CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



" Wo heard the other day that tho logic of 

 events had tilled tho Southern cities with men 

 banded together by a common history and a 

 common purpose. The Senator who made that 

 sage observation perhaps builded better than 

 he knew. The same logic of events, let mo 

 tell Democratic Senators and the communities 

 behind them, is destined to bring from the 

 North more united delegations. 



" I read in a newspaper that it was proposed 

 the other day in another place to restore to tho 

 army of the United States men who, educated 

 at the nation's cost and presented with the na- 

 tion's sword, drew that sword against the na- 

 tion's life. In the pending bill is a provision 

 for the retirement of officers now in the army 

 with advanced rank and exaggerated pay. This 

 may be harmless, it may be kind. One spar- 

 row proves not spring; but along with other 

 things suspicion will see in it an attempt to 

 coax officers now in tho army to dismount, to 

 empty their saddles, in order that others may 

 get on. 



" So hue and cry is raised because courts on 

 motion, for cause shown in open court, have a 

 right to purge juries in certain cases. No man 

 in all the South under thirty-five years of age 

 can be affected by this provision, because every 

 such man was too young, when the armies of 

 the rebellion were recruited, to be subject to 

 the provision complained of. As to the rest, 

 the discretion is a wholesome one. But, even 

 if it were not, let me say in all kindness to 

 Southern Senators, it was not wise to make it 

 a part of this proceeding, and raise this uproar 

 in regard to it. 



" Even the purpose, in part already executed, 

 to remove the old and faithful officers of the 

 Senate, even Union soldiers, that their places 

 may be snatched by others, to overturn an 

 order of the Senate which has existed for a 

 quarter of a century, in order to grasp all the 

 petty places here, seems to me unwise. It is 

 not wise, if you want to disarm suspicion that 

 you mean aggrandizing, gormandizing, unrea- 

 sonable things. 



"Viewing all these doings in the light of 

 party advantage advantage to the party to 

 which I belong, I could not deplore them ; far 

 from it ; but, wishing the repose of the coun- 

 try, and the real, lasting, ultimate welfare of 

 the South, and wishing it from the bottom of 

 my heart, I believe they are flagrantly unwise, 

 hurtfully injudicious. 



" What the Soutli needs is to heal, build, 

 mend, plant, sow. In short, go to work. In- 

 vite labor; cherish it; do not drive it out. 

 Quit proscription, both for opinion's sake and 

 for color's sake. Reform it altogether. I know 

 there are difficulties in the way ; I know there 

 is natural repugnance in the way; but drop 

 passion, drop sentiment which signifies naught, 

 and let the material prosperity and civilization 

 of your land advance. Do not give so much 

 energy, so much restless, sleepless activity, to 

 an attempt so soon to get possession once more 



and dominate and rule the country. There ia 

 room enough at the national board, and it i- 

 not needed, it is not decorous, plainly speak- 

 ing, that the South should be the MacGregor 

 at the table, and that the head of the table 

 should be wherever he sits. For a good many 

 reasons it is not worth while to insist upon it. 



"Mr. President, one of Rome's famous le- 

 gends stands in these words: Let what each 

 man thinks of the Republic be written on hid 

 brow. I have spoken in the spirit of this in- 

 junction. Meaning offense to no man, and 

 holding ill will to no man because he comes 

 from tho South or because he differs with me 

 in political opinion, I have spoken frankly, but 

 with malice toward none. 



" This session, and the bill pending are acts 

 in a partisan and political enterprise. This 

 debate, begun after a caucus had defined and 

 clinched the position of every man in the ma- 

 jority, has not been waged to convince any- 

 body here. It has resounded to fire the dem- 

 ocratic heart, to sound a blast to the cohorts 

 of party, to beat the long roll and set the 

 squadrons in the field. This is the object of it, 

 as plainly to be seen as the ultimate object of 

 the attempted overthrow of laws. Political 

 speeches having been thus ordained, I have 

 discussed political themes, and, with ill will to 

 no portion of the country, but good will toward 

 every portion of it, I have with candor spoken 

 somewhat of rny thoughts of the duties and 

 dangers of the hour." 



Mr. Hill of Georgia : " Mr. President, the 

 speech of the Senator from Vermont ought to 

 be studied by every statesman in this Union, 

 for it shadows, as that distinguished Senator 

 only knows how to shadow, the great distinc- 

 tion that lies at the bottom of all the dif- 

 ferences between the two parties that now 

 contend for the mastery in this Government. 

 This whole argument goes upon the idea that 

 there is no protection for the citizens of this 

 country save by the military arm. This whole 

 argument of the honorable Senator from Ver- 

 mont is replete with the idea that when you 

 withdraw the army, or fail to furnish the mili- 

 tary arm for the protection of the citizen, he 

 is without protection ; when you fail to give 

 the President the army and the navy to en- 

 force the laws, the President is without power 

 to enforce the laws ! 



" Well, sir, if we have arrived at that condi- 

 tion of things, our condition is indeed lament- 

 able. We hove been taught from our youth to 

 believe that this was a country of self-govern- 

 ment, that the people are able to protect them- 

 selves, that freemen did not need a standing 

 army and a navy to protect themselves 

 protect themselves from themselves. It has 

 not been customary to teach our people that 

 they must look to the arms of military power 

 through a Federal centralism for the protec- 

 tion and preservation of their rights ; and yet 

 I challenge any gentleman to give this speech 

 a critical reading, and it goes altogether on the 



