Shreveport daily news., 1861-08-15
Senator Rreckinride in the Sen
ate Chamber.

could De Gomez the unconstitutional
couIse Of Abraham Lincoln, anterior
to the ASSEM- bling of Congress, being,
on the LIST met, before the Senate Of
the United States for discussion, Mr..
I5reckinridge distinguished himself
BY speech that was worth Of the
best DAYS Of the now discovered Re-
public:
lie said the drama was beginning
to open, and the Senators who are
urging on the war are quarrcling
among themselves. The Senate hae.
nlreadv passed Il general confiscation
bill, and also Il general emancipation
bill. The polio. commissioners of
Baltimore were arrested without any
law and carried off to an unknown
place, and the President refuses to
tell the House what they We're ;,rres-
ted for and what ahev were confined
for aut. what has been done with them
Yet they call this liberty and law
The Senator from Illinois (Browniny)
said he (Breckinridge) aasailed the
President with severity j. not ma
liguity. In the midst OF events he
could lot cherish personal anilnosity
and for the President he never did.
On the contrary, he Thought more
highly Of him than hr did Of man,
of his counselors. He believed b.,
to be an honest man, trampling the
constitution under foot, fox good sno-
tives from evil couus2iorS. but the
proceedings Of Congress far eclipsel
anything the President had done,
and the Presidents acts sink into
nothingneSs before the absolute out
RACES on personal liberty penetrated
BY Congress.
Gentlemen mistake wlcn they talk
about the Union. The Union is only
(, means Of preserving the princi-
pies Of political liberty. The great
principles of liberty existed long be-
fore the Union Was formed. They
may survive it. Let gentlemen take
care that they DO not sever all that
rclraiue OF the Federal Government.
These eternal principles OF liberty,
which lived long before the Union,
wi! live forever some where. They
must be respected. They cannot
with iEnpuuitv, be ovcrthrown, and
if you force the people TO the ISSUE
between any form otGovcrnmcnt and
these priceless principles Of liberty
that form Of Government will go
down. The people viii tear it asun-
der IS the irrepressiblr forces Of na
ture rcnd asundtr all that oHooscs
thsXl. The Senator FROM -.rnout
declares that this conflict lnust be
carried on ,tndxr the rules OF war
and admits that some thing mist be-
done directly contraryto the colStl-
tuition. | desire that the country
should know the fact hat constit,l-
tional limitations are no longer to be
regarded F; and let the people once
Get the idea of war. not under the
principles Of the constitution, but a
conflict in which two great people
are against each other for whom the
constitution is not, but for whom the
laws of war are, and | venture to
say that the brave words we hear
now about suhiugation and conquest,
treason and traitors, viii be @libly al.
tered the next time the rcprrrcnta-
tivcs Of the States meet unIer the
dome of the Capitol
Then If the constitution is really
to be put aside, and the laws Of wax
are 20 govern. why not act upon II
practically 4! | do not hold that the
clause ot the constitution whi n au-
thorises Congress To declare war
applies to any internal difficulties;
nor do believe that the constitution
Of the United States ever contempla-
ted the preservation OF the Union by
one half of the States warning on the
other half. 1t provides for putting