Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-12-21
Ohio 9tates,ita,t
CHARACTER OF PARTIES,
SPEECH OF MR.. COX,
In the House of Representative,
Monday. December 16. 1062. 4
IOonnlndedl
OF OHIO,

looncludedJ
But mark! you will not succeed. The army
itself will never consent to degrade ilself by
becoming superior to the civil power. You
cannot use Il 10 break through the sacred bar.
riers which protect the Constitution Nor will
the people ever consent to give to prociama. Ions
the force Of law; for even In England that has
been held to be surrender of the liberty Of
the nation to usurpation. The people are In.
formed Of those traditional privileges which
were secured by their ancestors. Beginning
even before Magma Chsrta, writtep In the
Saxon race, enacted thirty-tWo times from Run
nymede until the Declaration Of Right ID 1888,
they are yet preserved in the fundamental law OF
this country. At the recent election the people
asked,as Wentworth once questioned certain
dispensing power In England, "wbether there
be any council that can make, ada to, o. d.
minieh from the laws Of this realm7" They
ask now, In this our House OF Com mons, az
sbey will aak more proudly In the next, wheth.
or the spirit yet lives which resisted ship money,
the dispensing power of the Stusrts, and arbi.
trery imprisonment, and which demanded trial
upon accusation and by jury Whenever the
subject was seized BY the sovereign. They
know that there is no compensation for yielding
these rights of personal security, without which
ell other rights are useless This Ia part of
the meaning of the elections; and whether, In
your evanescent power, you regard 1t or not,
the people are upon the throne again, and woe
TO him who passes beyond the limits marked
by the still swelling tide of an indignant and
avoused people.
Bat, 10 II asked: Do you want the war to
stop In order TO divide the Union2D The peo.
pie have answered as Seymour answered, ss
answer you here: No! Bat they want the war
carried on as all civilized wars eTo carried on,
aud with view to peace and union, and not
with view to the sggravatIon and proloDga-
tlon Of hostilities. affirm on The best human
and divine authority, that all objects Of human
effort, even war, should contribute TO human
happiness and peace. If this war have any
other object, then II is abhorred of God and
man; and every dollar and life sacrificed would
be criminal waste.
Am answered that this war Is an exception
TO other Wars7 If go, wby7 Because n was
begun In rebelion7 Let Vattel, In the eipht.
eenth chapter Of his third book, answer. His
answer meets the very case. He stands above
our stoEmful passions, and gives the law of wis.
dom for our guidance. In that chapter he main,
talns these proportions, which I ask leave to
print:
/. That sovereign ia bound to observe the
common laws of war toward bis rebellious
subjects who have openly taken up arms against
HIM. he derives this rule from the relations
which the sovereign bears toward his subjects.
Having derived his right to rule from them, he
is to watch over their welfare. But what If
bis subjects take up arms to deprive him Of the
supreme authority Then, IL the evil spreads
so as to inject the majority of the people Of a
city or province, and gains such strength ,ha.
even 'ha snvaraian 10 no longer obsyed, 10 b1-
oomes an in.urrection' His conduct toward the
insurgents should De consonant to Justice and
sslutary 70 the State. Vattel Declares that sub-
jsots who rise against the soyereIpn deserve
severe punishment; yet, even In this case, on
account OF the number of the delinouents. he
holds that clemency becomes duty in the soy,
ereign. Shall he depopulate a city or desolste
province in order to punish hes rsbellion7
Any punishment, however inst In itself. vhiob
embraces too great number of psrsons. he
comes an acs of downright cruelty. He ilIus-
trates these doctrines BY referring TO Henry
the Great, of France, who gained a nation by
his clemency, and TO the Duke of Alva. who
lost the United Provinces to the Emueror Of
Spain BY his cruelty. The time will come for
the President to exhibit the masnanimitv of
the one or the inhumanity of the Other. - "
Again: beg the House to listen 10 the via.
dom Of this great pubicIst, who holds. aa he
would doubtless have held with us of the last
Congress who attempted by seasonabIe coroes-
sion to avert this wsr, "that the ssfest, and &
the same time the most lust, method of an
pesslng sedition 10 to give the people sstisfac.
tion. And If there exists no reason 10 iustify
insurrection "a circumstance which perhaps
rarely happens), even insuch case II becomes
necessary TO grant an amnesty where the of.
lenders are numerous But, as IL this rebel
lion was before his mind, he selects the case Of
republic, divided into two opposite parts, and
where both pArts are In arms. This he calls A
oivu war. "Ihe sovereign" he says, "neyer
ieiis TO call those In insurrection rebels; but
Nnen .ne rebels have acquired sufficient strength
20 give the sovereign efsctual opposition, and
70 oolge him TO carry on the war against them
according to the established rules, he must aub-
mis' necessarily, to the term civil war. In this
case tnere is no common Judge between the
TWO parties. They. are thenoeforward two
separate booies, |, two dlstinct sooieties. Though
one OF tae parties may have been to blame In
breaking the unity OF the State and resisting
ne lawful authority, they are not the less di.
vided 10 fact. Bot who shall Judge them? On
eartn tney have no common superior. They
ament as two nations wbo snS.es v ,se IL euo ono,
test" s.rn..1rT - ~ o N =
2. This belnp the oase. tho couuo, ,.
war, the mexims of bumanitv. N modaS..,on ,"s snS u
honor, are 10 be observed' Eo. = s at.nnns. ~
reason, he saws. ousbt snch laws " hs ohoo.ssd os
by two incensed parties Jacs,.snn sho;
mon country. Indeed tba verv oa, ,sS;ch
Vattel gives, OF the soversiSn CS hanU;,a nns h;a
prisoners as rebels. has sireaS. occn,saS Se u;.h M
Us in Missouri; and We are th,ssteosd eu ~ "In ha
anticipates, with renriaals and ss.ai,ss,on - M'
which we have no power TO rsaIat Rns Sor