Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1866-03-16

OF past victories on their IaceS.
Sir, let conservative gentlemen who are
ever boastfully vaunting their conserva-
tism remember, that the crimes against
country, against liberty, against justice,
and against humanity, that have marked
the past thirty years in America, were
committed in the name of conservatism.
Let conservative gentlemen remember that
conservatives trampled down for years In
Congress the sacred right of petition and
the freedom of speech; arraigned before
the bar of the House of Representatives
the illustrious Adams, and censured the
fearless Giddings; manacled colored sea
men on the decks of Massachusetts ships,
aud expelled their counsel, the aged Sam
uel Hoar, from South Carolina; annexed
Texas to make slavery perpetual, and op-
posed the admission of free California;
rejected the prohibition of slavery in New
Mexico and Utah, and enacted the fugitive
slave law; repealed the prohibition OF
slavery in Kansas; enacted slave codes;
murdered free State settlers and formed
Lecompton constitutions; struck down
Senator ON the floor of the Senate; fired
upon the flag covering bread for the starv-
ing garrison of Sumter; organized treason
and plunged the nation into civil war;
plotted insurrection in the secret councils
Of the knights of the Golden Circle and
fred orphan asylums in the city of New
York; slaughtered the captured garrison
of, Fort Pillow and sacked and burned de-
fenceless Lawrence; starved Union prison
ers at Andersonvilie and assassinated the
Chief Magistrate of the Republic. Every
crime for generation against liberty and
the rights of man in America has been
committed by men who vaunt their con-
servatism and denounce the advocates of
freedom, justice and humanity, as reckless
agitators and radicals. Conservatism has
come to be word in the political vocabu-
larry of America Synonymous with coward
ice, treachery, baseness and crime. 1tisa
word every man in America should blush
to use as word descriptive of any decent
political organization.
The House, the Senate, the Cabinet the
President, each and all should not now
forget to remember that they were clothed
with authority by party inspired by pat
riotism and liberty, party that proclaims
as its living faith the sublime creed of the
equal rights of man and the brotherhood
of all humanity, embodied in the New
Testament and in the Declaration of In
dependence. Let Representatives, Sena-
tors, Cabinet Ministers, and the President,
amid the trials and temptations of the pre-
sent, fully realize that the great Republi-
can party, embracing in its ranks more of
moral and intellectual worth than was ey-
er embodied in any political organization
in any age or in any land, was created by
no man or set of men, that it was brought
into being by Almighty God to represent
the higher and better sentiments of Chris
tian America, to bear the flag of patriot
ism and liberty, of justice and humanity.
Brought into being in 1854 to resist the
repeal of the prohibition of slavery in
Kansas and Nebraska, the further expan-
sion of slavery into the depths of the con-
tinent, and the longer domination of the
slave power, it has for twelve years, in de-
feat and in victory, ever been true to coun-
try, ever faithful to its flag, ever devoted to
the rights of struggling humanity. No
political party in any age or in any coun-
try has fought on plan so lofty, or achiev-
ed so much for country, republican insti-
tutions, the cause of freedom, of justice,
and of Christian civilization. If it should
perish now in the pride of strength and
of power by the hand of suicide, or by
the follies and treacheries of men it has
generously trusted, it will leave to after
times brilliant record of honor and of
glory. The enduring interests of re-
generated nation, the rights of man, and
the elevation of an emancipated race, alike
demand that the great Union Republican
party, the outgrowth and development of
advancing civilization in America, shall
continue to administer the government it
preserved, and frame the laws for the ma
ton it saved.
Sir, / trust this resolution will pass;
that the policy of the Senate and House
of Representatives will be settled.
When the policy of Congress shall be
determined, | hope that the committee
viii report at the earliest possible day upon
the condition of the States, and especial
ly upon the condition of Tennessee. When
the facts are before us, trust that the
Senate will proceed to act with calmness
and dignity, uninfuenced by anything
that may have been said or done elsewhere.
We have indeed fallen upon evil times,
when Senator or Representative can rise
unrebuked m these Chambers and tell us
what the President of the United States |
will or willno do.
Sir, there was time when Senator |
who should have said what we have recent
Iy heard upon this floor would have sunk
into his seat under the whitening rebuke
Of his associates. No Senator or Repre-
sentative has right to tell us what the
Executive will dc. The President acts up
IN his own responsibility. We are Sena-
ors, this is the Senate of the United /
States, and it becomes us to maintain the
lights and the dignity of the Senate of
he United States. The people demand
hat their Senators and Representatives
hall enact the needed measures to restore,
It the earliest possible day, the complete
md practical relations of the seeded
States to the National Government and
protect the rights and liberties of all the
'eople without regard to color, race, or
Iescent. l confess, Mr.. President, that
m saddened at the present aspect of pub
c affairs; but l am confident that the
ation will pass through the trials that
hicken around us. God has not carried
he country through this great struggle to
bandon it now. have faith in the peo-
lie, faith IN the eminent men, civil and
Military, who have carried US triumph
ntly through this great civil war. Two !
ears ago, in trying hour of the country,
,e placed great soldier at the head of
Il our armies, and he led the armies to J
ictory and the country to peace. Per- t
APPS patriotic and liberty-loving people, t
disappointed in their aspirations and
,air hoDae NOV oraiu turn to tbot