Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-01-22
MR.. VALLANDIGHAMS, SPEECH ON THE
&. MASON.SLIDEId AFFAIR. y.

NH. NALhANHlGHAM 3 0REECH YIN AnH
MASONSLIDEId, AFFAIR. 4:
Mr.. Vallandigham of Ohio, Is almost the only
man in the Federal Congress who has the courage
to beard the Lincoln desputisn. He is Of the right
grit On the 7th inst, on motion to refer the
message Of Lincoln accompanying the papefs relating
to the Trent affair. Mr.. V. made the following re:
marks;
Mr. valandighaua (opp.) Of Ohio, said I avail
myself sir Of this The earliest opport;iEite s..red
to exrrcss my uttef and strs.;r en'dshnst!tiA, Dc
oPe q hs Eepressrtsslsss Of tie people, Of the act
e. "a M thu In s sq5isndsens ue ns r:
six weeks, Sit, they we're held in close custody as
traitors to the United States by order of the Sec
rotary of State, and with the approval and ap-
plaGse of the press, of the public men, of the
Navy Department. of this House, and Of the
people of the UnIted States, with full knowl
edge of tho manner and all the circumstances Of
their capture, yet in six days after the inperous
and peremptory demand Of Great Britain they
were abjectly surrendered upon the mere rimor
even of the approach of hostile fleet and thus for
the first time in national history have we strut
ted insolenty into quarrel without right and then
basely crept out OF it without honor and Thus for
the first time has the American eagle been made to
cover before the British lion.
Sir, vassal or fettcred and terror stricken press
or serye and sycophahtic politicians i'll this House
u,
fatter, and lick the hand which has smitten down
our honor into the dust. But the people, now or
hereafter will demand terrible reckoning for this
most unmanly surrender. But do not trust my
self to speak of it now as | propose some day to
speak. | rose only to put on record my emphatic
protest against it, and to express my deep convic-
ton that the very war which the other day light
have been avoided by combined wisdom and hrm
nest, is now inevitable.
Sir fEe pdur hp M faul of ha Seer
tary of State, but he has sown. fear, the dragons
teeth by this, his fatal despatch, and armed war
will spring from it. In the name of God, sir, what
does England want with Mason and Slidell 1t was
surrender of the claim Of the right to them
On boarL'her ships under her flag, that she demand
cd, aid yet this is the very thing that MIR. Seward
pertinac,ously refuses, and he only condemns Cap
tain Wilkes because he did not enforce this asserted
right with greater severity against the offending
neutral ship. Why, sir, upon the principles Of this
Dispatch If merchant vessel at first intended,
had been enjoyed to carry these men out from Fort
Warren 10 England, she might to day have been ar
rested on the hgh seas aud they dragged from her
deck, provided only she were forthwith brought
back 10 the port Of Boston for conti>caton.
But more than this England needs, do not say
wants a war; but she must and will have it, and
this Administrator has acted from the beginning
if it their purpose to oblige her in it to the
utmost Look into Your diplomatic correspondence
Look at your stone fleet. But let that pass. Wh,,
| ask, among all the millions Of this country, or
even in tins House Senate, the Administration
ITSELF in the midst Of the dead calm of Stod security
which seems now to rest all, has reflected for
moment upon the SSnlticancy OF the events OF the
passing hour?
\ British man of.war hears to the shores of Eng
land, there to ue received in triumph aid with
shouts OF eXutaton as martyrs and heroes, aud
with the guSios of the people Of Engla and the
proteges Of their ministers. the very men who, but
for the rash Of Capt. Wilkes and the still
rash endorsement Of the Administration and the
country, would six weeks ago have been quietly
landed from private ship in quiet security as re-
bcis and refugees Ali kurope echoes with their
names All Europe will rise up to do them honor,
and yet you surrendered them, did you, to escape
the recognition by England Of the Confederate
States, and your Secretary OF State with Christian
resignation stole philosophy, calmly rejoccs that
the etiec,ua check upon and waning proportions of
the msurrrcton, AS we'll as the comparative unim-
portarce Of the persons concerned, happily enable
! the administration, after six weeks OF experiment,
to cheerfully hbera,e them, and thus to remove
! this teterimi caHsi jtui
! Sir, give me leave to say that the moment they
i MASON and SlideiD stepped upon the deck OF u
! British man otwar, your PRISONERS OF Site, whom
| the other day you would have consigned to telonS
! cells, became indeed, the ENJOYS and ambassadors
! oil recognized INDEPENDENT otate, anu Peuie1
here to-day, in spite OF this deep national huull'a-
tion or rather perhaps because of ii, and in Spite
too of the surrender, without protest, of the Mon
roe doctrine for forty years the cherished and proud
policy Of this Government in less than three months
| YOU will be at war with Great Britain, else, in
the meantime will hevc bascly submitted to the re.
cogntion of the Confederate States and the break
I ing up Of the blockade; and if at war them with
hearts unstrung and hands unnerved, by this very
surrender.
Courage! courage! courage! sir. is the best and
first of pcacemakers. l know we'll, Of course, sir,
that like all other similar predictions for some years
past, in regard to our public affairs, you will treat
this one also with soothing and incredibly; but new
ertheless, put it OH record here to-day. Tho
prudent man forcsceth the evil and hideth himself
but the simple pass on and are punished"
Mr. Conkling of New York, delivered speech
IN the House, few days since, in which he called
for an investigation the battle of LeeSburg, and
declared that besides the defeat to the North with
large loss of arms there was sacrifice Of nine
hundred and thirty men, He pronounced it g the
most atrocous military murder ever committed in
our history This is an admission 10y the enemy
of most signal defeat in that famous battle.
The Charleston Courier says that four of the sol
I;ars statoned on the South Carolina coast on the