The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-06-30

The House being in Committee of the
Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. Me-
Pherson, Of Pennsylvania, said:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN If know the chief and
! cherished purposes of the gentleman from
| Indiana, Mr.. Voorhees,, aud the gentle
man from Ohio, Mr.. VaIiaudingham, and
have dIscerned the spirit which pervades
the speeches OF the former and the address
OF the caucus of the unhappy fourteen
drafted by the latter, they are to under
mine the confidence OF the people in the
President and his administration, and to
persuade, or cajole, or brighten them from
firm, cordial, and immovable supper, of
his coercive war policy 10 the suppression
OF rebellion, the suhjugatinn of rebels, ana
the restoration of The authority of he Gov
ernment over every acrc of its soiI uu-
derstand them 10 seek to effect his pnrpose
by charging extravagauce, recklessn6sss,' and
corruption upon the administration by
predicting the early bankruptcy of the
Government, and by iDhdming the public
with unfounded and exaggerated asser-
iions, and absurd and unsound predictions.
| understand them further, while iamenting
the present conditloo Of the country, aud
foreshadowing a darker future, to offer to
the people one ray Of hope, assuring them
that the only escape from present and pro-
spective calamit!es is in the elevation TO
power of a new political party which they
are forming, of which they are, if not the
architects, the mas.er-spirits, and which
they commend as an infa!Iible panacea.
THE NATURE OF THE ATTACKS.
Mr.. Chairman, l accept the controversy
rendered by these gentlemen. / defend the |
President and his acts. deny the charges |
of extravagance and corruption. | repeI |
the prediction Of impending or actual bank |
ruptcy. | scout the ridiculous estimates |
upon which these charges are based and | |
reprObate as unwise, unnecessary, and uu-
warranted, she organization of a new party, |
based on opposition to the President aud t
his policy, while | condemn the spirit OF |
the movement, and pronounce its declared /
principles enteebling and destroying. l |
claim for tue administration that it is not |
only worthy OF, but is justly entitled to, the |
unreserVed and generous confidence of the |
people, and of every man of the people, |
who is devoted to the preservation and per-
pstuation of the Union as the greatest pc
litcal good, without which all other inter !
esIs, rights, and possessions are compare
lively valueless.
THEIR UNFITEEss AT THIS PERIOD.
Sir, do not wonder that the gentlemen
referred to, realize that their selEappointed
task is as ungracious as it is hopeless. No
rotundity of speech no pompous or re-
peated proteslations of pure, and lofty, and
unsel6sh purpose; no self -delusions, can
drive from the public the conviction that
such a work, at such time, is in the high
est degree unfit, unwelcome, and uuwor-
thy. They are themselves not insensible
to these considerations, for, feeling them,
they both seek to justify their course by
arguing that it does not involve infdelity
to their Government, and by broadly as
serting that is certain sense, they wall
sustain it against all foes at home or
abroad i" In a certain senseP What a
world of meaning is comprehended in this
qualifying clause. How suggestive of dam
ger to those eugaged-of warning to those
sought to be enticed.
Mr.. Chairman, will not trust myself 10
discuss the motives of gentlemen. 1t does
not become this place to cast, or attempt to
cast, a suspicion upon any ones loyalty, or
a stain upon any ones patriotism. Least of
all should thus assail q member of the
American Congress, of whom, the suspicion
Of even a shade of disloyalty, is an imputa-
tion of outlines equal to any and every
crime. But in times of great public
danger, when savage foes have banded
tor the overthrow OF the Government,
the extinction of American nationality,
and the degradation of free institutions,
and when armed hosts, infamed with
hate, possessed by demoniac passions,
and brutalized by slavery, are point
ing their cleaning bayonets at the
heart, and cleaving down the
IONS of our pride, is it not, 10 say the least,
that those whose great respon-
ibility is to meet these grave events, and
ave our matehless institutions, must with