CONGRESS, U. 8. 



287 



" When this war first broke out it was a na- 

 tional war, with a single national object ; and 

 upon that one purpose and object all hearts 

 were united. That object was the reestablish- 

 ment of this great republic our republic. Upon 

 that great object, I repeat, we were all united. 

 There was no division ; and in order to satisfy 

 the country more effectually of the fact of our 

 unity, but little more than eighteen months ago 

 a resolution offered by me was passed, almost 

 unanimously, declaring that this was our sole 

 object. "We then declared that this was our 

 only object. . We pledged ourselves that no in- 

 terference should be made in any of' the insti- 

 tutions of the States, having a special reference 

 to the institution of slavery. 



" Mr. Speaker, had the pledges then solemnly 

 made by this Congress been adhered to, how 

 different would be the condition of the country 

 to-day ! There was then but one sentiment per- 

 vading the whole people of the country. The 

 people then flocked to your standard by hun- 

 dreds of thousands, filling the ranks of such an 

 army as the world never saw. There was then 

 but one sentiment in the people of the country. 

 No coercion was then talked of. What has pro- 

 duced the change that now presents itself? 

 What, as my friend from Massachusetts says, 

 has united the South in one solid iron phalanx? 

 What has crushed out, and destroyed to a great 

 extent, if not wholly, the confidence and en- 

 thusiasm that swelled up in the heart of the peo- 

 ple of the nation ? What has done all this ! It 

 is our departing from our faith. It is our de- 

 parting from that object which we declared to 

 be the only just and patriotic one. What else 

 has done it ? Have you not departed from the 

 policy of that faith ? Have you not, in a man- 

 ner considered perfidious, violated pledges 

 which you gave* the country more than eigh- 

 teen months ago ? Was there any discontent 

 expressed at that time ? I heard of none. The 

 hearts of the loyal people North and South were 

 fired with a common purpose to preserve the 

 integrity and honor of the republic. Every 

 man felt himself under every honorable obli- 

 gation to step forward, and abandon his pri- 

 vate affairs, and look after the welfare of the 

 Union. That was the undivided, pervading, 

 patriotic sentiment of the whole body of the 

 people. Nowhere in the North or Northwest 

 was heard a murmur of discontent; and the 

 same confidence and patriotic feeling was as 

 strong among the Union men of the border 

 States as it was anywhere in the North and 

 West. It was everywhere the same. We were 

 willing to suffer to the last extremity to pre- 

 serve the Government. That was the feeling 

 of the people then ; we all know it. 



"What has brought this mighty change? 

 What has done it, Mr. Speaker ? Do not we all 

 know ? Can there be any doubt on the subject ? 

 It has been our infidelity to the pledges made to 

 the people. It has been because of the reckless 

 course of the dominant power. It is because 

 of the impolicy of which Congress has been 





guilty. Is it not time to learn that the course 

 we have pursued and are pursuing has pro- 

 duced a state of division and dissension even in 

 the remaining States? Yes, sir, the policy that 

 has been recently pursued has been the fruitful 

 source of these disastrous dissensions. It has 

 been our departure from our policy of not at- 

 tacking the institution of slavery, and fighting 

 only for the Government, for the Union, and 

 the Constitution. 



" What have we s^en at this session? We 

 have passed bills changing the rules and arti- 

 cles of war in order that slavery might be en- 

 croached upon. We deprive the loyal people 

 of the South of all protection by the army for 

 their property. You have passed a law tak- 

 ing the slaves from any of the citizens of the 

 country. You have passed a law for organ- 

 izing an army of three hundred thousand 

 negroes. This you know is against the deep- 

 rooted prejudices of at least one half our peo- 

 ple. Such a bill would have been rejected with 

 one common voice eighteen months ago. Even 

 the mention of the subject created profound 

 indignation. You have done this and more. 

 You have passed laws, in the opinion of the peo- 

 ple, which violate the Constitution. You have 

 scorned the friends of the Government. You 

 have turned away from us the hearts of the 

 people by these measures. We have sown deep 

 the seeds of future disasters to the Government. 

 I implore the House to pause before it sanctions 

 any more measures of that kind. 



"Mr. Speaker, can we carry on the war 

 more successfully by transcending the Consti- 

 tution than we can by obeying it ? I have al- 

 ways said that the Constitution was our bul- 

 wark ; that it was the best defence ; that our 

 strongest defence was to keep within the clearly 

 defined powers of that instrument. But what 

 have we done ? We have assumed powers not 

 delegated by the Constitution. We have acted, 

 not according to the provisions of the Consti- 

 tion, but according to the sentiment which ac- 

 tuated us at the moment. We seem to have 

 been controlled by the petty spirit of party, 

 rather than by the spirit of patriotism and a de- 

 termination to obey the Constitution and the 

 laws. You have lost the heart of the people, 

 and you have lost it by the dogmas you have 

 inaugurated and established rather than follow 

 the Constitution. 



"The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 

 Stevens) said the other day that we have every 

 man in the field that we can get voluntarily. 

 Why is that ? Because the object is clearly pro- 

 claimed of abolishing slavery throughout the 

 United States. You have done this while you 

 have had an accidental majority here. Hence 

 it is that the people have changed. This is the 

 only time when that party ever had a majority 

 in the House I mean a majority of Abolition- 

 ists. With this accidental power, what has it 

 done? It has declared emancipation by law. 

 It has declared by law for the raising of negro 

 armies. It has declared emancipation and con- 



