Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-03-13
The resolutlon Maa chem naaaed

l.
! but Democrat does this be is acting sedtious
ly, and is traitor at heart.
Again look at the following:
III tell you, sir, believe, and declare IL up
on my responsibility as Senator of the Unite,
States, that the liberties of this country are II
greater danger to-day from the corruptions AM
from the profigaoy practiced 10 the various De
partments OF the Government than they or.
fiom the open enemy In the feld."-Speteh o
John p. Hale, In Me United States Senate, April
1862.
Why was not John P. Hale arrested and sen,
to Fort Lafayette In advance of Dr.. olds and
others The answer is, and the faithful histo.
rian will 80 write IL down, that the reason Why
he was not arrested Was because he was Re-
publican.
But we are told by the Republican Sepators
upon this door, "that they do not approve of the
Presidents emancipation proclamation lhey
think that II was ill.timed and Ill advised but
since 1t has been Issued we should say nothing
ABOUT IT," Oh no, you must not say anything
about 1t, or you will cripple the Government.
am tired Of this confounding of terms -
What is our Government Il is not the rocka
and hills, the mountains and valleys, the lakes
and rivers OF the American continent, that con-
slitute the Government nor is Mr.. Lincoln
aud bis Cabinet the Government but the Con-
stitution OF the United States. These are but
the agents pointed out In that sacred instrument
to administer its wise and humane provisions
when they transcend their powers as agents
may we not as soVereigns criticise heir actions
ana ask an indignant and outraged people 10
repudiate them through the ballot boxi know,
Nc fresldent, that in o recent speech made by
prominent Republican In Congress II was
said that "the President Of the United States
VAS above the Constitution, that he did mot
take an oath to obey the Constitution but TO
administer its provisions to Others" quote
from memory, but do no Injustice to the text.
Mr.. Gunckel-Who was he
Mr.. C,Connor-l do not now remember his
name. have the speech on file In my room,
and will produce u If the gentleman desires.
Mr. Gunckel-Where does he live
Mr.. O'Connor-In the East. Massachusetts,
or Maine, perhaps. think 1t was Fessepden.
Aud now, Mr. President, will bring nv ar.
eument to close. Ihave already detained the
Senate much longer than l anticipated.
Mr.. Gunckel-Bafore the Senator from Mon
roe takes his seat, would like to know what
he would do with the rebels in the South when
the rebellion 10 put down. l mean the leaders,
Davis, Floyd, Beauregard and Yancey. The
masses, OF course, are not responsible
Mr.. O'Connor-I would give them fair trial
under the Constitution, convict them of treason
and hang them as high ss Hsman was hung,
for having committed the frat overt act of tres-
son and upon the other end of the beam as
oounterpoise, would hang In chains of ca.
ble's strength, and which would not corrode
through all time, Wendell Phillips Stephen
Foster, Parker Psbury, and Horace Greeley,
as the instigstors OF this overt act and, eli, ;,
as the mariner places his beacon upon the rock
to warn him of danger, would let these In
siigstors hang there as a political beacon
through all time, warning the people of this
country that their approach was danger-that
contact with, and Endorsement of their politl-
cal views, was death.
Mr. Gunckel-Will the Senator from Mon
roe tell US how he or the Democratic party
proposes to put down this rebellion
Mr.. O'Connor-By you and your friends
returning to your fret love, II you ever bad
any, and all rallying as We did before the 22d
CT September, around the Corstituti0n OF our
country. You have very near, sirs, accom-
plished In one bad hour, what the rebels have
not yet accomplished in almost q two years'
war, and what they never can accomplish, If
We are true to our birthright-the overthrow of
this Government. While gentlemen disclaim
any right aud power under the Constitution to
interfere with the institution of slavery in the
States, regarded as Legislative body aud in
times Of peace, they still assert that Congress,
by some mysterious power or operation that no
one has explained, and which no one can
| explain, acquires potuer il did not before
possess, to sweep out the institutions of all the
States u IL desires to do 30; because, If It can
sweep out one under the war power, IL can
sweep out any other. 1t is Just ss easy to saw
that Congress can declare the growing of wheat
or tobacco requires to be stopped as military
necessity, and that Congress hes the power to
determine and enforce that necessity, as to say
Congress acquires the power TO determine that
the abolition of slavery is military necessity,
and enforce that determination. This plea,
sir, OF military nscessity, Is the old plea Of ty-
rants, and of tyrants only. 4,1
Whenever you begin to draw your powers nj
legislation from the disturbed and unsettled
condition OF the country, and not from the
Constitution; when you cast the Constitution
from you; when you put 1t away from your
sight; when you bury IL from your sight and do
not refer to 1t, and recur to it as the charter of
our existence, the Bible of mans rights, the
source of our powers, but step beyond 1t, and
say, as you have said upon this floor, and as
your party say everywhere, we derive our DOW
ers from the disturbed condition of the country /:
in other words, that treason and rebellion, trai
tors and rebels, are the source of our power,
and not the Constitution that our fathers made
for US, not after a long peace, but after seven
years. carnage aud bloodshed- I ask, /,
is the Government that my fathers bequeathed
to me as an inheritance to me and my children
forever7
| What conceivable act is there that passion or
caprice or tyranny or despotism can suggest
that you may not perform under this claim of
power, that you say you derive from traitors
aud rebels, and not from the Constitution, to do
any thing and every thing that the Constitution
forbids, when you look to thst3
| If, Mr.. President, to our country that day
shall ever come, when prattling childhood, ma.
ture manhood and enfeebled old age shall no
longer lisp the sweet accents of obedience to
the Constitution Of our country---then are we
undone-and to perish ia written, as it was Of
old, in letters of blood on the doorposts and
lentils of all of our beloved institutions. Per-
NIT me to repeat IT, sire, If ever this sacred in
strument, this Bible of mans rights, 10 disse-
garded In its sacred precepts by the macs of the
American people-if by them it is desecrated
and destroyed, we must perish, and another
Scipio Africanus will cit down amid the ruins,
not of q second Carthage, but amid the ruins OF
our own glorious republic. Another Nero, after
being drunken with the blood of his country.
men, will make fendish melody, not over a Ro-
man State, but over bleeding, dying, murdered
innocence-oye the broken altar and demol-
ished temple of FRERDcM-yea, over the plum.
dered, burning sanctuary of the Most High