CONGRESS, U. S. 



245 



and Baltimore, he brought the existing sad ca- 

 lamity upon the Union. Sir, I have no regard 

 for your position. You have stood with the 

 Republicans, and have aided them in elevating 

 Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, by dividing the 

 Democratic party ; and now, sir, you make 

 that the pretext for breaking up this Govern- 

 ment. I stand here and declare that fact in the 

 face of the nation. It is true, sir. I under- 

 stand it as well as any man in this house or in 

 this country." 



Mr. Burnett: "Will the gentleman permit 

 me to ask him a question ? " 



Mr. Richardson : " Certainly, sir." 



Mr. Burnett: "Then, when the gentleman 

 states that at Charleston and I do not mean 

 to go into a discussion of the matter I was 

 engaged in plotting to break up the Democratic 

 party, he states that of which he knows noth- 

 ing, "for, sir, I had no agency or hand in it ; and, 

 if he will permit me to say one more word, I 

 will tell him that, when State delegations went 

 out of the Charleston convention, I was the 

 only man, I believe, from any of the slave 

 States, who went into the hall and made a 

 speech appealing to them to come back." 



Mr. Richardson : " I am not mistaken, Mr. 

 Speaker, in the position I assume. I found the 

 gentleman there in association and cooperation 

 with those who created distraction in that con- 

 vention, and who did all that was done to de- 

 stroy it. I stand here and say that ; and for 

 what I say I am responsible. 



" Mr. Speaker, I have spoken of this con- 

 spiracy to break up the Democratic party and 

 the country, and I have said that the gentleman 

 from Kentucky was in it. I know the fact, and 

 I will not permit him to shrink from it." 



Mr. Burnett : " Let me tell the gentleman 

 from Illinois, once for all '' 



Mr. Richardson : " I know you were in it, 

 and that is enough." 



The Speaker : " Does the gentleman yield to 

 the gentleman from Kentucky ? " 



Mr. Richardson : " I do not yield. I have 

 one more word to say. and I want to say it to 

 the other side of this House. This organization 

 of the Breckinridge party was for the purpose 

 of destroying the Government. That was its 

 purpose and its object. What do we see? 

 Without the aid and cooperation of the men of 

 the North, that party was powerless. The men 

 from the Northern States, who aided and en- 

 couraged this organization which is in rebellion, 

 are at the head to-day of our army. Butler of 

 Massachusetts, Dix of New York, an* 1 Patterson 

 of Pennsylvania, and Cadwalader ail of them 

 in this movement to break down and disorgan- 

 ize the Democratic party and the country. Why 

 is it ? This Douglas party furnished you one- 

 half of your entire army. Where is your gen- 

 eral where is your man in command to-day 

 who belongs to that party? Why is this"? 

 Have you Republicans sympathized with this 

 Breckinridge party ? Are you sympathizing 

 tvitb them, and lending your aid to the men 



who lead our armies into misfortune and dis- 

 grace ? I ask you to look. 



" I stand here to-day for the purpose of say- 

 ing one word more. I have spoken with some 

 feeling. I have spoken with feeling because I 

 feel, and feel deeply. Yon have at the head 

 of your army a man who carried your flag 

 through the war of 1812, and through the war 

 with Mexico, with a strategy unequalled. You 

 have sought to disgrace him, and you have 

 sought to impair the public confidence in him. 

 He fought this battle over here,* which was 

 disastrous to our army, against his judgment. 

 Who caused it? You have forced it upon him. 

 I tell you that, unless you rally around him, this 

 great fighting army at the North, which is Dem- 

 ocratic, will not support you. I have no sym- 

 pathy with General Scott's political opinions 

 not a particle. When he was a candidate for the 

 Presidency, I fought against and resisted his 

 election with all my power. I would vote 

 against him for the Presidency to-morrow ; but 

 I tell you that, when you look over the list of 

 all the military men of the earth, he is the 

 greatest of them all. He fought the battle of 

 Sunday last against his plan. The strategy of 

 General Scott was the finest ever seen. If he 

 had not been forced to precipitate our army, he 

 would have won a victory without fighting a 

 battle. Again I say, you have forced this battle 

 upon General Scott, and it has been lost because 

 you have forced it upon him ; and I declare be- 

 fore God to-day, .as my solemn conviction, that 

 if this thing is to be permitted to continue, you 

 destroy this Government forever. I stand here 

 in my place and make the declaration that, if 

 General Scott cannot conduct this war, we have 

 nobody that can. If he cannot, by strategy, 

 skill, and courage, save this Government, it is 

 impossible to save it. On this matter I have 

 said all I desire to say." 



Mr. Blair, of Missouri, followed : " The gen- 

 tleman alleges that General Scott was driven 

 into this battle the other day by some of the 

 persons upon this side of the House, as I un- 

 derstood him. Now, there has been nothing 

 said of General Scott here so derogatory to him 

 as that which the gentleman himself has ut- 

 tered. Is he fit to command the army of the 

 United States if he can be forced into a battle 

 when he is not prepared for it, and against his 

 own best judgment, by the outcries of outsiders, 

 as the gentleman has characterized them? No 

 one here has attempted to traduce or say aught 

 against General Scott, except the gentleman 

 himself, and he has levelled at him a charge 

 which is derogatory to him in the very highest 

 degree." 



Mr. Richardson: "Well, I take it back if I 

 have." 



Mr. Blair : " If he takes it back, I have noth- 

 ing further to say upon the matter." 



Mr. Richardson : " I believe the gentleman 

 from Missouri has taken issue with me upon the 



* Bull Eun. 



