in r 1 1 J 1 .- -J 1 nl - ... ' : . . ; ,, . . .-- ' 1 '. z : r V. II. JAC02Y, Proprietor. Trutli and Right God and oar Country. Two Dollars per Annum. VOLUME 14. . ; BLOOMS BURG. COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY Jl LY 2, 1863. NUMBER 26. i i t t J STAR OF THE NORTH. PCBLI8HID BVCBT KlfiXXSPAT BT " W3J. U..JAC0BF, Office on Sain St., 3rd Sqaare below Market, TERMS: Two Dollars pr annum if paid within six months from the time of subscri bing: two dollars and fifty cents if not paid within thfe ytar. No subscription taken for a less period than six months ; no discon.. tinBance permitted until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the editor. 7k terms of advertising will be as follows : Ode square, twelve lines, three times, Si 00 Every subsequent insertion, ..... 25 One square, three months, ....... 3 00 One year g 00 OriT ARMY CORRCSPOXDOCC. Front Rotal, Virainia. June 16, 1862. j Friend Will:-The war, seemingly for the cause of Abolition, is still progressing, in a manner that must equal, if not exceed, the most sanguine expectations of the dam nable party. We will not excuse them, nor hold them guiltless; we would provocate if we were to say anything else than that the Wades, the Wilsons, the Sumners, the Beechers, the Greeleys, and a ho.t of oth ers, of the same stamp, (prominent among them stands Abraham I.) are guilty on the part of the North, o! bringing about this unhappy state -of affairs. While on the other hand, almost the whole Sooth stand branded with a Cain-like mark, which will tick to them as long as the American con tinent shall continue to be the boasted 'land ol tjie free, and tr.e home ot the brave ' Perhaps Dr. John can explain what ''Old Aba" m am when he sent the following res olution to Congress : "I recommend the adoption ot a joint res olution by your honorable bodies, which is in the following word: "Received, That the United States onght to co-operate with any State which nay adopt a gradual abolisr ment of Slavery, givmg to such State ptcuniary oid, to be used by such Stale in it discretion to towpinsite lor the inconveniences, public and private, pro duced by such change of system." Were further proofs of Abraham's aboli tion proclivities necessary we might refer the reader to the diguing of the Bill abolish ing slavery in the' District of Columbia, and the squandering! hundred of thousands of dollars of the peoples' money, in order to further his ends and sink the people still deeper in a national debt, which already exceeds ONE THOUSAND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ! Ai.d, what was this debt con traced for ? The answer is, :o "reunite this Union, to save the Constitution aud uphold the laws.". This would be all right, and I do not think I am saying too much, when 1 say that there is not a soldier in the Uuioir4 fcrmy but who would rather have his bloud drench the valleys and his bones whiten the hiils of the Confederate States than to tea them (the Constitution and laws) violated; but the parties 'hat are working this curse to our shores most recollect that the soldiers re a thinking people, and they, too, must remember that a day of retributive venge ance is approaching, a day when the acts of those Republican leaders will be exposed and themselves held up lo the world as the most excusable and despicable wretches and political tricksters the nineteenth cen tury has produced. They may try to throw the blame of this war upon the loyal dem ocratic party, hey may tell that Jas. Buch anan suffered the South to take ill the guns and ammnnhion from the North ; yet these men forget that Norfolk was still in posses sion of the North when Abraham, was in augurated, and that it was a month after when the rebels scared our forces off; leaving the rebels in peaceful possesion of over three thocs'KD Gvss. It is well that such things are kept on record. This hap pened under an Abolition government, and they must be held responsible for this act, as well as many others, which they are try ing to shift upon the Democratic party But it won't work, gentlemen ; yoa have done the business, and now yoa must father it, although it may as it will blast your damnable party. The hand writing on the wall did not startle Bellshazzar as much as does the losing of popularity by this one horse party I 1 see they are striving to cause the tax. payers to believe that the property of the Southern . rebels, are to pay this war debt; which already exceeds TWELVE HUNDRED MILLIONS ol DOLLARS Now i: seems to me that these sharp men are counting chickens that are still in the shell. We must first get hold of this property ere it can be used by the government. And unless this negro loving party stop their tirade against slavery it is very evident that the conquering of the rebels is fixed at an indefinate period ; and should this war last two years longer the whole South, or rather that part of it that cow style themselves the Confederate States of America , will not be able to cover the debt.. So that argument is a fallacy. Let us conquer them first and then we can settle the property question at oar leisure. And it would have bhown more sound sease if these heartiest Aboli tionists had only left the nigger question alone ami! after the South had sued lor re admission into the Union, which .will soon happen,' The abolition of. slavery in the District of Columbia the running off of ibonsands of slaves by this nigger loving government the feeding of them, just the earns, atid in fact are much bettertreated than rsany of the soldiers of Lincoln's adminis tration, who are setting the tide of public opinion against one of the most tyrannical parties that ever cursed the shores of Amer- , " .: . -:. " . Now et ci moralize. After fill the blood that has been spilt all the lives that have been lost all the treasures that have been expended alter all ihe horrors of a civil war in our midst, and the ruining of one of the best forms of government that ever ex ised, the whole thing will have to be settled by a compromise in the end. The lament ed Stephen A. Douglas, in his last speech delivered, in the Senate Chamber, March 15th, 1861, said : , "The annals of history does not contain a single instance where seven millions of peo ple were snbdued." And past experience 'goes to show that in Ihe South, we have foemen worthy of our j steel. The cry of these Abolitionists one year ago was, "the war will be ended in six month." Well, fifteen months are past and the war is still progressing; with all the fury that free and independent soldiers can push it. Led on by the South, with a blind zeal, worthy of a better cause, and on the side of tha North by bigoted ambition, and a determination to free the slaves Had this Govenrmept carried out its "first proposed principles, that the war was for the wiping out of treason and for that only, this retellion would now instead of being at its heigtb, be cru-bed and peace and harmony reign supreme. But just as soon as they opened this Pondoras Box of the slavery question, it was casting the fire brands among the combustibles and the whole thing wen: off with a tremendous ex plosion, that not only frightened the party, but made the "very head and front ot this offending' tremble in his seat. This it was that shook the pillars of ocr liberty un til the building reeled and tottered and nothing but the intervention ot Providence saved it from inevitable destrucioc But we still live in hopes that this bastard party which was begat in sin and iniquity, fostered an fed by treason reared by plun dering the National treasury, is but a short lived mushroom concern. Already are the true friends of the constitution marshalling for the conflict. They ccme to crush out treason its every form they come to ce ment tha tie that has been ruthlessly torn asunder they come lo met out justice and punish traitors, whether they belong to the southern clique of treason workers,or weth er (bey are found in the ranks of Abolition ists, of the North. For both stand alike guilty, and both shall alike receive the pun bhment due their notorious crimes. Wit5i wishes for your success, I still re main, Toodles. S P E E C H OF I10X. BEXJAJIIN ttOOD, of N. T. In the House if Representatives, May 16 1862 . Mr. Chairman: I have hitherto avoided troubling this House. Content to be a lis tener, without any other participation in its proceedings than to oppose my solemn in dividual negative against measures which my conscience and my principles would not approve, I have said nothing. Indeed, sir. I have not had the heart to rise here and speak. A glance at this Hall, of itself, has been enoftgh to prevent. When I look around and see one third of the Union un represented here, and find myself in a body, purporting to be one branch of the Congress of the United Slates, really in fact but a fragmentary part of it, my heart sinks with in me. It appears to be a sectional body a gathering of the representative- of a sec tional party. With these feelings aud with this spirit. I have until now avoided partici pating in deDate. - Besides, sir, daring the earlier period of this session, disaster had. accompanied the efforts ot the Federal arms. I fell that the hour of defeat was not a fit one in which to strive to awaKeri the great soul of the North to thoughts ol peace ; I felt that something was due to the sense of mortification, some thing to the natural desire to retrieve the shame ol discomfiture. I hoped, too, that when victory should perch upon our ban ners, others than myself would teize the occasion to urge a plea in behalf of peace able measures; aad that this gov ernment itself, feeling secure and strong enough to be magnanimous, would take the lead and be the pioneer , in opening a path for the settlement of our difficulties without further recourse to bloodshed I even hoped that the leaders of the now dominant party, moved by the sore distress which has vis ited our country, would relent from the stern rigor of their doctrine of subjugation, and, in the flush of triumph, would lean a little towards a gentler policy than that which they have heretofore championed with so much zeal and with so little for bearance I hoped in vain. The triumph came ; a long train of successes has relieved the North from its humiliation. The Govern ment claims now to stand as a rock against which the tempest ofopposition must waste itself in futile efforts. The partisans of the ultra war party laugh to1 scorn the idea that any effectual resistance can be offered to the onward march of our triumphant ar mies, and yet no single effort has been made in these congressional Halls, to stay the effusion 61 blood. It has been left for me, powerless as I am, to speak the first conciliatory word in behalf ot my country men. And I do it, sir, in the hope that others, more capable, will not be too much engrossed with the ' lust of conquest and the pride of victory, to follow my example. . Sir, it is an ineffaceable reproach to those either deluded or wicked men, who, in the North, by their unwearied agitation of abo- IlliAfi vaVi A aw. y - a a, ill ajA lit a ' m KaM ' S f I this strife; it is an eternal reproach to them ' thai, through victory and defeat, in eveiy phase of this unhappy struggle, with tie groans of their distressed and tortured coun try smiling upon their. ears, they haie clung, and still cling, with unpitying per tinacity. and even with ferocity, to the doc trine which has been the germ of ail tie mischief. With the first exulting shouts of Federal victories they set up the echoing cry of emancipation. With all the ener gy of fanaticism, with the subtle arts and intrigues of scheming demagogues, with 1 11 the appliances of cunning, intellect, ai d patronage at their command, even at this eventful crisis, when every American bra n should be at work to bring about a fair ai d honorable peace, and they have no thougit no hope, no duty but to propogate their creed, extending its influence into every nook and corner ot the land, poisoning tie atmosphere of these eacred Halls with n terminable discussion Openly and in se cret, by ihe agency of the press, the pulrtt, and the political rostrum, in the camp, in the city and in the open field, they ure spreading the contagion; they are innocula ting the country with this moral pestilence which has already brought us where we are, to the very brink of the grave of our nationality. Sir, to these apostles of abolitionism 'rill be traced hereafter whatever of evil has De fallen or may befall our country. They are building its sepulchre with the bones of their slaughtered countrymen. 1 do believe there are gentlemen within my vision new, whose sworn purpose, whose first desire, paramount even to to the preservatioi of Republicanism, is emancipation. Tiey and their deciples first threw the apple of discord. They first applied the torch,- ind are now more busy than ever with throw ing fresh fuel to the flames. Should histo ry ever trace which God forbid the -coord of this country 's ruin, that page will seem the strangest to those that read w ich shall tell of the madness and wickedness of the arch lanatics ot abolitionism. In the dark recesses of the temple of infamy, the glooraie-t niches will bear' the inscription of their names. Sir, I counsel none but a moral in'eifer ence with the work of these mi hief makers. I would not have even fanaticism deprived ot the right of free speech ! nor would 1 in any emergency, advocate the slightest infringement by the Govemnent upon the liberty of 'he press. Let them sow the seed of their infamous dodriue broadcast over the land. Whatever may be the danger, 1 will not countenance the greater danger of establishing a dictatorship over the thought of my lellow-country men. But if the abominable theme mutt be brought in tho Council Chambers of the nation, for 'he sake of decency , if not o jus tice.le: it be at a more suitable time. If heis remains one Union man at the South 1st us remember that he i unrepresented ere ; that the subject particularly concerns him, and that it is unjust and ungenerous if not cowardly, to take advantage of his absence to push forward measures in regard to the local institutions of his section, measures against which, were he present, he would give his earnest opposition- It will quench whatever remains of Union feeling in the South, if ii has not already done so. I, will prove that the first idea of the dom nant party in the Nor.h is an active and tn wa vering antagonism to slavery, and a fixed purpose to legislate it out of the country at all hazards. Is it thus that we are K con quer a peace? Sir, we are flinging away the last chances of reconciliation as reck less as madmen cast their treasures into the sea. The agitation of the subject has been the country's bane at every period if its history; its discussion at this crisis i t des perate self destruction. Is it while the mag azine is beneath us and about us, bursting with the agsncies of ruin that we must choose to sport with the flaming tor:h of the incendiary? Sir, until our beloved coun -try shall be saved,the word "emancipt tion" should by com mot. consent, be bat ished from the lasgaage of debate in this assem blage. It is a spell which has wronghtl enough already of desolation. It is i. hell ish formula of incantation which ba con jured up the fiends of discord anc civil war, and it was never so potent in its evil tendency as now, when it is being pissed, like the breath of the plague from mouth to I mouth, in the Council Chambers f the country which it has ruined. It should be spoken in a whisper and with a prayer linked to it, as a thing that brings a curse and spread a pestilence. I despair of my country; I despair, of ever living once more in a blessed Union of frater nal Stales, when I hear all around tie the utterance of that ruinbreeding word "eman cipation," mingling with the shouts of bat tie, the fierce huzzas of triumph over fallen brothers, and the groans of our dying coun trymen. Sir, i f in place of making the negro ques tion a subject matter of debate, thin Con gress would take into earnest, solemn con sideration some expedient for securing peace, 1 do believe that succesb would crown our efforts. If they would enter up on that task, not with hearts embitteied and intellects swayed by sectional antipathies and mock philanthropy, but with all their souls devoted to that one sacred put pose the reconstruction of the Union and our re demption from civil war; if they would do this in the spirit of conciliation, of hrgive ness, of tolerance, of brotherhood, aid kind feeling; it is my conviction that be 'ore the close of this eventful session, the -preliminaries of a peace would be arrangtd. Bat while, with the obstinacy of a blind fanatic and the instinct of a brutal gladiator, the first object is to promulgate a party creed, and the second lo crush an opponent and wear the badge of victory, I see no fairer prospect than at some distant period reach ed through eeas of blood and heaps of car nage, the forced submission of a crushed and devastated section, and the equally un happy spectacle of a government triumph ant, but exhausted by its triumph, detested by a moiety of those sovereignties that gave it birth, and gazing with horror and re morse upon the desolation it has wrought. Sir, itis not my intention o vent reproach es even where I believe them best deserv ed. I have arisen to enter my protest against the discussion, in this chamber, ot any anti-slavery scheme whatever at this crisis, and to offer an earnest appeal lo this Congress that its legislation shall embrace every means of securing an immediate peace. If, as the government claims, the confederate cause is hopeless, the leaders of the secession movement cannot be igno rant of the fact, and knowing it they will be naturally inclined to lend a willing ear to whatever proper overtures this Govern ment may present. At some period of this straggle there must be negotiation, it must be resorted to, sooner or later; why not now ? Is it because pride forbids that we should be the first to stretch out the hand of concil iation ? Heaven forefend that thousands of human lives and a country's welfare should depend upon so false a principle. Is it be cause the South has not been sufficiently punished, humbled, and subdued ? Then let us confess that chastisement and venge ance are the objects of this war. Is it be cause the anti slavery movement has not yet received a sufficient impetus ? If so, go tell it to the armies that havo won your victories! Make Abolition the war cry ! Place a banner with vhat device in the van- ward, and lure those armies on to conquest with it if you can. Your soldiers would rend the treacherous ensign into shreds, and would march to their homes with the same alacrity with which they pushed on to the battle field. What, then, is the cause that withholds negotiation ? You will not parley with ar med treason ! Cut you hav parleyeJ w'lh armed treason if that be the word; parley ed for the mereconvenience of an exchange of prisoner, and other purposes to mitigate the grievances ol war. It was your duty so to do. And shall you not do so tn accom plish all that your troops are fighting for the reconstruction of the Union? Let us suppose that the South is anxious to embrace an opportunity of return, and is withheld trom making fdvarces by doubts as to the intentions of the North ; is it not right that we should confer with them, that those doubts may be removed ? What do the people care for such miserable punctilious in the hour of a na tion's agony ? Sir, an honorable peace is within the grasp of this Congress without further bloodshed. This Consress knows that it is so, and when the people shall real ize that it is only the infamous design to strengthen the anti-slavery movement that prevents an effort to obtain that peace, woe to the chiefs of the abolition party in the land. But, enough of them. Words are thrown away upon their stubborn fanaticism. I appeal with better hope to the lofti er feel ings that should pervade homanity, and especially pervade this august asernb!ae ; that should, by the nature of its sacred func tions, be far removed from the miserable f ambition of reducing a section of our com mon country to the extreme and therefore dangerous condition of despair. Sir, there may be a fascination in the gory magnificence of war. There may be a craving for martial glories in the hearts of men, and an instinct of contention which we share in commo.i with the brute crea tion. But if ever there can be a time when a more Christian impulse should possess our souls, it is now ; now, when triumph and the consciousness of strength give us the noble priviledge of extending the hand of conciliation without fear of degredation or of self reproach for cowardice. If adversity has been our eicuse for sternness, let suc cess be our plea for magnanimity. Provi dence has placed within the reach of the North a greater triumph than countless ar med legions could conquer ; the triumph of subduing a brave enemy with a generous and merciful policy, will disarm resentment and rekindle the old brotherly flame that perhaps is not totally extinct. For, after all, they are our brothers, 6ir; and 6orae soften, ing of the stern Roman rigor which our rulers have assumed is due to that brother hood, which, by untimsly severity, may be canceled now forever. There are gentle men who willsay that the South masv be sub dued; every armed Southerner must throw down his weapon and sue for mercy. Should a freeman ask as much of his broth er freeman ? Would they be worthy of companionship in oar fraternity, being re claimeda: such a sacrifice of manly feeling? What would you have them do ? Would yoa have them crouch and cringe and strew their heads with ashes and kneel at your gates for reaimission I They are Americans, sir, and will not do it. No? though Roan oke and Henry and Doneldson should be re enacled from day to day through the lapse ol bloody years, they will not do it. Give them some chance for an honorable return, or yoa will wipe oat every hope, and the two sections will be twain forever. Yes, sir yoa may link them to each other with chains, and pin their destinies together with bavonets; but at heart thev will be twain forever. They are the children of the same heroic stock, the joint inheritors with our selves of the precious legacy of freedom; and it is a sacrilege and an insult to the memories of the past, that so many, sir, should sit in your presence here to-day to goad them on to desperate resistance, and few alas ! so. very few to meditate and restrain. Of those few, I thank my God that 1 am one. I am proud to proclaim it here be neath the dome of the Capitol I shall pro claim it, here and everywhere, until the wings of peace shall be once more folded over the bleeding bosom of my country. I shall proclaim it aloud and honestly although to do so would make ma the next victim of this cruel strife. Sir, it may be said that I speak of peace, while its attainment, without further recourse to arms, remains impossible. I do not be lieve it impossible. What effort has been made ? What door has been opened through whirh the passions and tll-fe-lings of the contestants might pass out and reason ente t None. The sir.gle idea has been forced upon the people that the sword, and the sword alone, must decide the issue. It has been pronounced treason to hold an opposite opinion. Sir. if to have but little faith in the efficacy of the sword for joining severed friendships, if to earnestly desire peace and deprecate the horrors of war, be (reason, then am I a traitor; and lam proud er of such treason than o'.hers can be of their vindictive, flaming, and pretentious patriotism. I conjure this Congress, in the name of our suffering country, in ibe name of wives that may be widows, of children that may be orphans, in the name of gallant men, now strong in health, and who, to morrow, may be stretched in death upon the gory ground,or writhing, maimeJ, and disfigured j with torturing wounds in the name of i humanity, that sickens at the daily record of thi terrible strife, I conjure this Congress to seize at the merest chance that may ! exiel of a present termination of this tragedy. I Let something be attempted in the spiiil of ! meditation. Sir, the people will respond to it. They will thank this Congress for it. They will bless this Congress for any mea- ! sure that breathes of the spirit of reconcilia ; tion. They weary of this war, weary in i despite of the excitemeut of present victory, i They will wake soon to the consciousness ! that such victories are purchased at a sac I rifice terrible to contemplate; that a national j debt is created, which, in its rapid accumu lation, is appalling a debt, which, if ever i paid, will press like an incubus upon fu ! tore generations, stunting the growth and ; paralyzing the vigor of our young Repub lic ; or, it repudiated, resting a blot upon our anna!. If we look abroad, the spectacle tends only to our shame. We see the weptred hands of Europe planting their royal ban ners upon.the soil of this Western hemis phere, which it is our natural duty to con secrate to republicanism, and which we might at least have guarded from the greed J of foreign despots. The flag of Aragon and Bastile flaunts in the air of San Domingo and united with the blazonries ot France and England, is unfurled upon the walls of San Juan d Ullou. Where may they not float a twelve months hence, if we, the natural guardians of this continent, should still te busy daobling in each others gore ? Sir, if there must be war. let it te against the na tural enemies of republicanism ; if we must humble our national pride to conciliate the British lion, let us make some sacrifice to win back in amity the South, that we may stand once again as comrades iti arms, to scourge these foreign interlopers within their proper limits. I am no advocateof bloodshed but if a foreign war should be the alternative of submission to foreign iusolenee, I trust that I should be the last to fall prostrate that the hurricane might sweep harmless by. To subserve the schemes of a party, we have already humiliated the American people in-the eyes of scorfing Europe! It will be a task hereafter to regain the caste we have lost in the Umily of nations. No greater evil could befall us than to be forced from the position xe have hitherto assumed toward foreign Powers? I would not have my country swerve one inch from any vital principle of her foreign ro"cy in any emergency whatever. Above all thing? I hold dear that national honor, which we have ever, till of late, preserved untarnish ed. However gloomy may be tha aspect of things at home, I would have our flag float as proudly as ever abroad, not deign ing to make domestic affliction a plea for humility, an excuse for cowardice, or a palpation of national dishonor. Whenever the occasion demands that a stand should be made againt foreign ag gression, or a rebuke' administered to fore ign pride, or a chastisement inflicted opon foreign insolence, I would have the gaunt-, let thrown down upon the impulse of the national sentiment, without reference to domestic exigencies, or pausing to measure the strong proportions of the loe. In the heat of our private discord, we seem to have forgotten that our great mission as a people, is to republicanize Ihe world, to advance the principle that men are capable to self-govarnment, and to check the pro gress of monarchy. Sir, we are losing ground in the fulfilment of that sacred mis sion, and monarchy has gained a new foot bold, while we have been weakening oar sinews with intestine strife. To what pur pose f It it possible that gentlemen can hope to reconstruct the Union by pursuing a policy of unrelenting severity ? Can they expect to re-establish concord and brotherly love by pushing hostilities to the extreme verge ? What is the Union worth without mutual respect and reciprocal amity to bind the sections ? What ! a Union of un willing States, 'drivert into companionship at the point of the bayonet and held there by military power. Such a Union would not be worth the shedding of bne brave man's blood. We want their hearts or we want them not at all. And we cannot con quer hearts with bayonets, although they should outnumber the spears of Xerxes. If not brought back by negotiation they ate gone from us forever. To slay their sold iers, lay waste their lands, and burn their cities may be within our power. But to hold them in subjection, would, in itself, be a final repudiation of the first principle of Republicanism Prosecute this war until you have accomplished the necessity of holding a subdued section in subjection, and the world will took in vain for a re public on the Western Hemisphere. Sir, I love to entertain the hope that our Union will be restored upon the foundation laid down by our fathers; and I desire no changes in Ihe plan of that glorious super structure. But 1 am not so unnatural a wor shipper of the Union a to seek its salva tion with the destruction of those whose welfare it was conceived ; to bbild upon the dead bodies of my countrymen. 1 would purchase its redemption otherwise than by anarchy and ruin I would not fling away the substance to perpetuate the name. Every drop of blood that is shed in this struggle will weaken the bond of Union between us. One word of conciliation at this crisis will do more lo save the coun try than all the achievements, past and to come, of your victorious soldiery. Why should not that word go forth even now, in the hour of the triumph of the Federal arms. If there has ever been a period in ihe histories of republics when prolonged civil strife has failed to curtain the liberty of the masses, 1 have not read that history aright. Already, witn. one year's bitter experience, we have beheld some of the dearest privileges of American citizenship wrested from our grasp. And how long, H the same rate, before, upon the convenient plea of necessity,' shaft we be stripped of other rights which heretofore have made us deem ourselves freemen ' How long, while personal liberty even now depends on the nod of an official ? How long, wtnie tree torn American citizens can be left to languish in basti'es, beyond the reach of the constitutional tribunals of the land and at the mercy of the Executive How long, while ihe press, the guardian of liberty, the friend of the masses, is shack- led, gagged, cowed down to sulled silence. or wore jet, become the minion of a party? How Ions, while voters are arrested at the polls by military process, and legislators are burned off to prison before they can as sume their sacred functions ? How long while the partizans of the Abolition party are coining money out of the blodJ of their countrymen, parading their showy patriot ism and shouting "Union," with their arms j up to the elbows in the public Treasury.1 How long, sir, will the people of the North, I taxed beyond endurance, robbed and cbeat j ed by an evercraving horde of political hy enas how long wilt tney nave a caoice between freedom and anarchy, between a republic and despotism? Alas! we still cling to the name of a republic, but have we the reality ? It is entirely at the option of one man, or of a council of men, wheth er the citizen shall breathe in freedom the air of Heaven. At the open aesam" of the Executive, the gloomy portals of the Bas- i tiles La Favette or Warren will zape to re ceive him. And this is ihe Republic I was lauzht to love. I ;ir, mis is oniy a symooi oi wnai must inevitably be, should the South be crushed j into the Uuion You may bring the South I to terms with your bayonets, but when you have done so you will have made a bond of air; a covenant whose seal will be a military despotism, and to break it at the first opportunity will be an aim and a par pose on the part ol a subdued section. What i they have attempted once they will not fail J to attempt again, when smarting under the t rempmlimnrft nf (lefaaf. whan rhermhina i - - - . . . tt the deadly hate that a war to the utterance will engender. For the sake of Union now and Union hereafter not ar. enforced Union, but the strong Union ol willing hearts let the word of peace go forth, let the band of reconcili ation be extended. Why, sir, I have heard sucri words of bitter hatred expressed against these Southerners by Northern lips, that I fear it may already be too late ever to renew the bonds of fraternity. Such sen timents, I have heard of implacable resent ment, of thirs'ing vengeance, of sectional antipathy as Hennibal was taught lo nur ture against Rome, as Rome in her quench less jealousy conceived towards Carthage to the end. And the doom of Carthage may be accepted by the South rather than reunion at (he bayonet's point. - 1 appeal lo this Congress lo avert that fate as inglorious to the victor as to the van quished Let the door of negotiation be flung wide open, flung open now, while we can make advances with food race, and with laurels npoti onr brow. To the winds with the docirine that yoa will not treat with armed traitors. It is a sentiment fitter for the epoch of a purpled Roman, than for the Christian age in which we live. It is the sentiment of one who role with a rod ot iroc, not of a great and generous people who assume to rule themselves Enough has been done in proof p the vig or of the North and the resources of the Gov ernment. Let something be now done for the sake of the past, for the memories of the memories of -the Revolution, of the struggle of 18 12, of the Battle fields of Mex ico, for the sake of a Union whose cement shall be forgiveness for the past, and friend ship and forbearance for the future. In. place of exulting over victories and longing for new triumphs, bow much more pleasant and more holy to draw a picture of the joy that will pervade many a now gloomy household when ihe glad tidings ot peace shall be borne from city lo village, from villape to homestead, from lip to lip, and from heart to heart. A nation's iabilee would well repay yon for some little yield ing of your stern policy. How many arms would be outstretched, how mau heart- would bound to give a welcome home again P to the war stained volunteer. Ob ! sir, those meetings at the cottage threshold, those claspings at the farm-hoose porch, . the cleaving of throbbing bosoms of wom en, scarred and manly breasts, were worth all the laurels that were ever snatched from a blood-stained field. The news of our vic tories have been hailed with peans and il luminations, but, with the first tidings of -peace there is not a hovel iu the land that would not have a candle in its window, not a palace that would not blaze with splen dors in token ot the adveut of a blassing, priceless beyond all earthly triumphs. Then, sir let us lower the points of oor victorious swords, and parley wi h the toe while the bugle blasts of victory are yet ringing in our ears. If we are free in an ticipation from the peril ot future reverses ; if we are sanguine that the Federal arms ' are henceforward gifted with ivincibility, that is the noblest reason why we should say to our opponents, " pause if you will ; reflect." Let us yield them one chauce for reconcilement before we drive them to the resistance bf despair. There can be no victory where kith and kin, where brothers and fellow countrymen, whre men who are bound lo each other by the holies: of past association are struggling for suprem acy. All is defeat ; all is disaster ; all is misfortune, tears and mourning. Do not let os efface with blood every sacied mem ory that may yet bind thee men to us as brothers. Give one sign of invitation be fore the death simple is renewed. 'Sir, I have spoken freely, studying only to mak my words an index. to my thought. My opinions have brought me the censure often most discorteouly expressed ot many who differ with me, but for that I care little. I am content to abide the hour that shall set me right before my countrymeu. As I be lieved the prosecution of this war to be a widening ol the gnll that seperates the sec tions, 1 have earnestly oppo-ed it. I have always looked upon the subjugation of the South as a project, whose fulfillment would strike a heavy, perhaps a fatal blow to trie Republicanism, and although I yield to no man in oevoiion to the Union, although I would make any and every personal sacri fice to rectore its glory and integrity, I will never consent, even for the sake of the Un ion, to yield np my birthright as a freeman; to sacrifice thoee principles of self-government, those rights of free speech, free thought, and personal liberty, wiihont which Union is bet a mockery and a name. It is not grandeur anJ extent of territory that I covet as the chief attributes of the Gavernmenl dnder which I am to live. Were I one ot but a single community,- in significant in numbers, but secure in a guar antee of pure rapublican ministratioi of af fairs, I would be proud of my citizenship. But the Union of a thousand Slates, each one as great and populous as the noble one among whose Representatives 1 have the honor to be. I would detest, yes, sir, in my inmost heart I would detet it it the holding together of its component pans should cre ate a necesity for the assumption of des potic power. Self government is the god of my politi cal idolatry, and the Union is but a temple in which I have worshipped it- Should, that temple be destroyed, I would not for sake the creed, nor would the mighty prin ciple be buried in the ruins. I love and would preserve the temple, fof beneath its roof are gathered the holy treasures of past association ; opon its hallowed wail are inscribed the names of patriots, from the North and from the Sooth, whose blood has" been its cement. Bat rather would I have the elorious fabric crumble to the dost, than see the Spirit of despotism enshrined within its sacred precincts. I have seen already the si'ect but length ening shadow of Abolitionism creeping in to this sacred asyluti. And when the Ex ecutive hand, for the first lime in oor histo ry, was interposed between the citizan and his rights, the grm was planteJ of a dan ger mightier than rebellion in its mist gi gantic phase ; for I believe encroachments by an Executive to be in ilself rebellion against the only overeignty I acknowledge the majesty ol the people. I believe each step towards Abolitionism to be more fatal to the welfare of the Republic than any possible act within the powtr of tha citizen to conceive and execute I wit! re sist every grasp that may be made upon an attribute ot sovereig-ry not heretofore ac knowledge I ro the Chief Magistracy ; for reason aud i.is'.inci, no less than the fearful examples that history has furnished from the asris ol republic, 'each roe that the first step, unchecked, will nofc.be, the last, bat only-the precursor of those giant strides by which over the neck of betrayed, free- I
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