Polynesian., 1863-03-14
Ghe polpnesian.
Extracts from MIR. Vallandigham's
Speech in Congress.

ton of the famous Grafton by Mr.. Vallandigham.
Our space will not permit a greater extract.-ED.
| PoLYNEsIAN.I
| 1t is now two years. Sir, since Congress assem-
! bled soon after the Presidential election. A sec
tonal antislavery party had just succeeded through
the forms of the Constitution For the first time
President bad been chosen upon platform of
avowed hostility to an institution peculiar to nearly
half of the States of the Union, and who had
! himself proclaimed that there irrepressible
conflict because of that institution between the
States and that the Union could not endure 'part
slave and part free.'' Congress met, therefore, in
the midst of the profoundest agitation. not here
only but throughout the entire South. Revolution
gared upon us. Repeated efforts for Cancellation
and compromise were attempted in Congress and
out of it. All were rejected by the party Just COM
ing into power. except only the promise in the last
hour OF the session. and that, too, against the con-
sent of majority of that party both in the Senate
and House; that COngress-not the Executive
should never be authorized to abolish interfere
with slavery in the States where 1t existed. South
Carolina seeded !; Georgia, Alabama, Florida,
Mississippi. Louisiana, and Texas speedily followed.
! The Confederate Government established. The
other slave States held back. Virginia demanded
a peace congress. The commissioners met, and,
after some time, agreed upon terms of final adjust
ment. But neither in the Senate nor the House
were they allowed even respectful consideration.
The President elect left his home In February and
journeyed towards this capital, jesting as he came
proclaming that the crisis was only artificial, and
that " nobody was hurt" He entered this city
under cover of night and in disguise. On the 4th
of March he was inaugurated, surrounded by SOL
dlery and, swearing to support the Constitution
of the United States announced in the same breath,
| that the platform of his party should be the law
unto him. From that moment all hope Of peacea-
bbe adjustment fled But for little while either
| FIST in itat cd
ceit, the policy of peace proclaimed, even to
the evacuation of Sumpter and the other Federal
forts and arsenals In the seeded States w by that
policy suddenly abandoned, time will fully dis
close. Bnt Just after the spring elections, and the
secret meeting in this city of the Governors of sew
era northern and western States, fleet carrying
large number of men sent down Ostensbly to
provision Fort Sumpter. The authorities of South
Carolina eagerly accepted the challenge, and bonn
barded the fort into surrender. while the fleet fired
not gun, but just as soon as the flag was struck,
bore away and returned to the North. 1t was Sun
day, the 18th of April, 1861; and that day the
President, in fatal haste and without the advice or
consent of Congress, issued his proclamation, dated
the next day, calling out seventy-fve thousand
militia for three months. to repOssess the forts,
places and property seized from the United States,
and commanding the insurgents to disperse in
twenty days. Again the gage was taken up by the
South, and thus the flames of civil war, the grand
the whole heavens. Virginia forthwith seeded.
North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas followed;
Delaware, Maryland Kentucky and Missouri were
in q blaze of agitation, and within week from the
proclamation, the line of the Confederate States was
transferred from the cotton States the Potomac,
and almost to the Ohio and the Missouri, and their
population and fighting men doubled.
In the North and West too, the storm ragged
with the fury of hurricane. Never in history
anything 60 al to it. Men, women and children,
native and foreign born, Church and State, clergy
and laymen were all swept along with the current.
Distinction of age station, party, perished IN
an instant. Thousands bent before the tempest
and here and there only one found bold enough,
foolhardy enough it may have been, to bend not,
and upon him it fell as a consuming fire. The
spirit of persecution for opinion sake, almost ex-
tnct in the Old World now, by some mysterious
transmigration, appeared incarnate in the New.
Social relations were dissolved; friendships broken
up; the ties of family and kindred snapped asun-
der. Stripes and hanging were everywhere threat
ened, sometimes executed. Assassination was in
voked slander sharpened his teeth; falsehoOd
crushed truth to the earth reason fled madness
reigned. Not justice only escaped to the skies,
but peace returned to the bosom of God, whence
she came. The gospel of love perished; hate sat
enthroned, and the sacrifices of blood smoked upon
every altar.
But the reign of the mob was inaugurated only
to be supplanted by the iron domination of arb
trary power. Constitutional limitation was broken
down habeas corpus fell ; liberty of the press, of
speech, of the person. of mails, of travel, of ones
house, and of religion the right to bear arms,
due process of law, Judicial trial. trial by jury, trial
at all every badge and muniment of freedom in
republican government or kingly government-all
went down at blow the chief law officer of the
crown-I beg pardon, Sir, but it is easy to fall into
this courtly anguage-the Attorney General, first
of all men, proclaimed in the United States the
maxim of Roman servility "W hatever pleases
the President that is law!" Prisoners of State
were then first heard of here Midnight and arbi-
trary arrests commenced travel was lnterdicted {;
trade enlarged; passports demanded; bastiles
were introduced; strange Oaths invented; secret
police organized; piping began; informers mul-
tiplied spies first appeared in America. The
right to declare war; to raise and support armies,
and to provide and maintain a navy was usurped by
the Executive !; and in little more than two months
land and naval force of over three hundred thou
sa nd men was in the field upon the sea. An |
army of public plunderers followed, and corruption
struggled with power in friendly strife for the
terry at home.
On the 4th of July Congress met, not to seek /
peace; not to rebuke usurpatlon, nor to restrain /
power; not certainly to deliberate not to leg
slate but to register and ratfy the edcts and acts
of the Executive and in your language, SIR, upon |
the first day of the session, to invoke universal /
baptism Of fire and blood amid the of cannon
and the din OF battle. Free speech was only had /
at the risk of prison possibly of life Opposi-
tion was senced by the fierce clamor of g disloy-
atty" All business not of war voted out of 1
order. Five hundred thousand men, an immense
navy, and two hundred and fifty millions of money
were speedily granted. In twenty. at most in sixty
days, the rebellion to be crushed out. To /
doubt it was treason. Abject submission was de-
manded. Lay down your arms, sue for peace, sur
render your leaders-forfeiture, death-thls was l
the only language heard on the floor. The CALLER /
les responded the corridors echoed; and contrac-
tors and placemen and other venal patriots every
where gnashed upon the friends of peace as they |