged to a foreign
Power to govern the people of these
States according to tho rederal Con
stitution, not by military commissions
nor by martial laws ; and hence what
we are doing is not only in violation
of high moral principles, but in viola
tion of a most solemn treaty we have
made with France for the purchase of
louisiana.
The last words of the first section
of the bill are as follows :
"And that thereafter said rorornmeata. If eaa
tiaued, were 4 be aontinned subject ia all respects
to the military oonmanriere af the respeetir dis
triM and to the authority af Ceninn." '
No broader words can bo used in a
grant of power. "Subject in all re
spects to the military commanders."
If human genius had exerted its great
est ingenuity to devise to rob tho peo
ple of their rights and privileges, to
degrade and dishonor a people, to
trumplo twelve millions under foot,
it would have used these very words,
"subject in all respects to the military
commanders."
In the second section, Mr. Speaker,
these military commanders are given
the powei"
"To remove orsurpend from office any munici
pal ar State elSeec or person exoreiimg authority
nnder or by virtu of auy to-called Mate govern
ment existing in hie district; and that toe aaid of
ftoer no assigned to command as aforesaid ia here
by empowered to appoint another poreon in the
tead of an ofhoer or person so removed, if he shall
deem proper to do ao ; and whenever he shall derm
it necessary as aforesaid to prohibit, suspend, or
aet aside any not or piooeediug of any suoa Htata
or municipal government, or any not or thing done
nnder or by virtue of its authority; and ail acts
heretofore done by any sewn ofFieer in aeeordaoee
herewith shall be deemod Yoled."
All acts heretofore done shall be val
id 1 Hero ore embodied the most vio
lent principles of legislation, against
which wo have attempted to be guard
ed in tho Constitution of the United
States. It is a luw to benot only "ret
rospective," which mighlin some cases
be justified, but a law "retrospective,"
which is unjustifiuhlo, and a law "fx
past facto," which is in defiance of the
Constitution of the United States. It
uflirmsand legalizes all acts done here
tofore by any such officers. It is de
clared that they shall be deemed valid.
Jiow, have tho members of this
Houso given any attention to what
we arc legalizing, what it is that is
to be doomed valid T Before we enter
into that species of legislation I would
ask the honorable gentlemen on the
other side if they know how iriay
military laws oredicta they render val
id? .1 beg thorn before they proceed to
the passage of this act to have before
thorn some military "Little & Brown"
codification of the laws which they are
to render valid. Sir, I have read the
Puudects of Justinian, and I revere
those Pandects as a monument of hu
man wisdom. But here are the edicts
of Sickles and Sheridan, and no man
knows how many there arc, and they
are all dcclurcd to be valid. Whoever
before heard of such blind, such futal
legislation ? All that Sickles has done,
all that Sheridan has done, is "valid :"
and yet I defy any Republican mem
ber on this floor to tell me the twenti
eth part of the things dono and now
proposed to be enacted into law.
The genius of Sickles has been pro
lific of edicts. I hold in -my hands a
hatch of them almost as voluminous as
the Pandects of Justinian. Ho insti
tutes edicts for tho collection of debts,
modifies the existing laws for tho en
forcement of judgements, utters do
crees fur the payment of mono', sets
asido proceedings instituted in the
courts, prohibits in certain cases the
right to bring suits, enjoins proceed-
intrs on execution for tho term of
twelve months, giving new liens in
certuin cases, establishes homestead
exemptions, declares what shall be a
legal lender, abolishes in certain cases j
the remedy by foreign attachment, I
abolishing bail as heretofore author- j
i.ed in cases ex contracts, but not in
other cases known as actions ex dIic-
to, lie, 4c. General order 3 o. -6 reads j
as follows :
Ml. The distillation or manufaeture of whiskey
or other spirits from frrain is prohibited in this
military di.triet. Any person ao unrated or em
ployed will he deemed ratify af a misdemeanor.
The possession of a afill or ether apoamtus for
thu purpose will no eemsidered presumptive evi
denee of n violation of the revenue laws, and the
party ur parttee a.'nr the name. r on whose
iremlses. or IB whose possession the name but be
ound. will be arrested and BTwarht em trial before
a military tribunal aoenposed of th ammandiuf
officer of the post and two anWrs of the Army
neit in rank on daly withia the territorial limits
of the post.
If tneeairewcieaof the eorvieo do not
permit the detail af other omoers, that fact will he
dalr certified, and the post oommander will hear
and' determine the earn. '
And here all these extraordinary
edicts of Sickles relating to property
and individual rights are declared by
the final lines of the third section to
be valid and to be as laws of the Uni
ted States undor tho Sickles monarchy
of the Carolines.
Sir, I know not hnw many military
orders have been issued in all, from
tho five monarchies, but, from the
best information 1 can get. on compu
tation I can make them some one thou
sand in all. And here, groping in the
dark, without knowing what wc do,
we pronounce all these edicts or orders '
retrospective, retroactive, or tx pt
farto ; we pronounce them all lobe lo-
gul or valid law.
The third section of this bill directs 1
tho registration 1 know not by how'
many boards in the Southern Stales,!
but I presume the computation is ,
small when I say that they must num- ,
bor some two thousand in all, for they
have already cost $."riHl,(MI(J, and a sum ,
as much more is necessary in order to i
keep them up. These Boards of Beg-,
tstration are made up of white, black, j
and mulatto, the black predominating j
in many cases, or the mulatto balanc-1
ing the Board, so that there will be an
equal number, half white, hall black 1
These boards thus created arc forbid ,
Wmm
den to regard the oath which the ciU
izco takes, and at tbeir pleasure they
may strike from the list the name of
any ono already registered who in
their judgment improperly took the
oatb. And record evidence is not to
be re-quired, but parole evidence shall
be sufficient. The evidence of any do
gro or mulatto against any white cit
izen will deprive him of his right to
vole. In all these doings those two
thousand boards of registry, white,
black and yellow, are "not to be bound
or governed in their action bv any
opinion of any officer of the United
Slates Government :" fur such are the
words of the act.
What a government and registration
you are thus Croatia; in tbe Soathern
States 1 Over two thousand boards
with different laws, different exposi
tion of the laws, different construc
tions to be civen to them throughout,
from the Potomac to the Bio Grande ;
and however diverse or adverse shall
be that construction, no opinion of any
officer of the government is binding
upon them, and there is to he no uni
formity ot construction. Why, one '
of the very blessings of Government!
is uniformity of action and of law ;
but there you enact that there shall 1
be two thousand different laws of reg-
juration, with no Federal officer or j
any other power to create uniformity.
Tbe white man is given np to the ne
gro, where negro registers predomin
ate, or vice rcrta, if you please, and a
premium is thru created lo start a war
of races.
The fourth section of this act not
only annihilates all State Courts
what J'ou have done before but it
goes yet further, takes one new step,
and lor the first time, strikes at the
Government of the United States by
declaring
"That bo civil court in the t'nited filatee ar of
any State shall hare jarisdietioa of any pruoeed
inx. civil or criminal, ajraiust any sura distnet
eoaimander. or any omeer ar person netlne; ty his
authority for or on aorount of tbe disenargu of tbe
dunes imposed upon him by this act."
.At first you were but bold enough
to striko out of existence the State
courts ; but now vou arc bold enough
to strike out of existence the courts of
the United State to destroy them
all at one blow. Your ban is general
against courts and judges in any form.
You seoin to havo a horror of the wig
or the gown, and to trust only in ep
aulettes as tit governments for tbe peo
ple of ton States.
The fifth section declares
"That o district commander shall be relieved
from tbe command aseis-ned u. him under tbe afore
said SOU. B sires the cienaie shall aareSrst advised
and WBoalnll t berate. or unices by cauls nso ai
court manual he .bail be eaxhtcred or dismissed
from tbe Army, or unless he shall consent to at ss
relieved."
Sir, I know not what the President
of the Unitod States may do ; I know
not what be may feel it his duty to do;
I know that bo is the Execniivo Ot
ficor of the United Slates, pronounced
at one time to be the Government of
the United States, aguinst whom it
was disloyal to utter even a word of
censure. 1 know that be was the
BrobdingTiagof this Government. But
he has suffered himself to be bound by
a set of miserable Lilliputians, and
thore in the cords with which they
hove bound him, he struggles, but
now straggle in vain to free himself.
Thus having hound him, you now pro- j
poso to rc-viulato thel onslitution (ar
ticle two, section two,) and to take
from him the command of tht Army
of the United States. Y ou forbid hitu
to exercise his constitutional authori
ty to post his generals whore he thinks
the public interest demands. Sir, if I ,
were President of the United States, '
before 1 put a veto tin this high-baud
ed act, 1 would send Sheridan to gov-
ern the Slates of Massachusetts and ;
Maine, to make or unmake their gov
ornors, theirjudges, their police, what1
thoir licpreaonutives Boom to rejoice j
in when practiced upon others; while I
1 would send Sickles to Walrussia to:
educate the Ksqumiaiix, or to be edu-1
cated by them in the principles of civil 1
and constitutional lilierty. But you
toll mo you would then impeach the J
President. Sir, there are worse con-,
ditions in life than being impeached
by a mutilated Congress of these Unit
ed States, and one of them is being
nsed to destroy the Constitution and !
Government of these United States.
I tell the President the only chance'
be now has of being re-elected Presi-!
dent of the United Slate is in being 1
impeached by a Bump Houso, and
turned out by a Kump Senate, and the '
Presiding Officer of that Senate being
forced into his place. Sir, if the rev-
olution ends thus, the historical end j
ot all ruch revolutions as we are pass-'
ing through, and if we make Presi-1
dent that rrentleman who with Sena
tors lias boon "swinging round the cir
cle" in Nebraska, Missouri, and Kan
sas, there making, as reported, agra
rian speeches, a i Prudtiomme of the
rrench Jtcvolution, then, when we
come to his divisions of property, be-j
ginning here in this House, say, with
the Iiepresentative from Boston, or,
the lUtpresenutive from the Taunton i
district and ending with him tmro
Lynn, then, 1 say, such will lie the
common revelry that in the intoxiet)-1
tion of our joy we may re-elect the
President or the United State. By
the Constitution, the higher law, the
supreme law. the President is made
commander of the Army and Navy ; !
and he is faithless to that Constitu
tion if in the apprehension of impeach
ment he suffers that power to depart
from him, as you projense in the tilth .
section of this bill I
And now, as if this bill was not bad
enough, gentlemen after gentlemen
propose to make it fiercer, to add to
its ferocities. Tbe honorable gentle- j
man from Ohio Mr. Ashley amends
ths bill by orderine all Sute, county
and ninmcipial officers to take the
test oath, in order to mncentrale all
local representation inthe militant' or 4
RE
PURL
der. Another honorable gentleman
from Iowa, Mr. Wilson from whom j
I had expected belter things, proposes '
to punish any person who attempts to !
prevent or obstruct the execution of!
these acts by a fine of f .i.tXK), to be
levied by the military commander, or
imprisonment of one year, or both the
$j,000 and jail, as the military com
mander mav will. Another pentlo-
man, from Missouri, Mr. Benjamin. 1
prujmses vo oe less inercuui man it is
Maker, which is to allow no presiden
tial pardon to avail an unhappy south
erner, but to keep him forever exclud
ed from his citizenship--bis right to j
vote. There seems to be a competi
tion among gentlemen on the other:
side to outbid each other in the arts j
of cruelty and all the devices of degra-.
tion and punishment; and we aro in
debted to tho mercies, it seems, of the j
gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr.
Stevens to save us from another Dra
conian code.
Mr. Speaker, I was about to be so
much out of order as to quoto the
Constitution of the United States,
and to show this House that this bill (
could not be passed by men who havo ,
sworn hero to support that Constitu-;
tion; but I forbear. I know there is ,
but little, very little respect for that
instrument here, and some on this
floor have gone so fur as to pronounce j
it "played out. J here is, however,
some respect felt in this House more
especially by lawyers for what are
known as Magna Charta, the h-uUhq
of riciit,the bill of righu, extorted by
our British ancestors from their kings.
Hence, I propose to go back to those
great eras of Britinb liberty, in order,
if possible, to arouse the American
lawyers here to that noble defense of
human rights, which British lawyers
have seldom or never tailed to make.
In the most disastrous days of Brit
ish history, w hen all liberty seemed
to be cloven down, the British barj
ever event forth some brilliant men tO
uphold Matrna Charta and the bills of j
rights, nhilo 1 regret to say the
American bar, mors especially the
Republican iortion of the American j
bar, have failed us in the hour of mat.
I beg tho Republican lawyers, then, j
in this House to Lour mc n ad a chap- j
ter fmm Magna Charta, w hit h was
extorted trom Jving John in me year
1215 by our semi-barbarous ancestors.
I give it in tbe original, but it will be
well understood, although it is in
monkish Latin, not in tbe classic style
ot Horace or Tacitus or Sollus'..
"Nulla liber homo aaptatur, relimprisnnetar.
But diseclsietwr de libera ksneenento sus, vel liher-
oasiame, vol liberis Boucusludiais sun. asU uttaawtor, i
nut exuht. awt alMjae muds drstnsstur nor super
ewm ibimaa. awe supereum mittemus bin perleraie
judicium partum saorom vol per lerem terras. N ulli
eendewioe. Belli aegabimus, ant diSeromus rectum j
vol Jusmtam."
Which is thus translated: i
"No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, ar j
dieeriscd of his freehold or his liberties or free i
customs or bo outlawed or banished, or in unv way i
dt-stmyed : and we will not pose nion bim. no,
condemn him but by tar lawful )nd;reat of hi '
peers or by tbe laws of tbe land, we will sell
ftferritir lo ju.tiet and its atwiatstrati.Mi I to no :
man, and we will not drny nor defer either rtrat
or justicr to any man."
This was as long ago as 1215. The
rtinnr oi"i iu tniiiiururn 111 uir it-iii i'i j
King Edward was in 12i7 ; and in j
the reign of Ilcnrv III there was a,
like declaration. The right of trial j
by jury, bv a jury of bis peers, was '
guaranteed to every British born sub-;
ject, even in barbarous ages But j
here, in this Congress, in spite, too, of,
out Declaration of Indepei deuce, here :
too in this moumfuk rear IStiT. twelve
millions of human licings, white and
black, are denied all trial before their
peers, all courts or processes of law ;
and we propose to enact a measure
more barbarous In principle, more
indefensibls than any of the violen
and extraordinary acts of King John,
from whom the Bnlinh barons extort
ed this charter.
Sir, if there is no respect paid here
to Magna Charta, extorted from Kin; ;
John by tho barons at Runnymede, I :
trust some respect will be paid to the j
illustrious spirits of our own history ;
ho in the last generation, in all the 1
States of this Union, copied from
Magna Charts, and embodied in tbeir
various Slate Constitutions, similar ,
principles of human liberty. j
Nor'.h Carolina is one of the Pistes
that you propose to strike out of the ,
Union North Carolina, where origi- :
nated the Ieclaration of ludepend-j
enre the Mecklenburg declaration,
which was adopted some time before j
Mr. Jefferson had drafted the Declar
ation put forth by the Continental j
ConrToss. The first declaratior of j
the State of North Carolina contains
these provisions : J
"That all poHliesd power is rested la and de- :
rived from tbe perob only.
'-That tbe people of thi State iiarlit to have tbe
sob? and eiete.ivr r rot of reriivstiag tbe interna!
aoremsoent and pliee tbere.il.
"That Be frveB.au shall he put to answer ant '
erimtaal eharre. hut by ladirtmoat. aawseatmeBt. .
or impeachment. I
"Thai Bo frssmaa shall be enevVtvd af say I
eriusr but by the unanimous rerdiet of a )ury of ,
food Bad luwful men ia apea rourt. us heretofore
nerd
'-That Be fisi msa oarht te be takew. imprison '
ed. or dlirvd ef his firvbold. libeetlea. or prtvi-
ar outiewed. or evtl-d. oe tw any asanner
destroyed, or depnred of his lift, hearty, or pp
errv ho' bv th tea nt the bisd.
-Tbat tbe pwiple bev a nrbt to bear arses for
tbr defenw of Ihr Stale: and as stau'imr arvetes
in tiaee af peace are daareous to Itbertv tnry '
earht met to be kept up : aad that toe miUlar.
sbald br kept uw.H-r street euberdtaaliea aa, aed
foeeraed bv. tbe civil power."
Bnt North Carolina is a Smthem
Stale. 1 nail tho attention of gentle;
men, thon, from Massachusetts to their
own principles of liberty, their own
declaration of rights: j
"AWT. 1. All ma ure horn free and sunt and
here certs IB Batarsu, seeralial. and inalieosSle
nrhes : amour whveb mav be rsrkosesd lae event
of ew)yiB-Bd deraadinr tbeir lirea aad liberties : .
thai of aeeirra pinmiiiat. and piK-tmr r
eny : la tae. thai af aeokiuf aad eexaiaiur, their
safevy aad fcafr-meos
"ai AU power ressdtuf arifiaaltr us the nmole.
aod beer denred from them. Ibe eereral Ufeafis
li alue aad oto.rs wf r"erBmt rwsted witk au
Iborttt. wbthe lrr"selive. euerwtivo or yodiassl.
are thirwbtitoe and s w' 's ss i art at ai: lunoe
accountable to tfc'm
"I. Each individual of tbe society has a rirht
to bs protected by it. in the eojoyaseut of his life,
libsrty, and property, accordior. to tbe staa iiur
law.." e a pan of th propertr of any
individual can with justice be takra from him or
appled to tbe paniic us witbout his awn esaimt,
or that of the representative body of Ibe people.
In ana, the people of this Comesonweaith are aol
euotrotlanle try any other laws tuna tbieo to which
tbeir constitutional representative body have given
tbetr so as. at."
-12. No person shsll be arrested, im
prisoned or despoiled, os deprived of his property.
tmmaaitMSS or pririleres, pat oat of tbe nrotertioa
of tao he. allied or deprived of his ulr, iitiem
or estate, but by th judgmeat of ai peer, ur tbe
law of tbe land.
"Aad tbe Left si at are ihafl aot make any law
that snail subject any pursoa as a capital as infa
mous panisaneent luoeptiar for tbe reverameut
of tbe Army and Nary) without trial by jury."
The charter of New Hampshire is
fuller than this of these great princi
ples of liber! v. 1 have not time to
read them. l"ho charter of Vermont
is even yet fuller than that of New
Hampshire. In those days the New
England people were faithful to liber
ty. They were never before as un
faithful to the liberty of their own
white race as now to eight millions of
tbeir own skin, color, and organiza
tion. Sir, the Declaration of Independ
ence in numerous sections condemns
in spirit and intent the whole princi
ple of this bill, and I do not wonder
that on tbe 4th of July last the Be
publican party failed tocelebrate it as
heretc tore, for this declaration of In
dependence cannot be read now in a
Republican assemblage without ma
king every Bepublicau blush.
1 know I am to be told that we have
tbe power, as the South is a conquer
ed people, to pass the bill ; thai tbe
Constitution is abrogated there and
that by the right of conquest we can
make this extraordinary law. Sir.
the honorable gentleman trora Penn
sylvania, Mr. Stevens. who intro
duced this bill, proposed at first only
confiscation, but here is an enslave
ment of twelve millions of bumaii'be
ings in this bill. First, it abrogates all
their rights of property. The lilierty
of the ciliaen is entirely in tbe hands
of tbe military commanders. The life
of every man is at the absolute dispo
sal of one man, and that man the Pres
ident of the United States. Tell me,
oh, tell me not, then, of four million
black people having been emancipated
from chattel slavery when by this act
you imjiose a cruel legal slavery in its
most odious forms, without the right
of property, lilierty, or life, without
any personal right, uon eight mill
ions while human beings, a worse than
chattel slavery.
1 deny, sir, that there is anything
which justifies confiscation, or the pas
sags ot suds an act under the right of
conqnest I could read whole chap
ters from Grotius, or Yaltcl, or I'uf
fendorf, and from Whcaton and Story
and Kent, which condemn tins bill.
It is in utter defiance of natural, and
national, and constitutional law, aud
I say to you now, that may be con
cerned in it, many of you will live to
repent of tho tyranny peqietrnte J upoB
their people. 1 might cite the prize
cases u i had tune, and show that ibey
condemn the principles of this bill.
All history condemns it too. Homo
was built up in u:tT defiance of the
principles ot this bill. Bonis govern
ed every country, not by conquest and
subjugation such as you jirojswe, but
by assimilating the conquered sub
jects with II man citizen, by giving
them Human rights and Itoman priv
ileges and Roruan citizenship, while
hero are eight millions white human
beings whom you deprive of every
right of an American citizen. Even
the Tartars, when they conquered
China, did not destroy t ue inst tutions
of China, but assimilated their institu
tions with those of the conqurod. And
when Cyrus conquered the Asi-yriaiis
of old.be repeated their rights and
privileges, and guaranteed totbera all
tbe liberties they possessed.
There is no parallel in history f ir
this bill but that of the infamous con
duct of the Duke of Alva, in Spain.
Answer me not that he destroyed
twenty thousand lives, for here you
destroy what is more precious than
life ; tlie right of roan to his liberty,
the sentiment that he is a man, that
be is equal before other men. W hy,
sir, I had rather lose my life a thous
and times than Lie under tbr govern
ment of these five monarchs as estab
lished by the iufamons principles of
this infamous bill. Cur Knglish an
e?stors.rveii Charles II after Uie blood
iest of civil wars, gave peerages to
Monk and Fleetwood and a mure to
Eaxter, while ou only give railitary
tyrants to your people, and declare a
total abnegation of their right. Even
Louis XV III. though a Bourbon, made
marshals and statesmen ot Bonaparl
ists, while you have exerted in this
bill all of your ingenuity to deprive
tht white people ot their richt lo vote
When Hungary was subjugated and
overthrown tlie Emperor ot Austria
did n.U exert such tyrannical power
over the Huns, for he gars them a con
stitution and he gave them a parlia
ment, while you lake away from the
Southern people their constitution
and laws, aud refuse thrm represerta
tion in the national legislature. The
Duke of Wellington and S.r KoWrt
reel, two geut lone, were more lib
eral and merciful to the Irish people
than you are to tbe people of the
South. Although O'Connel was the
inatiiration of lints in Ireland, the
Duke of Wellington and his party did
not refuse him a scat as a member
from tbe Couritv of Clare, while yo
fhul out the Kentucky delegation
from seats here sur.n'y for the reason
that they differ trvrn vos in polities,
and tor that and that alone.
Sir, I deprecate the passags of this
bill in iu srWt upon the people of the
southern country. Far belter would
it be for that land, trom tbe IVlotr.ac
to the Kio Grande, to be as it was ol
hundred and fitly yemrs ago, a how
l.ug wildrae. than to be subjected
to the amalgamation of rare w hich
von are now proposing in this bid.
Our country is now made up uf many
different ratwa, not only t aueasiau,
Morgolian, Indian, Chinese, w ith Ja
panese about to come here in tho Pa
tifio eit earners by thousands, and at
last the Esquimaux ; but you havo
selected the least intelligent, the Jtoor
cst informed, except the Kaqoimaux ;
you have selected the African tosharo
with you co-partnership in this Gov
ernment, whiio your own wives and
children, your minor boys are shut
out from the right of suflVagc. Y'ou
have given to the negro equality aud
copartnership' with th wbito mau.
Sir, it is imjKiSsible for these two ra
ces, in my judgment, ever to live to
gether on terms of intimacy. You
have stored up and are yet storing up
fur them the elements of awful strilo
which will produce a perpetual con
flict of races.
Sir, tbe negro Hayticn is wiser
than you. He allows no white man
to own real estate on that bland. The
black Liberian is wiser than you. He
allows po white man to share with
him tbe government or that country.
The experiment in Jamaica of a min
gled government has broken down,
and all free government there is ab
sorbed by the British Parliament
which through orders in council, dis
regarding both whites and blacks, ex
ercises supreme power. Nowhere on
earth has ever this mixed government
succeeded.
One race is superior to another.
God so ordained, sod co fiat of author
it v of yours can bring down the Caa
casian to the African, or bring up the
African to the Caucasian. Ml effort,
all struggles will bs in vaiu. And
this is bo new experiment. It has
been tried throughout the w hole of
Spanish America Juarez., a half In
dian, now Governor and ruler of Mex
ico, is just now showing there the bar
baric character of this mingled Gov
ernment of unnaturally associated ra
ces, while in the numerous oiher Span
ish-negro-lndian hybrid Slates they
are almost all of them ia constant
civil war, armies mnning and ovcr
rouiiiiig one another, with tins blood
of the w hits man and the blood of the
negro both deteriorated by thns com
mingling, and yet here this rash, this
toartul experiment! No, cot an ex
periment, tor experience has already
shown that it never can succeed.
You propj.e to mix and mingle the
twelve millions of your countrymen
in the Southern States of the I nioru
You take the roost ignorant, the most
uneducated, the moat brutish of the
population and give them alsolute
control through boards of registration"
or through the ballot box. It needs
not the eye of prophecy, it needs no
skill of divination to foretell what
must be tbe effect of such a crime as
this, for all history shows yon what
( has bwn the effect and pronounces
what it will he hereafter.
But, sir, I find 1 must draw to a
close, and al'ow me to say in doing
to t-iat 1 know that just now you aro
here above public opinion, not only
of this country, but of the world.
But there is an unwritten law. there
is a law of God that embodies itself
ia public opinion, which bereatW
wil f bold you responsible for the do
stroclion of tbe institutions of your
country. You may overthrow tho
Constitution, yon may force the pre
vious question upon as less than calf
a nav for the discussion of the great
j principles of thii bill, buth s or, pos
; terity, will do us justice. 1 have long
been in public lile, but this ia now the
prou Jet,t hour of that life, if I am ever
atiie to SKan again, lo remonstrate
here in this House, and to make a re
cord of this remonstrance against the
outrageous, the infamous principles
of this tyrannical military bill
Horace Greeley is after theGrand
Army of the Republic" with a sharp
stick. He savs the society is ruled
by jsiliticians who are nstng It for
j their own advancement. He declares
I that ao true soldier will have anything
to do with it lie pronounces it anu
I republican, barbarous, "inimical to
the Constitution and the Union," and
adds: "It will be a sad day for our
'party when soldiers find no better
I work to do than to prowl over tho
; lttle fields of the past, aud dig up
i the bodies of tbe slain." The head of
the "philosojiher" is perfectly level'
upon this suhjet-t.
A MoxoroLT. 1 itx'idcd'.y, Chicago
is monopolizing all the scandalous
business. Parties actinc in direct vi-
olation of well known laws go to Chi-!cat-o
as naturally as ducks to water.
The momet.1 an erring wile or too ro
mantic daughter disappears, Chicago
suggests itself as their place of de
struction and sure enough they torn
up there in due time. Why this should
1 so, ws leave to philosophers to de
cide ; we merely note the lact-
Old Erimslone Brownlow of Ten
nesee. has richt thousand of his para -
I sites in arms to carry his elsx-tion, and
murders, robberies, and arson are of
i daily occurrence- For all crimes
j eomn.il tod these treat are are prvm-
ised tlie Governor's jotrdon it detected
or convicted'. Set h in the stats of
1 affairs which Uie Radical leaders are
; lloring to bring aboat in every
State ot the Uniou, both South and,
i North.
' Papa," said Joha Smith's roar get
sod last Thursday, "can 1 go to tbs
circus "
4 No, my l-oy," affcx tiotiaU-ly replied
Smith ; -if yon are a good boy 1 will
take yoa to sec your grandmothers
grave, this evenii g " "
Brigc has a great faculty for get
ting things cheap. The other day he
Lad a U-autiful bet of te'.h irsortod
fr next to ntthlr.g He kicked a
Mary persons lk upon the morJves
as rtri:fsl;r.g to bcn.ft the world,
when in' tact" the world hxis Brwi
them as struggling only to benefit
themselves.
I Exp'acstions are 11 things. "Yost
best prrrr rrur dignity by avoid
! ing them Tbe character whH-ei caa
' nrt dcf-'ji d itself is not worth delending.
aw m
' The Radical Convention at Treoton.
I New Jrrev, was coirpced of ha-f
i white and "halt Uaifcs. '