, 1864-05-14
GEN. eaRFIELD.s SPEECH,

GEN. GARFlEl.D's SPEECH.
The following are the concluding para.
graphs Of Gen !Garfeld's speech in Con.
gress, on the Cdnfscation resolution:
MI. Speaker, If We want peace that i.
not hollow peace, we must follow that ex.
ample and make. thorough work of this
war. We must establish freedom in the
midst Of seryitude, and the authority Of
law in the ranks of our armies, asstire them
that grateful and loving people are behind
them, and they will go down against tht
enemy, bearing with them the majesty and
might Of great nation. We must follow
tho march Of the Army with law that
will sweep away the cause Of the whole ter.
rible revolution. The war began by pro-
clamation, and it must end by proclamation.
We can hold the insurgent States in mill.
tary subjection half q century if needs be,
or until they are purged of their dross and
poison, and leave them to stand up clean
before the country, to come back with clean
hands IL they come at all. l want to sec
in all those States the men who have fought
and suffered for the truth, tilling those fields
on which they pitched their tents. want
to see them like old Kasper of Blenhcim,
on the summer evenings, with their children
upon their knees, and pointing out the spot
where brave men fell, and marble commem.
crates IL.
Let no breath Of treason be whispered
there. ! want no man there, like one from
my own State, who came before the great
struggle in Georgia and gave us his views
Of peace. lie came as q friend Of Val
landigham, the man for whom the gentle
man On the other side Of the House from
my State worked and voted. We were on
the eve Of great battle. l said to him,
"you wish TO make Mr.. Vallandigham Gov
ernor Of Ohio. WhyS" Because in the
first place" using the language Of the gen.
tleman from New York-Mr. Fernando
Wood-"you cannot snbjugate the South,
and we propose to withdraw without trying
il any further. In the next place, we do
not want anything to do with an abolition
war, and will not give one dollar for that
purpose" Remember, gentlemen, what
occurred on the conscription bill this morn-
ing. "To-morrow," continued, "we may
be engaged in death-strugglc with the
rebel army that cOnfronts us, aud is daily
increasing. Where is the sympathy oi
your party? Do you want us beaten OF
Bragg beaten" He answered they had no
interest in fighting, that they did not be.
lieve in fighting
Mr.. Noble.-A question right here.
Mr.. Garfeld.-l cannot yield; l have
no time. He was the agent sent by the
Copperhead Secretary Of State to distribute
election blanks to the army Of the Cumber-
land.
Mr.. Noble.-A single question.
Mr.. Gar6eld.--I have no time to spare
Mr.. Noble.-I want TO ask the gentle.
man il he knows that Mr.. Griffith has
made question Of veracity with him by
q positive denial Of alleged conversation
published in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Mr.. Garield.-No virtuous denials in the
Cincinnati EagSirer can alter the facts oi
this conversation, which was hard by a
dozen officers.
asked him further, show il would a..
feet you IL we should crush the rebels in
this battle, aud utterly destroy them?'
ave would probably lose votes BY it,"
= Howwould itafect your partyif wesh0uld
be beatenl" at would probably help us
in votes"
That, gentlemen, is the kind Of support
the Army Is receiving in what should be
the house Of its friends. This, gentlemen,
is the kind Of support these men-some of
them-are inclined to give this country
and It's army in this terrible struggle. /
hasten TO make honorable exceptions. j
know there are honorable gentlemen on the
other side who do not belong to that cate
CORY, and am proud to acknowledge them
as my friends. But say that the effect
Of what the majority Of them is doing will
pull down the fabric Of our Government
BY aiding their friends over the border to
do il. Their friends, say, for when the
Ohio election was about TO come Of, in
the army Of Chattanooga, moro anxiety
was felt In the rebel camp than In our own.
The pickets had talked face 10 face and
made daily inquiry how the election in Ohio
was going. And ut midnight on the 18th
Of October, when the telegraphic news was
flashed down to US, announcing to the army
that the Union had sixty thousand major.
ity in Ohio, there arose shout all along
the line on that rainy midnight from every
tent which rent the skies with jubilees, and
sent despair to the hearts Of those men be-
yond our lines who were waiting and watch
ing across the border. Il told them, their
colleagues, their sympathizers, their friends,
l had almost said their emissaries, had failed
to sustain themselves in turning the tide
against our friends in the contest. And
from that hour, but not till that hour, the
army felt safe from the enemy behind IT,
Let no weak sentiments Of misplaced
sympathy deter us from inauguating d
measure which will cleanse our nation and
make It the iit home Of freedom and glori-
Gus manhood. Let Us not despise the So
we're wisdom Of our revolutionary fathers,
when they served their generation in a
similar way. Let the Republic drive from
lis soil the traitors that have cOnspired
against It's life, as God and his angels drove
Satan and his host from heaven. He was
not too mercifnl to be just, and to hurl
down in chains TO everlasting darkness the
T" traitor angel who rebelled against Him.