CONGRESS, U. S. 



305 



army now were civilians when the war com- 

 menced. This must, of necessity, be so ; and 

 I believe, on the whole, that the civilians are 

 the best officers, and will prove to be the best 

 officers; and that the men who have received 

 a military education are more in the way of 

 the success of our arms than anything else. 

 That is my conviction, though I do not wish to 

 blame any one, or to discuss personal merits or 

 demerits. The truth is, if I understand it, our 

 want of success in this war is owing to the 

 theory adopted by this Government in regard 

 to its prosecution. The Government is holding 

 the army in a state of inactivity for what rea- 

 son? Not because the officers are not skilful 

 and brave; not because the soldiers are not 

 brave and efficient ; but they are holding this 

 whole army in this stand-still position, and 

 literally making it a standing army, upon the 

 same principle that a simpleton mentioned, I 

 think, in Grecian fable, stood upon the banks 

 of a stream waiting for it to flow by, that he 

 might pass over dryshod. "We are waiting in 

 the hope in my opinion, a vain and fruitless 

 hope that this rebellion will put itself down ; 

 that if we do not hurt them, these rebels will 

 return to their allegiance, and that, too, before 

 a great while. 



" But, Mr. Speaker, to return to that which I 

 wanted chiefly to say, and that is this : I care 

 very little about investigating these incidental 

 facts. The great trouble is that this nation 

 has failed, and is yet failing, rightly to inter- 

 pret the providences of God. Although a ref- 

 erence to any higher law or providence may 

 be received here with a smile and a jeer, yet 

 the truth is that God is holding this nation, 

 and refusing to allow us to achieve any victo- 

 ries because we are not just; because we are 

 not true to the principles of justice, and truth, 

 and human equality which we proclaimed in 

 the original structure of our Government. "We 

 are failing to proclaim liberty throughout all 

 the land to all the inhabitants thereof. I be- 

 lieve before God and if it be fanaticism now, 

 it will not be fanaticism when the muse of 

 history traces the events of the day that 

 the reason why we have had Ball's Bluff, Bull 

 Kun, and other defeats and disasters, is that 

 God in his providence means to arraign us 

 before this great question of human freedom 

 and make us to take the right position. "Where 

 are we now, sir ? Just where a certain crew 

 were, on a vessel whose history is found in the 

 sacred writings. These ancient mariners put 

 out from the shore and a storm overtook them, 

 like that which came down upon the Trojans. 

 The billows, foaming and raging, threatened 

 the destruction of vessel and crew. Affright- 

 ed, they called upon their respective deities, 

 inquiring what had brought upon them the 

 divine displeasure, and found a certain refugee 

 on board who had proved derelict to sacred 

 obligations. They cast lots about the matter, 

 referring it immediately to a divine solution, 

 and the lot fell on the guilty person. "What 



YOL. II. 20 



then ? "Why, the culprit himself said he must 

 be thrown overboard. The sailors, with charac- 

 teristic generosity, tried to save him, but could 

 not, and cast him forth, and so saved their 

 vessel and the lives of those on board. 



" Now, sir, when we cast this accursed sla- 

 very overboard, God will give us success, and 

 will crown our arms with victory for that is 

 just, that is right. But no : this slaveholding 

 Jonah has paid his fare, has got some sort of 

 constitutional, guaranteed right, and prays and 

 whips Christianity into its tortured catechu- 

 men : and we are here to-day, with this old 

 national vessel drifting wildly amid the mad- 

 dened waves, every spar bowing, every joint 

 creaking, and every plank bending, while the 

 angry ocean shivers its crested waves charged 

 with divine wrath against its sides : and still 

 men say, "For God's sake, do not touch this 

 old slaveholding Jonah ! " "We must do it, sir. 

 It must go to the depths, or we must: and 

 when it is cast into the sea, God will save the 

 nation. Then it will be a nation worth saving. 



" Here is the trouble, sir. It is not in Stone, 

 nor McClellan, nor in Halleck altogether. God 

 uses these poor instruments to punish us, and 

 when we take the right position He will bring 

 us the right men and we shall be saved, but 

 not otherwise. To this complexion it will 

 come at last. It is written in the unfolding 

 leaves of that book chained to the throne. 

 This Jonah must go down into the depths of 

 the ocean, to the foundation of the hills. "We 

 have refused to vote for the negro, we have 

 refused to care for the negro, we have refused 

 to sympathize with the negro, and now God 

 has set us to fighting about the negro ; and the 

 man is blind or an atheist who does not see the 

 hand of God in it all. History will tell you 

 that. 



"Now, Mr. Speaker, the people are deter- 

 mined to put down this rebellion, and I tell the 

 Government, without the least ripple or shadow 

 of unkindly feeling toward a single gentleman 

 for if I had, it would be groundless and un- 

 grateful intrusted with the administration of 

 affairs, and without believing for a moment 

 that they are not true and loyal and earnest, 

 although, as I think, acting on mistaken the- 

 ories ; I tell them that the people mean to put 

 down this rebellion, and do not mean to stand 

 with the rope round their necks always. This 

 rebellion must be put down by the Govern- 

 ment or without it. I know how the people 

 feel, and I know that the slaveholding interest 

 of one or two border slave States will not be 

 allowed to control the destinies of this Ee- 

 public." 



Mr. "WicklifFe. " Will the gentleman from 

 Illinois allow me to ask him a question ? " 



Mr. Lovejoy. " Yes, sir." 



Mr. "Wickliffe. " I see, sir, that this House 

 passed at a former session the following resolu- 

 tions : 



Resolved, That neither the Federal Government nor 

 the people or governments of the non-slaveholding 



