Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-01-18
ThO Trent Alairi p she Federal Congress.

WASHINGTON, January IA message was
received from the President, communicating the
papers in the Trent affair heretofore published.
A motion was made 10 refer them to the com
mittee on foreign affairs.
Mr.. Vallandigham, (opp) of Ohio, said I
avail myself, sir, Of this, the earliest opportunity
offered, to express my utter and strong coudem-
nation, as one OF the Representatives OF the pe0-
pie, of the act of the administration in surrender
ing up Msssrs. Mason and Slidell to the British
government For six weeks, sir, they were held
in close custody as traitors to the United States,
by order Of The Secretary OF State, and with the
approval and applause of the press, Of the public
men, Of the Navy Department, Of this House.
and Of the people of the United States, with u full
knowledge Of the manner and all the circumstan-
cos Of their capture, and yet in six days after
the imperiOus and peremptOry demand Of Great
Britain, they were abjectly surTendered upon the
mere rumor oven OF the approach OF a hostile
heet, and TINS Tor the first time in our national
history have we strutted insolently into a quarrel
without right, and then basely crept out Of out
it without honor; and thus for the first time has
the American eagle been made TO cover before
the British lion
Sir, a vassal OF fettored and terror-stricken
| press or seTvile and sycophantic politicians in
this House or cut of it, may applaud the act,
and iawn and i~iatteT, and HEX the hand which
has smitten down our honor into the dust. But
the people, now or hereafter, viii demand q ter
rible reckoning for this most humanity surrender.
But DO not trust myself to speak OF it now as
I propose some day 70 speak lose 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 aYoided
by combined wisdom and hTmness, is now in
evitlbie.
Sir. the surrender may be no fault Of the Sec
rotary Of State, but he has sown, I Esr, tire
ii6gou's teeth, by this, his fatal dispatch, and
armed war win spring from it. Ia the name Of
Sod, sir. what does England want with Mason
and Shdell3 Itwasa surrender OF the claim Of
The TighJ 10 seize them on boau1 her ships under
her flag. that he demanded. and yet Tins is .he
very thing that Mr.. Seward pertinaciously re-
fuses, and be only condemns Capt. Wilkes be-
cause he did not enforce this asserted ugnt with
greater severity against the offending neutral
ship. Why, sir, upon the principles Of this dis
patch, if a merchant vessel, as at first intended,
had been employed TO carry these men out rom
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 Orthwith
brought back to the port Of Boston for couis-
cation.
But more tlan .his, England needs, I do not
soy wants a war, bat she must and viii have IT,
aud this administration has acted from the be-
ginning as if it vas their purpose to oblige her In
1t 10 the utmost. Look into your diplomatic cor
respondence. Look at your stone 1eet. But
let that pass. Who, l ask, among all the mil
lions Of the country, or even in this House or
Senate, or the administration itsslf, IN the midst
Of the dead calm Of stolid security which seems
now to rest ever al, has reflected for a moment
upon the signifcancy Of the events Of the pass
ing hourl
A British man-ofwaT bears to thu shores of
England, there to be received IN triumph and
viii shouts Of exultation rs martyrs and heroes,
aud with the gustos Of the people Of England
aud as pToteges OF their ministers, the very men
who, but fr the rash act Of Capt. Wilkes and Tie
still more rash Endorsement Of the administra-
ton and the country, would six weeks ago have
been quietly landed from a private ship ia quiet
security as rebels and refugees. An Europe VIII
rise up to do them honor, and vet you surrender
them, did you, TO escape the Tec0gnitOn by
England Of the Confederate Stars, and your Sc
cretary Of State, with Christian resignation OF
stole philosophy, calmly ~reioices that the effect
ual check upon and waning proportions Of the
instruction, as well es the comparative uuim-
p~ortance Of the persons concerned, happily ena-
bic the administration, after six weeks Of expert
ment, to cheerfuily hberste them, and thus to re-
move this tsrferim causi 5eiii.
Sir, give me leave to say that The moment they
Nilsson and SlidclI) stepped upon the deck Of q
British mGn-of-waT, your prisoners OF state, whom
the other day you would havo consigned to iei-
on's cells, became indeed the euvoys aud smbas-
sailors Of a recognized independent state, aud
predict here to-day, in spite of this deep national
humiliation, or rather perhaps because Of IT, aud
IN spite, too, Of the surrender, without protest,
Of the Monroe doctrine, for forty years the cher
ished and proud policy Of this government, in
less than three mouths you will be al war with
Great Britain, or else, in the meantime, will have
bssoly submitted TO the recognition Of the Con
federate states, and the breaking up Of the
blockade and # at war then, with hearts Nh
strung and hands unnervod by this very sur
render.
Courage courage, courage sir. is Inc best
aud 6lst Of peacemakeIs. ] know well, oil
course, sir, that ike ali other similar predictieos
for ONE years past, in regard 20 our public af-
fairs, you will treat this one also with scomng
and incredultyi but nevertheless, 1 put It on
record here to-day. The prudent man forseeth
the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass
on and are punished"