Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-02-09
Hon. AIexander Longs speech.


WASHINGTON, Feb. 2.
The House Is holding night session, and
at this hour, SIP. NJ, the Hon. Alexander
Long commenced the delivery of a speech,
which was listened to with breathless attenr
Z ton. Mr.. Long said he spoke for himself
and was responsible for what he said. lt
was the duty of the citizen to tender his
advice to those in authority, and the duty OF
the Representative fearlessly to express his
sentiments.
The war was wrong, and would ruin the
country North and South. Wars for sepa-
ration of geographical parts, were success
full on the side of the separationists. In
stanced Portugal from Spain, Mexico from
Spain, the United States from Great Britain,
and others. The cry for separation had
been met by armed coercion and suDJuga-
tion, and had ended in defeat. Patriotism
had been paying virtue under the war
policy; but for those who opposed 1t, was
prescription and persecution. Apostacy on
the one had offered golden reward. FL
deity on the other, rendered the dangers OF
a prison. Wars for geographical unity,
ended in disintegration. Wars for relig-
ious unity, ended In division.
No soldiers had ever fought better than
ours but eight millions of people on their
own SOIL were fully match for eighteen
millions whose armies had to be transported
to the scene of action. Time and space
fought on the side of the assailed, and made
up the difference in numbers. Victories
won and territory marched over did not
end the war. The territory we held was
what our brave soldiers stood upon, and
was commanded by their guns.
The idea was absurd, that il we acquiesced
in the separation of the South, other sections
would follow. y ia
Governments deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed, could
never be held together by force. He took
no part in the contest between the candidates
both of whom were committed to the war,
and differing only In 'the resources of
statesmanshin they proposed to exhaust
before exterminating the Southern people.
He stood now where he stood last April.
The blood of the Revolutionary fathers
would rise up in Judgment against Union
founded on coercion. The union eXisteu
by consent, and it could not exist a moment
longer than the consent existed.
If the States had right to throw Off the
Government of Great Britain, and had no
right to interfere with Government made
by themselves, their last condition was
worse than the first. Claimed that each
State was nation; answered General Car
fields speech against State Sovereignty.
He was a citizen Of Ohio, only, not citizen
of the United States, owed the United States
no allegiance, it was not his sovereign. The
Federal Government was an agent acting
under warrant of attorney which the
States could revoke at any time The issue
was Independence or determination.
The rivers of blood which the war party
followed led to no ocean of union and har-
mony, or repose and safety; but they ran
through mountains of debt low vallies OF
profigacy and crime, through public and
Individual calamity, and ended at last in the
slough of despair.
The cry of the pulpit and church was
blood, and dispatches like that of Sheridan
that he had burned barns, mills and houses,
were received with joy by the followers Of
the Prince of Peace"
A large number of those claiming to have |
the morality and religion of the country, |
demanded the determination OF eight mil
lions of christian men and women from the |
face of the earth, simply for claiming the |
rights asserted in the Declaration of Inde- |
pendence. He would consider himself un-
worthy of set-respect, If he did not say
that from the pool of total depravity there |
was issued a spirit so irredeemably wicked, |
it would have been shame and a stigma In |
the DAYS of Alcric, Attila and Saladin. If
this was the result of our Sabbath-schoOl |
teachings and religious instructions, we
might as we'll admit that the Gospel had not |
vet reached our shores, and that we must |
wait until India sends her missionaries to |
convert us, from the banks of the Ganges |
and Hindoostan. 4H
God in His Providence never would al
low the Southern people to be extermin-
ated.
OF our National debt he said we did not |
lnl1 I'm n tya nInnU
Our debt was now larger than that of
England, and the rate of interest twice as
great. England had thirty-two thous
and millions of taxable property, while
we had in the loyal States only eleven
thousand millions. The debt was not in
the pay of the soldier, who got less than
his services entitled him to receive. The |.
marble palaces of the contractors, the |
Opdyke trial, and such like disclosures,
showed where it was. At the last session
he fell under the censure of the House for
what he said. He saw nothing since to
change his views. The ermine of the Judge
and the person of the Legislator were help
less before the bayonets of the soldiers, led
on by the delusion of military glory. Some
Alexander, some Julius Caesar, and some
Napoleon, had always stamped out with
his iron heel the breath of popular liberty. |
What then of the future? Look where
we will we see general generalization of
society. Was it out of such material gen
tlemen expected to erect anew the arch of
reconstructed Union and a violated Con-
No artificers were equal to the
task. The Union of 1889 was gone, never
to return.
If gentlemen would save any thing from
the political and social wreck, they must
stop the war, recognize the sovereignty and
of the States, and their right
to elf-government, and begin the work of
anew in spirit of mutual
and concession, such as was
displayed in the Convention of 1877.
That was, probably, the last time he
should raise his voice in debate in the Cap
itol. In glancing at the past there was no
part of his political life that he looked back
to with more satisfaction than his efforts,
feeble though they were, to arrest the mad
ness of the hour and stay the effusion of
blood.
'sDRUID," the famous Baltimore cores
pondent who has undertaken, from time to
ti,,a to o,;ya tho nronosad movements nj |