Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-01-18
MR.. VALLANDIGHAMS SPEECH ON THE
MASON. SLIDELI, AFFAIR.

MASON -SLIDELL AFFAIR.
Mr.. Vallandigham of Ohio; is almost the only
man in the Federal Congress who has the courage
to beard the Lincoln despotiSm. He is OF the right
grit On the 7th inst, on a motion to refer the
message of Lincoln accompanying the papers relating
to the Trent affair. Mr.. V. made the following re-
marks:
Mr.. Vallandgham (opp.) Of Ohio, said: avail
myself sir of this the earliest opportunity offered
to express my utter and strong condemnation, as
one OF the representatives of the people, OF the act
of the administration in surrenderng up MesSrs.
Mason and Slidel to the British government For
six weeks sir they were 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 the manner and all the circumstances Of
their capture yet in six days after the imperious
and peremptory demand of Great Britain, they
were a6jectly surrendered upon the mere rumor
of the approach of hostile fleet and thus for
the first time in national history have strut
ted inSolently 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, q vassa or fettered and terror stricken press
or scrvile and sycOphahtic politicians i'll this House
or out of it, may applaud the act, and fawn and
fatter, and lick the hand which has smitten down
our honor into the dust. But the people,
hereafter will demand terrible reckoning for this
most unmanly surrender. But do not trust my
self to speak of it as l propose some day to
speak. l 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 might
have been avoided by combined wisdom and firm
ness, is now inevitable.
Sir the surrender may be no fault Of the Secre-
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 Slidellg 1t was
surrender Of the clam of the right to seize them
on board her ships, under her flag that she demand
ed, and yet this is the very thing that Mr.. Seward
pertinaciously 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 as at first intended
had been enjoyed to carry these out from Fort
Warren to England she mil ht to-day have been ar
rested on the high seas and they dragged from her
deck, provided only she were forthwith brought
back to the port Of Boston for confscation
But more than this, England needs do not say
wants war, but she must and will have it, and
this Administration has acted from the beginning
as if it Was their purpose to ob!ige her in it to the
utmost. Look into your diplomatic correspondence
Look at your stone fleet. But let that pass. Who
| ask, among all the millions Of this country, or
even in this House Senate, the Administration
itself in the midst of the dead calm of Stod security
which seems now to rest over ALL has reflected for a
moment upon the sgniticancy of the events of the
passing hour?
A British man of-war bears to the shores of Eng
land, there to he received in triumph and with
shouts of eXutatOn martyrs and heroes, and
with the guStoS OF the people Of England and the
protegeS of their ministers, the very men whO but
for the rash act 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 re-
bells and refugees. All Europe 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 reoices that
the eiectual check upon and waning proportions of
the Instruction, well as the comparative unim-
pOrtance of the persons concerned happily enable
the administration after six weeks OF experiment
to cheeriully hberate them, and thus To remove
this teterinti cIuSi beiii.
Sir, give me leave to say that the moment they
Mason and SlidclD stepped upon the deck of a
British man of-war, your prisoners of State, whom
the other day you would have consigned to ielon's
cells, became indeed the ENJOYS and ambassadors
Of recognized independent State, and | predict
here to-day, in spite OF This deep national humla-
tion or rather perhaps because of it, and in spite,
too Of the surrender, without protest, of the Mon
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 or else, in
the meantime will have basely submitted to the
cognition of the Confederate States and the break
ing up Of the blockade; and if at then with
hearts unStrung, and hands unnerved, by this very
surrender.
Courage! courage courage! sir, is the best and
first of peacemakerS. | know well, of course, sir,
that like all other similar predictions for some years
past in regard to public affairs, You will treat
this one also with soothing and incredibly but new
erthelesS, l put it on record here to-day. The
prudent man forcseeth the evil and hdeth himself,
but the simple pass on and are punished"
Mr.. Conkling of New York. delivered a speech
IN the House, few days SINCE in which he called
for investigation TO the battle of Leesburg, and
declared that besides the defeat to the North, with
large loss of arms, there sacrifice of nine
hundred and thirty men. He pronounced it the
most atrocous military murder committed in
our history" This is admission by the enemy
of most signal defeat in that famous battle.