Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-03-05
Speech Of a War Democrat.
,.msrks Of Hon. LEVI HUBBELL, Of Mil
Yankee. made In the Wisconsin Assembly,
,,sLrrarv 18th. 1854, -2A


seminary 18th, 1854.
n, SPEAKER The motion before the
tr,ass is to strike out from the bill that
-1sgse which gives five dollars month to the
IL Of a soldier who shall marry, or shall
ave married, after being mustered into the
---rioe Of the United States The ayes and
-oas have been called, and we are notified by
~, onposition, that responsibility is to be
l-s,,n,sd Sir, as one OF the Union men of
RI House, am ready to go upon the record.
80 the opposition eager to lake their
Lsnees upon whichever course we pursue.
1s ne vote for the measure, il Will be spread
.b-o9d in their papers; it win be proclaimed
\, ths hastings and upon the stump, through
ne coming political campaign, that the Union
r,rtv are eating out the substance of the
lI.,6l, with taxes; that this unnecessary war
I Leading them with an overwhelming debt
n -. vote against the measure, the soldiers
Ian be told, " See how tTeacherous this Union
n,rty Is to your interests; you vote for them,
MI they vote against you; YOU vote against
a lint We vote for YOU" BE il so. / have
=, ordinations to make. The gentleman
.,r, Dane. who Is the leader of the sO-called
Dsmocrats in the Assembly, spent long time
~ other day i'm defining his position in refer
spee 10 the army, the rebellion, and all that.
trust he was successful, so far as to satisfy
himself. if not his party. IL he is correct,
,bay have suddenly turned about and taken
ny tack. They are now going for the most
rir,rous prosecution of the war, and ready
p, ruSh. with the bOldest, for taxation and
I4bt They have left the narrow limits of
tb.ir last falls platform, where they resolved
!, fight the rebels only p;fhia tie pale of tie
Constitution The honorable member fairly
bantered Us, and challenged us, to follow his
Lad in legalizing debt and taxation, until the
var should be ended; intimating, at the same
time, that it was not his war, and that as the
var was being conducted, by the President, it
would never end.
When the country is bleeding, at every pore
Il NAV be very natural for some persons to
slv, a let the CALLED jade vince, our yithers
arr unwrung." But, that is not the position
If the UNION PARTY of this State, and of this
House; nor, is their position like that of the
Honorable member, in another respect. They
have no need to define their position, here or
elsewhere Their record is before the army
and the country. From the beginning of this
gicked attempt to destroy the constitution,
ne Government, tine Union, and all the
rights and liberties secured thereby, by arm
"a forces and war, the loyal men of the cOun-
hut one duty, and that was, to make war up
On the Rebellion; to give it blOws,-with
pike and spear, sword and bayonet, musket
and cannon, tongue, pen and type; TO hit it
when they could, where they could, as they
could; crippling it by every means recOgniz-
I'll ia civilized warfare.
Nav more, they have endeavored, every
where and always, to cheer, sustain and re-
ievg cur gallant troops in the field. This is
ahat Union men hare done; and il has been
seen and known of all men. There are some
filings, they have not done. When traitor
troops. To the number of one hundred thousand,
were marching into the heart of Pennsylvania,
when traitOr-cannOn lined the banks of the
Mississippi, closing that great River to the
commerce. ofthe northwest; when the threats
Of foreign intervention seemed most immi-
ueut, and the national heart grew pulseless
nith anxiety, the Union men did not 20 about
;houtins.,.' Ialldadigtdm-Pd llaadighan," and
stirring up civil strife, in our midst.
And when again the tocsin of victory rang
throughout the land; when the gallant Meade
lad conquered at Gettysburg; the still nObler
Grant had planted his victorious flag on the
highest tower of Vicksburg, and the brave
Banks had marched his heroic troops into the
lortresses of Port Hudson, they did not then
drORn the nations shout of triumph by hOarse
i0Wlings against the President of the United
States Nor, sir, did they do another thing
When the malignity, perseverance and power
Of the rebellion, manifested through a.year
and six months of bloody strife, satisfied the
Ommander-in-Chief of our armies, that, in
order 10 save the Government, he must lay
his hand upon the corner stone of their Con-
icderacy-when he touched the zone of bond
a-r with the point of his pen, and caused 1t
% lis aSunder, Union men did not go into
spasIns, and cry out, Constitution violated"
Lincoln guilty of treason" Thew knew that
s,trag formed no part of the Constitution OF
the United States Nor does it. There is
not a word, or sentence, or article, in that
immortal instrument that creates slavery, or
that will perish if slavery ceases to exist.
Five great purposes are enumerated in the
preamble, as the objects of its creation and
adoption. The first is, ito form a more per-
fit Ui,ioR :" the last, ''tO preserve the JltsSngS
If iiJertu, to ourselves and our pOsterity :"
and the others are kindred to these in their
character. 1t was not made to preserve ''the
blessings of human bondage. Itrecognized,
neutrality-suspicious. naming 1t, the exist
ence of slavery in the States; provided, that
States should not interfere with States in re-
claiming fugitives; and gave to States where
il might exist, representation in Congress,
founded upon it. Beyond this, it ignored
the institution. That, as a part of the war
power, the President or the Congress might
control il, or sweep il away, was declared by
one of its authors, the illustrious MADISON,
during the first or second Congress under the
Constitution. His emphatic declarations to
that effect, will be found among the proceed
ings of one of the early Congresses.
But sir, it required no provision of that in
stTument comforting that power no deci1ra
ton of its author or expounder, to invest the
President Herewith. The President is the
constitutional and executive head of the gov
eminent. When the life of the government
is assailed, it becomes the duty of the execu-
tive head thereof to call into exercise every
power, and all the means, of the body polite.
The clearest right, and the first duty of
every created thing, is selfpreservation.
But il cannot be conceded or conceived,
that great, free and intelligent people, in
creating for themselves and their posterity"
a government, did not invest it with this first
and inalienable right. Had all the slaves Ii
berated by the Presidents proclamation been
the property of loyal men, the national
emergency might have justified the act; just
as property is thrown overheard, and lives
are sacrificed, on a sinking ship, to save the
rest.
But no such plea can be made for the slave
property OF the rebel states As states, they
had wilfully and REASONABLY seeded from
tile Union organized a separate and indie
pendent government opened war OF des-
truetiOn against the constitution and govern
ment of the United States and invited in
foreign and hostile nations to aid them in
4 Al.