FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   323   324   325   326   327   328   329   330   331   332   333   334   335   336   337   338   339   340   341   342   343   344   345   346   347  
348   349   350   351   352   353   354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   >>   >|  
l with the men who are organizing Negro companies, and teaching them to shoot down loyal men for the only offence of upholding the flag of their Country. "I hope further, Sir, that there is a public sentiment in this Country that will blast men who will rise, in the Senate or out it, to make apologies for Treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine that this Government is bound to protect Traitors in converting their Slaves into tools for the destruction of the Republic." Senator McDougall, of California, said: "I regard this as a Confiscation for Treason, and I am for the proposition." Mr. Ten Eyck, said: "No longer ago than Saturday last I voted in the Judiciary Committee against this amendment, for two reasons: First, I did not believe that persons in Rebellion against this Government would make use of such means as the employment of Persons held to Labor or Service, in their Armies; secondly, because I did not know what was to become of these poor wretches if they were discharged. God knows we do not want them in our Section of the Union. But, Sir, having learned and believing that these persons have been employed with arms in their hands to shed the blood of the Union-loving men of this Country, I shall now vote in favor of that amendment with less regard to what may become of these people than I had on Saturday. I will merely instance that there is a precedent for this. If I recollect history aright, General Jackson, in the Seminole War, declared that every Slave who was taken in arms against the United States should be set Free." So, too, in the House of Representatives, the retrograde of a badly demoralized Army, its routed fragments still coming in with alarming stories of a pursuing Enemy almost at the gates of the city, had no terrors for our legislators; and there was something of Roman dignity, patriotism, and courage, in the adoption, on that painfully memorable Blue Monday, (the first--[Offered by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky]--with only two dissenting votes, on a yea and nay vote; and, the second --[Offered by Mr. Vandever, of Iowa.]--with entire unanimity) of the following Resolutions: "Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the Country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; that in this National emer
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   323   324   325   326   327   328   329   330   331   332   333   334   335   336   337   338   339   340   341   342   343   344   345   346   347  
348   349   350   351   352   353   354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Country

 
Government
 

States

 

Offered

 

persons

 
United
 
regard
 
Representatives
 

Treason

 

amendment


Saturday

 
retrograde
 

coming

 
fragments
 

alarming

 
demoralized
 

routed

 

declared

 

recollect

 

history


aright

 
General
 

precedent

 
people
 

instance

 

Jackson

 
Seminole
 
stories
 

dignity

 

Resolved


Resolutions

 

Congress

 
present
 

unanimity

 

Vandever

 
entire
 

deplorable

 

Capital

 

National

 
Constitutional

Southern

 

forced

 

Disunionists

 

legislators

 

terrors

 

patriotism

 
courage
 

Crittenden

 
Kentucky
 

dissenting