Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-04-28
Their Latest Phase.

Desperation makes men bold. As the war
continues and the prospect of the total e rad
ication of slavery, that sole bond which held
together the party styling itself the aDemo-.
cratic" or " Conservative party" becomes
imminentithe opposition in CO ngress exhibit
more violence and more malig nity than ever.
They evidently think that in a Republic
without slavery the occupation of politicians
Ike themselves would be gone, and their love
of party triunphs over their love of country.
They seem to think that if the Union were
broken up there might be an opportunity to
combine the fragments under slaveholding
rule, but they begin to despair of preserving
both the Union and slavery
As Indication of their sentiments we
subjoin few utterances of these "conserya-
tive" members of Congress. In speech
made IN the House of Representatives on the
8th inst, Mr. Alexander LONG of Ohio, said:
But, Mr.. Chairman, how do we stand in the
eyes OF the civilized world to-day, in waging
war OF subjugation and conquest against the
Confederate States which have seeded from
US and set up government of their own?
Are we not inconsistent with all our former
acts ? Have we not been early to admit this
proper with regard to others? There never
was people on the face of the earth that
demanded an independent government that
did not have the sympathy of the American
people, and ought we now to shrink from the
doctrine We have been SO willing to apply to
others.
If the Democratic party were in power
To I
pels me to declare it, that they could restore
the Union of thirty-four States. Nv mind
has undergone an entire change upon that SUBJ
ject, and | now believe that there are but two
alternatives, and they are either an acknoacl-
-dgeneeht of the independence Of the South as an
independent natiom or their complete su!jotgation
and determination a people and of these alter
natives Ipreter tie former.
| On the 9th, in the same House, Mr.. HARRIS
of Maryland used this language-we quote
from the Congressional Globe:
81 am peace man, a radical peace man :;
and am for peace By recognition Of the
South, for the recognition Of tie Southern Con-
tederacy and l an for the acquiescence IN the
! doctrine Of secession. \ | feel through
the rustling of the winds there is a tornado
coming that will sweep away the present ma
jority from power and give it into the hands
Of men who will settle the affairs of this
country men who have something like hui
mainly; men who have regard for the princi-
piles of our torefathers. Ay, | recollect how
my blood curdled when | heard the discus
sion on the confscation bill. The gentleman
from Ohio Mr.. Garfield said, let them be
expatriated like the Tories of the Revolution.
The Tories of the Revolution had the mother
country to run to, and were protected there.
But where would the gentleman send those
whom he would expatrate from the South,
as gallant and noble q race as eUer Wdlked atpon
tie earth ; noble IN e0eiytbing that constitutes
men Of ho"9r o'd''.e' Of p!,i''eipIe-ge'tlene".
''Sir, the Union is dissolved and there is a
gulf of blood lying between the two sections;
but upon my honor, upon my soul, I repeat
that every drop in that gulf is on the souls of
the Northern people.
Mr. Speaker, in the early part of this Sc
cession movement there was resolution of
| fered pledging men and money to carry on
the war. Ny principles were then and are
now against the war. | stood solitary and
alone in voting against that resolution, and
whenever similar proposition is brought here
it will met with my opposition. Not one dol
Tar nor one man, I Sgeal by tie Ete1nal OW
cote for this internal, this stupendous folly,
more stupendous than ever disgraced any civ
ilized people on the face of Gods earth. If
| that be treason make the most of it.
"Itis the right Of the commoner of Eng
| land to say that he will not intrust the money
to carry on war to the king, who has the
entire war power. | do not know that
commoner of the American House of Repre-
sentatiyes ever lost that right. That ,propo-
sition meets with my approval. If you will
not make peace in any other way, and If
hare the casting cote here against furnishing the
si1seogs Of wa,. yose shall not haze them.
"The South asked you to let her 60 in
peace. But no, you said you would bring
them into subjugation. That is not done yet,
and God Alnoigbty grant that 1t never mag be-
| I hope that you aCU neUeT sabjuqate the South
If she is to be ever again in the Union hope
that it will be with her own consent and I
hope that that consent will be obtained by
some other mode than by the sword. Ifhis
be treason, make the most Of IT."
On the 18th inst. Mr.. Rogers, of New Jer-
sey, made speech in which he uttered the
following sentiments:
"There were men here who would main
tain their rights. They were the representa-
tives, not of Old Abe Lincoln, but of the
| free people who sent them hither You are
not content with slandering Va1loaadighana and
other true patriots. God bless the exile ! He
prayed hearroaO of Heaven rould pierce the heart
Of the despot, (meaning the President of the
United states) You are bringing soldiers
here to keep old A6rahdna, Hing of Anae,ico,
from being encroached upon by jefferson
Da0is of the Southern Contederacy. This is no
longer country of republicanism, but a mon
archy and despotism. CO. he said, for a
dissolution of the Union in preference to a
war Of determination.
1t is true that other members of the oppo-
sition on the floor of Congress disavowed en-
tertainng such sentiments, but no one can
read the debates of Congress, or the leading
opposition journals of the day, without OBJ
serving a strong tendency, on the part of the
opposition leaders generally, to sympathize
| with or extenuate these treasonous sentiments.
The Washington correspondent Of the Gin
cinnati Gazette, in describing the scene while
HARRIS was promulgating his Infamous senti.
ments, says:
''The scene is curious one. This man is
standing in the House of Representatives of
the United States surrounded by the Demo-
Gratis and border State men of what claims
to be loyal opposition. He is talking the
boldest treason and get they hare clustered in
delighted circles around him. almost every mans
face ecears a gratitfed smile, and at every ex-
tremely extravagant declaration they burst
out into open laughter and applause. A few
look gIeomy-they are thinking of the record
all this is making-but the great mass are in
the highest g1ee. Some Of them think it a
capital Joke that these disgraceful utterances
should be made on the heels of an effort to
expeI another for something not nearly so