1 
 
BANCROFT 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
( go M (0 
 
 DEFENSE OP THE UNION. 
 
 Speech of Hon. I. S. Latham, 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA, 
 In the Senate, July 2Qth, 1861. 
 
 The Senate having under consideration the joint resolution (S. No. I) to approve 
 and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States for suppressing insur- 
 rection and rebellion 
 
 Mr. LATHAM said : Mr. President, when I took my seat at the 
 opening of this session of Congress, I was perfectly content to perform 
 my duty by merely easting my vote on the several bills which might 
 be presented. Whatever might be the consequences of my acts, or the 
 responsibility assumed, it was a question between rny constituents and 
 myself, and I hold myself amenable to them. There is, however, such 
 a marked discrepancy, not only in the recorded votes, but in many of 
 the sentiments uttered by those gentlemen with whom I have always 
 been in political affiliation, that it may be proper to make known to 
 this body, as well as to the country, the reasons for this difference. 
 
 It is the painful duty of many gentlemen on this floor, in the present 
 trying crisis, to differ with those with whom their political relations 
 have been of the most cordial character ; and even those whom we 
 have recognized as party leaders. 
 
 Mr. President, I listened on Wednesday, with marked pleasure, to the 
 eloquence of my friend from Kentucky, [Mr. BKECKINRIDGP:,] whom I 
 have always delighted to support and honor. I listened also yesterday 
 to the legal argument made by the honorable Senator from Delaware, 
 [Mr. BAYARD.] With many of the sentiments uttered by both of these 
 gentlemen, I cordially agree. But, sir, I was pained, after they had 
 taken their seats, that I had not heard from the lips of either, one sin- 
 gle word of denunciation of the breaches, infractions and outrages 
 committed upon the Constitution of our country by those States array- 
 ing themselves in hostility to it. Gentlemen can find almost infinites- 
 imal ilaws on the part of the constituted authorities of the Government, 
 but Qot.one single word in condemnation of those who are boldly tram- 
 pling under foot the Constitution of the country itself. It may well be 
 quoted : " Why beholdest thou the mote in thy brother's eye, but con- 
 si derest not the beam that is in thine own eye ?" 
 
 So far as the acts of the President of the United States which are to 
 be indorsed by this joint resolution are concerned, the Seriate is proba- 
 
bly conversant with the view which I took on a former occasion in 
 regard to them. I hold the line of demarkation in indorsing the con- 
 duct of the Executive to be this : whatever imperious necessity re- 
 quired him to do to support the Government, to enforce the laws", and 
 secure obedience to the constituted authorities, it was right and proper 
 he should do, even though in doing he may have committed a technical 
 infraction of the authority delegated to him. Wherever there was not 
 that imperious necessity, I do not justify him. So far as the violation 
 of the writ of habeas corpus in the State of Maryland was concerned, I 
 refuse to give him my sanction for that act. I refuse it because that 
 State has shown, by the return of her delegates to the other House, her 
 allegiance to the Government of the United States ; and though there 
 may be many citizens in her midst who sympathize with the disloyal 
 spirit of the southern States: though there may have been disgraceful 
 mobs and riots in the city of Baltimore: unless there was clear evi- 
 dence that the judiciary of that State was tainted with that disloyalty, 
 and were unwilling to do their duty, under the Constitution, in acting 
 upon these writs of habeas corpus, 1 would jiot justify any officer in the 
 suspension of that sacred privilege. No Senator for one moment doubts 
 the loyalty of the Chief Justice of the United States, who issued the 
 writ ; or, if he does, he has never made it known upon this floor. His 
 character is pure, spotless and untainted : his life has been one of devo- 
 tion to his country and the enforcement of its laws ; and now, in his 
 honored old age, he could scarcely stigmatize a long list of years of 
 service by refusing to obey those laws and those principles of justice 
 which he has sworn to carry out. Hence I regard the act of the Pres- 
 ident of the United States in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, as 
 this: joint resolution says, " between the city of Philadelphia and the 
 city of Washington," as an unnecessary violation of the powers pos- 
 sessed by him under the Constitution; end, as a conscientious guardian 
 of the liberties of the people, I refuse him my indorsement for that act. 
 So, too, as to the increase of the regular standing .army of the coun- 
 try. The purposes for which he was striving could have been as easily 
 accomplished by the volunteer force of the country, and therefore the 
 exercise of power in increasing the regular standing army was not 
 "warranted by the exigencies. I decline, therefore, my indorsement for 
 this act also. But, sir, as to the other acts of the Government order- 
 ing the blockade ; calling out of the volunteers of the country ; suspen- 
 sion of the writ of habeas corpus in Florida, it being in open rebellion 
 to your Government ; and all the other acts enumerated in this joint 
 resolution he has my hearty approval ; and I now say, as the repre- 
 sentative of a sovereign State and a loyal people, that if he had not 
 exercised those powers, I would have voted to impeach him as unwor- 
 thy the place he occupies, and most derelict in his duties to the Gov- 
 ernment. Seeing a settled determination on the part of those States 
 in rebellion to march upon and destroy your capital as was announced 
 by the Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy to wipe from 
 the map the country of the United States, if he had not resorted to 
 every power and every means within his control to sustain that Gov- 
 ernment he would have deserved the execration and scorn of all living 
 as well as of posterity. 
 
3 
 
 The golden maxim is, " Do unto others even as you would they 
 should do unto you." Mr. Lincoln being the constitutionally elected 
 President of the United States, the people, through the medium pre- 
 scribed by the Constitution, had declared that he was vested with the 
 authority of government, which he is now exercising. When the re- 
 sult of that election was known, in November, as a citizen, and as I 
 esteemed every good citizen should, I gave my acquiescence to the 
 voice of the people, and considered him entitled to the support of all 
 good citizens in the administration of that Government ; taking it for 
 granted that if any had cause of complaint against his political tenets, 
 that same Constitution pointed out the method of their remedy. 
 
 Now, sir, bringing this home to myself, I gave my support cheer- 
 fully and willingly to my honorable friend from Kentucky. Anxious 
 to see him elevated to tl>e position now occupied by Mr. Lincoln, what- 
 ever I could do in my humble ability to secure that end, satisfied that 
 he stood on a platform that was right and proper, according to my 
 honest convictions, was done, and done faithfully. Had he been 
 elected to the Presidency of the United States, and the New England 
 States, led by Massachusetts, had pursued the course of these southern 
 States ; if they had said, " we are unwilling to belong to a Government 
 which proposes to protect the institution of slavery, or recognizes it in 
 any capacity ; we are tired of what these gentlemen call the copartner- 
 ship, the compact ; we wish to break it up and erect a Government of 
 our own ;" if they had seized upon the forts and arsenals and other 
 public property of the whole country had arrayed themselves in hos- 
 tility to the Government, and erected an alien one within our own, I 
 believe he and I know / should have felt it my bounden duty to use 
 all the powers possessed to see to it that the laws were there enforced, . 
 the public property retaken, and the dignity and honor of your Gov- 
 ernment sustained. The rule is not changed because my party and 
 friend did not happen to be the successful one. -rV> 
 
 Mr. President, a great deal has been said throughout the whole of 
 this contest, against the power of your Government to enforce its laws 
 by the use of the strong arm ; a great deal about its being in contra- 
 vention of the spirit of the fathers of the Kepublic to seek to coerce 
 these States into obedience to the laws of the country, and to force the 
 restoration of the public property which they have seized-. Last winter, 
 in company with many of my political associates, I also openly advoca- 
 ted the doctrine as a question of policy, that this Government should 
 not attempt coercion against these States; that it was better to wait for 
 reason and judgment to reassert their sway, rather than use the power 
 which I never once denied, was really possessed, of asserting its authority 
 by the strong military arm. Further, it was the settle 1, fixed policy 
 of your Go vernment, up to a certain period, to pursue th is course, until 
 it was definitely ascertained that it would only result in what we were 
 trying, with all our ability and might, to prevent. 
 
 After the election of Mr. Lincoln, on the 6th day of November last, 
 South Carolina's Senators never appeared upon this floor. Her. conven- 
 tion met on the 17th of that month, and on the 20th long before Mr. 
 Lincoln was to be inaugurated, long anterior to the time when this 
 party, to whose principles they were so much opposed, was to be vested 
 
with the power of your Government declared that they no longer 
 owed allegiance to the United States. They seized at once upon the 
 arsenal in the city of Charleston, and Forts Moultrie and Pinckney were 
 taken possession of. Did the Government of the United States attempt 
 to retake this property, to reassert its title over these respective fbrts 
 and this arsenal which had been thus unlawfully, illegally, and uncon- 
 stitutionally seized upon? South Carolina by that act had done what 
 the world in arms could not have done with impunity. The Govern- 
 ment quietly and tacitly submitted to it, trusting to the restoration of 
 cooler judgment to these excited and misguided people. 
 
 This very act of unwillingness to exercise the strong power of the 
 Government against South Carolina, in the assertion of her right to 
 property thus unlawfully seized, was but the signal for all of those 
 States which have since followed her footsteps, one after tl^e other, to 
 pursue the same line of conduct. In. Georgia your forts were seized 
 upon ; in Alabama the same thing ; in Louisiana your arsenal at Baton 
 Eouge, your mint in the city of New Orleans, and whatever other 
 property lay within their territory ; and no act on the part of your 
 Government was attempted to protect or defend this property. In 
 Texas where you had troops, troops who had seen service, men who 
 had gallantly defended the flag of our country in many a hard fought 
 battle upon the plains of Mexico ; when the Texans demanded a sur- 
 render of the forts held by them, rather than precipitate the country into 
 civil war, quietly folded the flag of their country about its staff) leav- 
 ing the State to their complete possession an agreement made by the 
 officers that they should be allowed to depart in peace was openly violated, 
 . and the troops are now held as prisoners. State after State passed laws 
 preventing northern creditors from collecting their debts within their 
 limits, thus repudiating millions of dollars clue people of the North, 
 adding thereby State injustice and dishonor to their national turpitude. 
 
 I need not continue the enumeration of these acts of aggression 
 commuted by these southern States, for they are familiar to all here, 
 as well as to the country. They are only alluded to now for the pur- 
 pose of showing that it was the settled, fixed policy of your Govern- 
 ment a false policy as it was, and as it turned out in allowing these 
 first acts with impunity. It failed, utterly failed, to convince these 
 people that they were not only committing outrages, but violating the 
 Constitution of the country. 
 
 When Congress adjourned in the month of March last, it was the 
 belief, at separation, that between the time of our adjournment and 
 the regular meeting in the month of December, there would be a res- 
 toration to good sense, and that, in a spirit of compromise, they would 
 come forward to settle the disturbances by which the country was agi- 
 tated. Such, however, has not been the case. Magnanimity was con- 
 strued into pusillanimity, and forbearance shown, into conclusive evi- 
 dence to their minds that the Government was too weak, too cowardly 
 or supine, to assert its power or dignity. A fort in the harbor of 
 Charleston, in the possession of a handful of soldiers, commanded by 
 a brave officer, was beheld by this Government and the civilized world 
 day after day, and week after week, to be girdled and hemmed in by 
 fortifications totally impregnable in their character. Its commander 
 
on the one hand menaced and really besieged by the dire necessity of 
 hunger ; they, on their side, anxious to enlist in the common cause the 
 wavering border States, an assault was commenced with the very guns 
 of the nation upon the already conquered fort. Not content, as the 
 Senator from Texas (Mr. Wigfall) said upon this floor, with "slapping 
 the Government of the United States in the face" alluding to the fir- 
 ing upon the Star of the "West they found it necessary for their pur- 
 poses to trample the flag of our country under their feet in humiliation 
 and disgrace. Then it was that the people of the United States at 
 once responded as one man : " We will assert the dignity of our Gov- 
 ernment, and show to the civilized world that we belong, as we have 
 been classified, among the first powers of the universe." 
 
 Mr. President, this is not a war of the Kepublican party against 
 the southern States. The fact that it has the cordial support of one 
 million of the people of the North, who cast their votes for the Dem- 
 ocratic nominees, negatives any such idea. Men who have been class- 
 ified as leaders of the Democratic party are among your volunteers ; 
 yea, sir,' the majority of those in command, as well as of the volun- 
 teers themselves, so far as my information extends, have always been, 
 and are now, the supporters f the principles of the. Democratic party. 
 In my own native State, Ohio, sixteen out of twenty-three colonels 
 are Democrats, and the rank and file are of greater proportion. Many 
 of the ablest advocates of the Democratic party are in command ; and 
 the chairman of the national committee of the party of which my 
 friend from Kentucky was the nominee, tenders his services, from the 
 far-off shores of the Pacific, to the Government in any capacity. The 
 issue is simply whether you will have a Government at all ; and not 
 by what political principles it is to be kept in existence after its vital- 
 ity is restored. It is nc$ whether this party or that party shall be 
 dominant in your country ; but whether you will maintain the position 
 which, as a Government, you have heretofore occupied in the eyes of 
 the civilized world. 
 
 The honorable Senator from Indiana, [Mr. BRIGHT,] in his classifi- 
 cation of the shades of opinion upon this floor, alleged that there were 
 three. Sir, there are four opinions represented here. There is the 
 opinions of those who occupy the other side of the Chamber. A ma- 
 jority of their number, I believe, prosecute this war merely for the 
 purpose of sustaining and upholding the constituted authorities of the 
 Government in all constitutional efforts to carry out its great objects. 
 There is a portion of that party who seek to make this the occasion to 
 raise a hue and cry against the institution of slavery ; and, under the 
 plea of serving the Union and the Constitution, to destroy the rights 
 of the southern people, in their slave property. Upon this side of the 
 Chamber there are those belonging to the Democratic party who can 
 find no condemnation for the acts of these southern States ; who with- 
 hold their support from the Government of the United States in sus- 
 taining itself in this great controversy ; who have in their minds a 
 settled determination to let these States do as they please, even to dis- 
 memberment and separation. There are still others on this side of the 
 phamber, myself among that number, who have never changed one 
 ot or title of our opinion as to the institution of slavery itself, and the 
 *-* " <r wt ""urn 'uwo 'Hvfjj ,ai ?9J r .t#tn amJ $|fif 
 
6 
 
 duties of the Government in its protection as a property right ; who 
 believe it their bounden duty to give both voice and vote to sustain 
 the constituted authorities by all constitutional means. 
 
 I allege that, so far as my observation has gone, the purposes, the 
 only purposes in the carrying out, if not the inauguration of this war, 
 are those which the majority of this body have, by their votes, unmis- 
 takably indicated not to deprive the people of the South of their 
 property ; not to wage a crusade against the institution of slavery ; 
 not, under the banner of the Union, to seek to deprive these men of 
 their property; but, as a Democratic general from Massachusetts, 
 said, it is by the strong arm of the Government "to enforce law among 
 both the black and the white population in the States now in rebellion 
 against your Government." 
 
 Sir, I saw the other day a resolution which, according to my idea, 
 comes up to the whole spirit of this contest, adopted by the State of 
 New Hampshire by an almost unanimous vote : 
 
 " Resolved, That the contest now existing between the Government and the disloyal 
 States that have commenced an unjustifiable anxUreasonable war upon its constitutional 
 authority, should be regarded by all loyal men, not as a sectional war, not an anti-sla- 
 very war, nor a war of conquest and subjugation, but "simply and solely a war for the 
 maintenance of the Government, the suppression of rebellion, and the preservation Of 
 the Magna Charta of our liberty and national unity." 
 
 The convention of so-styled Breckinridge Democrats of my own 
 State, held in June last, had also a resolution offered in a minority re- 
 port, which read as follows : 
 
 "Resolved, That it is the duty of every Administration to uphold the Federal Consti- 
 tution, maintain the integrity of the Union, and, at all hazards, enforce the the laws in 
 every section thereof; and that it is the duty of every citizen, in these [times of im- 
 pending] danger to popular government, to stand loyally and firmly by the Constitu- 
 tion and laws of his country." 
 
 These resolutions announce the doctrine to which I give my sup- 
 port. Whenever it is discovered that the purpose of this war is not 
 to assert the principles laid down in the resolutions I have just read, 
 but that, under the hue and cry of loyalty to the United States, war- 
 fare is waged against the institution of slavery, to deprive the people 
 of the southern States of the exercise of their property rights, I shall 
 raise my voice, and by my vote put the seal of my condemnation on 
 any such purpose. This I am confident is the wish of my constitu- 
 ency, and I am proud of it. They want no such purpose. They are 
 unwilling, as every man who respects humanity and country should be, 
 to see $1,603,758,656 of property lost to southern citizens, and four 
 million slaves turned loose upon the land, hopeless, houseless, wander- 
 ing mendicants. I say still more emphatically, that whenever it ap- 
 pears that it is the settled policy of the constituted authorities of the 
 land, not to take " possession of the public property," not to " enforce 
 the laws," not to " collect your revenues," not to give protection to the 
 people of the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. CAELILE,] and all other 
 States, in the exercise of their inestimable privileges under the Consti- 
 tution ; but is to destroy their property and liberate their slaves, this 
 Government, belonging essentially to the " sovereign people," who have 
 taken this matter in their own hands, and under their own control, will 
 
be just as rqady, and as willing, to lay down their lives against such 
 outrageous infraction and violation of that sacred instrument, as they 
 are now to support the Government in exercising every function within 
 its constitutional sphere. 
 
 Mr. President, I have said, that in common with several gentlemen' 
 upon this floor, who have always been ardent advocates of the princi- 
 ples of the Democratic party, and who have not changed their views,, 
 we do condemn every single act of these southern States, in arraying 
 themselves in hostility to. your Government. I assert further, that 
 when the truthful pen of history comes to record all of the events so 
 rapidly occurring in- our midst, it will inscribe that no revolution, no 
 act of rebellion, was ever so unjustifiable, so inexcusable, so unwar- 
 rantable. 
 
 Has any legal wrong been done to these States ? Can any gentle- 
 man who advocates their cause point to a law upon your statute-book 
 showing that any outrage has been committed upon them or upon their 
 rights? Not onjg, sir. Was there anything in the mere election of 
 Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency which should have caused them to throw 
 off their allegiance and array themselves in hostility to your Govern- 
 ment ? Nothing ; nothing whatever. Was it because he was a sec- 
 tional President ? We had a sectional President and Vice President 
 as far back as 1828, when Mr. Jackson and Mr. Calhoun filled the 
 respective positions of President and Yice President. Was it because 
 the Government of the United States had failed to do justice to them? 
 Not so, sir. They were, when Mr. Lincoln was elected President, if 
 they had held their seats in this body and in the House of Representa- 
 tives, in just as complete and full possession of your Government as 
 they ever were. By the returns of the elections already held during 
 the past year, they would have had over twenty majority in the present 
 House of Representatives, and a majority ot four upon this floor. Their 
 fifteen States gave them thirty Senators. There was a democratic Sen- 
 ator here from Oregon, two from California, one from Indiana, one from 
 Minnesota, one from Illinois, and one from New Jersey ; making 
 thirty-seven. That gave them a majority, as against the dominant 
 party of the country, of six. The death of Mr. Douglas reduced the 
 majority to four. There was a working majority in this body of four 
 in antagonism to the principles of the party whose elevation to power 
 they complained of, and a majority of over twenty in the House of 
 Representatives. They held the control of the President of the United 
 States so far that he could not have a cabinet officer , a minister, nay, 
 sir, not a single appropriation, without their sanction and consent. 
 More than this ; in this particular body and I do not speak of it com- 
 plainingly, because I respect the men who occupied the several posi- 
 tions here they had the supreme and absolute control of all your com- 
 mittees. Every important committee (a majority of the Senate select- 
 ing them) was in the hands of a chairman representing these States 
 now in rebellion, and they could have moulded and controlled youi; 
 policy just as completely as at any former period. 
 
 Now, sir, what is the fact in regard to the committees ? Virginia 
 had the chairmanship of the Committee. on foreign Delations, whicli 
 was held by Mr. Mason. The chairmanship of the Committee on MiU 
 
8 
 
 itary Affairs was held by Mr. Davis ; on Finance, Mr. Hunter, of Vir- 
 ginia ; on Naval Affairs, Mr. Mallory, of Florida ; on Commerce, Mr. 
 Clay, of Alabama ; on the Judiciary, Mr. BAYAKD, of Delaware ; on 
 Post Offices and Post Roads, Mr. Yulee, of Florida. The little State 
 of Florida, which has not as many votes as one of the counties of the 
 State that I represent, had the chairmanship of two of the most impor- 
 tant committees in this body, and every Senator here knows how much 
 influence the chairman of these respective committees have in control- 
 ling the legislation and action of your Government. Mr. CRITTENDEN 
 was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims ; Mr. John- 
 son, of Arkansas, of the Committee on Public Lands ; Mr. Iverson, of 
 Georgia, of the Committee on Claims ; Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana, of 
 the Committee on Private Land Claims ; Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, of 
 the Committee on the District of Columbia ; Mr. Sebastian, of Arkan- 
 sas, of the Committee on Indian Affairs ; Mr. Green, of Missouri, of 
 the Committee on Territories ; Mr. JOHNSON, of Tennessee, of the Com- 
 mittee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate ; 
 Mr. SAULSBURY, of Delaware, of the Committee on Enrolled Bills ; and 
 Mr. PEARCE, of Maryland, of the Committee on the Library. The 
 only positions allowed to gentlemen on this floor representing the 
 northern Democracy, or northern constituency, consisted of Mr. THOM- 
 SON", of New Jersey, as chairman of the Committee on Pensions ; Mr. 
 Bigler, of Pennsylvania, as Chairman of the Committee on Patents and 
 the Patent Office; Mr. BRIGHT, of Indiana, as chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Public Buildings and Grounds ; Mr. Lane, of Oregon, as 
 chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills ; and Mr. Fitch, of In- 
 diana, as chairman of the Committee on Printing. Sir, these commit- 
 tees would have continued so by a majority of four, and these gentle- 
 men would have occupied these several positions if the southern Sen- 
 ators had remained in their seats. 
 
 I ask, then, has any outrage ever been done to these States depriv- 
 ing them of their privileges in controlling and administering your 
 Government ? They have always held the Government in their power. 
 Sir, I assert as a member of the Democratic party, one \\*ho has raised 
 his voice always in support of their principles, and who has never 
 changed his views relative to their institutions, that they have held and 
 controlled the Government of the country, although they have now 
 but nine millions of people, and two4hirds of the population of the 
 United States reside in the free States. Why, sir, during the seventy- 
 two years of our political existence under the constitution of 1787, 
 they have had control of the Government for forty -nine years and three 
 months. They have had eight southern Presidents to seven northern 
 Presidents. The northern Presidents have had control of the Govern- 
 ment but twenty-two years and nine months. For over two-thirds of 
 the time since its formation, the Government has been administered by 
 gentlemen the direct representatives of those States. 
 
 But this is not all. When I come to examine whether, iii the sev- 
 eral Departments outside of the head of the Government, any injustice 
 has been done, what do I find upon the record ? As regards the Sec- 
 retary of State, you have had ten northern Secretaries and fourteen 
 southern ; as to the Secretary of the Treasury, fourteen northern and 
 
-9 
 
 nine southern ; as to the Secretary of War, fifteen, northern, sixteen 
 southern ; as to the Secretary of the Navy, twelve northern, thirteen 
 southern ; as to the Postmaster General, ten northern and seven south- 
 ern ; the Attorney General, ten northern sixteen southern : seventy-five 
 of the officers of your respective Cabinets have been citizens of the 
 South, and but seventy-one of the North. Taking from 1841 down to 
 the present period, as to the foreign appointments, which is a fair cri- 
 terion the most important period of the country I find that to Eng- 
 land there have been five ministers from the North and one from the 
 South : at the Court of France, two from the North and three from the 
 South ; to Russia, two from the North, and three from tho South ; al- 
 together, nine from the North and seven from the South. Going into 
 your Executive Departments, during the late Administration, which 
 is also a fair criterion, you find that from 'the northern States there 
 were four hundred and fifty- eight appointments, and from the southern 
 States four hundred and thirty -six. 
 
 No injustice, then, has been done to those gentlemen in the control 
 of your Government, and in the administration of its affairs. Their 
 intellect and their genius, which I admire, and which I am proud to 
 think belonged to our country, have had a far greater influence than 
 they were entitled to, according to population, in forming the institu- 
 tions of the country. That, then, is not the reason. Is it because the 
 Government has not acted fairly towards them upon the local institu- 
 tion of slavery? Why, sir, in 1793 they wanted a fugitive slave law 
 passed, and Congress gave it to them. In 1820 they wanted the Mis- 
 souri compromise, and it was given to them. In 1850 they wanted afi 
 amendment to the fugitive slave law, and it was given to them. In 
 1854 they wanted the Missouri compromise repealed, and it was done. 
 Not one act have they, ever asked from this Government, or from the 
 American people, except one, to which I shall allude directly, but, 
 what has been cheerfully given ; and that, too, by the support of those 
 same Democratic northern people who now are raising their arms and 
 their voices to uphold and support the enforcement of the laws against 
 their miserable return of deep ingratitude. 
 
 Is it because the fugitive slave law was not faithfully executed ? If 
 BO, why did they not break up the Government when Mr. Pierce was 
 elected President in 1852 ? Every one knows that immediately after 
 the fugitive slave law was passed in 1850, greater infractions of it 
 occurred than at any former period ; because it was a law peculiarly 
 odious to the northern people, inasmuch as it gave double fees to the 
 commissioner for returning the fugitive to what he did if he turned 
 him loose. It was more odious then than at any prior period ; so odi- 
 ous that when the late distinguished Senator from Illinois went back 
 to his constituency in the city of Chicago, immediately after its pas- 
 sage, you all recollect what a reception he met. In 1852, the odium 
 still continued. It continued in 1854 quite as great as, if not greater 
 than, in 1860 ; and if that was any reason why ^he Government should 
 be broken up and dismembered, it should have been done when Mr. 
 Pierce or his successor was elevated to the Presidency. But, sir, in 
 1860, I heard the concurrent testimony of the Senators from Indiana, 
 [Mr. Bright and Mr. Fitch,] and the Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Doug- 
 
10 
 
 las,) and Mr. Pugh from the State of Ohio, and Mr. Bigler from Penn- 
 sylvania, all of whom testified before this body that in the year I860, 
 no law of your Government was more faithfully executed in the North 
 than the fugitive slave law. 
 
 Was it the passage of these personal liberty bills ? Why, sir, some 
 of them have been upon the statute books so long that they are abso- 
 lutely obsolete. The personal liberty bills of New Hampshire and 
 Yermont that were complained of so bitterly, had gone out of the 
 memory almost of even the best informed statesmen of that section of 
 country, really because I believe I ani correct in asserting riot a 
 fugitive slave was ever arrested in either of those States. Therefore, 
 it could not have been the passage of those bills. Neither South Car- 
 olina. Alabama, nor Georgia, had any right to complain, because what- 
 ever property was lost by the passage of those bills unconstitutional, 
 improper, and unjust, as they were came from the States of Mary- 
 land, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and the border States, some of 
 whom and I wish I could say all are even yet loyal. Those who 
 lead the van in this rebellion have never been the sufferers from the 
 passage of any of these laws. 
 
 Is it because they have been deprived of the enjoyment of any of 
 the Territories of the country? Why, sir, Senators all recollect very 
 well that when the resolutions of the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. 
 Davis) passed this body by an overwhelming vote, and Mr. Brown, of 
 Mississippi, offered an amendment, asserting that the time had then 
 arrived when the Government should exercise its duty in the passage 
 of a law protecting the southern people in their right of slave pro- 
 perty within the Territories, there were but three members then from 
 the South who voted for it : Mr. Mallory of Florida, Mr. Brown of 
 Mississippi, and Mr. Johnson of Arkansas. The very winter before 
 Mr. Lincoln was elected to the Presidency, it was declared in this 
 "body, by a vote of forty-two to three, that there was no such exigency, 
 nor any necessity for Congress. to pass any such law. 
 
 Did anything occur, I ask you, between the adjournment of the first 
 session of the last Congress and the election of Mr. Lincoln, that had 
 changed the features of the case ? So far as your territory was con- 
 cerned, I allege that in every foot of it within which slavery could 
 exist, and within which it could in any respect be profitable, it did 
 exist, and was protected by local, territorial legislation. I refer to 
 New Mexico, which is not confined to the line of 86 30', the old Mis- 
 souri compromise line, but goes a half degree beyond it. By the 
 legislation of that Territory, slavery, as an institution, is protected ; 
 and yet, after all, there are but twelve domestic slaves, and but thirty 
 in all, according to the census of 1860. I assert still further, that so 
 far from their being deprived of any rights which they might have 
 according to the natural character of these Territories, the only one 
 where any man dreams slavery as an institution could exist, is the 
 Territory of New Mexico ; and there I am satisfied it can never be 
 profitable, even though the Territorial Legislature, Congress, and every 
 other legislative body throughout the whole country, would give it 
 their sanction and protection. God Almighty has placed a barrier 
 "between the institution of slavery, and that Territory. It is an arid 
 
11 
 
 soil. It is a soil from, which none of the productions for which slave 
 labor is so admirably adapted can be forced. It is a soil utterly des- 
 titute of all the peculiar qualities necessary for or adapted to the cul- 
 tivation of cotton, rice, sugar, or any other production of slave labor. 
 I speak upon this question knowingly, having passed over that Terri- 
 tory twice. Why, sir., as late as the months of August and Septem- 
 ber, upon that high table land, the nights were so cold, it was with 
 the utmost difficulty, in passing over, I could preserve any degree of 
 comfortable warmth. 
 
 Then, Mr. President, these were none of the reasons. The history 
 of the country shows they had no cause of complaint as to the action 
 of the Government upon any of the questions I have cited. The only 
 cause ever attempted to be given upon this floor^ was apprehension for 
 the future ; that notwithstanding they had the control of both branches 
 of Congress and an impartial Supreme Court, and no one law on the 
 statute-book prejudicial to their interests, yet at some future time, 
 from the foreshadowed policy of the dominant party, they feared their 
 institutions might be in jeopardy. Now, sir, I assert that if they had 
 remained on this floor, doing but their duty to the country, no act of 
 wrong by the party in power could ever have been consummated. 
 I allege further, that having the control of both branches of Congress, 
 they could, as the record proves, have amended the Constitution by a 
 two-thirds vote, and, having applied to the States for a three-fourths 
 vote, so ratified it, that neither Congress nor the Executive could in- 
 terfere in any way with the institution of slavery in the several States. 
 "Why, sir, even after they had left this body, and when we were re- 
 duced to barely thirty -six members, there were then twenty -four on 
 this floor who did vote for such an amendment to the Constitution. 
 It passed then by two-thirds in the House of Representatives, and re- 
 quires now but the sanction of three-fourths of the States of the Union 
 to make the amendment a permanent portion of the Constitution. 
 
 Mr. President, being last winter a careful eye-witness of all that oc- 
 curred, I soon became satisfied that it was a deliberate, willful design,, 
 on the part of some Representatives of southern States, to seize upon 
 the election of Mr. Lincoln merely as an excuse to precipitate this rev- 
 olution upon the country. One evidence to my mind is the fact that 
 South Carolina never sent her Senators here. An additional evidence 
 is, that when gentlemen on this floor, by their votes, could have con- 
 trolled legislation, they refused to cast them, for fear that the very 
 propositions submitted to this body might have an influence in chang- 
 ing the opinions of their constituencies. Why, sir, when the resolu- 
 tions submitted by the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. CLARK] 
 were offered as an amendment to the Crittenden propositions, for the 
 manifest purpose of embarrassing the latter, and the vote taken on the 
 16th of January, 1861, I ask, what did we see ? There were fifty-five 
 Senators at that time upon this floor in person. The Globe of the 
 second session Thirty-Sixth Congress, part one, page 409, shows that 
 upon the call of the yeas and nays immediately preceding the vote on 
 the substituting of Mr. CLARK'S amendment, there were fifty-five votes 
 cast. I will read the vote, from the Globe : 
 
12 
 
 " YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Col- 
 lamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, 
 King, Seward, Simmons, Surnner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and 
 Wilson 25. 
 
 "NAYS Messrs. Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden, 
 Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, Iverson. Johnson of Arkansas, 
 Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, 
 Powell, Pugh, Rice, -Saulsbury, Sebastian, Slidell, and Wigfall 30." 
 
 The vote, being taken immediately after on the Clark proposition, 
 was as folio wa : 
 
 " YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Col- 
 lamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, 
 King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and 
 Wilson 25. 
 
 11 NAYS Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden, Fitch, 
 Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, 
 Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, and Sebastian 23. 
 
 Six Senators retained their seats and refused to vote, thus them- 
 selves allowing the Clark proposition to supplant the Crittenden reso- 
 lution by the vote of 25 to 28. Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, Mr. Hemp- 
 hill and Mr. Wigfall of Texas, Mr. Iverson of Georgia, Mr. Johnson 
 of Arkansas, and Mr. Slidell of Louisiana, were in their seats, but re- 
 fused to cast their votes. I recollect full well the joy that pervaded 
 the faces of some of those gentlemen at the result, and the sorrow 
 manifested by the venerable Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. CRITTEK"- 
 DEN.] The record shows that Mr. Pugh, from Ohio, despairing of any 
 compromise between the extremes of ultra Republicanism and dis 
 unionists, working manifestly for the same end, moved, immediately 
 after the vote was announced, to lay the whole subject on the table. 
 If you will turn to page 443, same volume, you will find, when, at a 
 late period, Mr. Cameron, from Pennsylvania, moved to reconsider the 
 vote, appeals having been made to sustain those who were struggling 
 to preserve the peace of the country, that the vote was reconsidered ; 
 and when, at last, the Crittenden propositions were submitted on the 
 2d day of March, these southern States having nearly all seceded, they 
 were then lost by but one vote. Here is the vote : 
 
 "YEAS Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bright, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin, Hunter, 
 Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Polk, Pugh, 
 Rice, Sebastian, Thomson, and Wigfall 19." 
 
 "NAYS Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, 
 Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King, Merrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trum- 
 bull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson -20." 
 
 If these seceding southern Senators had remained, there would have 
 passed, by a large vote, (as it did without them,) an amendment by a 
 two-thirds vote, forbidding Congress ever interfering with slavery in 
 the States. The Crittenden proposition would have been indorsed by 
 a majority vote, the subject finally going before the people, who have 
 never yet, after consideration, refused justice, for any length of time, 
 to any portion of the country. 
 
 I believe more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting in 
 pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy this Gov- 
 ernment. I believe also, there has been a scheme of the leading 
 
13 
 
 politicians of the southern States for nearly a quarter of a century, who 
 have been constantly working with a view to destroy the Government 
 of the United States, in order to form a government of their own, the 
 corner stone of which should be the institution of slavery, as is alleged 
 by the present vice president of the southern confederacy, that they 
 have never ceased working, year in and year out, towards the consum- 
 mation of their purpose. Why, sir, immediately after the election of 
 Mr. Lincoln, in the month of December, he whom I regard as their 
 master spirit in this attempt, both from his eloquence and sagacity, 
 published a letter in which he asserts/ that though the people of the 
 United States as represented on this floor may give them compromises, 
 even constitutional compromises, the favorable moment having arrived, 
 the South must still declare its independence of the United States of 
 America. 
 
 Eeferring to Hon. William L. Yancey, I call the attention of the 
 Senate to a communication of his, written and published early in the 
 month of December of the past year : 
 
 " I hope that Georgia and Alabama, the mother and daughter States, will not be 
 found separate and in opposing position in this great struggle for State rights and 
 southern liberties. Alabama will, most assuredly secede first, and make efforts at co- 
 operation for a southern confederacy afterwards. No proffered compromises, no amend- 
 ments to the Constitution, no proffered additional guarantees, can delay her action for 
 independence a moment. There is no defect in our fundamental law; therefore it 
 needs no alteration. The great defect in the Union is the public conscience and educa- 
 tion of the northern massts upon the slavery question, vrhich begets an irreconcilable 
 and irrepressible conflict between them and* that institution, and of course between 
 them and all constitutional provisions which protect that institution. When parties 
 and rulers can control such conscience, and eradicate such education, and can then 
 propose new guarantees, it might be worth our while to pause and consider them; 
 but not till then. In the language df my far seeing, deep-thinking, and fearless 
 friend Judge Benning, there should be but one watchword now for all the sons of 
 the South, and that 'Ho! for independence I' " 
 
 This was the pronunciamento of the leading spirit of the whole 
 movement as early as the month of December last, before even the 
 electoral college had met, or the votes were counted, and it was dis- 
 tinctly ascertained who was elected President of the United States. 
 "Ho! for independence" had been the cry for a quarter of a century 
 of these conspirators, who have been seeking, under pretext of nulli- 
 fication, and now the constitutional right of secession, the favorable 
 moment and excuse to assert their independence and array themselves 
 in hostility to the Government. This doctrine of secession is but the 
 shadow of an excuse. I do not believe there are many intelligent men 
 in the South who sincerely believe in this new-fangled doctrine of the 
 constitutional right of a State to secede from the Union. I do not be- 
 lieve they can be so lost to reason, so blind to the objects of our Gov- 
 ernment, as to assert that any State, at option, may withdraw itself 
 from the Union, itself being the only judge of the cause and the neces- 
 sity for such withdrawal. 
 
 Why, }tfr. President, we paid for Louisiana, out of which, we formed 
 three slave States and two free, $15,000,000, and $8,385,353 in the 
 way of interest upon that debt. We paid for Florida $5,000,000, and 
 $1,430,000 in the way of interest upon that debt. We paid $100,- 
 000,000 in the Seminolc war to protect the people of Florida from 
 
14 
 
 Indian aggressions. We paid $7,000,000 for pensions to the widows 
 of soldiers lost in that war. We paid $5,000,000 to remove those 
 Indians from Florida to the western frontier. We paid the sum of 
 $10,000,000 for the Texas boundary line. We paid $10,000,000 in 
 the way of indemnity to Texas, and $7,500,000 to her public credit- 
 ors. We got into a war with Mexico in consequence of the acquisi- 
 tion of that State, and that war cost us $217,175,575 more. We paid 
 $100,000,000 for pensions in consequence of that war. We paid 
 $15,000,000 by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for my own State. 
 We paid $100,^000,000 to extinguish the Indian title throughout the 
 extent of country thus annexed. In short, without enumerating all 
 the items, the people of the United States, for the purpose of extend- 
 ing their boundary, the area of their freedom, the 'enjoyment of their 
 institutions, and to carry out the great purpose of their social, politi- 
 cal, and commercial wants, have paid for the very States leading this 
 rebellion over $617,000,000. 
 
 Yet, sir, we are told that for the "sake of humanity," we must ac- 
 knowledge the right of any one State thinking itself aggrieved, with- 
 out regard to the States that are left ; without consulting the happi- 
 ness of the millions of others constituting those States to secede at 
 will ; acknowledge their entire independence and right to make treaties 
 offensive or defensive with the enemies of the country ; their right to 
 form alliances with foreign Powers, and pass laws jeopardizing our 
 very existence as a nation all this under the sanction of the Consti- 
 tution of the United States ; that the eight million people northwest of 
 the Ohio river are to be shut off from the use of the Mississippi river, 
 the natural outlet for pouring into the lap of the civilized world their 
 commerce ; that we are to be hemmed in, curtailed, and thrown back 
 in the great expansive ideas the people of this country have been 
 struggling for from the very commencement of the nation ; and all 
 this, under the plea that our fathers who founded this Republic have 
 thus constructed its Government and institutions. 
 
 Sir, if this is the doctrine, the sooner the people of this country 
 know it, the better. If this is the principle by which we are to be 
 governed, then, instead of singing triumphant peans, instead of laud- 
 ing the memory of the great and the good who have laid broad and 
 deep and wide our foundations, we should execrate their memory as 
 giving us, instead of a vital Government, a rattling, useless skeleton. 
 If it is so, the people now standing by to support with arms and means 
 desire to know it. They wish the trial to be made in the face of the 
 civilized world. They have intelligence enough still left never to 
 suffer a military despotism ; never to allow the seizure of their politi- 
 cal rights and guarantees ; but, appreciating their destiny, they will 
 make a government strong enough and powerful enough to conduct us 
 in our onward career until we shall be as Home, \vlieu her imperial 
 eagles hovered around the pillars of Hercules. 
 
 Senators, no one of our number can foresee the ond of this long and 
 fearful controversy. The constituency I represent desire, above all 
 things, peace, peace. They demand it, if it can be had without the 
 surrendering of the very cardinal principles of our Government ; with- 
 out the* surrendering of one acre of its soil ; . withon-. thrs slightest mar- 
 
15 
 
 ring of our country's fair proportions. They are willing to give what- 
 ever the southern people may require as sufficient to guaranty and 
 secure them in. the enjoyment of their propert)- ; but they are not 
 willing to see this Government dismembered and broken up, and a line 
 of fortifications separating your northern from your southern confed- 
 eracy. They are unwilling" to see the eight million people residing in 
 the Northwest shut off from the natural outlet of their commerce. 
 They are unwilling, even, to see the property of the southern people 
 themselves destroyed, as it will inevitably be whenever you recognize 
 their independence. 
 
 I desire to call the attention of the Senate for one moment, before I 
 close, to a fact the census of 1860 discloses as to the institution of 
 slavery in the southern States. By the census of 1860. the population 
 of the South is 9,000,000 white and 4,000,000 slaves. Seven million 
 and a half of the white population of the South have no interest what- 
 ever in slavery. The same relative proportion exists between the 
 showing of the census of 18'50 and 1860. Not having the exact fig- 
 ures for 1860, I refer to the census of 1850, which shows that out of 
 a population of 6,000,000, which the southern States then had, the 
 number of slaveholders was but 847,555, as the heads of families, re 
 presenting 1,500,000 people ; and the number of slaves at that time 
 over 3,000,000. Of the number of slaveholders, 68,820 had but one 
 slave each; 105,688 had under five slaves each ; 174,608 owners of 
 slaves held but 385,869 ; while 173,022 persons held the rest of the 
 slaves, amounting to 2,818,444. 
 
 Now, sir, I assert, and future history will show how true it is, that 
 whenever you bring the line of Canada down to Mason anid Dixon's ; 
 whenever by necessity (if it should so happen) our Government is 
 broken up, and two confederacies are formed ; whenever it shall be a 
 recognized principle, as it will be, that the moment that a^slave touches 
 the soil of the ''northern confederacy," he is free ; when, sirs, you have 
 given unbridled license to sectional fanaticism in permitting John 
 Brown raids, followed by retaliatory outrages of clipping of ears, 
 shaving of heads, and tarring and feathering citizens ; }'ou will, from 
 that very moment, have doomed the institution of slavery. Our south- 
 ern people, who have now raised themselves in rebellion to your Gov- 
 ernment, will then see they have committed the great folly of their 
 lives. The people of these United States desire no such results. They 
 desire its territories to remain intact. They desire the people to live 
 in happiness, in the enjoyment of their property, and in the full pos- 
 session of all the civil and religious liberties tt;hieh it has been our 
 pride heretofore to possess. 
 
 Mr. President, I have detained the Senate already too long, I repeat, 
 and conclude as I have commenced, by saying that while I have a seat 
 upon this floor, representing a State upon the far-off Pacific, I shall 
 support the constituted authorities in upholding the laws, supporting 
 the Government, and securing obedience to its behests, in the constant 
 and fervent hope that, with as little bloodshed as possible, with as little 
 force as possible, these people may leturn to their allegiance and their 
 duty to our Government. It is a dark page that is now spread before 
 our vision. No man can see what will be written upon it. It may be 
 
16 
 
 God's will that star after star shall shoot crazily, and be blotted from 
 its sphere in our political firmament ; it may be His purpose that col- 
 umn after column now sustaining our political temple, shall fall and 
 crumble in the dust; and that ruin, confusion, destruction and decay, 
 shall prevail in this once happy scene. Be it so ; be it so. Let me be 
 glad in the thought that whenever a future Marius shall wander amid 
 the ruins of our Carthage, he will* find one column at least standing 
 erect beautiful in all its proportions cloud-capped its summit bear- 
 ing inscribed upon it in imperishable letters, the name of my own be- 
 loved State ; evidence of its truth and fixed determination to uphold 
 the Constitution and the Union of our fathers in the very face of time. 
 [Applause in the galleries.] 
 
 STEAM JOB PRESS, 
 Washington, D. C.