The rebellion : speech of Hon. Ephraim R. Echkely, of Ohio, in the House of Representatives, March 26, 1864

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THE REBELLI O 1ST .

SPEECH

HON. EPHRAIM R. ECKLEY,

OF OHIO, "

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, March 26, 1864.

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Mr. ECKLEY said :

Mr. Chairman : More than three months have elapsed since we
nrstmet as members of the Thirty-Eighth Congress-. During
that time I have heard what has been said, and witnessed what
nas been done. No Congress ever met with greater responsi-
bilities. A war, greater in magnitude than an}' the world ever
saw^ is ragmg around us, dealing out its untold calamities, and
leaving behind a train which the pen of the historian will grow
weary m attempting to describe, and, sick and discouraged, will
give it up in despair. But if reason had ruled our counsels,
and able, faithful, and patriotic men had been intrusted with
the administration of the Government, this war with its lone-
tram of evils could have been avoided.

For more than a quarter of a century the States now in re-
bellion had been preparing for the overthrow of the Government,
ihrough the means of a powerful political organization they had
done much toward effecting their diabolical purpose. By that
means they had annexed Texas, had inaugurated a war with
Mexico, had attempted to spread African slavery over all our Ter-
ritories, had tried to keep young Califorina out of the Union as a
tree fetate, and had broken up that time-honored compact, the
Missouri compromise, that the black pall of human slavery might
overshadow the virgin plains of Kansas, and had held up the threat
rST 7™ as tne consequence of opposition to these measures.
I he tearless love of freedom of the bold adventures on the Pa-
cific coast for a time postponed the evil hour, by the formation of
a tree htate without the aid of Congress. The vigorous emigra-
tion to the fertile and inviting regions of Kansas drove out the
hordes of bandits and lawless vagrants who, as the emissaries of
the bout hern States, were attempting by violence to carry out the
tolly oi Congress and defeat the will of the people of that Terri-
tory by trampling down their most sacred rights, which were
guarantied to them by the Constitution, and secured as an inheri-
tance by the God of their fathers. In despite of their organized
bandits, their acts of lawlessness, of fraud, perjury, and murder,
she emerged from the flames purified by the fire, and laid at the
teet ol the Government her free institutions, and demanded a
place m the sisterhood of States, with a Constitution prohibiting
slavery forever.

The Southern States were, through the means of Southern
Conventions, attempting to control the commerce of the country
and to prevent their people from trading in Northern cities,
bouthern men were seeking seats in Congress for the avowed pur-

pose of bringing about a dissolution of the Union. While these
things were taking place a close political organization governed
the Democratic party both North and South. They acted to-
gether and voted side by side. If one faltered he was denounced
and expelled from his party.

The unprecedented acts, the revolutionary measures of the
South, alarmed the North, and they attempted to arrest them in
their wild and dangerous conduct, proposing no means not clearly
within the Constitution; for they had a right to say that the an-
nexation of Texas was unwise, that a war should be avoided, and
that our Territories should be free.

These eventful things had now passed, and the shock of the
excitement had not impaired the power of the Government. Its
departments, executive, legislative, and judicial, were in full
force. Through the political organization of Southern rebels and
Nothern Democrats every department of the Government was
under their control when approached the great struggle of 1860.

History has already recorded the misplaced and betrayed con-
fidence of the country. At this important time the robber's hand
held the purse-strings of the nation; thieves occupied the Cabi-
net; treason unrebuked boldly proclaimed itself in the Senate and
in the House; weak imbecility filled the Executive Chair, and
corruption stalked boldly forth at noonday!

In this condition of things came the day of political trial, when,
in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, the present able
and patriotic Chief Magistrate was chosen President of the Uni-
ted States, and the power departed from the South. The Southern
States now set about their diabolical work. One after another
they declared their ordinance of secession, placed themselves in
open hostility to the Government, disregarding its laws and de-
fying its power. Civil war had actually commenced, and Sumter
was reduced. The President elect, amid threats of assassination,
reached the capital, and organized his administration; but the
Treasury had been robbed, our arsenals were empty, our Navy
scattered, while the capital itself was beleaguered and threatened
by an army of rebels.

During this eventful chapter of high-handed, bold, and trea-
sonable designs, neither the President, Senator, or Ecpresentative
sounded any note of alarm, or employed any means, or sought
any aid, to arrest the murderous hand, now raised to take the
life of the Government and plunge us into civil war. What
patriot but must blush at conduct such as this? What American
but regrets the day when such a party held the power of the
Government? And what philanthropist that will not weep as he
looks over the graves of the mighty dead, visits the scenes of
deadly conflict, or ponders over the broken circles and bereaved
hearth-stones of those who have suffered by this terrific war,
which might have been prevented by the party then in power? A
party that now coolly asks to be reinstated in the administration
of the Government; that proposes to restore a country it has dis-
tracted; to give peace to a weary people that it had broken up;

to enforce the laws, the majesty of which they had disregarded,
and restore a Constitution, the power of which they had con-
temned. But how do they propose to do it? By a dishonorable
compromise, giving up the contest, and recognizing the indepen-
dence of the Southern confederacy. Such a profanation of the
temples of civil liberty could receive naught but the indignant
scorn of the American people; the heart would sicken at the
spectacle; the world would judge us unworthy of free govern-
ment; and the doom of anarchy and ruin would be our inheri-
tance; while the progenitors of the destruction of such a
Government as this would live in history as the Ephesian incen-
diary, immortal in infamy. They would take their places side by
side with Cromwell, Catiline, and Judas, would live despised by
the good and the great, scorned by the world, and at whom the
beasts as they passed would turn up their noses in disgust.

The commotion in the country indicated its only course, that
was, to bury past political differences and unite all parties in put-
ing down the rebellion. The Kepublicans, then holding the
political power in most of the Northern States, abandoned their
organization, and with them united many loyal Democrats and
what remained of the American party, and formed the Union
party that holds now, and is destined to hold the power in this
Government.

The remnant of the Democratic party, such as is represented
on the other side of this Hall, refused to coalesce to save the
country. Party with them was paramount to every other con-
sideration. They had been weakened in the North by the loss of
the loyal men that had acted with them. They were further
divided by the acts of the rebel States. Their great power was
in the South. And the Northern and Southern wings were now
separated from each other. In battle array stood great armies
between them; yet who has not marked the wonderful coincidence
of thought and expression of the remote sections of this great
party? The South claimed that they possessed the constitu-
tional right of secession. And Mr. Buchanan said the Govern-
ment had no power to coerce. Jefferson Davis charged that our
Army went South to murder and plunder. And it is repeated
here that the mission of our Army was blood and famine. Davis
said that the arrest of citizens was a violation of their constitu-
tional rights. It is repeated from this Hall that arbitrary
arrests are unconstitutional. Davis said that the suspension of
the writ of habeas corpus by the President was without the shadow
of authority; and we hear it declared here that the only safeguard
of the citizen's liberty has been trampled down. The Southern
rebels say that our rescources are exhausted, and that bankruptcy
was staring us in the face. /The same thing is amplified in this
House. Mr. Yoorhees said :

" Our fall from bounding wealth and unlimited resources to pinched and shrunken
poverty and cowering bankruptcy, is as certain and as fatal under our present policy as
the fall of Lucifer, the morning star, from heaven. "

The rebels say that the President is exercising a more despotic

power than any crowned head of Europe. It is said in this
House by Mr. Voorhees that —

" It will not be long if our present career is unchecked until the terms dictator, king,
and emperor will be as familiar in Washington as in the palace of St. Cloud. "

The members of the confederate congress say the South is
powerfully supported in the North by the conservative Democratic
element that will come to their relief. It is said here by Mr.
Voorhees :

" And I here to-day, in the spirit of one who expects and desires his posterity and
theirs to live together in the ancient and honorable friendship of their fathers, warn the
Southern people not to look forward to separation and independence, but to embrace
every opportunity for co-operation with the conversative men of the North, who will aid
with their lives, if need be, to secure them all their rights and institutions as free and
equal citizens of the United States. "

The Richmond Enquirer declares that

"The North, distracted, exhausted, and impoverished, will, through the agency of a
strong conservative element in the free States, soon treat with them on acceptable terms."

The gentleman from New York [Mr. Fernando Wood] declares that

" We will have to treat with the rebels, that the war was commenced without cause,
and continued without glory, and will end in disintegration and destruction if carried on
for another administration. Peace must come."

Davis said in a speech before the Legislature of Mississippi that

"On the other side of the river our prospects are brighter than ever before, and ere
long he hoped that he would be enabled to proclaim Missouri free. Kentucky, too, was
an object of solicitude to him, and he spoke of her gallant people in the kindest and most
commendable terms."

And my honorable colleague [Mr. C. A. White] earnestly declares that

" We can never conquer the South, and we must compromise."

The rebels charge that

" This is an inhuman war waged against the institutions of the South ;"
and forty-two members of this House solemnly resolve that this is an inhu-
man war, and they should have added the words of Mr. Fernando Wood,

" Commenced without cause, and prosecuted without glory."

I might collect the sentiments of those at Richmond and here
until I could fill a volume, in which the most discriminating
mind could not detect a difference. Indeed, a stranger, if he
listened to the debates here, would think himself in the confed-
erate congress. I do not believe that if these Halls were occupied
to-day by Davis, Toombs, Wigfall, Rhett, and Pryor, they could
add anything to the violence of assault, the falsity of accusation,
or the maglinity of attack with which the Government has been
assailed, and the able, patriotic, and devoted men who are
charged with its administration have been maligned in both ends
of the Capitol. The closing scenes of the Thirty-Sixth Congress,
the treasonable declarations there made, contain nothing that we
cannot hear in the freedom of debate without going to Richmond
or to the camps of treason, where most of the actors in those
scenes are now in arms against us.

Many of the errors of our lives are attributed to the weakness
of our nature, the impressions of association, and the early influ-
ence of education. It has much to do in forming our characters
and making us useful and wise. The same causes may produce
the converse of these. None understood that better than did the
Southern politicians. For more than half a century they had
labored, and not without success, to indoctrinate the country in
the baneful doctrines enunciated in the celebrated Virginia and
Kentucky resolutions of 1798, which contained the veriest poison

to stable government, and was nothing more and nothing less
than the doctrine of secession, as claimed by the rebel States.

For years the Democratic party had exhumed this hersey from
the rubbish to which the good sense of mankind had consigned
it, and through the influence of Southern politicians made it a
cardinal doctrine of their political faith. I propose to read the
resolution adopted by the convention that nominated Mr. Buch-
anan in 1856 :

" That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid
down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1*798, and the report of Mr. Madison,
made to the Virginia Legislature in \199 ; that it adopts these principles as constituting
one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in
their obvious meaning and import."

The party that could solemnly pledge itself to the support of
such a doctrine, so dangerous and treasonable as that, is to be
deplored. When it was yet young, its fearful character called
out from the shades of retirement, in the evening of his eventful
and honorable life, that stern patriot and orator, Patrick Henry,
that he might cause to be wiped from the records of his own Com-
monwealth that foul stain that the traitor's hand had placed upon
it. Before he accomplished the work of regeneration he died.
The resolutions lived, nursed and fostered by a political party
and used as a shield and protection for every traitor that was
found defying the power of the Government. To-day we are
reaping their bitter fruits. The fields of carnage, the scenes of
blood, the bereaved widow, the weeping maiden, and the heart-
broken orphan, all point you to the fruits of the doctrine of
secession contained in that damnable heresy that to-day the rebel
States are attempting to carry out by the physical power of arms.
Up to this hour the Democratic party, though divided, have not
recanted, either North or South, this treasonable doctrine. There
it stands, as much the creed of that party to-day as it was the
day they proclaimed it to the world. No one can fail to see the
evil consequences of such a doctrine when carried into practice.
It was conceived in fraud and it closes in blood. For its wicked-
ness it is doomed to perish, and with it shall perish also its
advocates. The justice of the world, the peace of mankind, and
the judgment of experience have doomed them to political death,
and that host of conquering heroes who now hold every field on
which their gallantry was displayed or glory won, will consign
them to a sepulcher so deep that the hand of resurrection will
never reach them.

Another reason is given why we should submit to dishonorable
terms of compromise : that is, the pecuniary difficulties and the
inability of the Government to carry on the war; an allegation
that is not true. It is as dangerous to our prospects to declare
that we must call back our armies because we have not bread to
feed them, or garments to clothe them, as it is to declare that we
have not men to continue the contest. Either would be injurious,
and both are false. We have both men and means. Our whole
agricultural region is full; our factories and workshops supply our
wants and glut the market beside with their surplus. Indeed,

sir, we could withstand a famine almost as long as that which
God sent on Canaan. Our hills are covered with our gamboling
flocks, and our valleys are musical with the lowing of our herds;
our storehouses groan beneath their loads of cereal grains; our
fields are green with hope and promise; and a million of men
but await the call of their country to put on the panoply of war.
The most formidable Navy the world ever saw rides out upon the
ocean, guarding our four thousand miles of coast, and protecting
our commerce on every sea. Our material resources are so great
that they astonish even ourselves. A country so vast in magni-
tude, so fertile in productions, and so rich in natural advantages,
was never the boast of any people. The agricultural productions
alone of our country amount to the enormous sum of $3,000,000,-
000 per year; our works of art produce per year $3,000,000,000
more; our commerce and public improvements add their $4,000,-
000,000 to that.

And there is still another branch of our wealth not included in
the above. In the report of the 'Director of the Mint at Phila-
delphia it appears that the receipts of bullion for the vear ending
October 10, 1861, amounted to $121,000,000. The 'recent dis-
coveries of gold in new regions will add largely to that, and we
may safely count on the receipt of $200,000,000 per year. With
these vast resources who but those in sympathy with the rebellion
would intimate our inability to carry on this war to a successful
and honorable termination ? None but those with whom the
wish is father to the thought. We could carry a debt five times
as large as that already incurred, a condition of things by no
means desirable, but better for us and far better for our posterity
than to leave them without a Government or country with the
present debt upon them. The present debt is not greater in
proportion to the resources to meet it than was the debt of Penn-
sylvania or Ohio in 1841.

The war has, in my judgment, progressed with wonderful
success. Three fifths of the territory held by the rebels at its
commencement has been subjugated, and over which our flag
now floats, with a loss to them of the ocean coast, the entire Gulf,
and that great artery of commerce, the Mississippi river, with
nearly all its tributaries. Napoleon, in his thirst for power, or
Lord Wellington, in his most successful campaigns, never ac-
complished so much in the same length of time. The future is
full of hope. Unless we are betrayed by Northern people our
final triumph is not far in the future. Of that we need have no
fears. The number in the North whose sympathies are with the
traitors is but small. In voting they cannot endanger a single
loyal State, and as belligerents tlffey are entirely harmless.

Therefore, warranted by the facts, I declare my conviction that
the developed resources of the country leave no room to doubt the
ability of the Goverment to meet every demand legitimately in-
curred; if the same ability continues which has marked the
management of the Treasury Department during this day of
commotion and the same skillful hand continues to guide the

helm, the ship will outride the storm and land us in a haven of
safety without a single rent in the sails of our credit.

In order to secure our triumph in this struggle the necessary
means must he employed, and they must have a cordial support.
Thus far we have had to contend with two enemies : the one in
arms, and the other opposing all measures and trying to defeat
the legitimate and necessary policy. The lofty inspiration, the
wise measure, the patriotic object, and the necessary proposition
have not failed to he denounced by both the tongue and pen of
the partisan. Should this fair fabric be overturned and the boon
of civil liberty lost to this people, the driveling demagogue, who
by his appeals to ignorant followers or who by falsehood de-
stroyed its credit, is equally guilty with the traitor in arms, and
far more to be despised.

Great forbearance, untiring patience, and mature wisdom are
essential to meet the questions that are forced upon us, as inci-
dental to the great revolution now going on. For the manner in
which we shall perform our duty the enlightened world, the ages
of posterity, and the God of justice will hold us responsible.

Among the things incident to this war is having cast upon us
four million African slaves, who are now or will be free. The
moral duty to provide for them is one of transcendent obligation.

Two and a half centuries ago a Dutch ship came up the James
river, freighted with human beings, and discharged its mortality
among the planters of Virginia. This was the commencement of
the institution of slavery on this continent. It was then small,
but it grew into great power, eventually controlling the policy of
the Government, and wedding to its interest the political party
represented on the other side df this Hall. Finally, it plunged
the country into. the yawning gulf of civil war. It has raged for
three years with unabated fury. The duty of the loyal citizen in
this was plain, and his course clearly marked. It was that this
great crime against humanity, condemned by the Christian world,
at war with the justice of Heaven, and denounced by the mild
teachings of revelation, for thus attempting to undermine the
foundation-stones of freedom had forfeited its life and deserved to
die. We could not engage in this bloody contest, exhaust our
substance, and sacrifice our manly sons who have gallantly, amid
the terrific fire of battle, borne our banner in triumph over a hun-
dred stricken fields, to secure this damnable institution its exist-
ence forever. No ! Our own safety, the demands of humanity,
and the injunctions of Heaven doomed it to death.

There never was a measure of more wisdom or of purer justice
than the proclamation of emancipation. No state paper ever had
so great an effect, it not only gave hope and, encouragement to
the Army, but it gave assurance that the cause of this rebellion
would be wiped out, It ended all hope of the recognition of the
confederacy by foreign powers, and it taught the rebels that their
only support was their own weakness.

Its fruits already are manifest in the freedom of Missouri,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland — all

free, now and forever. Trie balance of them but wait the pro-
gress of our arms to rid themselves of this blighting curse and
take their places side by side in the great galaxy of free States.
This fact casts upon us the further duty of taking care of the
emancipated or providing for them to take care of themselves.
We have already placed arms in their hands, and when they have
achieved the freedom of their race and aided in achieving the
freedom of ours it will not do to send them back to slavery. An
act of such gross injustice would call down the vengeance of
Heaven upon us.

History has not left us without an example of what our fate
will be should we be guilty of so great a crime. When the ■
Lacedsemons were confronted with a powerful army, and their all
staked upon the result of a single battle, for a while the contest
seemed doubtful, but fate turned against them; their columns,
thinned and weakened, began to give way, when five hundred slaves
threw themselves into the breach, drove back the invading hosts,
and victory perched upon the standards of that ancient people.

What were they to do with their slaves ? They had won the
victory, they had saved the fate of the day, and even this bar-
barous people would not remand them to their chains. They
were like the gentlemen on the other side-— they were jealous of
their freedom; and to relieve themselves from both they drove
them to the place of execution and deliberately murdered them.

But the vengeance of Heaven overtook them, offended justice
smote them, their country, torn by wars, was devastated, their
cities sacked, and they as a people obliterated from the earth.
The wild beasts now roam unmolested over their plains, the bramble
grows in their streets, and their palaces, once merry with the
song of contentment, are desolate and abandoned, the foxes bark
from their windows and the owl hoots from their domes.

We shall not follow their example, nor will we incur the just
fate that overtook them. We will, governed by the broadest
philanthropy, do our duty to this unfortunate waif that for more
than three centuries has been floating upon the tide of human
avarice and crime.

If wisdom prevails in our councils the gallantry of the greatest
Army the world ever saw will soon bring us peace and restore our
country; a peace that will be honorable and lasting. The causes
of distraction will be removed, and our country, baptized anew
in the fires of war, will come forth purified, and with renewed
vigor will enter upon her mission of future usefulness and glory.
She will assume a higher position among the nations of the world,
with the last blotch of shame washed from her escutcheon . Securely
seated upon the mountain summits of her own freedom, m one hand
holding out to the world the olive-branch of peace and in the
other the thunderbolt of rightful but reluctant war, bounded by
the oceans, the lakes, and the Gulf, there may she sit forever,
with the stars of Uuion on her brow and the rock of freedom
beneath her feet. . .

Gibson Brothers, Printers, 271, Pa. Avenue, Washington, D. C.

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