The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1862-02-27
SPEECH OF MR.. MCPHERSON.

SPEECH OF MIR. MCPHERSON.
DEL1vEREp IN THE HousE OF REPRESENTA-
TIvEs, FEB. Ia, 1852.
OK motion of Mr.. Stevens, the comm ttoe
took up for consideration bill of the House
No. 259 making appropriations for the sup
port of the Post Office Department for the
year ending 30th of June, 1863
MR. McPHERsoN. i desire, Mr.. Chair
man, to discuss the nature and objects of
the rebellion and our relations and duties
to it, recalling so much of its history as
vii illustrate the one, and enforce the other.
The conspiracy. of which | have twice
spoken in this Hall, has become armed re-
bellot, and involved the country i'll civil
war. 1t has called to the field u well-ap-
pointed army of six hundred thousand citi-
zen soldiers, prepared to meet in battle the
misguided men, whom guilty ambition and
crafty policy have beguiled, or compulsiou
forced to take up arms in defense of a
great crime, and for the furtherance of a
gigantic wickedness. Months have been
spent i'll vast and busy preparation, until on
ocean and river, valley and mountain-top,
war rings his clarion voice. A contest
more momentous to this Union, and the in
terests enwrapped i'll it than prediction has
suggested, or history recorded, is upon us,
with responsibilities at once stern and mau-
fold. He only who comprehcnds the
events t'anspiring around us, the mighty al
ternatlves the contest involves, and how
controlingly our action will modify issues
most important to mankind, and vital to us,
can appreciate the nature of the crisis, and
of the mission appointed to this generation.
As for myself, Mr.. Chairman, in the light of
this great mission, AMI in the presence of
the grave duties of the hour, the central
feeling of my heart is detestation of the re-
bellon. hate the thing itself. / contemn
its authors, promoters, agents, and sympa-
thizers. abhor it for tho purposes it en-
bodies, the declared principles upon which
1t rests the periured apostasy in which it
was conceived, the deep duplicity by which
it was developed, and the violence and ter
rorism by which it was at length forced up
on an unwilling peoples
Every dictate of my judgment, every im-
pulse Of my heart, every instinct of my ma
ture, bids me resist this accursed disunion
machiiation
TRUE AND FALSE LOYALTY.
This is my faith. 1t should be the senti-
mcnt of every loyal heart. 1t is the senti-
meut of every heart truly loyal 1t has
nothing in common with conditional loyalty
avowed on this floor. 1t recognizes as the
prime duty of this generation, the suppress
sion, at every hazard, and by using every
necessary means, Of this insurrection, the
restoration of the authority of the Govern
ment. the rc-establshment upon its old rest
ing-places Of the emblem of the Republic,
and the rc-erection of the altars Of liberty,
displaced in eleven States by the dismal
symbols of despotism. A loyalty which
imposes conditions. restrictions, exactions,
is spurious and lifelcss. 1t is sure to fail in
the hour of need, and is little different from,
or preferable to disloyalty. In all calcula-
tions of results class it az an element un-
friendly, and at best unreliable.
Sir, no one is surprised at the existence
of this qualified loyalty, for it is natural
growth, and its exactins spirit and swelling
pretentiousness are not unfamiliar to those
who know its previous DISCUSSES.
The rebels reckoned the qualified loyalty
Of portions of the loyal States as an impreg-
nable wall of defense for them; and to pro-
dnce and maintain the feeling they spared
no effort. All over the country the seeds
of treason were planted insidiously and in
dustriously. Not State or county, scarce
ly neighborhood escaped, for the agencies
they used penetrated everywhere. 1t was
hoped that the harvest would follow, and
it was intended that, with its ingathering,
the projected crime would be committed,
the Union rent the Constitution overthrown,
and the principles of liberty obscured in
the crumbling of this their best abiding
place.
LOYALTY OF THE PEOPLE.
Nothing prevented but the unquonched
and unquenchable loyalty of the people,
which banked every calculation, overleap-
ed every belittlng prejudice. burst every