The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1861-08-24
WHOLE NJ


stead Of being useful only for the defense
ofa particular city or locality.
1t Is true TINT Forts Taylor and Jeter'
spn, ut Key West and TOrtugaa. are 60
situated as to be essentially national, and
therefore important 10 US without refer:
rrence To our relations with the seeded
States. Not so with MOultric, johnson,
Castle Pinckncy, and Sumter, in Charles
ton harbor not so with Pulaski, on the
Savannah River; not 50 with Morgan,
and other forts in Alabama; not so with
those other forts that were intended to
guard the entrance Of particular harbor,
for local defense.
Mr.. Doolittle will the Senator allow
me to ask question: How IL It with
the forts at the mouth Of the Mississippi
rivtr2
Mr.. Douglas-Wcll, sir; 7 will say that
those forts do not form an exception to
my remark, for this reason: We have no
use for the forts at the mouth Of the Mis-
siSsippi river. If we allow the Southern
C0nfcderncy to hold the State Of LouiSi'
ana and command both sides Of the river.
The forts at the mouth of the MisSiSSippT
are very essential to us, If We intend {"
cnnqurr and reduce her people into sub
lection to our laws; but if we are going
to give up 80 much of the river as lies
within Louisiana; IL we are going to al
low Louisiana to exercise actual jurisIlic-
tion, what Use Is fort to US, unless we
reduce the State to- obedience, and re
move all conflicting authorityP Hence. ]
desire to know, whether tho object OF
retaking these forts is to be used as n
starring point in an invasion for the con.
quest Of the States in which they are sit
uatedY 1T is idle to evadc this question,
or attempt to evade it. 1t is no longer
question Of enforce mcnt Of the laws, or
Of collection Of revenue, or Of taking care
Of public property the question Is, whc-
thcr we are going To reduce the Southern
Confcdcracy by military force into sub
lection to our lawsl IL 10, | presume
Senators are convinced, by this time, that
that means wnr. We cannot deny that
there IL q Southern Confederacy, dc fttcto,
in existence, with its capitol ut MontGom
cry. We may regret it. I regret it
most profoundly; but | cannot deny the
truth Of the fact, painful, mortiying as
its is.
Mr.. Clark-Will the Senator allow me
to ask him one question at this pointH
Mr.. Donglas--I shall nat; and for this
reason: ! sre there Is nm attempt on that
side Of the House to catechse me, and
not allow themselves to be interrOgated
If they will allow Ine to put questions to
them, and will furnish frank answers,
will invite every one of them to interro-
gate me; but If you will meet in cautus,
and resolve to be silent, and prevent eve.
rybody else from talking, so far as you
can, and, If you cannot prevent them, re-.
main silent yourselves, for fear that, In.
nsmuch 0s You are divided into compro.
missing aud uncompromiSing Republicans,
into Union and disunion Republicans, in.
to war and peace Republicans; il one
side spenks, the other will be compelled
to speak in selCdcfcnsc, and therefore you
will keep silent yourselves while yon cat.
cchisc me in respect to my opinions.
am willing to have a free interchange Of
opinion, but | want reciprocity; and 1t il
more important to get at the policy the
majority are going to pursue, than it is
to know what the minority arc going to
do.
Mr.. Fesscnden--Will the Senator allow
ne to ask ono question Just there; and
that Is, whether, i'm what he has Just sta
ted he means to intimate that ANYTHING OF
that sort had been done, or was conten.
plated to be done, on this side of the
Chamber; meeting in caucus and resolv
ing to be silent, aud all thatp Does he
mean to intimate TINT, or is it his mere
Imagination e?
Mr.. Douglas-I do not mean tn init.
mate anything, and did not; but I will
state very frankly that have heard the
report, and heard the time and place Of
the caucus mentioned so often that I be.
lievcd II, and believe it yet, unless the
Senator gives an uneqnivocal denial.
Mr.. FeSsenden Il will only tell the SEN
ator that there is not word Of truth in
it from beginning to end.
MIR. DouglaS-I nm glad to henr It; but
the report came from your side Of the
House.
Mr.. Fcssenden-I do not know where
it came from.
Mr.. Doug'as-At any rate, there IL n
very OminOus silence over there-a silence
when the country may DO wrecked on
Misrepresentation as to the policy Of the
Administration. Now. sir, repeat, that
| desire to know from the Administration
whether they mean peace or war whether
they moan to ask for military force ade.
quate not only to hold the forts they have
got, but to re.cnpture those that have been
lost and 10 reduce to suhjcction and ODE.
dience all the people Of all the States who
have claimed, or shall claim, the right to
Scccde; for it is folly to talk about thu
forts. unless we are going to do the other
thing 1t is morally wrong to collect rev.
enue from people that you do mt pro.
tcct. If You compel people to yield obe-
dience to your laws. you must give then,
the protection Of tho laws. Hrnce the
simple question is, whether, by military
power by the army, the navy, and the
militia, we are going to subjngnte those
seeded States and hold them by military
force in obedience to our laws until thsv
so far change their inclinAtions as to obey
them volnntarilyr If this be the policy.
desire to know, and the country will de.
rnand to know, how large an army it will
e"NSs ASNhOe oA - hhot ATe III
ready made on that subject. should
like to know whether those rumors are
correct. ! should like to have that rsti.
mate before the country. should like
to know whether or not, in the estimation
Of the highest military authority in Amer.
ica, it would require thirty five thousand
men to protect the capital, aud two hun
drcd and fifty thousand for field opera.
tions, in order to reduce those States 70
obedience to our law and our authOrityf
Gentlemen may laugh and talk in their
seats about letter writers. saw them
laugh the other day, when told them
that while Fort Sumpter could have bsen
relieved and reinforced q few weeks aRu
with single ship Of war, now Il could
not be done by your navy, unless you had
ten thousand land troops. When several
Of you rushed off to the commanding gen.