Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1862-01-28
A Plain Speech.

n EIdIn SpteCus
Washington, JAM.
a message was received FROM the Presi-
dent, communicating the papers in the
Trent affair heretofore published.
A moth was made TO refer them TO the
Committee Of Foreign Affairs.
Mr.. fal.a1digham, of Ohio, said avail
myself, sir; OF this. the earliest opportunity
offered, to express my utter and strong
condemnation. as one OF the Representatives
of the act of the Administration in surren.
dering up Mason and Slidell to the British
Government. For six weeks, sir, they were
held In close custody as traitors, in for
tress Of the United States, by order Of the
Secretary of State, and with the approval
and appliuse Of the ress, of the public
men, of the Navy Department, Of this
House. and of the People of the United
States. with full knowledge Of the manner
and all the circumstances Of their raptufe (.
and yet IL SIX days after the imperious and
peremptory demand Of Great Britain tbsv
were ahjectly surrendefed up5n the rneras
hrnmor even Of the approach ota k5<t;l<
feet; and thus, for the first time in our
national history, have we strutted insolent
~ into quarrel without right, and basely
orept out Of it without honor and Thus far
the first time, has the American Eagle
been made to COVER before the British
Lion.
Sir, vassel, or fettered and terror
stricken Press, or servie and sycophantic
politicians in this house or out of il, NAV
applaud the act, and fawn and fiutter and
lick the hand which has smitten down our
honor into the dust. But the people now or
hereafter will demand a terrible reckoning
for this most uumanly surrender. But 1
do not trust myself to speak of it now as
propose some day to speak. i rose only
TO put on record my emphatic protest
against 1t, and to express my deep con-
viction that the very war which the other
day might have been avoided by combined
wisdom and frmness, is row inevitable.
Sir, this surrender may be no fault of
the Secretary Of State, but he has sovn, I
fear, the dragons teeth by this bis fatal
dispatch, and armed men will spring from
lt In the name of God, sir, what doss
England want with Mason aud Slidell It
was surrender Of the Claim Of The right 10
seize them on board her ships, under her
fiGg, that she demanded, and yet this is the
very thing that Mr.. Seward pertinaciously
refuses, and he only condemns Capt Wilkes
| because he did not enforce this right with
| greater severity against the offending neu-
trail ship. Why, sir, upon the principles Of
this dispatch, If merchant vessel. as at
first intended, had been employed 10 carry
these men out from Fort Warren to Eng
land she might tC-lay have been arrested
on the high seas, and they dragged from
her deck, provided she were only forthwith
brought back to the port Of Boston for
con6scation. But more than this, England
needs, do not say wants, a war; but she
must and will have il, and his Administra.
tioa has acted from the beginning as If 10
was their purpose to oblige her in it to the
utmost. Look into your diplomatic CORE
spondence Look at your stone feet -
But let that pass.
Who, l ask, among all the millions Of the
country, or even in this House or Senate,
or the Administration ITSELF amidst Of the
dead calm Of stolid security which seems
now to rest over all, has reflected for a
moment upon the signifcency of the events
of the passing hour. A British man.Of.
war bears to the shores of England, there
to be received in triumph and shouts Of ex.
ultatioD, as martyrs and heroes, and with
the gustos of the people of England, and
as the 'proteges' of their Ministers, the
very men who, but for the rash rot of Capt.
wilkes and the still more rash indorse-
ment OF the Administration and the country
would. six weeks ago, have been quietly
landed as rebels and refugees. All Eu-
rope echoes now with their names All
Europe will rise up to do :hem honor, and
yet you surrendered them, did you, TO es-
cape the recognition by England Of the
Confederate States, and YOUR Secretary of
State, with Christian resignation Of stoic
philosophy, calmly rejpices that the effect
ual check upon and waning proportions Of
the InsurrectiOU, as well as the ccmpara-
tive unimpOrtance, when weighed dispss-
sionately, of the persons concerned, happily
enable the Administration, after six weeks
of experiment, to cheerfully liberate them
aud thus to remove this eternal 'cousi
belli'
Sir, give me leave to say that the mo-
ment they Mason and SltdeIn stepped
upon the deck Of British man of war,
your prisoners Of State, whom, the other
day. you would have consigned to feloDs'
cells. became, indeed, the enyoys aud am
bassadOrs of recognized independens
State, and predict here to day, 10 spite
of this deep Nat ionsl humiliation, or rather,
perhaps, because of it, and in spite, too, Of
the surrender without protest If the Mon
roe Doctrine, for forty years the cherished
and proud policy Of this Government. in
NJ less than three months you will be &C
war with Great Britain, or else, in the
meantime, will have tamely submitted 70
the recognition Of the Confederate States
and the breaking up of the blockade; and
If at war, then, with hearts uustrsna and
hands unnerved SJ this very surrender.-
Courage courage courage sir, 10 the
hrst and best IF peacemakers. l know
we'll, OF course, sir, that like all other sim.
liar predictions for some years past 10 re-
gard to our public affairs, you will trsA,
this one also With scofing and ineredulity;
but nevertheless, put it on record here
to day. The prudent man fJrsseth the
evil and hideth himself. but the simple
pass on and are punished"