Year: 1863

the constitutional right to be whipped
If we can do it, and think we can. "A
voice; "That's fact'] But | don I
choose to go into discussion Of the
question whether the Constitution ever
gave them any rights in regard to Sla-
very. The word "slave" IS not in the
Constitution. 1t is true that it saws
something about fugitives from labor,
and that is all the right in regard to
slavery they ever had in the Constitu-
ton. All other rights of slavery they
obtain under their own State Constitu.
tons.


But in regard to the whole question
| q slavery, in connection with the war,
say to you, my friends, that you may
set your minds perfectly at rest on the
subject | make the prediction here
to-day, and am not the first man who
made it. for l but repeat what others
have said, Mat in 80 far as the political
character o ofsLarery is concerned it per-
tshed Dith the sound Of the first gun at
Charleston Great applause. 1t is
utterly and totally dead, and can never
be revived. For this, if for no other
reason, the Northern people can never
admit the institution INTO the nation
again, even upon an adjustment Of the
present difficulties, which could hcreaf-
ter at any moment plunge thcm.into
another civil war Applause You
never will settle this contest, whether
by arms or diplomacy, without rcmov-
ing the cause that produced it. Ifyou
should, you would not be worthy Of the
free Institutions bequeathed to you
by your fathers. Great applause. /
So you may dismiss all this matter of
policy; it is an old song, sung several
times too often.


But you have another objection to
this war, and that is the matter of ar
tbitrary arrests, as they are called-the
arrest Of certain men who have not
been content with thinking treason,
but have been talking it rather loud.
There have been about half a dozen
men taken down to Fort Lafayette
perhaps there is, one down in Dixie
now. Laughter. You say that these
men have been taken without warrant
in the Constitution Some legal mou-
ser has sat down and conned it all over
and not found anything to justify it.


He has found that the trainers Of the
Constitution never expected any such
state of things, and therefore nothing
WAS pnt into it to meet these circum-
stances. Treason, it says, shalf consist
of an overt act, and talking is not an
overt act. But we must not forget the
fundamental principle Of all govern
ments on earth, which places a large
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 to complain
here. Ifyou 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, lfyou saw an in
cendiary apply the torch to Your house,
would you wait until he was caught
and convicted, or would you take a club
and knock him down? What the in
dividual may do, Government may do.
1t may say to its citizens, 'sYou are
preventing the enlistment of soldiers
in the army; you are sowing dissen-
sions among the people you are affor-
ding aid and comfort to the enemy;
therefore we propose to put you some
place where you can talk TO yourself
for time" If this power is not inhe-
rent in the Government, it is not worth
arope fsand; and the man who has
the power and does not exercise it, is
not worthy Of his place as ruler. APP
plause.


Suppose we admit that the Constitu-
ton has been strained a little; it is not
strained any further than old Jackson
strained it, down in New Orleans when
he arrested Judge Hall; and how wo
gloried over that act; how we cheered
and what bontires we burned, when a
tardy Government paid back heunjust
fine which the old hero had paid
TCheers.1 Now, my Democratic friends,
do not take that all back. l cannot do
it; upon my word, / can not Voices,
{" No, no; you are right Let us
either say this Governments all right,
in taking away these elements of dis
cord from among us, or let us do the
other thing-postpone the discussion
of the question till by and by, Is this
a time to be fighting the Government,
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 un-
believer comes among the faithful ?


Would you destroy the enlightened in.
stitutions of Christianity, because some
hypocrite may do deeds of darkness
and crime? Would you abolish all the
institutions of learning in the land be.
cause abuses have crept in? Are you
going to stop the progress ofthis war
because some internal copperhead has
been unmasked and put in dungeon
: TApplause, and cries of No, no"] Il
you would, you are not the people
take you to be. Then, if you do moi
like to indorse the policy of the Admin
istration, you ought to say, "We vii
let this question alone for the present
and if there is anything wrong thai
can be remedied by change, we will
, not call these men back but put Others
! ofgreater trust in their places" We
cannot afford to quarrel among our