Year: 1862


we impose upon our own citizens, upon citizens of
this republic, though in rebellion, terms more
onerous and more burdensome. with more of the |
rigors of war than we are willing to impose upon |
citizens of foreign nations with which we NAV I've |
engaged in warl | trust not. Have we forgot |
ten that our ancestors accomplished successful |
revolution and that Great Britain never adopted /
such harsh and severe measures towards them
who 'rebelled against that Government =


/ was surprised to hear the gentleman from
Massachusetts, Mr.. Eliot when he opened this |
debate, speak OF the expectation of deriving reve
nue. from the sale of this property, in the event
that this bill should pass and become a law. !
Where is the property to be sold3 1t is to be sold


in the districts wherein it IS condemned Sold to
whom, and amongst whOmT 1t will necessarily
be some time before you can get decree of the
court against the property, and by the time that
this is done your army will have passed beyond
the place where the sale is to be made. The prop.
erty is to be sod and TO whom? To those who
are the neghbors of the man whose property has
been seized: and although they have feelings of
animosity toward each other, growing out of this
rebellion, though a portion of them are Union
men and portion traitors, nevertheless, every
man of a kind and benevolent heart feels, when
all a mans property is taken from him, is seized
and condemned to be sold, that there are still
some ties of neighbOrly friendship toward the
traitors wife and children, and will not take the
property from them. We will get no revenue
from this property; none whatever, not even
enough to cover the expenses of the cost of con-
demnation. So it will be when we authorize our
Marshas to drive up the horses, the mules. the
cattle, and to seize the crops upon mans farm,
not to feed our army, as / underestimate thing
which contend we have the right to debut for
the purpose of sale and con6scation.


We may say the same in relation TO the sale of
real estate. Can derive revenue from thatl
Perhaps We may. Who is going to attend those
salesf Our proceedings are to be analogous to
those in courts of admiralty. We are to sell up
on notice; but those notices can not be given,
Mr.. Speaker, in your State or mine, distant from
the place of sale, and therefore you and and ou
constituents will not attend those sales to pur-
chase the plantations which the Marshal shall of
fer for sale. Competition will be among those
only who live in the vicinity, and therefore we
will derive no. revenue therefrom.


/ ask, furthermore, whether this proposition
will aid in suppressing the rebellionr This levy
ing of onerous contributions and their exaction
in a harsh and cruel manner as was done by the
French army in the Peninsular war, gave great
dissatisfaction to the inhabitants, and aided in the
expulsion of the French army.


The Duke of ellington said of that system of
the French armies:


alt is our best friend, and will, in the end, bring
the contest to a conclusion.


The rigorous exactons of the French armies
drove many of the inhabitants into the ranks of
the guerrilla parties. May not these confscation
bills produce the same result in this country?
Let us reflect and endeavor to ascertain whether
the seizure and coniscation of all a mans estate
who is disloyal is likely to make him loyal.


Some gentlemen believe, and l have heard it
asserted here, that slavery is the foundation of
this rebellion. tell you it is not. l tell you it
is the misguided ambition of a few bad men, who
have been sowing the seeds of disunion in this
country from 1880 to the present time. 1t was a
school of politicians whose seat in the State
of South Carolina, and they have spread them
selves throughout the southern portion of the coun
try iniusing their traitOrous and rebellious doc
trines in every portion Of the community, making
converts wherever they could to the doctrine that
State has q right to dissolve the bonds that
bind it 10 this COnfedefacy, and assert and main
tain its independence Ny colleague, (Mr Blair,)
in the speech which he made not long since upon
this floor, was right when he advanced the opn-
ion that the Shareholders were the last men to
yield to this rebellion; and that, general rule,
at the inception of this rebellion, the Shareholders
were not arrayed against the Government of the
United States; but, on the contrary, de-
sired to preserve and perpetuate this Union.
L subscribe, from my own knowledge.
to everything which he said upon that
point. | know that it was so. / know it from
I
army. / know it from declarations which have
been made to me by citizens of the State OF Ar
kansas. who have told me what their views and
opinions are in reference to the rebellion. / have
been told that men who were born north of Ma
son d DixOn's line, and who had only been there
short time, were in nine cases out of ten, the
most violent and rabid secessonists in the whole
community. and especially if they did not own
negroes. Why, sir, the first military company
that | saw marching in the neighborhood of the
town near which | reside-and it was before ac
tive hostilities had broken out in the State Of
Missouri-was commanded by native of the
State of Vermont, who had been a candidate for
constable on the Republican ticket in the State
of Iowa only two years before.


The non STAKEHOLDER in the Southern States is
the most violent traitor and rebel. They say
that they feSr negro equality; that they fear that
the emancipated negro is to be placed on an
equality with them. In the South there is no
distinction but that of color. Let a man there
couduet himself properly, and he is treated as a
gentleman, whether he be Shareholder or
non Shareholder, rich or poor. Hence, the
feeling of non-slaveholders, lest they should
be degraded by the elevation of the negro. Hence
it is that they are violent secessionists and that
they rushed into the rebel army, and now COM
pose the rank and file of the army that is ght
ing against the Republic.





Now, what are you going to do with the four
millions of slaves in the United States? Sup
pose that two or three millions of them should
be emancpated under this bill, what is to become
of them? You turn helpless children and super
annuated persons out of house and home, and
say "let them remain where they are" Now, L
desire to call attention 10 the legislation of South
ern States on this subject. No slave can be
emancipated in the several saveholding States of
the Union, unless he is taken without its limits
There is another law on their statute books, that
no free negro can be introduced into those States.
1t is said that that is unconstitutional legislation?
Attend, then, to the State of Indiana, which has
prohibited, by constitutional provision, the intro
ducton of free negroes within its limits. Attend
to the State of Illinois, whose Constitution directs
the Legislature to pass laws excluding the intro
duction of negroes; and the Constitution soon to
be submitted to a vote of the people provides
against the introduction of free negroes. What,
then, is to become of these two o. three millions
of negroes2 Expelled from the Southern States,
where are they to go? They cannot go to the
State of Illinois, or to the State of Indiana.
They must go to other States.


Here the hammer fell.