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T H E T W P R C 1 > A. M A T 1 N S.
SPEECH
HON. JAMES BROODS,
BEFOBE 1 i j£\ U ^
Democratic Union Association, Sept. 29th, 1862.
Hon. James Brooks, on rising, was received
with great chef ring. As soon as silence was
restored, ho said : —
Mb. Chaikman and Gentlemen :— I am well
aware of the responsibility under which any
public speaker addresses any public meeting in
a crisis like this. I am well aware, that this
hitherto proud land of liberty, of which we all
have boasted and in which we all have lived, i •
now not altogether free, for free discussion, free
speech, or a free press. (" That's so," and ap-
plause. Another voice—" We'll make it so.")
Everyone who comes before the public fear-
lessly to utter his sentiments, to nay now what
hitherto has neon accorded to all by every ad-
ministration of the government, assumes a re-
sponsibility which every public speaker would
gladly avoid if lie could. I have interests, I
have associations, I have responsibilities, I have
a family, and I am notsatisfi< d yet, that if whal
I say here does not suit the administration in
power, that I may not be dragged and incar-
cerated where many a ruau has been dragged
without trial. (" No yon won't," and ap i
Nevertheless, I feel that I speak as it t^re, a
candidate for the Bastile this evening, but I
«hall speak freely, boldly, and fearlessly, though
with due respect to the administration. (Loud
cheers.)
THE DISTINCTION 1'. I ! « 1 11 N UDMTNISTBATIOJ VSV
GOVERNMENT.
A new era has come in upon us ; new logic
has arisen ; new law is expounded ; new exposi-
tors of the Constitution have sprung up. There
was assembled, Sunday evening, in a neighbor-
ing city, in no lager bier saloon, in no Irish porter
house, where a like discussion would have been
suppressed by the police, but in the holy Puri-
tan church of Brooklyn, a political meeting,
(great hissing) in which the reverend expositor
of the Constitution laid down this creed, as I
find it reported:
"There can bo only two parties now in ibis
-onefor liberty ana the President and
i for the Smith' and for slavery. I know
it is said that the President is not the govern^
merit ; that the Constitution is the government.
Wha* . ! a sbeep.-km parobuumt a government !
* * President Lincoln, his cabinet, the heada
of the executive departments, are me govern-
ed i ,«■;> bave got to take their choice
whether thej will go ag i-inst thi g »vei ament.
And the President himBelf has fallen into a
like error in his reply to the Abolitioni-tts of
Chicago, for they report him to have said, while
they were presenting to him the necessity of
issuing the proelamati"
"Understand, says Pre 'dent Lincoln, "I
raise no objection <>n legal or constitutional
• :•, i !ommander-io-Chief of the
i in time of war, I sirppose I have
totakeany measure which may best
subdue th< enemy." Be farthi r said io the
of his conversation with them, in sub-
thai whatever appeared to do God's will
he (President Lincoln) would do.
Now, gentlemen, T propose, as briefly as pos-
sible, to present to yon, not my ideas, out what
are the real ideas ol government and of the ad-
ministration of the government, and what is the
difference hotween government and the admin-
istration of government ? To the government
Itself, we all owo loyalty and devotion, (ap-
plause) and to the government we all owe alle-
giance and fidelity. Government is not odIv
instituted bv man for the protection of man and
of society, but government is ordained of G"d
to protect the people from anarchy and to main-
tain liberty and law for the people. (Renewed
applause.)
ALLEGIANCE DUE TO GOVERNMENT, NOT TO MAN.
To that species of government our allegiance
is due, and it has been given by the Whigs and by
fcju i ,. nil k i a1 m Congress in freely voting mil-
.2
lious and teuH of million* to support tbi
n-nmont and the Constitution of the United
Spates. It has been given by the people of New
York city, in tens of thousands of dollars and
in thousands of soldiers, volunteers in the
army of tbetoiied States, for the support, of
the Rovr rmneut ; and its volume and its voice
pressed by two D • Generals at
the head of the army, HaReck, the Commander
in-Chic'', and BfcClellan, — [Protracti
enthusiastic cheer . in which 'lie roice of the
speaker was lost.] Government, in this coun-
try, lias its form and embodiment in thai wril
ten instrument colled the Constitution of the
United States. That piece of "parchment,"
that piece of " sheepskin," .is it was sneering-
ly called by the ■
evening, that Constitution of the United i
is the written expression of the public wUL, the
embodiment of th and in Mia*
Constitution, which tons is, what Magna Char-
ta is to England, what the h %beas corpus is u,
England ; in tha i at is our form ol
government., and thai government eiu^odiea
tour distinct branches,— not alone the Presi-
dent, of the United States, nor the Cabinet of
the President of the United S'ates, (an organi-
zation altogether unknown to the Constitution,)
but the Senate of the United States, that has
the treaty-making power, and that has the con-
firming power over appointments, the House of
Representatives of the United States, and last,
not least, aye, more powerful than all, the Judi-
ciary of the United States. [Cheers.] President
Lincoln is no more the government, than you.or I
or anybody else ; he is but a branch of the gov-
ernment. [Ren ] He is but the
Executive power. He is no more the govern-
ment than the Sonate, or the House of Repre •
sentatives, and Justice Taney, with bis associ-
ate Judges, is as mnch a part of the govern-
ment as the Prei ta flf. [Applause ]
MAN ALLI MRY IDEA.
These are constitutional f.ie.ts; this is the writ-
ten law of the Uo i is the embo-
died government ofthe United States, and the
only government, to which I, or you, or any D«-
mocrat, or any Whig, hue ever sworn alle-
giance. [Great cheering. J Brides
of government is twelve or fifteen hundred
years old, a product of the feudal ag<
darkest ages of Europe. Braoton, the I
enunciated it in law Latin :
et Minister Dei in Terra, omnis quidem sub so
est, et ipse sub nulla, n nib Deo."
The kingly idea of government, in one man, or
tinder one authority, with certain Divine
rights, irresponsible to man oa earth and
scarcely responsible to God in Heaven, is the
Tory idea of government ; the despotic, monar-
chical idea., never before, till in (his crisis, this
new era, inirodu ed and forctd upon the un-
happy people of these United States of Ameri-
ca. ['* Good, arid applause] The President
himself is but the mere creature of the Consti-
tution of the United States. He never was
by the popular will, or by the popular
voice of the people of the Uoitpd S'ates. —
[" No, never," and great applause.] No never,
never, never ! [A number of voices "Never."]
3TR. LINCOLN NOT PHESIDrNT r.Y THE POPULAR
VOICE.
Of fl f or millions and two-thirds of a mil-
lion of rotes cast at the last Presidential elec-
[r. Lincoln was in the minority of nearly
lion, among the people; [applause) and
though in California and Oregon, underthe plu-
rality system, he received their electoral votes,
Jersey, glorious New Jersey, [cheers for
rsey,] he did no 1 , receive the vote popuUr
or the vote electoral. Thus, in these three
northern tesofth Union, a majority ofthe
people were against him, while from the Sus-
quehanna to the Rio Grande, in fifteen other
States, not a popular, nor an dec' oral vote was
given bim.
| MB LINCOLN ONLY PRESIDENT AS CREATURE OF
THE CONSTITUTION.
Nevertheless, under our constitutional sys-
I tern in the, Electoral Colleges, of the 303 elec-
toral votes bl en , though in a popular minority
of nearly a million of votes, be did receive
1 180 electoral vob more votes
tban wei e i ecessazy to elect him, the President
nited States, under the Constitution. I
, then, the President does not represent,
and neva hasrepi rented, the popular will of
.the people'oi the Tinted States. (A voice—
: "And never will.") He is the mere creature of
the Constitution of the United States, and our
obedience to him as Executive, our fidelity to
i ive, is through, and under the
Constitution alone. ("That is all," and cheers.)
deelaimers tell me, that the
Ins Cabinet
or, ] show thun the popnla
iem, that the President"
nt, but as he was
Id by the Constitution of the
rod in defiance of the popular voice of
•he U. S. (Applause, ) Tell me not, then, that
I may not.and t hall not,discuss the measures of
an administration, or, that this administration
is the government, and that in criticising the ad-
ministration I am guil'y of treason to the govern
meut. Government is a thing eternal,and spring*
from God as well as born of the instincts of man,
but Mr. Lincoln is but a creature of the Constitu-
tion for four years only, and the Cabinet are
but creatures of Lincoln. And yet. the reverend
Brooklyn expositor tells us, that the Preaident
aod the Cabinet are the government of the U.
S. (A voice— " They are pretty nearly played
out.") I shall, therefore, as I have a right,
discuss fretly all the measures of the adminis-
tration.
THE TARIFF NOT FOR REVENUE ALONE — CARPET-
PETING— WOOD SCREWS.
I shall speak ot the tariff, for example,
cost what it may. I shall say that the existing
tariff was not made for revenue, but in the main
for the protection of a, few monopolizing, rich
and wealthy corporator-', the most «)!' «hom are
n New England. (Applause.) I wjll say — and
I might enumerate many such instances — that in
the simple article of the tapestry carpet manu-
facture, in consequence of the loom for the
manufacture of that species of carpeting being
patented, the tariff law of the United States
throws thirty or forty percent protection for
every yard of tapestry carpet manufacture into
the hands of two or three wealthy manufactur-
ers of tapestry carpeting. ("That's so, and
cheers.") (A voice, " Simmons on wood
screws.") Yea, that is another of th< m . '■ ■ '■
iuatratiotiH.
THE PUBLIC LANDS.
So with the public- land?. Whan it wau
necessary to raise the tariff to increa i thi
protection io the^e corporators, not for re-
venue, but wholly for the purpose of protection,
the public lands were givei away by Co]
under the pretence of a donation to the poor
maD, while upon that very poor man's ■
k>vied a duty, which makes it cost him thirty
to forty cents per pound more, while the price
of his sugar hau been doubled, the price of his
coffee largely it) creased, and taxation in every
way and in every possible manner inflicted upon
the consumers of products atid the laborer^
throughout all the United States. (Applause.)
I will »ay, too, that the appropriation of mil-
lions ot money for a tew wealthy eorporator^bf
the Pacirij railroad by Congress in time of war,
was a wasteful exercise of the power of appro-
priating money when it was necessary during
the war io inflict enormouj and gigantic taxes
upon all classes of peopls. (Cheers.)
THE CURRENCY— PAPEE MONEY LEUAL TENDER.
I shall speak, also, of the currency of the Uni-
ted States. The creal or^ of the Constitution, our
fathers, intended that the people should nave
hard money as the basis of their business, only
haid money ; gold and silver were the people's
money. Hence gold and silver were ingrafted
upon the Constitution, and the power given to
Congress was only the power to coin money,
» ever to coin paper, as money, (" good" and ap-
plause,) and to stamp upon metal. nevei'jOn pa-
per, the value of money ; the States were for-
bidden, therefore, lest they might override the
Constitution, from ever making anything but
gold and silver money a legal tender for the
payment of debts between man and man. And
yet, the administrative powers in Congress and
in the White House have not only violated th6
Consticution of the United States in the coin-
ing of millions and millions of Treasury notes,
but ha^e gone down to low water mark and
have coined even postage stamps, not shin
plasters alone, but sticking plasters also. (Great
aughter.) Now, if human ingenuity had exert-
ed itself to invent or devise the ways and
means of destroying ihe value of property and
of labor and of disturbing society, it need never
have invent* <i bel for ways and means than have
been thus invented by this Administration. The
man who receives a dollar a day for his labor,
when gold is twenty per cent premium, receives
o) i eighty cents per day for that labor. (Tint's
so, and applause.) The laborer, the painter,
the carpenter, the iorger, the manufacturer,
the foundryman, who 1ms his two dollars a day
nominally tor labor, has only a dollar and sixty
cents for that l.ibor, while upon his tea, his
coffee, his sugar, his shirtings, hio sheetings,
and his • lothing of all kinds, prices have been,
if not dcubled, almost everywhere increased,
to forty per ceut in cost. (That's so, and
renewed tpplau ) Tell me not then, I am not
to discuss such m the Administra-
tion. Who shall forbid, what shall prevent h ?
All the ingenuity »ud devices of Satan himself
for destroying the value of labor and for cor -
rupting everything in society, could not have
suggested anything moie mischievous and
damaging than this corruption and degradation
of the currency. TUt* higher, nominally, things
go, th< tnon I i laboi . practically suffers,
tur ivhile the capitalist, in his better knowledge
of value and of money, knows how to handle
money and to exchange values, the last thing
that ribes in the market, are the wages of the
common day laborer. He, who has a salary ot a
thousand dollars, hau tw ■■■. lit of 11 tak-
en off. Ho whi ■•! . . owelve dollars a
week, practically rei i dollars and forty
cents lejs thau the contract was made for,
when Uo first received these stipulated wages
for his labor. (Applause ) These, however,
are minor matters of importance, things to be
but little considered when human Liberty, — if
if dul human life, are all at stake.
THE TWO PROCLAMATIONS -THE PROVOST SWV.-
hHAL WAR ORDER.
There have recently appeared from the ad-
ministration of this government three docu-
ments of the greatest importance, which it may
be dangerous freely to discuss, but which it is
not the less our right and duty fretly to dis-
cuss. These are, the first Proclamation, the
second Proclamation, and the last, but not the
least, the War < >rder from the War Department'
abolishing, to a considerable extent, the civil ju-
risdiction of the courts, and establishing in lieu
thereof, a system of Provost Marshals through-
out the whole of the United States of America.
The first Proclamation of the President has in
it tbree elements, three points worthy of consi-
deration. The first is emancipation, the second
is a proposition for the compensation of slaves,
and the third is the colonization of these
slaves. 1 propose as briefly as possible to ex-
amine these points in order. The first thing
which strikes a man is, to aBk, where is the
grant of power in the Constitution of the U. S.
which gives the President, but the creature of
the Constitution, authority to annul whole
States of the Union, or the laws and institutions
of whole States in that Union, and to override
all laws for the protection or loyal men, even if
in disloyal Sta'es. No man can rise and say, that
there is, anywhere, in our written Constitution,
any such authority tor the President of the U.
S. to exercise any such power as he assumes or
usurps in his Proclamation. The only authority
claimed is, that he, as Commander-in-Chief of
the army— of the army not in the field— fla-
grante hello, but as theoretical Commander-in-
Chief of the army, sitting in the White House
at Washington, has the power to exercise any
authority which appears to him beat, or which
he deems right. Now, if this be law, there is i
no security that he may not exercise the same j
power, if he deems it best tor the people oi the
United States, to annul the relation of (parent j
and child, of ward mid guardian, of debtor and
creditor, of mortgagor and mortgagee, aye,
all the rights and obligations of society — for
he has the bi ttder-in-Ghief
roue all powers over the northern States
of the Union. ("Hear, hear," and cheers.)
Who created this creature of the Constitution,
the offspring of a | opular minority, who vested
and appointed bim with this arbi
over thirty million tan beings? — (gteat
cheering,)— a power, the like of which,
erdaed in Englatd, without an act of Parlia-
ment, won! I or* ate a revolut ion there in forty-
hours, among all classes of people : a pow-
er, which Napoleon never dared iu exercise upon
his imperial throne, and which the French peo-
ple would never submit to, if attempted over
the people of France? (Cheers.)
THE LAWS OP W.Ui.
But there is no such military power under
"■■• institnti u a of the United
•re martial rights, lawe <•! war,
but well known and well recognized, laws
written of, in Grotius, in Vattel, in Puffendorf,
n our own Wfieaton, and in our own Kent, and
nowhere is there recorded as giviDg to any
Dominal Commander of an army, any such au-
thority ar the President attempts to exercise,
not only over the people at large, but over this
Constitution of the United States. I do not
hesitate to say, cost what it may, the use of
such power isau arbitrary, and despotic exer-
cise of illegal and unconsti utional power. —
[ !Y> mi ndous cheering.J I will not cite a hun-
dred authorities that I could cite in La*in, in
French and in Germao, under the civil law, as
old as the days of Justinian, hut I wid come
down to what has been deemed high Republi-
can authority, that, of John Qainoy Adams.
We had likts controversies with Great Britain in
1783 and in 1816, upon the subject of plave
emancipation, that we have now. Great Bri-
tain, pending the revolution, emancipated and
abducted many slaves from Long Island and
elsewhere, and carried those slaves to Nova
8 otia or to the West Indies, there to be re-en-
. Laved, and in the war ot 1812, Great Britain ex-
ercised alike power over this slave property of
the; Uniled S'ates. John Quincy Adams, as a
Minister to England, as Secretary of State of
the United States, wrote to the British authori-
ties that, —
'• They (the British) had no right to make
any Mich emancipation promises to the negro.
inciple i«, that the emancipation of the
en< my's slaves is not among the acts of legiti-
mate war ; as relates to the owners it is a de-
si ruction of private property, nowhere warrant-
ed by the usages of war"'
"No such right is acknowledged as a law of
war by writers who admit any limitation. The
right of putting to death all prisoners, in cold
blood, without special cause, might as well be
pretended to bo a law of war, or th^ right to use
mi d weapons, or to as B at<si"ate."
This is the language of John Quincy Adams,
in his correspondence with the British govern-
ment, upon the subject of slaves emancipated
during the war of tne Revolution aud the war
of 1812. Under this remonstrance, and through
the treaty of Ghent, one million two huudreel
thousand dollars were paid by the British gov-
* rnment, to the southern slaveholders, for pro-
perty thus abduced and emancipated during
'he war of the Revolution and the war of 1812.
[A-pplause.] Hence, as ihe Proclamation i» not
rinht under the Constitution, it is no more
ri^hf under the laws of war, nor is it righ', to
the loyal men, in the disloyal States of this
Unidn.
MUTUAL DUTIES OF ALLEQIANOE AND IT.OTECTION.
iment has obligations and duties as
well as rights. It has no right to claim al-
legianoe aud fidelity fretm a citizen when it can-
not protect tuat citizen, aud unless pro ection
is given, allegiance is not due. [Cheers]
When the govt rumeut of the United Si ates fail-
i .1 to exercise it« pow^r for the protection of
diets of East Tennessee, of Virginia, of
Cexa and or North Carolina, under the Uw of
nations the people there were, %ro tem.,tor the
absolved from allegiance to the
doited States government, umil the govern-
uldre oaiabli-h its power. [Applame.]
There are two species of government under
which men live, termed in law Latin, gov-
ernments defacto and governments dejure, or
in plaii er English, existing governments,
governments in point, of fact, aud governments
of right. Ours here in these Dorthern States
is doc only a government de facto, but. a gov-
ernment dejare. Theirs in the South, unre-
cognized by ns or the world — a mere govern-
ment of rebellion — is a government de facto, Dot
a goveruraent de jure, till recognized bv the
world and by us. Now, even loyal people living
under that hard, iron, despotic government, de
facto, of tbeSoutb, arebouud, obligated, forced
by love of lifo and love of property to yield obe-
dience to that government till they are emanci-
pated from it by the people of these northern
States. A.ud yet, this proclamation, with one
fell blow, with oue fatal sweep, abolis
rights of property which every loyalist has in
Tennessee, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama,
Texaf, or anywhere, South. The loyalist and
the rebel are put uciou a par bv iIum proclama-
tion. And the loyalist, if, for the sake of his wife,
of his children, and of his property, though hia
heart'elt allegiance may be given to this govern-
ment, though his love and devoti in art allfoi
it, he obe> s this tktvernment de facto, yet is
put under the ban by this proclamation as
much as if he bad beeu a rebel, ab-initio, from
the very beginning, when the r'-beiliou first
broke out. (Applause,) Heiiee, I repeat, the
proclamation is unconstitutional ; the procla
mation is against the laws of war ; (loud aijd
protracted cheers ) the proclamation is against
all well-written distinctions of jurists upon the
subject of allegiance and loyalty due govern-
ments, dejare and de facto. (Renewed cheers )
Excuse me, gentlemen, lor the heaviness, 'ho pro-
lixity of this discussion. (" Go on, go oa.") I
fear that in entering into it I am loo laborious-
ly d'acustiiu^ abstract, principles ; but in theso
times it becomes necessary to discuss these
plain, constitutional, legal principles and to show
that two. and two make four.
FEDERAL COMPENSATION FOB STATE SLAVES.
The next proposition of the proclamation
is compensation to slaves. Here I plant my
foot down on the steps of my fathers, in
this, and other northern States, and tell
the South to abolish slavery there as our
fathers did, and pay for their siave-i when
they abolish the institution, and not force
taxation upon us to pay for 'he emancipation oi
their slaves (Applause.) I will not tax the
poor man of the .North nor the rich man of the
North to pay for the emancipation of slaves in
Texa*, North Carolina, Georgia, Teuueesee, or
anywhere else. There is no such authority in
Congress to appropriate money for anj such
purpose whatever. All of theso northern States
Uave abolished slavery by their own tree wid,
and under their [own laws,have compensated the
people or not compensated thtm as the people
of the States willed. And yet, the President
of the United Svatet, in the exercise of the pow-
er of the Executive, promises to call upou Con-
gress to tax the people of the North for the com-
pensation of slives, loyal or dislo;> al. What ! are
we, who are about to be more and more over-
ridden by taxation, to be taxed even as the peo-
ple of Eu^land and France are taxed on every-
thing wa eatj drink, wear and move about in?
Are we to tax the laborer of the North, earn-
ing for his family, a dollar or two dollars a day,
for the emancipation of slaves in dtstaut States
of the Union, over whoso local interests, over
whose municipal authorities, in whote debts or
credits, or in whose systems of government we
have do earthly r ght to exercise any power,
and in which we have but little interest ?
(Cheers.)
eedehvl colonization of su
The next, proposition of the President is a
huge svstem of colonization for those slaves.
Coming as be does from the State of Illinois,
his own Republican State, which gave him the
Republican vote, imbued wim the idea of the
Western people,that they will not have negroes
to live a; d dwell among them — he proposes to
tax the Treasury of the United States millions
upon millions to colonize, in Chiriqui or else-
where, some three or four millions of uegroe9, at
the exp heNorth. Why, never did a
dn tnier idea enter the head, it seems to me,
of auv wild Utopiau scheming philosopher.
(Laughter and applause.)
The abduction, the emancipation, the coloni-
zation of four milhous of humau beings from
the cotton and rice fields of the South, from the
tropical districts of that region, whore only the
negro can work, where the white man cannot
possibly labor under that tropical >"un, the colo-
nization of three or four millions of once happy
human beings to some foreign country, on some
wild prospect of emigration, and the taxation
of twenty milhous of Noj ihero people to pay
i > s negro < olonization,is utterly
impossible, and never can take place. What-
ever the President may say, or whatever ho may
dream of, the Southern negro will remain hero
iu the laud of his adoption and now the land of
his birth, and the onlj q - I ft torus to
settle », wh< ' ■ shall be left
iiutramnielled, unnoticed and undisturbed by u*,
as tli .v have been, from the foundation ot the
gov, c imen , or whether we shall use the power
of the army to subvert and destroy the author-
ity of tlieir mas'ers and instal these slaves as
masters of the Southern States of this Union,
(" never, never,") and when thus installed,
whether wo shall have i-lavo partnerships
with them
NO NEGJ HIPS.
For one, I am readv to Bay that if the
time ever arises when Georgia or Alabama, or
\ irginia or Louisiana is governed by negroes,
with a negro judiciary, negro senators in Con-
gress, and negro representatives, it is quite
tune tor the wnite people of the North to dis-
solve partner ihip villi any such concern. (Loud
cheers.) All these,however,are dreams of negro
liberty, equalitv and fraternity ; and if the
schemes ot the President are curried out, there
must inevitably 10110*, what the Aohtionists
now demand of nim, the arming of the slaves,
their adoption into the arniv of the United
States, and our recognition of them, not only as
tellow soldiers, but as fellow citizens al-
so. (Applause and laughter.) In Louis-
iana, there are now thousand of slaves
supported on government rations, and every
ne,;io costs the U. S., forty cents a dav for bis ra-
tion. Something must be done wnh these ne-
groes. jThe Abolitionists propose to briDgthem
into the army of the United States. This is no
new proposition. Alikd proposition was made
two years ago, id the State of New York — the be-
ginDingof that idea, to give negro rnffrage to
negro voters, and though this was a Repuolican
State, going for Mr. Lincoln by fifty thousand
majority, the Republicans themselves had good
sense enough to vote down that proposition by
an immeose majority, Butwbat mean these
propositions? They are nothing new. Let us
dee.
. BE NEGBO lUii.- I i .< .' .■ I f IS BPAH
[SB AHEBIOA.
Look at Spanish America Spanish America
was a t- 1 ' I i (I !>■ the lofty and proad Bid tlgos "t
Spain ; New Engl tiled by tbe Puri-
ut clasa
of people, no, Paritans, not all Chevaliei
-..in.! of them claim, not ah gentlemen, but
-i thi in far diffei eat from gentli d
Tbeee ;b ee els
Pari
Chivalry, say, in the centre aodSpani aAmer-
■ South. God in w i madi a nobler
if men than tin old .SpanishHtdalgoa. True
to thai tim- to thi ir God aud
they carried toeir old flag from tl a bai ksof the
alqniver, far acro«« the Atlantic i
from lie Bborea of Florida through S-nth
d from thenoe >
tthfornia, or across the Cordilleras.
' . i ile la Plata ; and
faithful to their God auu king, Hi y
i this old Has; of Bpaia in glory from
lant ic to tne Pacific ocean [A.]
A i long as the pure white bloo ourm <l
m tin r . wi re an uncom
m .in' to] Pb lofty at ma
laud, tin- pi*oad D »rs, the
Aone,
all tiniiHii i • ! .11 vain againsl this pure white
of the Spanish people. i>ut when Spain
ud intermar-
rying with the 1 1 ili. in and with the n ■ ■■ when
Spain adopted into her armies the b'ack blood
of the ii. gro
then, j,o longer, did the pure wb
Spam rule in glowing grandeur from the moun-
■ ok* of the A 1 1 • 1 • i, but tto ad th<
Indian at last roee up, and drove
out the loft] II •' ! ... io the h line
wheuco he emigrated, bo that now, when I
northern or a southern regii
latto of Sudiu,
od, one fierce
look of ol a nor i hern or boti'horuiuan wo
moliab a whole regiment ol
Ludyet, th
to arm as, io intn i into
our anni
consoi iption, trom oui i
march . Hi<tsis ippi, i
d< r, with this [a..
plaui- '
Th< i ro men,
and inn. i- i.M
K'hom ..' w ryou tigl I idi I hoever
i.- youi f< How soldier, is j our fello ■
li'in, you in- at of snffraj
right • domioU. You mu&t
I I i.im t..
your equal m boo
law. j scorn Abolition] ir hypocrisy
in tin- North, for while ihoy preach the equality
of 'In Will not Hit hld(
bim, in
cbnroh. '1 worship God scarcely at
ib * fame alt; iurv him away iu some
th9y hide him in aouiecWk gallery, and
I lilui from i lie earth I
to a better world, instead of honoring
rave with some equalitv,
away in a dark corner of a Potter' . Field. Tney
will not many or intermarry with negroes. I
cannot persuade my friends of the Tribune to
make negroes associate editors with them ; I
cannot induce them to employ negro reporters,
compositor* er pressmen, aud yet, they preach
nesro equality and fraternity out, of the Tribune
domain. [" How are you, Greeley, and the white
coat and hat V" followed by biases for Greeley.]
nosr, no 2.
Let uu look, now, at Proclamation No. 2. I
i this topic with more apprehension
than I have any of tbe others, for there is more
in a- promulgation. [" Don't be afraid,
go on."] This proclamation is a corollary of
Proclamation No. 1. It substantially says to
.in of tne North, if you discuss
and agitate this subject of emancipation, if you
make >*■ i the Administration upon ibis
sabjec , you shall be incarcerated in Fort La
Fayette. ["Go on, let them try it,."] The pro-
clamation forbids all disloyal practices, and
among other thingf, states.that all people who
lilty of, dieli ball be aub-
law. But who ia to judge of
oilt of disloyal practices? The eonr's
ot law— judges and juries? 0, no. ["Dick
1 the city of
New York, S head
of the police. [Biases.] And, it I have an ene-
l that social enemy approaches the Pro-
I arshal aud whispers that I am guilty
of dmloyal pracices, he having a< udied into
rets of some 'atmly circle, the Provost
Mar. .lntl, n Li boul proces -, without judge or jury,
can i all to his aid two thousand policemen, ami
can arrest and incarcerate me iu Fort La Fay-
ette, and 1 am there beyond the hope of
corpus and the protection of law.
("No, n< -. ■ r, ") Qiere are two points in the
Pre clan • vat ia the suapenaiou of the
civil, and the establishment of martial law, and
cond i the is cor-
pus. You all know what tbe civil law is —
courts, and the processes by
which yon have been accustomed to see law ad-
law you do not
know. It ii i ur happy lot, since the
• lament, never before
now to kuow u h i in..) ti.il law was iu this coun-
try, and we can not know whatitianow,but as we
it in tbe history ofdespotiogo\ tin tnents
over the A'laniic ocean. Martial law lathe law of
of the drum bond court, of rhe
I be, the absolute law,the law from which
there ia no court of appeal, but, to the jurisdiction
ol which there must be implicit obeuience ; and
from which there ia no hope for,
except a( the pleasure of the administrators of
that martial Jaw. The next point in that Pro-
ion of the Habeas cor-
GATIOH ui' atAGNA CHABTA.
Now, friends, there are certain Latin
words which come down to uu from the hiatory
of our lathers, almost madeEugliah by cona'ant
it^c, which ciunot well bo translated, but which,
■ • v. rtheless, arc toll of meaning AH Eugbah
liberty, and all our liberties as doscendauta of
Eugliohinen, come from what ia called Magna
Charta. it was extorted bv the barona of Eng-
land from their despotic King John, in the year
1215, for themeelvoa and their aerfa, under the
threat of tbe i-word. it he did not sign ilia' great
chaner for English liberty, lion winch nave
soinng, in the main, all the rights aud liberties
of Englishmen. From thenoe cornea our right
of trial by jury, and our security in the posses-
sion of our property. " Nutlus liber homo ca-
pietur vel impnsonetur,"- "NoFreeman shall be
taken or imprisoned. "No | ball be
dissti-ed of nia freehold, impri oned a '1 con-
demned, but, by judgment of uia Peer 1,1 u
law ot the land." That is the right' and
the liberty which the Eoglis-h people have
had eioce, Anno Domino, 1215. Nop.', for 1 1
time here,and onlv with occasional exception i,in
the history of English liberty, we a I
this right of trial by jury;v ed, ar-
rested and imprisoned without any adjudioal
of a jury upon our Bins, or iniquities, on any
allegations which may be made b gainst us, aud
our property may be seized or diotnrbed
out any adjudication whatsoever, (Sb
THE NTTLLIFIC ATICN OF HABEAS C0BFD8.
There followed, in the reign of the two
Charleses of England, (despotic kings,) what
is called the writ of habeas corpus, rite
right which an English subject bad, when-
ever he was taken prisoner, and incarcer-
ated in a jail, to have a writ frotn a Judge
of the Court of King's Bench, commanding
the jailor to bring the body of tnal
fore him, to have hie case adjudicated upon, ac-
cording to tho laws of England. And ■
which bas been Eoglish liberty since the days
of the dark ages, (12i5,) thai which tbedi
Kings of England, the two CharK
ed, one ot whom was executed for hie '
aud his government suppre d I ••• Cromwell—
that which our fat hers ha
reign, is now subverted, overthrown, d< s rojed,
by a mere proclamation from the Pre ideiit oi
the U. 8., annulling both the right of trial l y
jury and the habeas corpus, by
person has a right to know, before mi j
why he has been incarcerated. The Pr
claims that he has authority, Consti-
tution, to issue this power of sum '
habeas corpus. Believe you that Washington,
rebelling against the tyranny ot the <-'■ ■
power ot King George, that Madison, J. B
Franklin, old John Adams, or any ol
thers of the Revolution, ever created a Cot
tut ion by wnich one mere man, havi
same flesh and blood, that yon and [have,i
without act, of Congret-s, to have authority over
thirty millions of people ? — ths
of you, by day or by night, from your - i
children, and incarcerate you in For. La ,
or Fort Warren, beyondall hopeot redemp .on ?
("Infamous.") Never did the framer
Constitution give or grant such powers to the
Executive ol the U. S. (" W r stand
it.") If it wore given, there is no liberty any
longer for the people of the U. S., for that Exe-
cutive has but by the exercise ot arbitrary po v-
er to involve this country in war with England or
France, and in the suspension of t be habeas
corpus, after creating an army of a million cf
men, to ride, rough suod,over thirty millions of
hitherto free white men. ("Never, never.'"*—
Our own Judge Hall, in the western part of the
State, but tne other day liberated a pereon, a
reverend gentleman— who may, or may not,
have been guilty of something, I know not
wuat— on a haoea< corpus, and in doing so, de-
clared that, as Congross had given the Presi-
dent no such power, he had no such power.
(Applause ) Notwuaatanding this decision of
Judge HalU this person was taken, the moment
he was liberated (a white man kidnapped) to
isolated from the ptople, and secreflv and
stealthily taken from Buffalo to Al ba n?; thencS
to Washington, a State prisoner. (Shame.)
And they tell mo that for tbin free speech, thin
free ami fundamental discussion of all these
things, I may be imprisoned and incarcerat-
ed. ("Nj, yon won't.") But I do not at all feel
certain 'wo thousand policemen may
not take mo any boor of the day from the midst
of my fellow-citizens, audiucarc<.rate me. (Nev-
er," and protracted cheers.)
(A man in the audience proponed three cheers
for Judge Hall, which were pnthneias* ically giv-
en.)
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ?— GO TO THE BALLOT-BOX
Now, fellow-citizens, I dare say I phall be
ij Republicans, after these complaints
against the administration of the government,
" Whal are we to do?" If this country was not
in the midst of a civil war, I would have no hes-
itancy in saying, as Patrick Henry said, in the
Revolution, " Resistance to tyrants is ebedi-
Goci." (Enthusiastic and lot g continued
cheering.) (Capt. Rynder* -" Three cheers for
that, if it is the last cneers that freemen have to
The cheers were given.) What are we to
do? (An auditor — " Wnere are the tyrai
"Put him out.") All I propo le to do is to appeal to
the ballot-box. Tb i : - > itherto been a suffici-
ent court i f appeal forall the people of the Unit-
Li they will permit us to have it, arouse
and inspire yoursel >n at the ballot
box. (Applause.) I ballot box is your only,
your lofty and sublime remedy. ("Will they
letUBhavt the ballot box?") Go to the ballot
box and make a trial there for the redemption
oi people irom all impending slavery. For
the present, | ill this arbi-
>of power. ("We will -io it.") If
[,oi nvoi your follow citizens be imprisoned,
be French did inthemidn ,,\ .h,. i; vo
i large proci > the red cap
er. vt i\ 'n>o!na.i"« head, (great
applau ■<•) march bo unarmed, a
beoded knees, if nei imp] re I i<
manderto liberate your fellow- citizen. ("No,
Devej ■ America, ) Freemen should always, be-
fore re Dg to anj uttii ;,, beg.
There ar< ... obligations
mntry like this, as long as the ballot box
is open for 'be redress or wrongs. ("You
I lit.") When you have, assembled before
this Bastili , read to the epaulettes, in the lofty
sonorous Latin oi th< dark ages, the 9fa<7-
Ha of your F, bers, thunder
the habeas corpus m the ears of your Mlow cit-
and soldiers, and tl ■ ■" ■
the Constitution of the United States,
which g tarantee8 to every man the right
of i'i i a, tiial by
for bis property aud person.
I citizens, I did not come here
only to complain against the administration of
thego. ling, i>ut itlxo to lay be-
fore yon, m . bis free speech tha I am makiog,my
ideas upon the subjec. ot this war. I Jiave no
sympathy with rebellion in any shape or form
oever. The Constitution of the United
Sralesonce wasenougb for our southern conn-
I, the Congr I States
afforded every remedy for ihe redrees of their
grievances under that Constitution. Tney
were terribly provoked and goaded, bu f . iheir
duty was, with the Senate of the United Spates,
theirs, with the House oi I intatives, al-
most theirs, with the Judiciary, theirs ; their
duty was, to do what I urge npou you, thin eve-
ning, to petition and to go to the ballot box.
The right of petition is the birth-right of every
in. The Ballot Box in the remedy for
... rv American. Arm*, artillery, the Cartoach
.j not, elements of American progro-n "r
civilization. [Cheers.] I have my own ideas
on tlun war. I wi*h 1 could express them freely
F'iRTIFV AND HOLD GREAT RAILROAD AND RIVER
POSTS.
I would R$ve the army ot the Uni ed States
occupy tbe great points of the Mississippi river
here. ["Spe A ou( ' 1 Mo, no, J shall no Bpeak and rhecardinal points on the railroads and I
blood is being shed. Bni (here the speak r
[dering) fcbSa I ml
i i born incbe State of Maine On one side
. t ; t - British province of Nova Sootia and on
c' Lower C mada, with wide
navigable rivers, opening the State to the
navies of the world: and vet there ie such an
unconquerable, invincible, Anglo-Saxon spirit,
i leoilodepi ndi boe tberethat
I do no
her, could < var snojngate 1 b
pie. Snbjog it ion ox i n ia not an
American idea : it is not a theory to which tbe
Anglo-Saxon blood in our veins', will ever sur
B-oold have those points fortified, aud then I
would leave tin rebellion thus snrroundea to
Bting itself to death, io crush itself out by the
violence of its own venom. (Applause.) This
geographical war of overrunning apeoole, whose
territory stretches from the Potomac to the Rio
protec ed in manyparts by an infernal
iii ides of ov-.rrunning with Northern
not habituated to that climate, that vast
rritoroy, is a theory tha/t, in heend,
musl fail. Our great duty cer'ainly is, not to
the Constitution of the Un&ed States is
1 and the Union restored as it was,
the Abolitionists would have it. Let no
man, therefore, pervert what I say. I have no
reader! 11 tbe oatb of subj u nation w-re fueed ' sympathy ei Me r with treason or secession. 1
upon n I Maine, he Would Btrike at abhor Beceesionismand Abolitionism, booh
th< administrator of that oath- m the rem-;
Imt whoever held oul to him the rifles oi
self government, according to the CoustHu-
tion of the United States; he, with asittgl
from New York, or alsewhere, oould bring
!1 tbe |u ople or' Maine to their obedience.
I do not propose,if anj may draw such an
. ic-e.tiir we shall em r Burrender our Con
tiou and government to of the south-
ern States. But I propose to carry on the war
upon a different principle with the Bword in
the right hand, nnd the Constitute m in the lefi :
(great applause,) and under that panoply
and protection, not a million of soldiers,
1 thousand will crush out
anil exterminate all i ebelhon. It
- ary for the subjugation of that
cradle of rebellion, where ibis nnliolv war
began, where the proud flag of our
country was first struck down cannon,
it volunteers be called, to re hi Let that flag there,
I tlonk 1 maj eay, two millions or' volun eers
would go from tl.t Northern States. (Cheers.)
. ■" l'l'TIES OF Tins
(Great, applause.) I have no more respect for
Wendell Phillips than I have for Jeff. Davis.
Jeff. Davjs is but a rebel not two years old, aud
Veii'N 11 Phillips i j a rebel, by Iijs own confes-
ion, tweuty years old and more. (Laughter and
BOTH NORTH AND
LD TETE CONSTITUTION,
SOUTH.
Fellow-citizens, I have detained you too long,
l" No, no, go ou,"J but I 'el it my duty to dis-
•'■ cardinal, primary, fundamental prin-
cioles of this government, and unless the> are
maintained and vindica ed, we shall become
n all other Republics have been, the
victims of tyranny and despotism Turn over
the Dages ol history, full of the tombs and sep-
nlchres of Ri publica that have fallen. With
'he exception of the little Republic of San Mari-
no,on a peak ol the Appenines, we are the only
Repubhc on tbe face of this broad earth. We
ing two great experiments — first, if the
pronniiciatnento of a people, dissatisfied with
i he i onatitutiohal result of an election can sub-
vert the govern re ondly, if tjrante in
Mytheorvoitb. e heart and in spirit, can fasten upon us, by mere
powers which th ation gives us. And paper Pi a tyranny which will put
rorwbatwa a mainly formed ? ()l "' Repubhc in ihe same category of the
What were ita puj a the main, exterior tomba and sepulchres of all other Republics
purposes,— pnrponef-, out of, and beyond the do- tllrtf hive gone before it. ["Never, never."]
matnol ih< I' was common ' '• ■' precious bo in, a birthright be-
rnment ol yond all mice and calculation. Demagogues,
1 reol the pet I1 ' 1 monarchists, the earth over, in
pie of »he Chesapeake Baj ti trade
with the n reol the
peoi Ie ol Rhode I ea port
I.! self in'- i
icution
■mm nni. ,i
1 cans, reoo-sess Mobile, take
mquer or buI jugate Chai l< ston at
Euro],!: as well as here, are using all their cuu-
nidg to subvert free institutions and tbe great
priucii ui liberty. If, in our hostility
"i rebellion, we forget our own ngh<s and our
own libi rties, we are untrue to the sacred trust
wbicb our fathers handed down to us, ia the
Constitution andiu the Declaration ot Indepen-
dence. Let me end, then, by repeating, now
more important than over to be impressed upon
the northern mind, tbe sentiment of a great
.eminent hold onto northern statesman, in trying times befcre,
all tbe Southern ports for the colli ction oi reve- " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one ana
To have unity in the Custom Souse, a) inseperable."
and unity for Foreign affair , abroad, were
the main pur]
formed.
Mr. Brooks resumed his seat, amid enthusias-
tic cheers.
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