Year: 1863

D ers- [Great applause,l So you may dismi
all this matter Of policy; it is an old song, sur
| several times too often.


t But you have another objection 10 this wa


aud that is the matter of arbitrary arrests, Z


they arc calied-the arrest Of certain men wh


have not been content with thinking Treason


but have been talking It rather loud Their


have been about half a dozen men taken dow


to fort Larayette-perhaps there is one dow


IN Dixie now. Laughter. You say thes


men have been taken without warrant in Il


Cons litution. Some legal mouser has sat dow


and conned it all over, and not found anythin.


to justify it.


He has found that the farmers Of the Con


stitution never expected any such state o


things, and therefore nothing was put into i
/ to meet these circumstances. Treason, it says
1 shall consist of an overt act7 and talking s


not an overt act But we must not forge the
fundamental principle of all Governments ou


earth, which places discretionary power in
the hands of the rulers of the nation for cases
of this kind. The old legal maxim is that the


laws are silent in the presence Of arms. You


have very little cause 10 complain here. ]!


you had been down South, think you would


have had much more There is no doubt OF


the power of the Government to protect itself,


under any circumstances. If you saw an in


cendiary apply the torch to yonr house, would


you wait until be was caught and convicted,


or would you take a club and knock him down?


What the individual may do, Government


may do. 1t may say to its citizens, you are
preventing the enlistment Of soldiers in the ar


Ii


pie; you are afiording aid and comfort to the
enemy; therefore we propose to put you some


place where you can talk to yourself for a


time" Ifthis power is not inherent in the
Government, it is not worth rope Of sand;
and the man who has the power, and does not
exercise it, is not worthy of his place as a ru
Ter. Applause.


Suppose we admit that the Constitution has
been strained little; it is not strained any
further than old jackson strained it, down in


New Orleans, VIXEN be arrested Judge Hall;
aud how we gloried over that act: how we
cheered, and what bonfres we burned, when
tardy Government paid back the unjust fine
which the old hero had paid. Cheers Now
my Democratic friend do not take that all
back. I can not do it; upon my word l can
not. Voices, No, 10; you are right. Let
US either say this Government is all right. in
taking away these elements of Giscord from a.
mong u.s. or let US do the other thing-post
pone the discussion of the question till by and
by. Is this time to be fighting the Govern
ment, when it is fighting the hosts of The re-
bellion? Is this an appropriate work in the
day of our trial? Would you tear down the
temple because some unbeliever comes among
the faithful? Would you destroy the enlight
eued institutions Of Christianity, because some
hypncrite may do deeds of darkness and crime?
Would you abolish all the Institutions Of lcarn-
ing in the land. because abuses have crept in?
Are you going to stop the progress Of the war,
because some Internal copperhead has been IN
masked and put in a dungeon? Applause,
and cries of No, no. IF you would you
are not the people l take you to be. Then if
you do not like to indorse the policy of the
yon ought to say, I'VE will
let this question alone for the present and ifI
there is any thing wrong that can be remedied
by d change, we will not call these men back
but put others Of greater trust in their pla-
ces'' We can not afford to quarrel among
ourselves at this time. It is neither good
sense or good Judgment, TO say nothing of
sound patriotism. Have we served so long
in the party ranks that we are bound TO oppose
the Government if administered by our polit-
caI opponents; OF because one of our party has
been sent off to rest in prison, for having abus
ed the use of his tongue; or that we must need
follow the party banner, if born by some fool
sh fellow, no matter whether he runs over
4 plain or precipice? 1t will be very foolish
to do it. What will you accomplish by it?-
Do you hear how they are met on the other
side oftbe line? Do you know how the Rich
mond papers chuckle over this thing-nOt
that it will bring peace or compromise; but
they say: "The fellows are divided among
themselves, and we will whip them by and by
That is the result of the iactious and traitor
ous course on this side of the line. Hear the
I'VE will whip them by and by, |
and re- possess ourselves of the Mississippi, when
we will re-organize a new Confederacy and |
take in the West We will 40 it by the aid of
the Peace party in the North" But there is |
nothing of it, for there is not Peace party |
that will dare to move in such an effort But |
you give Just as much aid ard comfort to the
enemy by yonr professions, as if you did aid
them. If any of my Democratic friends here
can reconcile this course with the duty they
owe to their country, to be engaged in pro
eeedings of this kind, can not. Is it a duty |
to your State, or your country, or your God? |
Is it duty to your party even? Ifit is wipe
that party out. My desire and ambition is to
see this great Democratic party foremost in
this fight, to avenge the act by which, before
l. e. bo /
cratic party was slain in the house of its /
friends. For if l have any mere party bitter
ness of feeling in me, it is because they struck |
down the Democratic party before they assail- |
ed the Government.


Have you any more objections to the pros
ecution of this war? If you have [ would
like to know what they are, for have no more
on my list, and l made it up from speech of
a distinguished friend of mine on the other
side, in which supposed he had them all sum
med up.


We'll you say you want peace between these
two great divided sections Bless your soa,
my friend, so do l, and so does every man in
the length and breadth of this land; and so
Tor seven long years through the war OF
the resolution. we wanted peace all the time;
and so in the war Of 1872. we asked for peace
continually. But during neither OF these were
we willing to take peace if it trammeled our
hands or sacrificed our honor. If you want
peace now, pray tell me how you are going
to get it. What is your programme? have
read several speeches recently, and have
heard Of none but that proposed by Fernando
Wood and that is by diplomacy. But diplo- /
macy is not sharp enough in the edge yet !
You have beard about peace compromises,
but the papers Of the Southern States, from
the Richmond Enquirer down to the lowest


L.. .... L..... L...-lnl nnnL- tLa nrnnmsI-