The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-02-13

which was not true?
Mr.. BENJAMIN. The statement that
there was threat that you should not have
the use of the mouth of the Mississippi.
Mr.. HARLAN. The Senator misappre-
hended me. / made no such statement.
Mr.. BENJAMIN. The report will show.
Mr.. HARLAN. The Senator from Vir-
gina asks: what do you want with the forts
at Charleston? What do we want with the
forts located in the slave States? {? 1respond,
Mr.. President, that the nine million people
who reside in the Northwest can make their
defense against foreign invasion with less
loss of life and property at Charleston, New
York and New Orleans, than they can on
their own territories. We choose to remain
part of this great Confederation, with all
the disadvantages we encounter in the heart
of the continent, cut off from ready inter
course with the outside world, because there
is a corresponding advantage. The desola,
ton of the first assaults made by foreign
Power on this country must be borne by
you. We, then, have a distinct interest in
the fortresses in Charleston harbor, at New
Orleans, Norfolk, Boston and San Francisco.
We prefer to repel the invader at the border
of the continent rather than from our own
DOORS
And now, Mr.. President, as it has become
fashionable In this Chamber for Senators to
conclude their speeches with an appeal to
come forward magnanimously and save the
country, on the principle, suppose, that it
is easier to call on Hercules to lift the load,
than to put their own shoulders to the wheel,
| make an appeal to the Democracy for a
manifestation of patriotism. You appeal to
us as rising party, with the glitterlng hopes
of the future, to come forward and surrender
our principles, and save the country. ap-
peal to you, declining power, with men,
ton of the lessons of the past. What are
those lessons Of the past? | shall not 60 far
back, Eight years ago, when the people
placed you in power, we were at peace with
all the world. Our armies had just returned
victorious from foreign battle fields; our Ma
Wy was triumphant on every sea our COM
merce was whitening every ocean, lake, and
river; our tonnage equaled that of the great
est maritime Powers; our people at home
were prosperous in every industrial pursuit !;
our genius had placed us, in the develop
ment of the applied sciences, among the ma
tons of the highest cultivation; domestic
strifes had been buried by the patriots of the
times, in the adoption of the fnalities of 1850,
and our stars and stripes commanded the
respect of all the civilized nations; the hand
OF industry was receiving its highest reward,
while the Treasury was overhowing with its
millions of revenue. You, as party, had
the opportunity, not only to inaugurate, but
to carry out your policy to completeness
You controlled the President and the head
Of every Department; you had a majority in
this body Overwhelming, and large major
ity in the other branch of Congress, and a
majority of political friends on the Supreme
bench. ..-
Now, what have you achieved? You have
emptied the Treasury of the United States
and destroyed the credit of the Government,
until your bonds have to go begging in the
money market of the world. You have dis
integrated and destroyed the old Whig par
ty, in which so many of the great men of the
nation were Graded, and in whose ranks
they served their country so well. Coming
here five years and more since, from a from
tier State, expected to vote and affiliate
with the two Senator's .en here from Ten
nessee, Messrs. Bell and Jones;l the two
from Maryland, Messrs. Pearce and Pratt j
the Senator then here from Missouri, now no
more. Mr.. Geyer;l the Senator still here
from Kentucky, [Mr. Crittenden;l j the Sena-
tor from Louisiana, [Mr. Benjamin j the it,
lustrious Senator then here from Delaware
Mr.. Clayton now gone to his long and
last reward Need add others? Where
are they to-day? The living are standing
on the sectional platform of the Democratic
party, or are superseded by their political
opponents; all gone-all swept away as by
a pestilence from this Chamber, except the
venerable Senator from Kentucky, who
stands here solitary for time like prm-
eval oak of the forest, after all his peers have
been Frustrated by the fury of the storm
and while the heart of the nation would call
out, "woodman, spare that tree" he too
bends and yields to its power. A sectional
Democrat in few weeks is to take his place.
Yes you have destroyed the old Whig par.
ty. Swept away has been that great and
noble party by the policy which you have
inaugurated, so offensive to tie millions oi
freemen from the eighteen States ofthis Re-
public.
What else have you done? You have di.
vided your own party by Mason and Dixon's
line from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean.
You have resuscitated buried sectional con.
troversy, and arrayed the people in fraterna
strife, and now as last achievement-I would
that truth would spare me the announce
ment--you propose to seize on the columns
that support the temple of Liberty, at whose
affairs you have been administering, and
drag it down as you leave It's portals. You
must rule, or you must ruin. You say to us
that you distinctly announced your purpose
long ago you admonlshed the people of the