Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-03-27

thank God, | do and have the rialt TO
diiier as TO the best means Of preserving
the Union, and VI maintaining the Con.
stitution and securing the best interests
Of my country and that is my oi!cnse.
that the crime and the only crime Of which
| have been guilty.
Mr.. Speaker, If in the Thirty.Fiith
Congress, or some other member, had
seen fit to seize upon the denuncia,ion
long continued, bitter and persistent
against that member, Mr. HIcKMA -
for he too has suffered and be too ought
to have remembered in this the hour Of
sore prosecution, that he himself has been
the victim Of vile ISLANDERS and detracton
peradventure-for, sir, | would do him the
justice which he denies to me--what say
If had risen and made vile paragraph in
some paper published in his own town,
or elewhcre, the subject Of inquiry and
investigation, and had attempted to cast
yet further suspicion upon him, by refer.
ence to language uttered here in debate
which he had the right to utter, or by
charges vague and false and without the
shadow Of foundation except the ma
lignant breath Of partisan suspicion and
slander, what wond have been his record
in the volumes Of your reports, and the
Congressional Glojs, going down to his
children after him? But, sir, it is not in
the power Of the gentleman to tarnish
the honor Of my name, or to blast the
fair fame and character for loyalty which
| have earned with labor and patience
and faith, from the beginning of my pub
lie career. From my boy hood, at all
times and in every place, l have never
looked to anything but the permanent,
solid, and real interests of my country.
Beyond this, Mr.. Speaker, | deem it
unnecessary to extend what have to
say. would have said not word but
that know this committe will find moth
ing, and that at'they will be obliged, there
fore, to report-a majority Of them
cheerfuliy, doubt not-that nothing cx-
lists to Justify any charge or suspicion
such as the member from Pennsylvania
has suggested here to-day. avail my
self of the occasion :hus forced on me,
to repel this folly and sanderous assault
upon my loyalty, prompt, earnestly, in
dignantly, yes, scornfully, and upon the
very Threshold. Sir, l 40 not choose
to delay, week after week until your par
tisan press shall have sounded the alarm;
and until an organization shall have been
eflec ed for the purpose OF dragooning
two thirds of this House int o an outrage
upon the rights of one Of the Representa-
tives of the people, which is without ex-
ample except in the worst of times.
meet it and hurl it back defantly nere
and now.
Why, sir, suppose that the course
which the member from Pennsylvania
now proposes, had been pursued in many
cases which could name in years past !;
suppose that this had been the standard
of accusation, and irresponsible newspa-
per paragraphs had been regarded as ev-
idence of disloyalty or want of attach
ment to the Constitution and the Union |;
what would have been the fate of some
members of this House, or certain Sena-
tors at the other end Of the Capitol, in
years past? What punishment might
! not have been meted out to the predeces-
sor NJ. Giddings of my colleague on
the Olllcl SlNlc vi tHc 1lONsc, -1ls LII 4Nh
ms How long would he have occu
pied a seat here ? Where would the
Senator from Massachusetts, Mr.. SUM
NEn have been Where the other Sen
ator from Massachusetts,, Mr.. WILSON,
Where the Senator from New Hamp
shire, Mr.. HALE Where the thre,
Senators, Mr.. SEWARD, Mr.. CHASE, and
NJ ~ &C +ha,,, tho a. HI
net and the other in the Senate still, wht
in 1880, twelve years ago, on the It'll
of February, voted to receive, refer, prin
and consider petition, praying for th'
dissolution of the Union of these States
Yet am to be singled out now by these
very men or their minions, for attack
and they who have watched and prayed,
day by day, with the vigilance of the
hawk and the scent of the hyena, from the
beginning Of this great revolt, that might
catch some unguarded remark, some idle
word spoken, something written thought
lcssl y or carelessly, some secret thought
craven yet upon the ineaments OF my
face, which they might torture into evi-
dcnce of disloyalty, seize now upon the
foul and infectious gleanings of an anon
ymous wretch who earns a precarlons
subsistence by feeding the local peStlent
newspaper, and while it is yet wet from
the press, hurry it, reeking with false
hood, into this House, and seek to digni-
fy it with an importance demanding the
consideration Of the House and Of the
country.
Sir, let the member from Pennsylvania
go on. challengethe inquiry, unworthy
of notice as the charge is, but | scorn the
spirit which has provoked it. Let it go on.
Mr.. HICKMAN made few remarks and
Withdrew the Resolution.