The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-07-11

hllllnger, Logan, Lsvejoy, Mcpherson, Marston
May, Menzies, Pendle on of Va, Phelps, Rice
Mass, Richardson, Rollins, Wickffe, Dunlap-3O
The morning hour having expired, the House re
solved itself into Committee OF the Whole on tht
State of the Union, Mr.. Cofax in the Chair auC
took under cOnsidera alton the special ORDER a bill
authorizing national loan and for other PURPOSES
On motion of THADDEUS STEVENS the entire de-
pate upon the bill was restricted to one hour.
Mr. VALLANDIGHAM then addressed the House
substantially as follows:
SPEECH OF CLEMENT L. YALLANDIGHAM, OF OHIO.
| Mr.. VALLANDIGHAM said that in the Constitution
which we have sworn to support and under which
we are assembled here to-day. it is written that
Congress to which all legislative power is granted
shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech
or OF the press, and that representative or Sena
! tor shall be questioned for any speech made in Con
! gress Holding up this shield of the Constitution
and standing in the place and manhood of repre-
sentative OF the people, he proposed to discuss the
direct questions of this war, though with more de-
cency of discussion, he trusted, than has in some
| instances been exhibited mere.
The present war be knew TO be a foregone con-
cuslnn; but there are questions connected with il
about which he telt impelled t. speak. The Presi-
! dent in his recent message demands the enormous
! sum OF $500, ,0O0, 600, amount nearly ten times
| greater than the entire public debt-State and
Federai-at the close of the Revolution in 1888, and
! four times as much as the total Indebtedness during
! the three years war with Great Britain in 1912.
| The Constiution-to which he gave his whole
| heart and utmost loyaty-gave to Congress alone
the power 10 cal for money and to hx the purposes
To which 1t shall be applied, and it expressly limits
| anpr 1priati0aS to the term of two wears. Each
| Senator and member, therefore, must Judge for
! himself upon his conscience and oath, and before
| God and the country, of the wisdom and justice
and policy of the Presidents demand. Whenever
! this House shall become mere machine wherewith
to register the decress of the Executive, it will be
| high time to abolish it.
He believed he had the right to say, that so far
as the gentlemen upon this side of the House are
concerned, that however they might suffer in other
things, they firm and united in the determina-
tIon that their rights the Ieentatives of
the people shall be preserved in the spirit and the
letter, and some are here present, who resolved
TO assert and exercise these ri shts with becoming
decency and moderation, but at the same time
fully, aud regardless Of consequences.
1t is a wise and ancient practice of the English
Commons to precede all votes of supplies by in
quIry into the abuses and grievances, and especial
ly of any infracton of the law by the Executive.
Let US follow this wise precedent. Awaiting him
self of his right and duty he would proceed to
slider the state of the Union and to supply few
emissions from the Presidents Message.
The President had undertaken to give us his opin-
ion OF the state o! the nation, and it was his duty
as an honest Executive to make that inform alton
full, impartial and complete, instead of spreading
before us a labored vndication of his own policy,
which has precptated us into a bloody and terrible
revolution. He admits the fact. He admits now
we are in the midst Of general civil war; not a
mere petty insurrecon, to be suppressed in twenty
days by proclamation, the posse cOnitatus and
three months militia.
1t has been the misfortune of the President from
the beginning, that be partially and wholly under
estimated the magnitude and character of this
revolution for surely he never would have ventured
the hazardous experiment of plugging thirty mil
lions OF people into without the authority of
Congress. But at last, when he found himself
hemmed in by revolution which threatened this
Capital, he woke up-as mis- proclamation shows
him to have done. Why did he not forth with
assemble Congress and throw himself upon the
wisdom of the representatives of the people, instead
OF assuming the powers which the Constitution
expressly conferred upon ConSress-powers which
Congress repeatedly at the last session refused to
exercise or permit him to exercise?
The President in his message has undertaken to
give summary of the which led to this re-
volutOD; but he has unfortunately utterly ignored
the stronger contributed by the aboitlonists
and disunionists of the North. How could he have
forgotten that the South, with single eXcep-
tion chose first to come here and demand its SOL
emn constitutional guarantees for their protection
against the abuses of the tremendous powers OF the
Federal Government, before resOrting to seces-
zion Did be not know that at the last session OF
Congress every substantial proposition for cOmprO-
mise, except the one offered by Mr. Kellogg, OF
| lllinois-aud all knew how that was received
came from the South?
The Committee of Thirty-Three was moved for
by a gentleman from Virginia, and received the
vote OF every Southern representative, except one
from South Carolina, who declined to vote. In the
| Senate this Committee of Thirty-Three was moved
! for by the Senator from Kentucky, and received
the silent acquiescence of every Southern Senator
| present.
! The Crittenden proposition, too, moved by
another Senator from Kentucky, Mr.. Crittenden
a man venerable for his years, loved for his virtues
and revered or his patriotism, Which f. fnni
years of public life he has d@r"ted 10 'he on'on' anC
who tborz he himself proved his courage nifty
wear, -go upon the field of battle against foreign
~. is still, thank God, for compromse)
The Border States propositions were projected by
a gentleman from Maryland and presen ed by a
member from Tennessee, and, with Mr.. Critten-
den's propositions, were repeatedly and severally
rejected in this House by the almost unanimous
vote Of the Republicans.
Mr.. Critteuden's Compromise, which received
the vote of every Southern member upon this floor
excepting from A: kansas, never snv one Oc-
casiOn received one solitary vote from the Repubi-
cans in the Senate or House.
The so-ca!Ied Adams Amendment moderate as
that was was carried through tnis chamber by the
bare majority of one, after severe struggle
Sixty Republicans voted to the last against It,
| Up to twelve o'clock on The 4th of March peace
seemed to be the policy of all parties when Mr..
! Lincoln delivered an inaugural, which left thirty
millions OF people in doubt whether it meant peace
or Under this confidence, in the restoration
! OF peace, the prosperity of the country revived,
secession in the past languished, and secession in
the future was arrested by the course OF Virginia,
! North Carolina, and Tennessee, all of which de-
clared for the old Union.
The national heart beat high with hope-the
elections in Rhode Island, in n New York, and in the
| Western States gave abundant evidence that the
people were resolved on the most ample, satistac
tory, constitutional guarantees as the price of the
restoration OF Uuion-then it was that a long and
agonized howl came up from defeated and disap-
| poin ted politicians. The newspaper press teemed
with appeals and threats to the President; the mails
| grOaned under the weight of letters demanding a
change of policy, while secret cOnclave OF the
Governors of the States of Ohio, New York, Massa-
! chusetts, Pennsylvania and other States, convened
| in the CITY and promised men and money to carry
the irrepressbe conflict, and thus 1t was that
Al, hon
party In the papgs OF dissolution In the very nonr
and article of death, demanded vigorous measures
which could restore it lite, but at the expense OF
! civil war-and nothing else.
But there was vet another cause.-the passage
of the ill-digested and unstatesmanlike tariff bill,
! (Morril's About the same time the Confederate te
Congress adopted our tariff act of lS57-the result
inevitable. The trade and commerce OF the
West began to look to the South from which 1t lad
been directed years age by the canals and rail
roads of Pennsylvania and New York at heavy
cost to the West. They threatened to resume their
ancient acd accustomed channels he water cour-
Of The Ohio and Mississippi, land political assoca-
tOn, it is well known, must soon follow the direc'
tion of trade.
The city of New York began then to clamor
loudly for the repeal of the tariff act threatened
this with the loss OF both political power and wealth.
| New England and PenDsy ylvania-that land OF peace
began now, too, to demand coercion and civil war
as the price of the preservation of their wealth;
! began to demand the suhugation of the south
| aye, the subjugation Of the South. He spoke not
| to children, and there was not man WITHIN tht
sound of his voice but knew that the South could
not be restored to obedience to the Constitution eI
cept through subjug alton.
The subjugati IN of the south and the closing up
! of her ports, first by force and then by law, WAS
resolved upon; and when this policy was once es-
tablished, the selfsame motive of warning commerce
| and of threatened trade impeed the city ot New
York to place herself first in the ranks OF the up
| rising which swept over the North and west
He would not now assert-what subsequent acts OF
! the Administration may make apparent-that It's
frequent infractions OF the Constitution, is high
handed usurpatiOns of power formed part OF Con-
! spiracy to oyerrun Republican institutions and
establish a strong consolidated government, but
rather that in the beginning they rushed needlessly
into acts which were designed to revive the fallen
fortunes of party, and the wotul consequences oil
! which were not then tOreseen.
! Whatever may have been the purpose, be now
asserted that every principal act of the Admins,
tration has been glaring usurpatien OF power and
palpable and dangerous violation OF the Constr
| tuition, and every of which acts might well
/ have been postponed until the assembling OF Con
| gress.
The whole responsibility of the war has been
! boldly assumed by the Executive, and all the power
| deemed necessary for his purposes are boldly
usurped, either from the States, the people or Con-
gress; while the judiciary, that last refuge OF hope
! and liberty, turned away from with contempt
| Now he comes and asks Congress to support the
army he has raised in plain violation of the COnstl-
| tuition, and to ratify his usurpaton by law er
post tacto, and thus to make ourselves parties to
| our degradation, and to his lntractons OF the
! supreme law of the land.
Beginning with these wide breaches the Con-
stitution, these enormous usurpatiOus OF the most
! dangerous of all powers, the power of the sword
| the sanctity of the telegraph was invaded though
| it turns out significantly enough that the only
traitor discovered far is of the appointees and
! special pets of the Administration. One step more
| will bring upon search and seizure OF the pubic
| mails, and finally, the dayS OF the kuSseIIs