UL
55
BY S. J. ROW.
CLEARFIELD, PA., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1863.
VOL. 9.-NO. 22.
1 LOYAL DEMOCRAT SPEAKING.
Speech of Hon. II. B. Wright, of Pa.
Dtlivered io Congress, January 14, 1863.
The following extended remarks were made
bv Hod. Hesdbick B. Weight in Congress on
Wednesday last, and we ask an attentive peru
il of t tie same by our numerous readers :
THE BESOLUTIOIf DKSQVSCISQ THE REBELLION.
The House proceeded to the consideration of
the declaratory resolution of Mr. Whioht, de
claring the rebellion on the part of the seced
ing States against the Government and laws
of this Union was deliberately initiated, and
without reasonable cause; that the war was in
augurated solely for the suppression of the re
bellion and the restoration of the Union as it
was; that, the Union restored, the war should
cease, and the seceding States be received
back into the Union with all the privileges
and immunities to which they were originally
entitled.
SPEECH OF MR. TALL ASLIGHAM.
Mr. Vallandigham (D) had offered a substi
tute for the above resolution. In addressing
the House he maintained that a reunion was
not only possible but inevitable, unlessdefea
ted by the deliberate folly and wickedness of
the puplic men and the people. He signed
the question at length from history, citir.g
many examples, lie insisted that physical
causes all tended to that event; that there
was no radical difference in the white race
here to prevent it ; that ail the original
causes which led to the Union common de
scent, consanguinity, language, measures, and
laws, defence, interest, and the domestic tran
quility all existed in full force yet, and some
of them were much stronger now than at first.
And further, that artificial causes had sprung
up since works of improvement, multiplying
travel, trade, navigation, and intercourse. Al
ao,that certain less material, but equally strong
ties common history, national reputation,
cogs, cooimoD battle-field '. .
SPEECH OF SIR. WRIGHT.
Mr. Wright said: I cannot agree, sir, with
some of the views just advanced by fhe gentle
man from Ohio, (Mr Vallandigham, )al. hough,
as to the most of his argument, I have no hesi
tation in saying I agree with him. I differ
with him in respect to the continuance of this
war.
I am Mr. Speaker, a peace man ; but I Am
cot a peace man if the peace is to be established
upon the dismembered fragments of a broken
and destroyed Union, lam a peace man, if
peace can be obtained with rebels, who are
striking at the vitals of the Republic, upon
: terms that shall be alike honorable to the pa
triotisro and con rage of the .North. While 1
am a peace man 1 am no coward, and while I
may desire peace, I shrink from no responsi
bility. I would even put myself, as a repre
sentative from the North, in a position of ab
solute humiliation, it peace could be the result
of it. I will even let myself down, and kiss
the hword in the bands of that arch traitor in
Richmond, dripping with the blood of my own
loins, if I could obtain peace upon honorable
terms to my country.
But, as my resolutions say, while the rebel
lion stands in a menacing attitude, and while
their guns are directed upon your very Capi
tal itself, and while they themselves say they
win ante no terms witn us, i am not a peace
maker, because under those circumstances I
could not be a peace man and preserve my
own honor aud ray own country.
The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Yallandig
bam) said he would have the war stopped,
and that he was opposed to it. What does
the getleman form Ohio anticipate by the
cessation of hostilities upon our part. Does
he suppose the terms can be obtained from
these men who are in rebellion if the North
tay we will grant an armistice? Why, sir,
there can be nothing w.bich could be more
cheering or more satisfactory to these men
who lead and conduct this rebellion, than to
have the North .-ay this war shall stop where
it is, and iet them have that republic which
tbey have turn striving for during the past
two years. Had the doctrine of the getlemann
from Ohio prevailed one year ago the members
of this House of Representatives wonld not
have been in session here to-day. Had the let
alone policy which he proclaimed here in oppo
sition to the war been the marked policy of
the eountry within the last year, we should
not now have the beggarly privilege of occupy
ing seats in the American Congress to-day,
but instead, we would have had the chief trai
tor and his cohorts and coadjutors occupying
this Hall instead of ourselves.
We of the North did not bring this war and
desolation upon the country. We bad no hand
in it. When my honorable friend from Ken
tucky presented his resolutions last July a
year ago and we adopted them, we declared,
ith but two dissenting voices, that this was
a war for the restoration of the Government,
, and we, meant to fight, it out it may become
a war of extermination before it is ended that
it was immediately forced upon us by the se
ceding States. We of the North were not the
first who made an appeal to arms. Rebellion
St was that first fired its guns into the Ameri
can flag : rebellion it was that first drov thosn
States from the American Union and inangu- i
rated the reign of terror; rebellion it was that
raised the standard of opposition, and sent
her piratical ships upon the seas to plunder
our commerce. And were we to fold our arms
at these gross outrages, and sit down crying!
"peace" "lei the war stopfHad not we j
had manliness-enough to raise our voices a-
gainst it, and our arms to protect ourselves j
no our children, and had we pursued this
kind of peace policy a year ago, I again re
peat, we should not have the beggarly privi
lege of occupying seats in the Capitol of the
nation. -.:,,.-,
And now that the war has been protracted
for the period of two years, are we to be met
"gain by the same argument that we must !
lay down our arms? No, while God gives us
- the power to maintain our position, while we !
have the force aud the vigor, let us fight like
men, because it has got to come to the ques-
tion of extermination. The day of such a !
peace has passed by, and passed by forever, i
These great wrongs which have been perpe- j
trated upon the part of the rebellious States, '
e can hardly realize; we can hardly contem- j
, plate. They have been the direct and imme- i
-jaiata cause of the sacrifice of three hundred
thousand ol the loyal youth of the country. '
- ineir bones, if they could all be collected-to- f
getuer In one grand mass, would form a roau- i
soienm greater than the pyramids of Egybt. j
ere is not an Inch of soil between the Cnes- ?
7..1 tDd ha Roey mountains which baa
j not been saturated with the blood of our breth
I ren and children. They have demoralized our
people, almost destroyed our national charac
ter, and now say, in the language of Solomon,
j "bring the sword, and the child shall be di
i vided ;" and some here say, "so be it." There
is one here that never will say it never, while
God permits him to breathe, will he say it.
Do the rebels sue for peace ? No. Let me
read you an extract or two to show what these
people are saying and doing. On the 26th of
last December Jetierson Davis delivered a
speech at Jackson, before the Legislature of
Mississippi, in which he says, among other
things, "from the Northwest ue look for the
first gleam of peace." What kind of a peace
dues Jefferson Davis contemplate from the
Northwest ? God grant it may not be a peace
establishing a line of defense and offense be
tween the East and the middle States. I have
heard that suggested, but it is too monstrous
to believe.
I have too good an opinion of the virtue and
intelligence and patriotism of the people of
the Northwest to entertain, for a moment, the
idea that they would joiu hands with the mis
erable men engaged in their country's ruin ;
for any compromise or arrangement by which
the Union is to be dismembered. I discard it
j as a vile imputation.
Alter a complimentary allusion to Missis
sippi and her soldiers, Davis spoke of Ins love
for the old L'nion. Now murk wl.at this ren
egade and rebel says of you Representative!!,
as reported in the Jackson Mississippian :
He regretted "that be should have loved, so
"long, a Government which is rotten to its
"very core," and he was opposed to "re-uui-"niting"
with a people "whoso ancestors
"tlromwell had gathered from the bogs and
"fens of Ireland and Scotland."
Here you have the head of this bogus confed
eracy laying out the line of policy. With
those men I roni the bogs and feus ol Ireland
and Scotland, he would never consent to reun
ion. But he casts his eye over the great
Northwest and entertains the hope that there
he shall first see the sun of his righteousness
arise. The men from the district I have the
honor to represent in the Congress ofthe
United States.who have migrated from thebogs
and fens of Ireland and Scotland, are as much
superior in loyalty and pitrotism to that man
Jetl Davis, as the religion of Christ is above
the religion of Satan; and ten thousand times
sooner would I trust the defence of free prin
cipals and human liberty to the h inds of those
men from the bogs and fens of Ireland and
Scotland than to Jeflerson Davis and his trea
sonable associates. He will onteruin no
terms of reunion, and yet the gentleman from
Ohio says the war must be stopped, that we
must have peace, and that we must reunite.
-Reunite with whom ? With Jt-ff. Davis and
his coadjutors, who say they never will consent
to it. Let me go a step further with regard to
this Southern feeling. I hold ia my hand res
olutions declaring that the separation between
"the United States and the confederate States
is final, and th people will uever consent to
reunite at any time or upon ar:y terms." Let
me left-r you, in the same connection, to a
letter written on the 8th of December, 1862,
by Jno. Letcher, Governor ofthe State of Vir
ginia. It seems he had been charged with a
correspondence with Fernando Wood, assist
ing that the latter had been making advances
to John Letcher for the purpose of peace and
reconstruction of the Uniou. Governor Let
cher in a letter denied this, iu which he states
the separation from tht Union is final. And
yet wo have gentlemen talking peace all over
this land. Peace! Peace! upon what terms
Mr. Vallandigham. What has produced and
indicated the great reaction in the northern
and western sentiment ? Tho ballot-box. The
ballot-box is a weapon in the hands of men in
the South j et, as potent and just as secure ;
ai d through the age icy of that ballot-box, af
ter some time, when passion has cooled and
reason resumed its sway, I expect to nee a re
turn of Union sentiment indicated, and who
soever in the so-called confederate govern
ment or in the State governments stands in
the nay will be superseded ly other men, just
as those who would have waged this war upon
a particular line of policy have been superse
ded thro' the ballot-box in the North and West.
Mr. Wiight. 1 cannot conceive by what
principle of reasoning the gentleman can sat
isfy himself that such a result could possibly,
under any circumstances, be attained.
Mr. Vallandigham. History and human na
ture. Mr. Dawes. Allow me to ask the gentle
man from Ohio, in connection with his remark
that he expects that at some future day the
ballot-box will work a revolution iu the South,
whether he proposes that we shall lay down
our arms and wait for that revolution ?
Mr. Vallandigham. 1 do not propose to lay
down any arms at all. I said that long since.
The laying down of arms must be a matter of
common consent. But 1 would, if I had the
power, reduce both armies down to a reasona
ble peace establishment just as speedily as
possible. Laughter on the Republican side
of the House. The people of the Northwest
and South can bring about reunion through
the ballot-box. You said it could only be done
by fighting You have tried that for 20 months
and let history answer with what results.
Mr. Dawes again sought the floor.
Mr. Wright. No, sir, I cannot yield any
further. What the gentleman from Ohio has
just uttered surprises me more than anything
he said while he occupied the floor previously.
The idea of laying down our arms and permit
ting the time of our drafted and enlisted men
to expire, and a sufficient period to elapse to
leave us without an army, is, in my opinion,
a most monstrous proposition. Nor do I be
lieve that il we were even to send a commit
tee from this House, or a joint committee of
the two Houses, to wait upon Jeff Davis, such
a committee would even be received and en
tertained by him. I understand that the Le
gislature of New Jersey has been making an
attempt of this kind, and that their agents
were not even received by the officials in Rich
mond. 5. have seen such a statement in the
newspapers, and give it for what it is worth.
Mr, Perry. There is not a word of truth in
the assertion the gentleman has made.
Mr. Wright. i am very glad to hear that it
is not true, for 1 have a better opinion of that
State, being half a Jerseyman myself.
Mr. Perry Perhaps North Carolina could
do precisely what members upon this floor have
done. On the 22d of July last they passed a
resolution, and what have they done since ?
Perhaps North Carolina will do the same.
Mr. Wright. lam very glad to bear the
member from New Jersey repudiate the idea
that any peace committee has been appointed
in that State- They have sustained their char
acter as patriotic men. There is no man, I
will venture to say, I do not care what be his
Complexion in politics he may be as black as
he pleases upon the extreme radical side, or
he may be as deeply imbued with secession
svmpathies as any man you can find upon the
Democratic side there is no man who does
not desire peace; not peace upon dishonora
ble terms, not peace that would destroy our
great Government, not peace that would lay
us in an bumble attitude at the feet of the trai
tors ; but peace that shall make liberty live,
peace that shall establish the eternal princi
ples handed down to us by our fathers; a peace
upon principles that will not defame the char
acter of these men, i that I would see estab
lished in this country ; not peace upon the
principles that emenate from the hot-beds of
treason in the South or secession in the North.
Suppressed applause. That is the kind of
peace I want to sej established. Neither do
I want to see any efforts made that shall
attempt to thwart or endanger the success of
this principle.
The gentleman from Ohio Mr. Vallandig
ham has alluded lathe result of .the late e
lections as though that established a peace
policy. I assure the gentleman, if he enter
tains tiiat idea, that never was mortal man
more mistaken on earth. The great change in
public opinion as evidenced in these elections,
results, -in my opinion, from a wai.t of confi
dence in the manner in which the war lias
been conducttd, and the blunders of the Ad
ministration. The people of this country have
not abandoned the idea of saving their coun
try. There has Iwen no victory, so far as I
understand it, in the State of Pennsylvania.
I learn by the speeches made by Mr. Seymour
of New York, both b.-fore and since tiie elec
tion, that he favors a vigorous prosecution of
the war. Aud, I do not believe that any man
pould maintain a political position in Penn
sylvania for a day who would declare himself
iu favor of peace on any terms.
As to who is to blame, it is no part of tho
purpose of niy resolutions to declare. I do
sot stand here for crimination or recrimina
tion. Perhaps the evil was in the removal of
McClellan ; perhaps the Administration may
have been wrong in a thousand other things.
But because there have been blunders commit
ted in the management of the war, are we fo
stand up and publicly abandon our coijutry
and liberty ? Great God is it to be supposed
that because a campaign has not come up to
the public expectation, we are therefore to lay
down our arms, and .sue for peace at the foot
of treason and traitors ? Not at all. Does it
follow, even, that because Abraham Lincoln,
the President of the United States, has issued
a proclamation emancipating slaves, therefore
we, as the Democratic party, are to abandon
our country, are to go iu for peace, and allow
the Republic to be rent asunder ? Not at all,
sir. We must have time to change all of these
matters. The fact that certain men have tri
umphed at the recent elections, furnishes no
ground for believing that the people favor the
abandonment of the war and of its great fea
ture, the preservation and salvation of the
country. Politician who iudulge in this idea
will soon find themselves at fault; a storm is
ahead. Gentlemen who entertain the idea that
the recent elections are the result of a peace
policy will find out, if the army has to be dis
banded, and if the Government is to be cut
in two, what their responsibility will be to the
people of the country ; because, as God lives,
there shall be a day of reckoning. The man
who is on' the side of liberty now, bis name
and reputation stuil live forever; and that
man who says, down with your arm s, and let
tho enemy prosper and take possession of your
capital,"' shall have a reputation and memory
as infamous and damnable as that of the
Cowboys of the Revolution.
Mr. Vallandigham. I say "Amen" to that.
Mr. Wright. The gentlemau from Ohio
say 8 "Amen." God bh-ss tiie ! be ought to
have a strait jacket on him. Laughter
Mr. Vallandigham. Will the gentleman
loan toe the one he has been wearing for the
last twenty months ?
Mr. Wright. If the gentleman gets on the
jacket I have been wearing, he will have a bet
ter Democratic jacket than he was ever wrap,
ped up in during bis whole life, and I am of
the opinion be will feel so comfortable that
he will wonder in amazement that he was ever
Without ont like It.
Mr. Vallandigham Perhaps the gentle
rain will have the kindness to loan it to me a
little while.
Mr. Wright. There is a reckoning in store
for men on both sides of this question. There
is a record made tip for the men who sustain
their country in the hour of its trial. I grant
you that the Cowboys of tiie Revolution might
have been very respectable people if King
George had but succeeded in maintaining his
government over the colonies, but as he did
not happen to be successful the name of Cow
boys and Tories has become somewhat disrep
utable. Let their memory be a" warning to
those men now who in the dark hour of peril
and danger lend their sympathies to their
country's foe. Let them profit by history.
So your peace men, when this great Gov
ernment is restored, as it shall be; you who
cry "peace," and stay at home in the enjoy
ment of ease and luxury, while the sons and
brothers ol loyal men are doing battle man
fully in the field and tor the grett cause of
human liberty, shall hear a sound rung in their
ears from the voices of indignant men as ter
rible as that rung in the ears of the Cowboys
and Tories of the American Revolution. They
need not think that by their crying "pcaee"
our Array is to be disbanded, our country de
stroyed. Our Army went into the field for the
express puipose of the preservation of the U
nion. I differ ftom the Executive of the na-1
tion, and I have always differed from the ultra
men of this Honse who want to make this a
war of negro emancipation, instead of a wat
for the restoration ofthe Union. The Army
went into the field lor the purpose of restoring
the Government. Its numbers have reached
to over eight hundred thousand men, larger
than any army which ancient or modern times
have seen. That Army is still in the field,
and its destiny is to preserve the Union and
protect the flag ; and it has the power and the
courage to do so, and will do so. Applause
on the floor and in the galleries. I do not
care how many men there may be singing
peace anthems, or crying out at the North
that blunders have been committed In the
management and conduct of the war. ..The
fact that there have been blunderers does not
furnish to loyal men any reason why tbey
should tarn their backs unon the country and
stretch ont their arms to embrace its enemies.!
We must get. along with these blunders the
best way we can. We must appeal to the ul
tra Republicans to let the negro alone, and to
stand by the Constitution aud the Union.
Then you will have such a united power at the
North as, when brought to bear and concen
trated against this rebellion, will put an end
to it forever.
When I cast my eyes aro:;nd, I see upon the
domestic hearth-stone the bloody footprints of
those infamous men who are attempting to
destroy the Government. Aud yet, these dam
nable outlaws, who have attempted to stab aud
destroy liberty, have their friends and sympa
thisers in the north. They are not "my "broth
ers," in the cant phrase of northern sympathi
sers. They are rebels. It is ouly loyal men
who are my brothers. Applause Yes, sir,
with all the great wrongs that they have heap
ed upon the nation, with those red-hand crimes
whose enormity must make even humanity
blush, these men have their friends, aiders,
and abettors scattered all over the North, and
are held up as public martyrs. And we are
asked to disband our Army for their relief
aud benefit. Why, sir, theso men's necks
ache for the baiter. To slay our citizens is
entirely excusable. They are openly encour
aged to decimate the North, murder our peo
ple, ravage our seas, destroy the best Govern
ment that ever God or man devised. And with
these men we are to make peace upon such
terms as they may prescribe.' I will make
terms with them, but they must be such terms
as shall not destroy my manhood and my lib
erty, and, above all, shall not destroy my
country. None other have they a right to de
mand, and none other will the loyal men of
the land ever concede to them. To do so
would be to commit a crime as great as that
charged on the enemy of the Union.
Talk about making terms with these men.
You can make no terms with them that will
not come within one or tLe other of these al
ternatives, and the men who cry "peaee' know
it. Great God ! is not this countrv. with all
the institutions of civil liberty which our fa
thers planted upon this continent, worthy of
every effort that men can put forth to save it ?
It 20,000,000 men cannot defend these institu
tions against 8,000,000 rebels, if they must
yield, it must not be set down to their weak
ness, but to'the degeneracy of the age ; and it
is time for us to repent in sorrow over our de
pravity and our cowardice. Sir, I tell you
that we have the men, we have the money,
and we have the loyalty and courage to accom
plish that end, in spite of any cry of "peace"
that may come np to us. They are in rebel
lion how, and the only thing for ns to decide
for the present is, whether we shall conquer
them or permit them to conquer us. One or
the other event is inevitable. When the thief
is caught in the act of taking your property,
and you arrest him, do you stop to listen to
to his inquiry, and debate the question what
you are going to do with him? Yon hnrry
him off to the magistrate, and leave him for
the officers of justice to dispose of. It is
not at this time a debatable question what you
are going to do with these men. They are in
rebellion-, and must be put down. We can put
them down, notwttstanding the obstacles we
nave 10 encounter, i nave my eye upon a
single object, which is the polar star of my
destiny the flag of my country and the gor
geous temple of liberty and when I cannot
see and behold them any longer, may God Al
mighty blot out its light forever.
You cannot preserve or restore peace by
yielding to men who are fighting to tear down
this great temple of liberty. There can be no
peace but in their submission. The gentle
man from Ohio Mr. Vallandigham this mor
ning talked ofa dividing line between the
two sections, and undertook to speak for the
great Northwest as to the course she would
pursue. The gentleman could see in the East
a divding line between the North and thex
South in the Potomac, or the Susquehanna;
but for the West he saw no such liue of demur
kation, no linn of separation between the head
waters of tho Mississippi and the Gulf. What
was passing, pray, in the gentleman's brain?
Why can he discover a natural boundary be
tween the middle States and the South and
Northwest, and no line of boundary between
.the South and Northwest ? '
Mr. Vallandigham. I sought expressly to
show that it could not be established.
Mr. Wright I will tell the gentleman pre
cisely what inference could, in my judgment,
only be legitimately drawn from what he die
say.
Mr. Vallaniigham. 1 cannot answer for
the gentleman's inferences. I expreskiy ar
gued against any such line. The gentleman
misrepresents me.
Mr. Wiight. I have a right to draw my
own inferences; and it may be that tbe gentle
ninn cannot show that they are very far wrong
after all. In the gentleman's plan for the
joining of the Northwest with the southern
States-in rebelliou, he leaves New England,
New York, and Pennsylvania out.
Mr. Vallandigham. No, 1 want them all
to go together.
Mr. Wright Well, I can tell you gentle
man he will no get Pennsylvania into any
such scheme as that.
Mr. Vallandigham. I suppose the gentle
man goes for reunion, does be not ? -
Mr. Wright. I go upon the principle of the
restoration of all the materials that formed
this Union, without leaving out one State or
one Territory.
Mr. Vallandigham. I am for the reunion of
all th ese States, and a hundred more that may
be carved out of the limits of this Union. I
beg the gentleman not again to misrepresent
me upon that point. - : . .
Mr. Wright. I have no diaposi ion to mis
represent the gentleman from Ohio. Is the
restoration of all the States and Territories,
organized and unorganized,' that once were
united under our national flag. I desire to
see tbem all one people, one Government, one
Union, with one destiny and one liberty per
vading the whole. That is the kind of recon
struction I want. I desire to see no peace on
any other terms. I want no aimistice. Let
me suppose a case. . Suppose there is snch a
peace declared as the gentleman from Ohio
would ask, or such a peace as those who, two
yea,rs ago, were supporting Breckimidge for
the Presidency ;
Mr. Vallandigham. The gentleman surely
does not mean to indicate that I supported
Breckinridge. "; " "' 1 '
i Mr. Wright. Certainly not. The gentle
man supported Douglas, as I supported him.
I did not allude to the gentleman.
Mr. Vallandigham. The gentleman seemed
to address the remark to me.- ' ;"'-"--"
Mr i Wright. Well, I will look some other
i . .!;... j ., , r.-. - ' 'I.--' .! -i i .
way. I say, suppose a peace is established?
Suppose you declare an armistice for thirty or
forty days? If so. you need never talk about
getting together your armies again. The next
step would be to establish a boundary. How'?
Where? A boundary line betweea the bogus
confederacy ofthe South and tho loyal States
ofthe North. What line? Have you con
sidered where that line shall be? . Would you
make the Potomac the line, and throw all of
Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennes
see into the hands of the corrupt leaders ofa
bastard government ? Wontd you pass over
the Capitol, and abandon this place, sacred as
it has been made by the assembling within its
walls of the best men whoever drew the breath
of life from Washington and his compeers
down ? Would you make the Chesapeake bay
and the Susquehanna the line? If you grant
a peace or declare an armistice, depend upon
it. the establisment of a line will be the next
step in th- programme.
Then would arise that great question, wheth
er the Northwest would consent to unite her
destinies with Pennsylvania, New York, and
New England.
New England has been made the subject of
reproach. She has herraneuil Hall, wbicb,
in the days of the Revolution, responded to
tho House of Burgesses. She has B'inker
Hill and Lexington, and her history is united
with all the glorious deeds ot the past. Be
cause some of her people may have acted un
der fanatical impulses, we are not therefore
to displace her from the chart of American
States.
Then arises the question, supposing that the
Ohio was established as the line, how long
would your peace last ? About ns long as the
Amiens, or the peace of Tilsit, and more fatal
iu its consequences than the peace which fol
lowed the dismemberment and destruction of
Poland. I prophesy, sir, that if you establish
a boundary line between the North and the
South, between free labor and slave labor, it
will not ba preserved for six months. Let ns
meet this great question now. If 300,000 lives
of our best young men have been sacrificed,
let us sacrifice 300,01(0 more if necessary, and
put an end to rebellion forever. Applause.
it is better to make that sacrifice now, ten
thousand times over, than to make a dishon
orable treaty with rebels. As much as I love
peace, as much as I covet it, as much as J
would like to see it, bow can I, or any reason
able man, ask or consent io it at the price of
the destruction of the Government ? Then
so long as peace is dishonorable, I say fight ;
fight like men for the restoration of the Gov
ernment, aud lor that alone ; fight for the Con
stitution and Union ; fight for the old flag;
fight for human liberty ; and with skilful lea
ders on the part of our government to conduct
our armies, I have no doubt that we will pros
ecute this war to a successful close.
I know that the negro emancipation agita
tion has created dissatislaction and division.
I know that it has i imposed its troubles and
difficulties, but the 'Government has power
and strength enough to overcome .these and
put down rebellion effectually.
We learn that both the English and French
Governments have a desire to enter the affray
on this continent. Let them come. While
this might not be desirable, we may rest un
der the assurance that our power and resour
ces are great. If they send their ironclad ships
of war, we must meet them. We fight for em
pire. Our battle grounds will commemorate
the deeds of a race of men who, if they fail,
fought for liberty and the rights of man. Our
cause is worthy of success, and we can only
be defeated in a morbid sensibility which has
found, unhappily, a lodgment in the North,
which is in sympathy with the blackest treason.
The men who entertain these views may
flourish now, but the day of retribution will
come. The mask shall be torn from the face,
of the leaders, and their followers shall stand
aghast at their moral deformities.
There has been cause for popular complaint
and distrust as to the conduct of the war and
management of the public affairs; but there
has been no cause as yet for them to abandon
the Union and desert their Government.
Demagogues cannot corrupt the people, p.nd
woe to the men who have deceived them. The
people desire peace ; but peace on terms alike
honorable to them and the success of fiee
principles. They want peace, but with a
whole Union; and on any other terms they
will indignntly reject it.
Mr. Speaker, I am so much exhausted that I
must bring my remarks to a close. Where I
stood when the rebellion began, I stand to-day
or. the same platform. I have undergone no
change in my sentiments or opinions. 1 de
nounced rebellion at the threshold; I de
nounce it now. I have no terms to make with
traitors which look to the destruction ofthe
Union. I am satisfied none other can be ob
tained. Time will determine whether my po
sition is right or not. I abide it.
The war has cost me its trials and tribula
tions. 1 can truly close my remarks with a
quotation from an ancient philosopher, utter
ed over the dead body of his son, slain in battle :
"I should have blushed if Cato's honsehadstood
Secure and flourished in a civil war," .
A physician , in speaking of the frail constitu
tion of the women of the present day, re
marked that we ought to take great care of
our grandmothers, for we should never get
any more.
Thomas Rogers of Topsham, Me., eince last
September, has shot 198 wild ducks, at 39
shots ; once be shot at 9, once at 11, and once at
13, and killed all each time. Beat this who can
The following bill, rendered by a carpenter
to a farmer for whom be bad worked, seems at
least curious : "To haneinz two barn doors
and myself seven hours, one dollar and a half."
It is very natural that coffee should now-a-days
have a soothing, peas able effect, and it's
very bean-evoleiu in the grocery-men to sell it
so cheap. 1 '- ' '
More than $200,000 worth of postage stamps
have been presented for redemption at the
New York Post Office. . i
"Look out for paint," as the girl said when
a fellow went to kiss her. ' ' t
. I t Is easy to say grace, but not balf so easy
tO pOBSeSS It. i v.N.i' !a :X t S-ir.' ' i ;
OUR POST OFFICE THOTJfcLES EXPLUfED
Some time since we complained in the col
umns of the Jlearld of great carelessness, or
something worse, in the management ol the
mails and the post offices. By every mail we
were notified that letters containing money,
checks, drafts, and even important correspon
dence intended for our paper, had been : pos
ted, which we had never received. This state
of things has continued and increased of late.
Our troubles were of course made known to
the Postmaster here, and to the Department's
Agent, who appeared to be doing his best to
discover the cause, and be has at last been
successful in delecting a person in no way
connected with the post office, but one who
had stealthily obtained access to our lette
after their receipt at the Herald office, but bo
fore tbey bad been opened. Ue was ingeni
onsly and thoroughly caught, and has made a
virtue of necessity by acknowledging himself
the author of the extensive and annoying dep
redations. Of course others in and out of the post of
fice are thus relieved from all suspicion sud
blame, and we shall proceed to credit the va
rious sums lost .to those who s; nt them, ic a!!
chscs where we are satisfied that such moneys
reached this establishment. All checks and
drafts taken were destroyed, aud duplicates
will be required. Meantime our confidence in
the Post Office Department is, we are happy to
state, fully restored A Y. Herald.
We must say that our neighbor of the Her'
aid has done the "handsome thing" by all par
ties interested, In announcing the denouement
of this perplexing affair.
It may not be out of place to remark Iu this
connection, that there is scarcely a leading
newspaper or periodical establishment in this
city, the proprietors of which have not suffer
ed for weeks an 1 months at a time, in a simi
lar way, until as in the case of the Herald
they were shown that tbey had failed to dis
cover the cause, owing to a too close proximi
ty to'the rogue I Of course a puplic acquittal
of tho Department and its subordinates of all
responsibility and blame has usually followed.
Among the papers alluded to are the Daily
Times, The Independent, the Home Journal,
irfce' Spirit oj the Timet, Church Journal,
Harpers' Weekly and Monthly, and many
others; while were we to give a list of suffer
ing business firms, and public and private in
stitutions, which have in the same way been
called upon to exonerate Uncle Sam's employ
ees, we should be compelled to make a pretty
larire draft upon tha city Directory. U. S.
Matt.
HEAVY E0BBEBY OF GOLD.
Information was lodged at the Central Sta
tion last evening that a bag, containing $5,000
in twenty dollar gold pieces, worth about
$7,200, was stolen from the counter at the
establishment of Jay Cooke & Co., on Third
street, below Chestnut, between four and five
o'cloci;, Monday, January 19th. The person
who committed this rubbery was a miserable
looking beggar-man, about Ave feet ten or e
leven inches in height. He wore rings in bis
ears, and had on a slouched hat. It seems
that an express-wagon was standing in front
ofthe banking house, awaiting to transport of
some gold, of which there were twelve bags,
each containing five thousand dollars. Ons
ofthe attaches ofthe establishment accident
ally dropped a bag and the gold rolled out.
It occupied a few moments to pick up tho
money and restore it to the bag. When this
was accomplished, the boy put the treasure on
the couuter for the express man to come in to
g'jt it. Just at this moment the beggar enter
ed the house, and those behind the counter
saw him pass along, and supposed that he had
gone into the back office to solicit alms.
The clerk having placed the bag of gold on
the counter, turned his back for a moment,
and the beggar suddenly turned, picked up
the bag, and walked ont ofthe frontdoor with
it. The whole thing was done in the "twink
ling of an eye." He was seen by several per
sons with the bag in bis possesion. In a mo
ment the alarm was sounded, and a hurried
search was made in every bole and corner ia
the neighborhood, but the thief could not be
found anywhere. He is described at the Cen
tral Station as wearing ear-rings is a dilapi
dated specimen of humanity; but it is more
than likely that he will so change his appear
ance as to avsid arrest. The detectives, on
learning the particulars of the robbery, spread
themselves in different parts of tho city, last
evening, with the view of capturing the fellow
if possible, and recovering the money.
The bold robber subsequently visited a jew
elry establishment, and after making choice of
articles offered payment in double eagles.
This excited the suspicion of the jeweler, and
be handed the rascal over to the police. Tho
money was all recovered except about $180
which bad been ' expended in various ways.
He was arrested by Lieut. Henderson and Of
fleer Atkinson, and gave his name as tVilliam
Welsh. ; He imnaediaetly owned that Je com
mitted the robbery. Pre. -. : - - ') -r-
. Gek. Ton Thumb and Miss Lavinla
arren
were married at Trinity Church, N,
,c
Wednesday, 14. The audience was verjr larg
and the scene very Imposing. r '" ' v"
. There are no less than eighty -five huiguaf.
es spoken in New York lty by natives of, so
many different nations. iT . ...f , ',
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31
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