Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-02-25

commended that inasmuch as a State can
not secede she may at any time, al
though she is ae faeto and not dc Jtre GU,
OF the Union, come back into the family
OF States with her old constitution and
institutions, and that Congress Is bound
to receive her. Upon this point | take
issue with the gentleman from Kentucky
This may not be the time to discus
the question, When the proper occa-
sion arises may submit my views upon
the subject
Sir, there is no one upon this floor
who deprecates this unhappy and UNI
hallowed war more than do There is no
one who desires peace more than | do
but, sir, that peace must be an honor
able peace, and based upon principles
consonant with the integrity, the honor,
and the purposes of a free Government -
Slavery caused the war, and it is TO pro-
tect 1T that the war is continued by the
| rebels. When the constitution was
framed slavery existed, Inherited from
| our mother, who now in the day OF our
trial claims to stand with folded arms
an Indifferent spectator Of war, upon
the issue of which depends the progress
VI ShiioNA"i SlNillSdbloii hlOit
| ly than upon any or all the conflicts and
struggles of all the centuries. Our
fathers supposed this great evil would
gradually melt away before an advanc-
ing civilization, as the SHOWS Of nor
them winter before the genial rays Of
| an April sun. But the evil grew. Agen-
cies arose which stimulated 1t, until it.
became u monster "whose tread made
the continent shake The invention of
the cotton gin gave stimulus to the
production of cotton, and the adapta-
ton of the climate and soil of the South
to the production of this leading sta
pie of the world Increased the demand
for labor. More laborers," was the
cry and whole states, Virginia, the
mother of Presidents, leading the rest,
gave themselves to supplying the mar
ket More land, was the cry and
Texas was thrown to the leech. The
free North stood back aghast as this
crowned leper, under the claimed sane
ton of the Constitution, marched to its
new domain. The institution which our
fathers had looked upon as an evil had
become divine. 1t occupied the bench,
it controlled the Administration, it
struck down Senators in the Halls of
Congress, it cajoled and fiattered and
threatened and lied, till its all boast
ing nav swallowed Congress itself The
intelligence and moral sense of the ma
ton were against it. The wealth of the
nation was Ngainst it. The popular
vote of the nation, when uncontrolled
by demogogue and doughfaces, was
against it. In Gods good time, the peo-
pie seeing that the administration of
their government was q cheat, arose in
their majesty. The weak and plant
Buchanan, the pilfering Floyd, the cul-
tured but traitorous Davis, were hurled
from power, and an honest man, the no.
best work of God, placed in the Pres-
Dental chair. The propogandists of
slavery, like their great prototypes deem
ing it better to rule in hell than to serve |
in heaven rebelled. To them alone belongs
the responsibility. To them alone at
taches the consequences Of their awful
crime.
The gentlemen upon the other side, in
words whose persuasive sweetness might
almost raise mortals to the skies, or
bring angels down, call for peace and
the restoration of the Union as it was |
Sir, let them restore the crumbled walls
of Sumter surmounted by our starry
banner let them call from it's depths to
the surface of the James, the Cumber-
land and her gallant crew who went |
down with their proud flag still flying |
let them revivify the scores of thousands |
whose martyr forms consecrate the hun |
dred battle-flelds of this contest, and |
whose blood has given our land in holt |
est baptism to freedom henceforth for |
ever; let them give us back our Win |
throp and Lyon and Stevens and Kear- |
ney and Richardson and Reno, and the |
comrades who with them sleep their |
last sleep and have fought their last bat
tle;" let them summon back to our Sem
ate Hall the Wondering dust that once |
was Baker the noble and eloquent tom |
que stilled forever; let them hush the |
grief that fills our land for the loss of |
those who have died that our country |
might live-grief that proudly mourns !
and asks no sympathy from traitorous
hands; let them rebuke the gaunt de- |
mon of famine now stalking with his
triumphant train of woes throughout
the South; let them change the stars in
their courses, and turn back the hands
upon the dial-plate of time, and obliter-
ate the bloody record of the past three
years Then, sir, you can have peace
and the Union as it was-a peace which
the North would never break. When
they shall have done all this. then @may
the dog return to his vomit and the sow
to her wallowing in the mire." But
never until then, sir, shall the crack of
the slave-whip again make sweet music
in their ears.
Sir the gentlemen are the Bourbons of
our country-they learn nothing and for
get nothing. But, af
There's divinity that shares our ends,
Rough hew them how will.''
And has there not been, strand I
quote from another-a divine purpose
controlling all the political and military
phases of this conflict; snatching from
us victories /; granting successes fore
ing us at last by the gigantic proper
lions of this revolt to shear it of it's
strength in pronoucing q doom upon it's
cherished institution and arming against
them those of their own household; in
n. -