Year: 1860



 tion of your political theories and princi- ples, expect to find allies and auxiliaries among the non-slaveholding people of the southern States.

 No, sir; in the language of gentleman now on this floor, Mir. Corwln,l the sponsor of the republican candidate for Speaker, whose speeches during the last war in which our country was engaged were SO patriotic, breathed so much of loy- ality and devotion to his own country as to secure for them reproduction in the jour- nals published in the country of the enemy, and tended, as was believed at the time, greatly to protract that struggle. they will welcome him with bloody hands to hospit- able graves" The gentleman who nomina- ted Mr. Sherman, and number of those l who have voted for him, have protessed upon this floor conservative and national senti- ments. The gentlemen will pardon the democratic side of this House when they | ask them for some evidence of their sheer ity. For more than three weeks they have endeavored to force upon this House as its presiding officer man whose name IS as- sociated with that of wretch whose base ness and whose wickedness no language IS adeouate to describe, in addressing to the slaves and portion of the white people of the southern States a reasonable and ln- ceadiarv production, of which nothing worse can be said than that the offspring is in every way worthy of its parent. The gentleman from Ohio has made no dls- claimer of the infamous sentiments, opln- ions, and purposes of that book, or ot the still more infamous means by which they are to be propagated and put into practical operation Nor has he uttered any denun- citation of those who by fraud and mlsrepre- sentation, if fraud and misrepresentation were mployed-procured his indorse- ment and recommendation, at all satiStac- tory to myself or to those who act with me upon this side of the House.

 His whole political antecedents are Tn perfect conformity to this crowning act Of uncalculating partizan zeal. To what does he owe the distinction he now enjoys? Why is he rather than the gentleman who nominated and who supports him, coming from the same State, certainly his equal Tn ability, with more, far more, of parlla- mentary experience, with more reputation, with longer and more varied public ser vice, deemed worthy of the third office Tn rank and dignity and influence in the country? Why, but because his colleague Mir. Corwln Is supposed to preserve some faint semblance of nationality, to harbor in his bosom some expiring sparks of pa triotism and conservatism too feeble to re- lume, but not yet quite extinguished. Why. but because former position has compelled him to uphold the constitutionality of the fugitive slave law, and yield a reluctant consent to its enforcement in the State which he in part represents on this foor Why, sir, but because more amiable nature, perhaps, has betrayed him on few occa- sions in his life into an expression of tole- ration and sympathy for the people and institutions of the south whilo the gentle man who is the candidate of the republi- can party for Speaker has never uttered word or cast vote to mar the symetry of his political record. His whole political career is beautiful harmony. He has been uniformly, pers!stenly, conspiciously, intensely sectional No man on this floor, no man off it, has been more intolerant towards the south, her people and her in- stltutlons, than the gentleman from Ohio, | MT. Sherman. He Is now reaping the re- ward of his unfailing hostility to all of them. He owes his present prominence, less to his ability, less to his accomplishments as a pol lticlan and a statesman, than to the prompt and ready support which he has invariably | yielded to the most revolutionary measures of an interruptions and aggressive party. His religion and his politics have been warfare upon the south and opposition, | right or wrong, to the men and measures of the only national conservative party in the country. The gentleman invited us to scrutanize his record. l have done so. I witnessed the making of portion of it, and am sure that no man now upon this floor, none who has ever been honored with a seat here, can exhibit worse one.

 l recollect the bearing of the gentleman in the struggle like the present which took | place four years ago. 1 remember, too, the official action of the gentleman as chairman of the celebrated Kansas investi- l gating committee. Nor have 1 forgotten the course pursued by the gentleman upon the army appropriation bill in the Thirty Fourth Congress. The constitution itself has been no impe1iment to him in the pursuit of party triumph. In the blind ness and fury of his partizan zeal he has been ignorant of its most obvious provis- ions or forgetful of the oath he has taken to observe them. 1 can show, by refer ence to the gentleman's record to which he invites our attention, that 1t iustifies this criticism What would be the character of the genteman's responses record fine al- lowed himself to be interrogated, when he is rash enough to point to such a record? But the gentleman folds his arms and says he will not be interrogated. appreciate the del-

 cacy of his position. There are thousands of his party throughout the Union who would, at this particular iuncture. be very much embarrassed, to say the least, if com pelled to answer interrogatories. Let us spare the gentleman's feelings, and pro- pound no more questions to him.

 The Speaker of the Thirty. Fourth Con- gress, to whose election the present candi- date of the republican party contributed as much as any member of that Congress, did not know, upon being interrogated, which of the two races, the black or the white, was the superior That race which absorb ed the other, he said, was the superior one, and that was problem which time alone could solve The absorbing process is, I suppose, a slow one, and we would have to await that solution before we could get an answer from the present candidate of the republicans for Speaker upon that point. But, while the gentleman refused to be in- terrogated, and referred us to his record he deigned to tell us that he had been uni formly kind and courteous in his intercourse with the members of the House. We'll, sir, in these times that is great deal How unreasonable are southern gentlemen who are not ready on pended knee to thank the bland, gentle, urbane candidate of the republican party for his signal condescen- sion, this sublime generosity. Truly

 "Hes as mild hammered man as ever scuttled ship or cut throat.'

 While our constituents (say republican gentlemen) at our instigation are laying waste and desolating your homes, mur- dering your families, and melting servile war