True Democrat., 1863-03-11
Great. Epeach of the


 From the Washingtoa Congressional Globe 18th of Jsn
 MR VALLAsDIaEsa. a.-Indorsed at the recent election within the slrne district for which 1 still hold seat on this hsEor, by majority four times greater than ever besore, l speak to-day in the name and by the authority of the peope who, for SIX years, have intfusted me with the office of a Representative. Lo-al, in the true and highest sense of the word, % the Consultation and the Union, they have proved themselves devotedly at- tached to and worthy of the liberties to secure which the Union and the Constitution were estab- lished. With candoT and freedom, therefore, as their kepresentativeS Band with much plainness>ot speech, but with ths-aignity and decency due to this presence, propose to consider the State of the On'on to-day, and to inquire what the duty IS of every public man and every citizen ill this the very crisis of the Great Revolution
 It is now two years, sir, since Congress assem- bled soon after the Presidential election. A sec tional slavery party had just succe eded through the forms of the Constitution. For the first time a President had been chosen upon platform of avowed hostility to an institution peculiar to near ly one-half of the States of the Union, and had himself proclaimed that there was an irrepressibe conflict because of that institution between the States; and that the Union could not endure :" part slave and part free" Congress met, therefore, i'll the midst ot the profoundest agitation, not here only but throughout the entire South Revolution : gldred upon us. Rereated efforts for conciation ! and compromise were attempted in Congress and out 1l It. All were rejected by the party Just | coming into power, except only the promise in the last hour of the session, and that, too, against the consent of a majority of that party, both in the Senate and House, th9t Congress-not the Eexecu- tive-shoufd never Issathor.zcd to abolish or in- terfere with slavery in the States where itexisted South Carolina seeded; Georgia, Alabama, Flori da, Mississippi Louisiana and Texas speedily fol: lowed. The Confederate Government was estab lished. The other slave States held back. Viginia demanded Peace Congress. The Commissioners met, and, alter 5ofAs tLlse, agreed upon terms of final adjustment. But neither in the Senate nor the House were they allowed even ! respectful consideration. The President elect left his home Tn February, and l0urneyed toward this capital, testing as he came; proclaiming that the crisis only artificial. and that "nobody was hurt" He entered this city under cover of night and i'll disguise. On the 4th of March he was inaugural ted, surrounded by soldiery; and, swearing to su1 port the Constltuti0n of the United States nounced in the slme breath that the platform of his party should be the law unto him. From that moment all hope of peaceabIe adjustment Hed.- But for q little while, either with unstealaSt sin cerity, in premeditated deceit, the policy of peace was proclaimed, even to the evacuation of Samter ani the other Federal forts and arsenals in the seeded States Why that policy was sud denly abandoned ti1e will fully disclose,
 But just after the ng elections. and the secret meeting in this city of the Governors of several Northern ani Western States. fleet of---vesses car. In4 -unen. wls st0C doAn ostensi N to provision Fort Sumter. The authorities of South Carolina eagerly accepted the challenge, aud bonn brded the fort into surrender, while the fleet fired not a gun. but, ust soon the flag struck, bore away and returned to the North. It was Sun day the l4th of April, 1861; and that day the President, in fatal haste and without the advice coasent ot Congress- issued his proclamation, dated he next day, callmg out seventy i've thousand miTta f''r three mon'hs. to repDsseSS thA toIts places and property seized from she United 9,atea,, and communicating the insurgents to dlsperse i'll tw nty days. Again the gage was taken up by the south, and thus the flames of civil war, the 2 3nlsSt t,e bl 'a-Aesl and sa 'drsi n history, lighted up the whole heavens. Virginia forthwith 1 seeded. North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkan- sas followed. Delaware, Maryland. Kentucky and 4,sOuii were in Ofaze oI agitation, anu. wllh!n d week from the proclamation, the line ot the Con- ! .Gerate States was transferred rom the Cotton States to the Potomac, and almost to the Ohio and 1 the Missouri, and their population and h9htiug | men doubled
 | In the North and he West, too, the storm rag l cd with the fury of hurricane. Never in history was any thing equal to 1t. Men, women and chil- l lren, native and fnraisEn hnrn Chu.cbslnd State l clergy and laymen, were ali swept along with the I current Distinction of ago. sex, station, party, 1 perisned in an instant. Thousands bent before the 1 tempest; and here and there only was one found | bold enough, foohardy .ehough it may have been, l to bend not, and upon him it fell as consuming 1 hre The spirit of persecution for opinions sake, almost extinct in the Old World. now, by some 1 mysterious transmi grafton, appeared incanate m | the New. Social relations dissolved friend. | ships broken up; the ties of family and kindred | anaDoed asunder. Stripes and hanging every where threatened, souetimes executed. Assassi l nation vas invoked; slander sharpened his tooth l fasehood crushed truth to the earth; reason fled ; madnes. regned. Not justice only escaped to the | skies bu. peace returned to the bosom of God, l of i,Ln n1 | hate sat enthroned, and the sacrifices of human | blood -moked upon every altar.
 ! Burahe reign of Che mob was inaugurated only l to be supplanted by the iron domination of arb- | trary powers. Constitqtiona limitation was broken down; habeus corpus fell; liberty of the press, of speech of the person, of mails, of travel of one own house, and of religion ;the right to bear arms, due process of law, judicial trial, trial by jury, 1 trial at all, every badge and imminent of freedom in republican government or kingly government all went down at a blow; the chief law officer of the crown-I beg pardon, sir, but it IS easy to fall into this courtly language-the Attorney General, first of all men, proclaimed Tn the United States | the maxim of Roman servity: Whaterer pledses
 the President, thdt IS Lato! Prisoners of State were
 then first heard of here. Midnight and arbitrary arrests commenced; travel was interd icted; trade
 embargoed; passports demanded; battles were in | troduced; strange oaths invented; secret police | organized; piping" began, lntormers multiplied; spies now first appeared in America. The right Ito declare war; raise and support armies, and to 1 provide and maintain navy was usurped by the l Executive; and in little more than two months a | naval and land force of over three hundred thou | sand men was in the field or upon the An ar
 my of public plunderers followed, anu corruption struggled with power in friendly strife for the
 astery at home.
 On the 4th of July Congress met, not to seek
 peace; nor to rebuke usurpaton, nor to restrain 1 bower: not certainly to deliberate; not even to
 ecisate but to register and ratiiy the edicts and acts of the Executlver and in your language, sir, upon the first day of the session, to invoke uni | yersa baptism of fire an0 blood amid the roar of cannon and the din of battle Free speech was had only at the risk of prasas; possibly ot life. Op- position was silenced by the fierce camor or ' dis | ioyalty." All business not of war voted out of order. Five hundred thousand men, inn mense IVY, and two hundred and fifty millions of l money were speedily granted. In twenty, at most in sixty days the rebellion was to be crushed out. l To doubt it was treason. Abect submission was 1 demanded. Lay down your arms, sue for peace. surrender your eaders--farieture. death--this was the only language heard on this floor. The gal l leries responded; the corridors echoed; and con- tractors and placemen and other venal patriots gnashed upon the friends of peace as they passed | by In five weeks seventy eig Int public and pr- vate acts and joint resolutions, with declaratory resolutions, in the Senate and House, quite as nu- rDkous, All full of slaughter, hurried through without delay and almost without debate.
 Thus was cioa par inaugurated in America.-- 1 Can any man to day see the end oft
 And now pardon me, sir, if pause here mo-