CONGRESS, U. 8. 



185 





the conntry whose streams flow into the Mis- 

 sissippi the free navigation of the river, and 

 the free interchange of all of the agricultural 

 products of the valley of the Mississippi. Such 

 a course is dictated not only by every con- 

 sideration of justice, but by the recognized 

 and well-understood interests of the south- 

 western States. On this point, I can speak 

 with entire confidence of the sentiment of Lou- 

 isiana.'' 



The right has been claimed by the United 

 States to occupy foreign territory on the ground 

 of its importance to the safety of the insti- 

 tutions of the country. On this principle the 

 Government acted in the case of Florida. This 

 was the principle announced at Ostend, where 

 the American ministers to the three principal 

 courts of Europe met and considered the 

 grounds upon which the Government would be 

 justified in acquiring Cuba. How would this 

 doctrine bear upon Louisiana when out of the 

 Union and holding the key to the Gulf the 

 outlet of the commerce of the "West? 



Mr. Lane, of Oregon, replied that the at- 

 tempt to enforce the laws in South Carolina, 

 when she was not a member of this Confed- 

 eracy, would bring about civil war. No au- 

 thority to conquer States and hold them as 

 provinces is found in the Constitution. No 

 such power is conferred on the Government. 

 He exclaimed : " I am a man of peace. I dis- 

 like war. I would never make it or encourage 

 it, except in defence of right, in defence of 

 honor, in defence of truth and justice. I would 

 go into battle and fight for the right ; but I 

 will never force war upon a people, or inaugu- 

 rate it, unless it is authorized, and unless it is 

 my duty to do so in defence of right ; but cer- 

 tainly I would not make war to conquer a peo- 

 ple contending simply for a right that has been 

 refused, for a right that they cannot have in 

 the Union, and for a right that they can have 

 out of the Union, even if tyrants, or rulers that 

 would be tyrants, should undertake to coerce 

 them. The man that would do it, the man 

 that would inaugurate it, would drench this 

 country in blood." 



In his opinion, reorganization was the only 

 means to restore the conntry. " If we would 

 bring about that reorganization, if we would 

 rebuild the fabric that has been stricken down, 

 we must maintain peace. Inaugurate force, 

 inaugurate war in this country, and all hope of 

 reconstruction has vanished forever.'' 



He argued that if the party that succeeded 

 in the late triumph had indicated to the coun- 

 try that they were now ready to see justice 

 done ; that they were ready to extend to every 

 Southern State the rights they claim for them- 

 selves ; if they had, at the beginning of this 

 Congress, said ''Amendments of the Constitu- 

 tion will be acceptable to us, and ratified by 

 our people, extending justice to all," to-day 

 the Union would have been safe, and secession 

 would not have been possible. 



Declaring this to be the greatest Govern- 



ment ever created by the wit of man, he thus 

 stated his view of the cause of its destruction : 



" I look upon our Constitution as the best 

 system of government ever formed by man. I 

 would to God it could be maintained as it is. 

 I wish that equality could prevail. I would to 

 Heaven that justice could be dealt out fairly to 

 every man of every State of this Union, as pro- 

 vided by that great system of government. 

 But it cannot be so. Public opinion is in its 

 way. The Northern sectional party is opposed 

 to it ; and you cannot have rights equal with 

 them under the Constitution as it is. They 

 break it up, not we. They destroy it by refus- 

 ing to comply with its provisions. They tram- 

 ple it under foot, because they will not do jus- 

 tice to their friends. They claim the territory, 

 Chough won by the blood of the gallant South- 

 ern men as well as the Northern men. They 

 refuse to the Southern man one inch of terri- 

 tory for his property, though it cost him Ms 

 money and his blood." 



Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana, declared that the 

 present state of things had been foreseen for 

 years. South Carolina had dissolved the Union 

 which connected her with the other States of 

 the Confederacy, and proclaimed herself inde- 

 pendent. He said : " "We, the representatives 

 of those remaining States, stand here to-day, 

 bound either to recognize that independence or 

 to overthrow it ; either to permit her peaceful 

 secession from the Confederacy, or to put her 

 down by force of arms. That is the issue. 

 That is the sole issue. No artifice can conceal 

 it. No attempts by men to disguise it from 

 their own consciences, and from an excited 

 or alarmed public, can suffice to conceal it. 

 Those attempts are equally futile and disin- 

 genuous." 



His anticipations of the extent to which se- 

 cession would reach embrace^ all the slave- 

 holding States. " Next week, Mississippi, Ala- 

 bama, and Florida will have declared them- 

 selves independent ; the week after, Georgia ; 

 and a little later, Louisiana ; soon, very soon, 

 to be followed by Texas and Arkansas. I con- 

 fine myself purposely to these eight State?, 

 because I wish to speak only of those whose 

 action we know with positive certainty, and 

 which no man can for a moment pretend to 

 controvert. I designedly exclude others, about 

 whose action I feel equally confident, although 

 others may raise a cavil." 



That South Carolina had a right to take the 

 course she pursued, the Senator attempted to 

 prove from the admitted right of all men to 

 self-government, and having this right she 

 formed a compact with the other States, which 

 had been broken on the part of some of them, 

 and was therefore broken on the part of all. 

 Between the right to secede and the right 

 of revolution, he thus discriminated : " I say, 

 therefore, that I distinguish the rights of the 

 States under the Constitution into two classes : 

 one resulting from the nature of their bargain ; 

 if the bargain is broken by the sister States, to 



