Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1863-03-20
Political.
SPEECH or HON. BENJAMIN WOOD
Separation with view to Recon-
structiOn-PeaCe and Fraternal Re :
IatiOns.

! During the first session OF the present
| Congress, and one week before the
slaughter at Manassas ha6 awakened our
people to the realities of war, l offered
in this House the following resolution
! Resolued, That this Congress recon-
mend the Governors of the several States
to convene their Legislatures for the pur-
pose of calling an election to select two
delegates from each Congressional dis
trict, to meet in general Convention at
Louisville, in Kentucky, on the 1st Mon
day of September next, the purpose of
the said Convention to be to devise mea-
sures for the restoration of peace to our
country.
That resolution was laid upon the ia
BILE. In its place, from time to time,
emanated from this and other branches
of the government certain edicts, laws,
and proclamations, which, while power
less to affect rebellion at the South, have
revolutiouized the political sentiment at
the North
Sir, sincerely believe that, had my
resolutions been adopted, the then vacil-
ating feeling of the South would have
been won to honorable compromise, and
the blessings Of peace and Union would
this day cheer the land. But even if in
effectual-looking back to the period
when presented it, aud over the blood
stained record Of the intervening time
l feel that its adoption could have lent
no additional horrors to that fearful his
tory If tue logic of events should bring
the conviction that the course then sug-
gested might have ayerted from our
country the curse of desolating war,
he responsibility Of its rejection will not
be mine.
Sir, | desire to shun the language Of
reproach, and to avoid unnecessary re-
trospection l drag the past from its shroud
only as an imploratiou for the future --
For two years we have been leagued with
death We have inAamcd ourselves into
the widest state of warlike frenzy. Ia
our legislative halls, and ia our temple,
Of worship, we have tumblod Gle white
image Of peace from its pedestal. Upon
the edge Of the sword we have balanced
our couu;ry's fate. We have rebukod
and yiifed and chastised and shut ou'
from the light Of Heaven all those that
would not re-echo the hoarse notes Of
war.
Passion, excitement, an overstrained
philanthropy, false inspiration for the
emblem of our nationality, heroic but
misdirected devotion to the Union, all
these have had their sway. 1t is time
that reason should sit in judgment, tax
ing counsel only from humanity. We in
yoked the spirit of war to saye-it came
but to destroy Our treasures are cmpti-
ed. Our posterity will be accursed with
a crushing debt. Hundreds Of thousands
of our bravcst rest in untimely graves
AS many more, limbless, with shattered
frames or broken by disease, moan in
hospitals, or crave aims by the highways.
Everywhere the garb of mourning aihicts
the eye--a silent reproach from orphans,
widows, and bereaved parents. The
death-blow struck upon the battlefield is
felt in the cottager's distant house. There
you may fnd the saddest record Of the
war. You will trace in the lines upon
the matron's brow; you will see Tin the
whiteness of the ang BRIDES cheek ;
you will hear it in the subdued tones Of
The fathers voice, who feels the staff Of
his age shiyered from his grasp. Graves
in our valleys, sufferers in our hospitals,
desolation at every hearthstone, distrust
| in our rulers, distrust in ourselves, bank
ruptcy, anarchy, and ruin-t these are the
triumphs won by your relentless policy.
All that has been done is but what,
were the past revocable, reason and hu.
manity would recall. With all respect
for the yalor Of our armies, and without
reproacb to the capacity or fidelity Of our
generals, not one tangle Of ibis Gordian
| knot has the sword severed; not one ave-
nue. has it carved through the frownng
and steadily charging barrier between
North and South
The close of each campaign tells tie
repeated tale Of victories barren Of all
fruits, or Of defeats with an equal alb
sence Of result; Of advance and retro
erosion; Of generals buried up to the
high post of honor, and as hastily thrust
aside. The administration, through ita
partisan presses, occupies the people with
rich promises Of achievements in the fu-
ture, but achieves only the stale nothings
of the past. Assuming.that the recon
struction of the Union is tho object Of
the struggle, l ask every citizen not vii
fully blind to cur present condition, have
we not been reeeding from that object
Has all this blood letting abated one jot
the fever Of rebellion 2 Has it not con-
irmed its malignity--deep seated it into
the very southern hearth Sir, it has done
more it has made disunion the scnti-
ment Of the entire South.
1t is babitual to throw the weight Of
responsibility for our impotence upon the
c,urraln ff,.I lao