The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1862-01-22
The Settlement of the Trent Affair.

''' W '"e COMMITTEE on Foreign Affairs,
the papers Of the Trent affair, which had
been communicated by President Lincoln,
MIR. Vallandigham, Of Ohio, said: avail
myself sir, of this the earliest opportunity
offered to express my utter and strong con.
demnation, rs one of the representatives of
the people, Of the act of the Administration
In snrrendering up Messrs. Mason and Sli.
| dell to the British Government. For six
weeks, sir, they were held in close custody
as traitors Of the United States, by order
of the Secretary of State, aad with the ap-
proval and applause of the press, of the
public men, of the Navy Department, of
this House, and Of the people Of the Uni
ted States, with n full knowledge of the
manner and all the circumstances OF their
capture, and yet in six days after the impe.
rious and peremptory demand Of Great Bri-
tain, they were ahjectly surrendered upon
the mere rumor even of the approach Of n
hostile fleet, and. thus for the first time in
our national history have we strutted inso.
len.Iy in n quarrel without right, and then
basely rrept out of it without honor and
thus for the first time has the American
Eagle been made 10 cover before the Brit.
ish Lion
Sir, n vassal or fettered and terror strick-
en- press, or servile and sycophantic poli,i.
clans in this House or out of il, NAV an
plaud the act, and fawn and nntter, and lick
the hand which has smittcn down our hon.
or into the dust But the people now. or
hereafter will demand terrible reckoning
for this most unmanly surrender. But
DO not trust myself to speak of i, now as
propose some day to speak rose only to
put on record my emphatic protest against
it, and to express my deep conviction that
the very war which the other day might
have been avoided by combined wisdom and
frmness, is now inevitable.
Sir, the surrender may be no fault Of the
Secretary of State, but he has sown, | fear,
the dragon's teeth, ty this, his fatal des.
patch, and armed war will spring from it
In the name of God, sir, what does Eng
land want with Mason and SideIl Ii was
surrender Of the claim Of the ripht to
seize them on board her ships, under her
flag, that she demanded. and vet this is the
very thing that Mr.. Seward per,inaciously
refuses, and he only condemns Captain
Wilkes because he did not enforce this ns.
serted right with greater severity against
the offending neutral ship. Why, sir, upon
fhn N. ,,f :,
chant vessel, rs at first intended, had been
employed to carry these men out from Fort
Warren to England, she might TO. day have
been arrested on the high seas and they
dragged from her deck, provided only she
were forthwith brought back to the port Of
Boston for coniiscaiion.
But more than this. England needs, do
not say wants, war, but she must and will
have it, and this Administration has acted
from the beginning rs if 1t was their pur-
pose to obIige her in it 10 tho utmost -
Look into your diplomatic correspondence.
Look at your stone fleet. But let that pass.
Who, | ask, among all the millions Of this
county, or even in this House or Senate.
or the Administration itself, in the midst Of
the dead calm of stolid security which
seems now to rest over all, has reflected Cor
q moment upon the signifc'tncy Of the
events Of the passing hours?
A British man ofwar bears to the shores
Of England, there to be received in triumph
aud with shouts Of exultation as martyrs
and heroes, and with the gus,os of the .peo
pie Of England and rs the pro,cges Of their
ministers, the very men who, but for the
rash act Of Captain Wilkes and the still
more rash endorsement Of the Administers
ton and tho country, would six week ago
have been quietly landed from private
ship in quiet security as rebels and refu-
gees. All Europe echoes now with their
names. All Europe will rise up 10 do them
honor. and yet you surrendered them, did
you, to escape the recognition by England
Of the Confederate States, and your Secre-
tary Of State, with Christian resignation or
stole phio'ophy, calmly rejoices that the
eflrctual check upon and waning proper
tions Of the insurrection, as well as the
comparative unimportance Of the persons
concerned, happily enable the Administra.
:un, after six weeks experiment, to cheer.
fully lberate them, and thus to remove the
teterimi cdusi beli.
Sir, give me leave to say, that the mo
ment they (Mason and Slidell) stepped
upon the deck of British man. of. war
your prisoners Of state, whom the other
day you would have consigned to felon'
cells, became indeed the ENJOYS and ambas.
sadors Of a recognized independent State,
and predict here to day, in spite of this
deep national humiliation, or rather, per.
haps, because Of it, and in spite too, Of the
surrender, without protest, of the Monroe
doctrine for forty years the cherished and
proud policy of this Government, in less
than three months you will be at war with
Great Britain, or else, in the meantime, will
hava hos.ly 20 H.