Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-03-16

| Mr. Voorhees, said:
| Mr. Speaker, il is either nv good fortune or
INV bad fortune never to have been member Of.
legislative body until / took my seat in this
Congress Consequently / may not be tamil
lar with the rules of propriety that obtain among
members of deliberatiye bodies as Others who have
had more experience. But must confess, Mr..
Speaker, that, with my limited experience, have
observed the course of this debate with amaze
ment, and with some degree of honest indigna-
ton.
] This debate was opened by the gentleman from
New York, Mr.. OliE with lecture to this side
O: the House, informing us how he desired we
should discuss this question. He expected US to
observe certain rules and maxims laid down by
him for the government of our minds and of our
tongues He informed what we were to say,
and in what spirit we we're to say it. Our de-
pertinent was his especial care. He gave us that
| kind of warning beforehand that schOolmasters
sometimes indulge in when their pupils are about
to be paraded on exhibition before the public.
/ We were desired TO behave ourselves and TO pur-
sue a certain line of conduct marked out for in
advance by his magisterial authority. The air OF
testy. domineering pedagogue pervaded the
style and substance of all his remarks.
| Now, sir, with all the respect that have for
the position which the gentleman from New
| York occupies as Chairman of the Military Com
mittee allow me to inform him plainly to his face
that know of nothing in his position, nothing
| in bis principles nothing in his talents, nothing
/ in his character, that entities him to make, or
justiies aim in attempting to make for me, or for
| any member of the minority this side of the
| House any rule of conduct any subject what
ever Those which he has LAID down to govern
this discussion will not find respectful cOnsidera
ton at my hands, much less adoption.
After him comes the strap and button gentle
man from PENNSYLVANIA Mr.. Campbell who
howled forth his threats this floor like some
| angry animal in pursuit of prey. He tells us
what will happen to is both here and hereafter.
He consgns all, benevolently an charitably,
! 10 eternal condemnation and special damnation.
That is very kind of him. Possibly it has affected
somebody's nerves. Doubtless il did affect his
own. | must say. however, that it did affect
mine at all, except as gust OF harsh and dis
cOrdant sound is always more OF less jarring to
my nervous system 1t passed by this side of
the House as mere wind, somewhat unpleasant
and disgusting, but entirely harmless. submit
that the military and malicious gentleman from
| Pennsylvania has no right thus to affict and an
nov the prosecuted minority in this Hall.
After him, in the order Of debate, on the other
| side, comes that strange and eccentric gentleman
from Ohio, Mr. Bingham who so often holds
this House and these galleries in listening and
! wondering suspense and attention. In his private
intercourse he is one of the kindest and most
amiabe gentlemen whom | ever had the good
fortune 10 meet; but on this floor stranger
would take him to be, not merely Cato the Cen
SCR, for | believe Cato was very dignIied, and
certainly the gentleman from Ohio hardly ever
is. Tlaughter but some furious actor in play
whose part required him to scold and rave at
every human being who SO unfortunate as to
fall beneath his dreadful scowl He is stormy
and terrible 10 those who know him not but to
those who know him well, gentle summer
and ms tender as the dove who woos his mate.
am apOogizing for bis manner TO those who do
not understand him. His terrific outbreaks here
against the minority may be regarded n sort of
pleasant episode to the grave proceedings of this
House, a little ridiculous but perfectly innocent
1t is only his manner that is severe. not his mat
ter. He tells US what will be tolerated and what
will not be tolerated, how we shall behave, what
we shall say, what will be worthy of US, and
what unworthy of us. He starts out by telling
US that the language of the distinguished gentle
man from Ohio. Mr. Vallandighaml who held
spell bound this House from the position in which
| stand with one of the ablest arguments ever
heard, was all unworthy of a member of this
body. Who constituted him judge of his col
leagueSl Where does he find the authority TO
arraign his peers on this foorl Sir, there is but
one reply to language and conduct like this We
reject with scOrn your un ed advice; we spurn
your offensive lectures; despise your puerile
threats; we defy the malice which actuates them;
we hold you and your outrageous insolence in
sovereign and most unmitigated contempt While
YOU keep within the rules OF propriety and of duty
all will be well; but whenever you step out of
them. as you have to night, you have my an
swer
Sir, it i'll becomes gentlemen who have met
with reputation at the hands of their people;
who, for their policy and conduct on this floor,
have been rejected by their ewn constituents, and
who stand condemned before the country. TO come
here and lecture Democratic members. In com
mon decency you ought to keep silent. As mere
cumberers of the ground, whose days are mum
bered Popular maiOrities have been piled up
against you by thousands and tens of thousands.
Loyal people have spoken your kne; the funeral
bell has been tolled over your political graves by
patriotic hands: the grass is growing green on
the sod which covers you. And vet you dare
come here to lecture living menl We bear in our
bodies political vitality you political ghosts.
specterS from political grave yards where the
people buried you last fall. and wrote on your
tombstones, "No resurrection" How dare you
lecture the living. who yet stand on the shores OF
time. and who have something to do with earthly
affairs? Laughter. l invoke the spell of
decency and OF regard for propriety, and, in the
name of that spell. | exercise these spirits, and
tell them, clown, down, to whence you came. "
Laughter The old man whom Dante saw in
|
Beside the woefuI tide of Acberon,"
is waiting for YOU below
"Crying, woe to you, wicked spiritsi hope not
Ever to the sky again. |
To take You t. the othsr shore across
Into eternal darkness there 10 dwell
In fierce heat and ice And thou who there
Standest. live spirits! stand apart and leave
These who dead"
You talk about what is worthy and unworthy
Shall l accept gibbering and squeaking political
ghosts, who will troop home on the 4th of March
TO the vast charnel house of repudiated politicians
as my masters? / own but one master in this
Governmental is the sovereign people. / rep
resent loyal and magnificent constituency. They
know newell
'They are to my faults little blind"
But to my virtues very kind
We live somewhat according to the Scriptures
for we love one another. What | fail in works
as their representative they credit to good nten
tons To them, in grateful memory Of the past
! acknowledge my responsibility to night Ii j:
their right to approve condemn. / accept nc
verdict, however, on my principles my conduct
at the hands OF the fossil remains of dead party
which, when alive was not even respectable
Before nv constituents | stand ready to b,
judged. They have already judged me. They
have judged my Democratic friends, too, who
sit around They have judged my Demo
cratic colleagues from the State OF Indiana We
have passed the popular ordeal you have; anC
while you have been made to ferry the melan
chOly fiood-the river Styx--with the grim ferry
man, which poets write OF, unto the kingdom o
perpetual night. TO return TO the living land nc
more in the flesh, we stand here renewed ans
strengthened by the life giving power of poDu
lar apprOval-the embodiment of the DopuIa
will
And we return here not as we FIRST came. Wher