290 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



slavery. "Whenever that sentiment shall pre- 

 dominate in the United States, as uttered by 

 my colleague, then American liberty will sleep 

 forever. There is but one sentiment which an 

 American patriot can own : that is, that the 

 American Constitution, the American Union, 

 and American institutions, are superior _to and 

 above everything else, including local institu- 

 tions of a peculiar character or the safety of 

 any local people." 



Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, met the objection 

 against the merits of the bill by the following 

 statement : " The bill in no respect differs in 

 principle from a previous bill passed by this 

 House on the 22d of last July, and which re- 

 ceived the assent both of the gentleman from 

 Pennsylvania and of my worthy friend from 

 Illinois. This bill is as well guarded as that 

 was, touching the objects and purposes for 

 which these volunteers may be called into the 

 field. That bill contains the same phraseology 

 under which my friend from Illinois (Mr. Love- 

 joy) thinks is lurking a power to strike at the 

 rights of the slave. The declared purpose of 

 that bill and of this is, that the volunteers are 

 to be used ' for suppressing insurrection, repel- 

 ling invasion, and protecting the public proper- 

 ty.' These words are used in the same sense 

 in each of the bills.' 1 



Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, said : " I wish to ask 

 the gentleman why it is necessary to raise this 

 number of men, when we already have enough 

 to perform the service ; when we have ten 

 thousand, at least, waiting in Illinois, and anx- 

 ious to get into a fight somewhere? " 



Mr. Bingham replied : " The difficulty is 

 that I do not know that the fact is as it is stat- 

 ed by the gentleman from Illinois. On the 

 contrary, I have the best evidence that the > 

 force in the field is not sufficient for the public 

 interest, and therefore I am for the proposed 

 increase." 



Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, again rose and said : 

 " I would like to know upon what facts the 

 gentleman states that we really need more sol- 

 diers in the service of the United States? " 



Mr. Bingham replied : " If the gentleman 

 wants some authority, I will say that we have 

 the report of the Adjutant General of the 

 United States, stating that the whole force in 

 Kentucky is not more than one third of what 

 our public exigencies require. We have also 

 the statement of the representative from Ken- 

 tucky (Mr. Wickliffe) that the Secretary of 

 War himself stated that this additional force 

 of twenty thousand is needed now in the ser- 

 vice in Kentucky." 



Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, repeated his 

 previous statements. He said : " I stated that, 

 before I received the communication from the 

 Legislature of Kentucky, urging the organiza- 

 tion of a force of this kind by the General 

 Government, I had consulted the Secretary of 

 W;ir upon the propriety of it, and explained to 

 him the purposes, objects, and necessity of the 

 corps. He approved of it, or else my ears de- 



ceived me. I then went to the President of 

 the United States, and submitted the proposi- 

 tion to him. He took it under consideration, 

 and told me he would consult his cabinet. He 

 afterward informed me that he approved the 

 raising of the troops, that he believed them 

 necessary." 



Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, urged the im- 

 portance of the bill. He said : "I have not 

 attended sufficiently close to the movement of 

 this debate to know how the negro question 

 has been introduced into it ; but I cannot see 

 how it properly has any connection with it. I 

 suppose there are very few gentlemen cer- 

 tainly I hope there are but few upon either 

 side of the House, who do not concur in the 

 general sentiment that the preservation of this 

 ' Union and the perpetuity of our American na- ' 

 tionality is an object infinitely more important 

 for us to consider than either the preservation 

 of slavery or the abolition of slavery. We are 

 told that this legislation is peculiar ; that it is 

 abnormal. In answer to that it is sufficient to 

 state that the condition of Kentucky at this 

 time is peculiar. Kentucky occupies a peculiar 

 situation in connection with our public affairs. 

 She is not only invaded by armies in large 

 force and great strength, but she has the ele- 

 ments of disorder within her own limits. She 

 has, in portions of the State, a large number 

 of latent rebels who are very strong in their 

 sympathy with those in active rebellion against 

 the Government, and who are only waiting a 

 fit opportunity to let their sympathy break out 

 in open insurrection. She is surrounded by 

 hostile forces on three sides, who wish to make 

 her Union and loyal citizens feel the force of 

 their wrath in consequence of the attitude of 

 loyalty they have assumed toward the Govern- 

 ment. Hence she is subject to invasion from 

 those quarters. Her railroads, her bridges, 

 and her other public property are in constant 

 danger of being destroyed ; and this not by 

 the regular movement of armies and large 

 bodies of men, but by guerilla bands who come 

 in the night and go in the night ; who go in 

 small numbers by stealth through the byways 

 of the country. In order to defeat them, you 

 do not want armies, but bands of men equal in 

 number and firmness of purpose to them. You 

 want men familiar with the country ; who 

 have that sort of local knowledge which will 

 enable them to meet this invading or insurrec- 

 tionary force. It is manifest that such men 

 must be drawn from the country itself, and 

 that their organization should be in the nature 

 of a police force, to preserve order and give 

 protection to the people at home. 



" Now, the State of Kentucky, as has been 

 repeatedly said, has already furnishd her quota 

 of troops for the armies of the country. She 

 has, if I mistake not, a larger force in the field 

 for the war than the State of Massachusetts, 

 with her larger and entirely loyal population ; . 

 yet her resources in the way of raising troops 

 are not exhausted. It does not follow that 



