The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-02-10


fhis is world of bereayements and chang.
/ es, and l announce 10 you that your friend
has departed Hang the draperyl of mo,frfi-
4 ing oplissfbisp Go in long and solemis ljro-
\ cession after its hearse il you please, and shed
your tears of sorrow over its grave. but haye
no, time to waste in listening to your fearful
eulogy over the deceased ssa 5s',si ssef.-siFs
Icolne now to consider another point in this
4 question: T. hold it as settled truth that
/ the. leaders of this rebellion can never live ia
! peace in this Republic i do not say it in any
/ spirit of vindictiveness, but as matter OF
conviction. Ask the men who have seen
them and met them in the darkness Of battle
and all the rigors of warfare: they win ten
you it can never be. | make, of course, an
exception in favor of that sad array of men
who have been forced or cajoled by their
! leaders into the ranks and subordinate offices
/ in the rebel army. believca truce could be
struck to-day between the rank and file of the
hostile armies: I believe they could meet and
shake hands together ioyfully over returning
i peace, respecting their mutual courage aud
manhood But for the wicked men who
brought on this rebellion, r the wicked men
who led them into the darkness, such day
cen never come. Ask the Representatives, of
Kentucky a; on this floor who know What
the rebellion has been in their State, who
know the violence and devastation that has
swept over it, and hey will tell you that all
over that State neighbor has been slaughtered
by neighbor, feuds, fierce as human hate can
make them, have sprung up and SO long as
revenge has an arm to strike they will never
cease to strike if such men come back to
dwell in their midst This is true of every
State over which the 'desolating tide OF war
has swept. If you would not inaugurrte an
exterminating warfare, to continpe while you
and i and our children and cliildrens chill
dren live, set it down at once that the leaders
of this rebellion must be executed or BAN
ished from the Republic. 4 They must follow
the fate of the Tories of the Revolution.
Ibeleye, Mr.. Speaker, that the Army is
i unit on-these great questions ; and must
here be permitted to quote freta one of ma
ture's noblemen, a man from Virginia, with
the pride of the old Dominion in his blood,
but who eoald not be scduced from his .patri-
otism-one who, amid the storm OF war that
surged against him at, Chickamauga, stood
firm as a rock in the sea-George III. Thomas.
I That man wrote a communication to the
Secretary of War nearly ay ear ago, saying, in
substance, for | quote from memory, Il send
you the inclosed paper from a subordinate
officer; l. endorse its sentiments; and will
add, that we can never make solid progress
against the rebellion until we take more
sweeping and severe measures; we must make
these people feel the rigors of war, slibsist our
Army upon them, and leave their country SO
there will be little emit for them to desire. ''
Thus spokea man " ho is very far from be-
ing what gentlemen upon the other side of the
house are pleased to call an abolitionist, or a
northern fanatic; and in saying, this he spoke
the voice of the Army.
Mr.. Speaker, | am surprised aud amaz ID
beyond, measure at what Il have seen in this
House. Having been so long with men who
had but one thought upon these great themes,
it is passing strange to me to hear men talking
of the old issues and discussions Of few years
ago. They forget that we live in actions and
not in They forget that sometimes a
nation may live generation in a single year.
and the experience of the last three years has
been greater than that of centuries of quiet
and peace. There are men who do not seem
to realize that this is struggle for eNstence;
aterrible fight of flint with flint, bayonet with
bayonet, blood for blood. They still retain
some hope that they can smile rebellion into
peace. They use terms strangely. Inthese
modern days words have lost their signii-
cance. IF a man steals his thousands from
the Treasury, he is not thief !; oh, no; he is
a "defaulter." If mar. hangs shackles on
the limbs of human being and drives him
through life as slave, it is not man stealing,
it is not even slavery, it is only another form
Z of civilization" Esis.zs. s..i h gts.s.ss,
~ We are using words in that strange way.
There are public journals in New York city.
i am told, that never call this rebellion-it
lis only ''civil cornmotion,''ga .sfraternal
strife" l had thought the days of. South
erna brethren" and a wayward sstersnn had
gone by, but I find it here in the high noon of
its glory, One would suppose from all We
hear that war is genteel and graceful exercise,
to be INDUCED in in quiet and pleasant man
ner. / have lately seen stanza from the
Nursery rhymes Of England, which ] COM
mend to these gentle hearted patriots who
propose to put down the rebellion with soft
words and paper resolutions :,.ss ii 49,. E
'erhere was an old who said, how. sf,y5 30
r--is.sis shall fee frrin this horrible COW:
1 viii sit on the stiIe q - . tt4'si W -.e :
.s7Tsas And continue to smle,f.s,I hs5itf5i Il -
-,, Which my soften the heart of this COW
tell you, gentlemen, the heart of this
great rebellion cannot be softened by, smiles.
You cannot send commissioners down to
Richmond, as the gentleman from, New York
Mr.. Fernando Wood proposes, to smile
away the horrible facts of this war. Not by
smiles but by laundering xolleys must this
rebellion be met and by that means alone,-
| am reminded of what Macaulay said in re-
gard to the revolution in England. He said !:
is because wee had a preserving re,oIution in the
seventeenth century that we hays not bad
the midst of servirue that we order the
midst of anarchy For the authority of law for the
curty OF property for the peace Of our Streets for the
happiness of our homes, gratitude is DUE under Him
who raises and pulls down nations At His pleasure, to the
Long Parliament to the Convention, and to William of
Orange" ".S fE7 Aisa 1-tfsas ,9ffla 2i.'ss
Mr.. Speaker, if we want peace that is not
a hollow peace we must follow that example
and make thorough work of this war. We
must establish freedom in the midst of seryi-
tude, and the authority of law in the midst of
rebellion. We must fill the thinned ranks of
our armies, assure them that grateful and
loving people are behind them, and they will
go down against the enemy bearing with them
the majesty and might of great nation
w e must follow the march of the army with
"a law that will sweep away the cause Of the
whole terrible revolution. The war began By
proclamation, and it must end by proclana-s
ton. We can hold the ifsurgent States in
military subsection half q century Il needs be,
or until they are purged of their dross, and
poison, and leave them to stand up clean be-
fore the country, to come back with clean
hands if they come at ALL Il want to see IN
all those States the men who have fought and
suffered for the truth tilling those fields on
which they pitched their tents. 1 want to
see them, like old Kaspar of Blenhein,, on
the, summer evenings, with their children on.
their knees, and pointing out the spot where
brave menfell and marble commentaries il.
p Let no breath of treason be whispered there.
I want no man there, like one who came from
my own State, who came before the great
struggle in Georgia and gave us his views of
r,eaea, Ha "a M d th fri er,fl IF Voiia,,l;s.
ham, the man for whom the gentlemen On the
athar eide of fha 1Jo,Ysaet from, NV, <tat.f