Year: 1863

they are perhaps the least which even
the more moderate of the slave States
would under any circumstances be will
ling to accept, and because North, South
and West the people seem to have taken
hold of them and to demand them Of us
as an experiment at least. l am ready
to try also, if need be, the propositions
OF the Border States Committee or of
the Peace Congress, or any other fair
honorable and reasonable terms of ad.
justment which may SO much as promise,
even, to heal our present troubles and to
restore the Union Of these States. Sir,
| am ready and willing and anxious to
try oil things and do all things (which
may become man." to secure that great
object which is nearest to my heart.


The question, therefore, is not merely
what will keep Virginia in the Union,
but also what will bring Georgia back.
And here let me say that l do not doubt
that there is large and powerful Union
sentiment still surviving in all the States
which have seeded, South Carolina
alone perhaps excepted, and that if the
people Of those States can be assured
that they shall have the power to pro.
tect themselves by their own action with.
in the Union, they will gladly return
to it, very greatly preferring protection
within to security outside of it. Just
now, indeed, the fear of danger, and
your persistent and obstinate refusal to
enable them to guard against it, have
delivered the people of those States over
into the hands and under the control of
the real Secessionists and Disunionists
among them; but give them security and
the means of enforcing it-above all,
dry up this pestilent fountain Of slavery
agitation as o political element in both
sections, and, my word for it, the ties of
common ancestry, common kindred,
and common language, the bonds of q
common interest, common danger, and
commonjsafety, the recollections of the
past, and of association not yet diSsolv-
ed, and the bright hopes of future to
all CT us, more glorious and resplendent
than any other country ever saw; aye,
sir, and visions, too, of the old flag of the
Union, and of the music of the Union,
and precious memories Of the dark days
of the Revolution, will fill their souls yet
again with yearnings and desires intense
for the glOrieS, the honors, and the mas
terial benefits, too, Of that Union which
their fathers and our fathers made; and
they will return to it, not as the prodi-
gal, but with songs and rejoicings as the
Hebrews returned from the captivity to
the ancient city of their kings,


Referring to secession, Mr.. V. said:


Sir the experiment may readily be re.
peated. 1t will be repeated. And is it
not madness and folly, then, to call back,
by adjustment, the States which have
seeded, or to hold back the States which
are threatening to secede, without pro-
viding some safeguard against the re.
newal of this most simple and disas-
trous experiment? Can foreign nations
have any confidence hereafter in the sta
bility?


VaIlandigham, in 1862.


THE ATTACK AND REpULsE


On the 10th of February, 1862, John
Hickman, of Pennsylvania, offered re
solution founded on "local item" ne VS.
paper attack, instructing the Judiciary
Committee to inquire into Mr.. Vallan.
digham's loyalty" The following are
extracts from Mr., VS. remarks on the
occasion:


Yet that is all, the grand aggregate
of the charges, except the miserable
ealSehood, which some wretched scaven.
ger, prowling about the streets and al.
leyS and cutters of the city of Baltimore,
has seen fit to put forth in the local col t.
umns of contemplate newspaper, so
that the member from Pennsylvania may
rise in his place and prefer charges
against the loyalty and patriotism of a
man who has never faltered in his devo-
tion to the flag of his country-to that
flag which hangs now upon the wall over
against him; one who has bowed down
and worShipped this holy emblem of the
Constitution and of the old Union of
these States, in his hearts core, aye, in
his very heart OF hearts, from the time
he first knew augbs to this hour; and
who now would give life, and all that he
has or hopes to be in the future, to see
that glorious old banner of the Union
known and honored once over the whole
earth and the whole sea-with no stripe
erased, aud not one star blotted out,
floating forever, over the free, united,
harmonious, old Union of every State
once part Of, and hundred more yet
unborn. I am that man; and yet he
dares to demand that l shall be brought
up before the secret tribunal of the Ju.
dietary Committee-that committee cf
which he is chairman, aud thus be both
judge and accuser to the charge of dis.
loyalty to the Union.


Sir, hurl back the insinuat;on. Bring
forward the specific charge; wait till you
have found something-and you will wait
long-something which have written,
or something l have said, that would in.
dicate anything in my bosom which he
who loves his country ought not to read
or hear. In every sentiment that 1 have
expressed, in every vote that | have CIV
en- in my whole public life, outside this
House before l was member of it, and
since it has been my fortune to sit here,
l have had but one motive, and that was
the real, substantial, permanent good Of
] NV nnnntru hnua difEarnd with the