Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-04-30
TI1rSLAVEHOLDER'S REBELLION.
arrs CAUSE AND PURPOSES"
SPEECH OF SENATOR HOWE,
OF WISCONSIN.
OF WISCONSIN.

From the speech of Hon. I. o. HOWE Of
,b;s state, in support of the amendment 10
=. Constitution forever prohibiting slavery
:. ,be United States, made in the Q. S. SEN
40 April 4th, we take the following;
Mr.. President, we have been struggling
nth this rebellion for three years and II ~
We of the saddest facts know of in history
that. although we have pretty generally come
:. concede that in law these rebels are guilty
= reason. vet there is to-day a large body
g the DeOpie, standing almost in the very
tIood the rebellion has shed, who affect to
s'SI;eve that after all, this rebellion is one of
.Se respectable kind of rebellions, pretty
'Jacent thing; that if it cannot be justified
.bere Is A creat deal of excuse for it. tell
vou that sentiments very prevalent through
ont these loyal communities and these loyal
States to-day.
Tbold that no such guilt as is persOnifed
:, ,bis rebellion has been allowed to stalk
broad ON the face of Gods earth since He
oIIoUed the earth to stand, as this same re-
I.Ilion is. Either YOU who palliate it are
-igbt or am; and if there be no sort of pal
i;Sfion or excuse for that which you are con-
SANITY attempting to palliate or excuse you
have a heavy responsibility to settle for your
Efforts in that direction.
After struggling with it for three years, af-
Ter expending our thousands of millions of
money ana our thousands upon thousands OF
lives and our rivers of blood IN our effort to
or,,sb the rebellion, was shocked, unutter-
sbIv shocked to hear the other day Senator,
n the employ of this government of ours
and nail out of its treasury, straining himself
20 complain of il, out of a decent regard to
Loyalty. and finding no word in the English
language that be dared TO use in denuneia-
ton of it stronger than to say it was not
"wise."
Sir. a representative from one of the loyal
States of the Union, paid by your money, a
couple of years since, standing IN the House
of Representatives, representing district of
that State which is represented here by the
honorable Senator from Ohio, Mr.. Wade,l
discussing the merits of this rebellion, said:
aYou have utterly, signalIy, disastrously-I will
not saw Northumberland to suhdue ten mil
lion Srebels,' whom you taught the people OF tue
north and west not Obly TO hate but to despise.-
RebeIs aid saw Yes, your fathers were rebels,
or your grand fathers He who now before me on
canvass looks down sadly upon US, the false, de-
generate, and imbecile guardians of the great Re
DubIie which he founded, was rebel. And yet We,
Graded ourselves in rebellion, and who have foster
Cd and fraternzed with every iusurreetion in the
nineteenth century everywhere throughout the
Globe. would now, fOrsOOth, make the word rebel
: repToaeh. ''-ApDsndix to Congressional Globe,
Thirty SeUenth Congress, third session, page s..
An American Representative in one of the
Halls of your own Legislature used this Ian
guage in reference to this very rebellion OF
which i am speaking.
l beg leave to read to the Senate an ex-
tract from a speech made by Earl Russell at
Blair Gowrie on the 26th of September last.
Speaking of the relations of the Grown to
the Confederate States, he uses this remarka-
bic language:
HWen, then, it was said that these confederate
states were rebels, rebels against the Union Pei
hans, gentlemen, L am not so nice as ought to bS
on the subject. But / recOllect that We rebelleo
against Charles 1, Ia laUgh,l we rebelled against
James IL, and the people OF New England, not
content with these two rebelions, rebelled against
George III. a. HearF' and laughter am not
saving now whether all these rebellions were justi
fable or whether they were wrong-l am net say
ing whether the present rebellion in the Southern
States is a Unsuitable insurrectiOn or is great
fault or is great crime, but say that the mere
fact OF rebellion is not in my eyes crime OF &
deep dive that we must renOunce all Eel owshiI
and communion and all relationship with thos'
who have been guilty of rebellion Loud cheering
But, certainly, if / look to the declarations o
those New England OratOrs-and have been read
ing lately if not the whole, yet very great part
the very long speech by Mr.. sumner on the subject
10 see these men, the offspring as il were Of thre
rebeIlions, are the offspring OF two rebeiiohs
really speaking like the Car OF Russia, the enitai
OF Turkey, or Louis AlN himself, OF Tie 0readIu
crime and guilt Of rebellion"
There, by one of your own Representative
in your own Legislature, and there out OF tn
mouth of minister of Great Britain, and be
fore the British people, this rebellion will
which YOU are now struggling is likened q
that in which your forefathers engaged, ant
that in which their forefathers engaged
Eharlas I and lanes
THE SHAREHOLDERS REBELLION CONTRAsTED WITT
OTHER REBELLIONs.
Sir. what was the rebellion in which thos
men engaged to depOse Charles L! Agains
what authority or government did they rebel
The authority of the king, who claimed Z
govern, not by the election of his subjects
not by their choice and selection, but b
divine right and by the accident of birth, AM
who claimed for the measure of his authOrit
what? The right tOappOint himself, as b.
did, members of one House of the law-makin
department of his Government; the right L
appoint every Judge; the right to appOin
every administrative and executive officer
If the members of his Parliament disafecte
him, he dismissed them at his pleasure. FL
convened them only when he wanted then
He kept them no longer together than the
would survive his purposes. When men
Der of the House of Lords displeased him, h
refused to summon him to his seat. He de
clared war when he chose to make war. Tn
fact of war he made the pretext for levyin
taxes which his Parliament had denied TO him
and when, against all these Assertions Q
power, one of his own subjects. appealed =
the courts to redress wrong committed b.
the Crown, or by the agents of the Crown
he dismissed Judges who would not agree t
decide in his favor, and he appointed judge
who would agree to decide in his favor.
1t was against such authority in such hand
that that rebellion was waged; and yet the
did not resort to that rebellion until they ha
tried every means to avoid it, by appeals Z
Parliament, by appeals to courts, by appeal
to statutes, by appeals to reason. For TWEEN
ty years and more, the people of Great Brit
ain struggled by every possible .peacefu
means to prevent the exercise OF these pre-
negatives, and to repress the wrongs tina
were occasiOnod through their exercise, be
fore they resOrted to force
Against what did your own forefathers re
bel-your fathers and mine-whom degen
crate Representative In Congress hkened Q
the men who have made this rebellion! LIE
them speak for themselves. am not assert
inc any more than did Earl Russell that al
rebellion is guilty. Iknowit is not, knol
that revolution has been employed as an IN
strument of reform. know it has often bee
an employed know that in some cases III
necessary to be employed. regard It my
self az that sort of volcanic agency, so Z
sneak by which the under-layers in the socia
.tra+;6cstion are upheayed into the light Q