The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1862-05-22
Traitors and Their Sympathizers
SPEECH OF
HON. B. F. WADE,
IN THE
Senate of the United States,
APRIL 18TH. 1862,

Woru on tnlS occasion. IL rs very rarcl1
that any question can come forward herr
that will provoke any reply from me.
have listened to the two hours string ot
platitudes which the gentleman has ut
tered here, to which I have not one sin
gle word Of reply. They are precisel
such as every lawyer makes when his eli
ent is on trial on an indictment in bat
case. lie always appeals to those great
guarantees Of liberty that are so well
provided for in the English law. Every
lawyer of very little practice seems to
understand how and when to invoke
them. To that part of the speech I have
not one word to say. I agree with him
entirely | would be the last man ia
raise my hand to break down one single
scintilla of those great barriers Of right
and liberty TO which he has so often al.
luded, and which are household words
to us all. He need not have read his
books, he need not have quoted his au-
thorities in an American Senate on those
points, because every man stands ready
to subscribe an amen to all the doctrines
to which he has alluded.
But, sir, he stepped a little beyond
that course of remark, and violently as
sailed the committee of which happen
to he the chairman.
Mr.. MCDOUGALL.-Will the Senator
allow me to ask one thing
The PRESIDENT pro tempore-Does the
Senator from Ohio yield the floor?
Mr.. WADE.-Yes, sir.
Mr.. MCDoUGALL.-I shall probably
leave the Senate, but I wish to ask the
Senator question. | do not know that
| have a right to inquire whether this
arrest was made at the instance of the
Committee on the Conduct of the War
or not 1t has been stated so and ru.
mored so. | understand the response
bility is shifted from shoulder to shoul-
der. l did not mean to say they had
done so, or to assail them. I know it
was necessarily done, according to my
information, by person acting by the
authority of the Secretary of War but
I should like to be informed if it was
not at the instance of the Committee on
the Conduct of the War, for 1 should
like to be able to think so we'll of every
member Of the Senate as to relieve my
self Of the suspicion that is on my mind
[ did not charge it on the committee. l
do not know, of my own knowledge,
that they have ever done an unworthy
or improper thing.
MIR. WADE.-You ought to know.
Mr.MCDoUGALL-Do not understand
mo as doing anything moro than trying
to make form Of inquiry, by which |
might be advised, in some form, why
this great wrong has been done.
Mr.. WADE.-I did not yield the floor
to be catechized, hut for an explanation,
if the gentleman had any to make. It
turns ont that instead of an explanation
and apology for what he has said, I am
to be catechized further on the subject.
Now, the Senator says he does not know
what he has been talking about. | did
not suppose he did. He says he made
the remark as kind of fishing argu-
mont to see if he could not draw out
something from somebody that would
give him SOME Ii ght on this subject.
Mr.. MoDoUdALL.-That is my very
object. have sought light on the sub
ject with great labor and industry.
Mr.. WADE.-The Senator, in the
course of his remarks, alluded to the
committee of which am chairman.
cannot repeat exactly the words, but it
was to the effect that we had been made
use of, or that we practised stabbing
men in the dark that we profess to
have some kind of testimony against
men, and then throw it out to their
prejudice and the prejudice of their
characters. demand of that Senator
now specifically to tell me what he meant
by it. Where has it been done, and by
whom Z?
Mr.. MoDoUGALL.-If I we're aware
that the Committee on the Conduct of
the War had been responsible for this
act, | should have spoken of that Com
mittee as | spoke of the person now at
the head of the War Department..
know by information that witnesses
have testified before your Com mittce
because a gentleman told me no was go
ing before the Committee ia relation to
this very matter. ....r ....
Mr.. WADE.-I want to know specif,.
ically-
Mr.. McDoUaALL.-Do you want to
know the man? . aH ..F .
Mr.. WADE want TO know persop-
ally and specifically from that Senator,
when and where it was that that Com
mittee threw out dark insinuations to
wound the character of any man p
When, where and how have they done
it?
Mr.. McDoUGALL.--L did not state
that the Committee on the Conduct of
the War had done any such thing, and
you will find l am not so reported.
Mr.. WADE.--Then | entirely misun
derstood the Senator for l understood
a charge of that kind to have been made.
l am glad to hear that the gentleman
says now that no has made no such
charge, for | know that no such charge
can be sustained.
Mr.. McDoUGALL,-I am glad to hear
that also.
Mr.. WADE.-Why glad to hear it, sir2
You never heard the contrary; never,
never. While you throw out dark in
situations against the committee, ask