V * <^ r .-^^ .♦^^^. -. ■ < ► ^^ -^^0^ K <69^ V ^^ .'jc;^^^^ •^^0^ • .*'% • v» ^^ .^I^^^-^^ " ' f ^^. - -.5^/ /\ °"^'' ^^"\ '-^^Z /\ ': ^^-^K ,P9 \ : ^^°x. : ^•^-^^^ .<^ '1.*' . . •/» <^♦. *•-<" .0 '•^^0^ " %.^* •'. v-o* • .*' .N* c irX co^.i.;^^.>o ./\.ii^.X c°^.i;^^"°o .. o,. *•. V 0* ,^^ ,, •^ '^^^ A^ /^l^\"v.^'^" /i V^^^'- ^- -* •* ^v^-^ ^•\o'' %--iff-?-y" -o/>'^-\o^' X'-^^f^'y" ^oK -^U-o^ oV V »t:^% c> ^Q-n^ o on ^"'^^.. V ^^d^ ^o ^ ° ^o-n^^ V -^Ao^ ;^ .N^ 5°.*v : 'oV Pvl V^ *!.^L'* cv ^,0' *'*°' V To' .0 / ^^^ ^"^ •^^ 0^ ,^ "K * ♦ - . , • ift- ' • » 1 * < o J^i'>.. c°\.i;^.7'i 0^ V '^q, '*rtv> .0-' 0^ »l^% °v: 'bV ^^-^^^ V «!^<^. v-^ r .,•». ^ %/ o^Sim-^ "-s..^" : .A> .o. <.. *'..•* .^0 .^" "^r, «*^ .o-«* "^^ ^-- ^^ y Ti: !<: HON. JAMES BROOKS'S SPEECH, BEFORE THE UNION DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION, 932 BROADWAY Tuesday Evening, December 3 0, 18 62. "HOLD FAST TO THE CONSTITUTION." ' CLING TO THE CONSTITUTION AS THE SHIPWRECKED MAEINEPv CLINGS TO THE LAST PLANK, WHEN NIGHT AND THE TEMPEST CLOSE AROUND HDL'— Daniel Websie :. N E W - Y R K : PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE N. Y. EVENING EXPRESS, Nos. 18 AND 15 PARK ROW, BY J. and E. BROOKS. PRICE $1.50 per HUNDRED, or $15.00 per THOUSAND. THE HOK JAMES BROOKS'S SPEECH Before the Union Democratic Association, 932 Broadway, Tuesday- Evening, December 30, 1862. "HOLD FAST TO THE CONSTITUTION." " CLING TO THE CONSTITUTION. AS THE SHIPWRECKED MARINER CLINGS TO THE LAST PLANK, WHEN NIGHT AND THE TEMPEST CLOSE AROUND Rm.''— Daniel Webster. The President of the Union Democratic Asso. ciation, the Hon. Luke F. Cozans, after some appropriate remarks upon the services rendered by the Association, said, that a speaker "would now address them, by whose ability and elo- quence, the large audience present would be well rewarded for their attendance on sc^ stormy an evening. He, therefore, introduced the Hon. James Brooks. Afier the repeated and pro- longed cheering that welcomed Mr. Brooks,had subsided, he said : — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen — If any of you expect from me this evening, any exciting, or excited remarks,50uwill be disappointed. There are times so impressive, crises in public affxirs so solemn, that any flourishes of rhetoric, any pomi^ous display of periods, or sesquipedalian words, but detract from ihe<.'r;ivity &nd dignity of the theme. Hence, in ihe crisis ofacivii war like ours, where ihe blood of kith and kin is poured forth like water, and when this civil war is becoming complicated in fresher, and yet more fearful issues, tue simplest language becomes the sublimest expression. (Applause.) The ancient heathen orators in limes like these, when they were wont to address their public as- semblies, invoked their Uii Immorta/es, their Immortal Gods. How much more then, should Christians, -who assembio now, in the midst of Battle and Blood, iuvc;ke t/ic immortal God to guide our deliberations. (Applause.) THE TWO proclamations AND WAR ORDER OF SEPTEMBER, 1802. When I last had the honor of addressing this Association, la.te in Sept-'mber last, there w re threatening tbe people t^vo Proclamations and one War Order : One Proclamation threaten- ing tLe people of the North, that if they dis- cussed the other, the War Order would, through Courts Alartial or Provost Marshals, suspend Process, Bail, Jury Tria!, Habeas Corpus, and arrest aud incaicei ate all engaged in such dis- cussion. Toe Civil Courts were to be suspend- ( d, and Military Courts were to be substituted in their places. The very fir^-t opportunity after the promulgation of these Enicts, I ventured in this HdU to deiiounee them, as in violation, not only of M'lgna Churta, the CoP",mon Luw of England and of tbe LTnited States, and of the rights of man, baf. of the Constitution of the United States, and of our State of New Yoik; and you, in jjur responses, here in this Hall and elsewhere, su abiy, so eloquently supported and ctjeered me, that the Edicts fell powerks^ before a brave and determined People. The Pre- sident, indeed, who fulminated these Edicts, un- der the inline' ce of our, and other election?, the ofTsprlDg of what we proclaimed, we «'o(/Whavc, viz.: frte discussion, re called,nullitied, abrogated his War Order, and that Pvoclaination Edict which threatened to subvert all Liberty in the North. The Provost MarsQals shrank back be- fore the majesty of an indignant People, and the Judges and the Courts were re-inaugurated, re- installed bj' that People. (Cheers.) THE PROCLAMATION OF JANUAKr, 1S63. But, gentlemen, there is left now another pro- clamation, not annuJed, — that,for the South and Southwest,— in f jrc*, or if possible, to be put in lorce January Isr, Vs&.i, — which I propose, this evening more fully to discuss. (Apijlause.) The President does not claim, nor do the President's friends claim, that for this Proclamation he has any warrant, in or under the Constitution of the United States, — whereby.thus, he subverts, or at- tempts to subvert, whole States, with the whole organization of their soeielj',- their statute, their civil, their municipal, as well as their constitu- tional laws ; nor does he claim, that under the laws of nations, he has any such prerogative or "Waste ti*"?* uoKS. 6oc. power, save what is iudefmitely declared to be the laws of war, the war power, or the miliiary necessity of war. I propose, this eveninsr, gen- tlemen, to discuss all ih<'se weighty matters, and you must put up witb, as a necessity of this dis^- cusBU'O, the recitation of some of our p -st his- tory, i.nd with the reading of such documents aspri.f milvcs necessary, however heavy such readiii;- may be in a popular assembly. (Cries of" Gi) on. It is what we want to hear.") WAR FOR THE CONSTITUTION. Gem iemen, as I said at the start, we are in the midpt of a bloody civil war, the maimitude of wnich is unlike aayttiinginlhe record of human history, except the civil wars of R.me, vuac drenched the huge Homan Empire in human gore. We, who were not of the Administration, were driven into this war, reluctantly driven in, by the force of uutiappy evints, and by tbe tben solemn pledge of tbe Admin is' ration, that itwus a war, only iomaintaiQ the Government and lie Constitution of iloe Uni.ed States, with the iu- tegrity of the Uuion. (Applau-e.) WearenOt now, and we revf r X'reltnded to be, supporters of the Admmisu aiiou. We drew at first, as we drawnow, tne Constitutional disiicctic^ between supporting the Givemment, and a temporary administration of Itiar, Government. (Applaust' ) We recognize no loyahy, nor fealty, nor allegi- w««^», ancfi^ due^jo any mere administration of the Cfovernmeur, to*' no mere man, in no one branch of i*^, — Executive, Le^iisla- tive, or Judicial, —but -we do recognise fealty, loyalty, love, devi.aion, witb the whole heart and Boul, as due to that great charter of human lib- erty known as the Constitution of the United States. (Loud and i^rolonged cheering ) That Constitution, in my earlier days, when not as well booked up as I am now, I supposed to be some impromptu inspiration of Divine Wisdom, far above all human intelligence, or human in- stinct, — the work of men inspired, as were the Holy Apostles, who handed down to us the Holy Scriptures, and I revered and worshipped that Constitution as the Bible guide on earth to men struggling for Law and Liberty. But upon fuller and maturer reading, I discovered, that our Fathers of the Constitution were not so much inspired men, as condensers or codifiers of centuries of human wisdom, the writers up, and abridgers of human law, the common law of England,— of the principles, rights, libejties, our British forefathers, after five or six centuries of 6truggle,wrested from the Kings and Despots of England, and affixed to great charters of Hu- man Rights, the Magna Charta of 1215 won sword in hand by the Barons of England from King John, or the Petition of Right 1628, or the Habeas Corpus 1079, or the Bill of Rights 1689. The Constitution of the United States brought to a focus these great Lights of Liberty, Law, Human Progress and Civilization. Tbeeyes of our fathers were then but the lenses of tbe Past to see their Present, and so to provide for the great Future. (Applause). THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE AND THE PLEDGE OF THE WAR. Hence, when in December, now two years gone by, after the Presidential election, there assembled in South Carolina, a Convention of the States, enacting an ordinance of secession, separating that State from the United States and from the Constitution of the United States, which had not gratified South Carolina in that election . Hence, when in the subsequent Feb- ruary ihere assembled in Moutaomery, Alabama, a convention of a few other Staie«, enibverting and annubing the CoisMtutiou of the United Slates, and m>i only ilb;it, hut creating a new Constitution, and changing the old Flag, — both the reas()n and the s^u'lment of the coun- try felt indignant, and uprose to express that in- (iignatiou. Themagazineso wrli prepared for ex- plosion during twenty-five years of preparation tiy extreme men, both North and South, was flr"d at Fort Sumter, and the explosion took I'laee, involving some thirty millions of people in itsdes'iuciion. TheNonh uproseinmogs almost, — not to maintain or uphold Anrabam Lincoln, or the Cabinet Administration of Abrah:im Lin- coln, — but to uphold the Consiituiion, the three branches of the Government of the United States, its Judiciary as well as its Executive,and Legislative authority. (Applause ) " The Constitution s/;a// be maintained :" " The Flag sha/i be respected :" '-The Union must and shaU be preserved," were the universil rallying cries of the Northern People. (Applause.) Tht R-^b' 1 Enemy authoritatively, through one of it» Caiiint t officers (Mr. Walker), avowed its intent to marcu upon, and to seize, Wa-hingtou ;— and hence, when the Presid*^nt CLlled for his 75,000 men, more than a million were earnest to volun- teer to protect the Capital, to uphold the Flag, to stand bythe Constitution. The war then,was solely ai-d avowedly for the maintenance of the Constitution, and the Flag as the symbol of that Constitution. THE PLEDGE OF THE INAUGURAL. The President himself,in his Inaugural,March 4th, 1861, thus pledged himself against the Abfllitionists in his own partv, and against his Proclamation of Abolitionism : " 1 have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to inter- FBRE with the inslitution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe /Arat'e no lawful right to do so, and J have no intention, to do so." THE PLEDGES OF THE HOUSE. The House of Representatives, by a nearly unanimous vote, in February, 1861, passed the following resolutions : Resolved, That neither the Federal Government nor the people or governments of the non-slaveholdingstates hare a purpose or a constitutional right to legislate upon or interfere with slavery ni any rf the /States of the Union. Resolved, That those persons in the North who do not Bubecrihe to the foregoing proposition are too in- significant in numbers and influence to exitetbe eerious attention or alarm of any portion ol the people of the Republic, and that the increase of tbeir numbers and influerce does not keep pace with the increase of the aggregate population of the Union. THE CRITTENIjEN PLEDGE. In July, 18G1, was mtroduced into the House, and passed almost unanimously, (only two dis- senting.) the well known Crittenden Pledge or Resolution, viz..- " 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, ond tn orms around the Capitol: th&tin this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feeUng of mere passiou a- d resentment, -wili recollect only its duty to ibe whole country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose oj over- throwing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve tht Union, with all the dignity, equolity and rights of the i Beveral States unimpaired ; and that, as soon as these objects a e accomplished, the war ought to cease." THE SENATE PLEDGE. | In the Senate, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, had in- | troduced, and the Seaate had passed, a like reso- ; lution. Thus three branches of the Legislative Government— the Executive, the Senate, the House— solemnly pledged itself to the country to carry on a war, only for the Slpremaci' of TUB Constitution. The armies were created, and the soldiers were enlisted upon tht^t solemn pledge,— and, upon many a battle field, many a life has been lree)y offered up to carry out, de- fend, protect, and promulj^ate that pledge. This was the war.the N nh entered into, — the war of the Conservative men of the North,— the war of the great Democratic Partj'. We never com- mitted ourselves to any other war (cheers), and they who are for breaking these pledges, or for creating another war, — or, who have committed us to, or eulisted u* in this war, under what now seems false pretences, or false pledges, — thevare in honor bound to dismiss us from this war, and to carry it on, themselves. (Loud and prolonged cheering, many of the audience rising and wav- ing their hats.) ; THE REVEKSE PICTURE— THE PROCLAMATION OF , JOO' SEPTEMBER 23d. These being the pledges of Mr. Lincoln, the President, and of the Congress assembled in Washington, njw look at the reverse picture,and ! say, who can, that the whole purpose, the whole pro(7>'a?»we of the war have not been changed? Say, — who can, that twenty millions of Northern white men are not now called upon to endure Conscription and Taxation, and to sacrifice themselves in Southern latitudes, mainly to free three or four million of negroes. ^Applause.) The President in his September 22d#Prbclama- ! lion says : "On the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eieht hundred and sixtyihree, all persona held as slaves within any State, or any desig- nated part of a State, the people whereof sbali then he in rebellion against the United States, shall be, thence- f or icarded, ay d then, forever J'ree ; and Xhe I2xecictive Government of the United States, including the mili- tary and navai authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, or any of them, in ANT eti'ort, they may mate for their actual free- dom." THE president's EXTRAORDINARY USE OF WORDS. Let me first call attention here to the extraor- dinary words of the Proclamation. The Presi- dent speaks of himself, elected for but four years, two of them now nearly expired, as the Executive Government of the United States! Who created Abraham Lincoln the Government of the United States f Who created. Who elected hitn, a man made of no better flesh and blood than the rest of us, to be the Gov- ernment of thirty milUons of people in the United States 'i A Voice.— The people. "Cries of "No, no ;" "Put him oat," "Let him be.") Mr. Brooks.— The people! Never! (Excit- ing cheers ) Never, never did the people give him a majority of their suflfrages. (Continued cheers ) He is a minority President, appointed by the operations o/ the Constitution in spite of the people of the United States. (Cheers.) A large majority of the people voted against him, and he was created President in, and under that very Constitution he would overthrow by his proclamations. (Great, and continued cheers.) \ In this Proclamation, the President also speaks of " the Military and Naval authority. Authority is a legal power, or a right to com- mand, such as Prince over suf ject, as Parent over child. The Government has authority : or, the President acting in obedience to Law, and 60 the Precedents or Decisions of a Court, are aut/ioritij or aut/ioritics ; but the authority ot the Army or Navy is more novel even than this declaration of Mr. Lincoln, that I am the Execu- tive Government of the United States, — for there is a precedent for that, in the French L'Etat c'est moi (I am the Stale.) The Army and Navy are the agencies of civil authority, — but, under our form of Government, they are no authori- ty of themselves. When the State is the Em- peior or the King, the Army or the Navy are only his means of executing his authority, — but, under our form of Government, they are no authority, only the military Agencies of the Civil Government of the United States. As names often are things, or more than things, I thus dwell in verbal criticisms upon these words. When a President sets himself up as the Execu- tive Government of the Uuited States, and calls the Army aad Navy his authority for overriding States, and the Laws of States, and the Consti- tution of the L'nited States, we cannot he too watchful of mere words. Naval and military men, then, be it understood, are but Agents, only, of civil auihorify, to execute Civil and Constitutional Law. (fhat's so; cheere.) The Army and the Navy are, certainly, not "author- ity," under any known or recognized "Execu- tive Government of the United States " (Cheers.) There is another part of the Proclamation, which chalks out, or seems to chalk out, a servile war, which contemplates, or setms to contem- plate,the exciting of the slaves to the destruction not only of their masters, but of women and children, and to add the horrors of a service, thus to the civil war. The words are — "The Executive Government * * will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons (negro slaves) * * * in any effert they may make for their actua' freedom." I do not know that the President means to excite a servile insurrection. I will not impute to him the horrible intent of converting the Southern country intoa Haj ti,or StDomingo, with the"Au- thority" of his army and navy to help, but I say, that the language is susceptible of that meaning, and such meaning has been given to it through- out the civilized world. (Applause ) When the "Executive Government" thus addresses negroes or slaves, words ought to be used that negroes or slaves cannot pervert into authority to burn, slay, destroy, without regard to condition, age, or sex. (Applause.) THE HOUSE BREAKING ITS PLEDGES. But the President alone is not responsible for this violation of the Pledge and Principle, that enlisted the conservative men of the country in this war. The House of Kepresent 'lives thus, December, 1^<):2, reversed the Critteuden Resolu- tioa of July, 1802, the Hon. Sam. C. Fessenden, of Me., oflR-ring the following Resolution, which passed, ayes 78, noes .51 : Reaolved, That the Proclamation of the President, of the date of Sept. 22, 1862, is warranted by the Constitu- tion ; that tue po'Icy of emancipation as indicated therein is wefl adapted tw hasten tbe rentonition of peace, is well chosen as a war measure, aud is an exer- cise of uower with proper regard to the rights cf citi- zene and the perpetuity of a free government. IS&UE TAKEN ON PROCLAMATION POWER. . And no w,my friends,here,we take iesue on that RcBoluiioD, fuch as we took in September,here, in tbis HalJ, on the Proclamation, pending that reign of terror, wben moral courage wasmedtd to speak, not as now, when we can gpeak, and dare to f peak with fre'edom,of all the efforts of the administration of the government to subvert the law. When I said to you in the beginning of my remarks, that the Constitution of the United States was the emtodiment of the common law of England and of the wisdom of our British ancestors for 500 years, I omitted to say that there was nothirg in that Constitution which lorbade Executive Proclamations. There are certain things so settlt d in human life, that it is not necessary to stipulate against them, such as the right to eat, to breathe, to live. When our British forefathers, iu their second Revolution, stipulated against almost everyform of executive despotic p wer, they did not deem it necessary expressly to stipulate against Proclamations, or to define the limitd of uttering a Proclamation, — because the common law of Euglaud had long 6ettled,tba!, Kiogs could not make law by procla- mation, or oi dain law, or override law. When our Constitution was formed, such a practice hadnot beensetup in England for 200 years. No monatca of England, for that long period of time, had attempted to exercise, by proclama- tion such po^'ers and prerogatives as tlie Presi- dent of the United Scaies seis u\> in his Procla- mation of Septembf r 22, 1862. (Applause ) Queen Elizabeth as long ago as 1580 began to ■^■j make Law by Proclamation, then, against the (.81:' Anabaptists of Eogland, and against Irishmen no Btraying away from home, and against sedi'.ious and schismatic books tending to prejudice the then rising Church of England. James tbe l&t prohibited by Proclamation country gentlemen from coming to London, and regulated, or at- tempted to regulate, the habiliments of their wonaea and children. (Laug'^iter.) Charles the 1st, unforiu jately lor himself, in prohibiting by Proclamation, emigration to New England, pro- hibited Cromwell and Hampden from emigrating there. Queen Elizabeth, however, respected her People enough, to listen to, and to yield to some of the remonstrances of that People against this power of Proclamation. Charles the Ittwent to the Block, because of the unholy exercise ot this, and similar Prerogatives and Powers. (Ap- plause ) The Tudors, and the Stuarts claimed not only the power to proclaim ai-d to ordain Law by Proclamation, but the power to dispense with Law, and to suspend Law. What cost these dynasties their existence is that which calls itself " avow, aud the only supposa- ble motive for the disguise is the consciousness that it was not conformable to the established usages of war among civilized LatioiiS- Tt:e 'WJOLg was in the pro- clamation. Admiral Cochrane had no lawful authi ri- ty to give freeaom to tbe slaves belonging to the cili- zets ofthe United States. Tbe recogoltion of them by Great Britain in tbe treaty as property is acurrpleie disclaimer of the right to destroy that property by matiijg them fiec. An engigement contiacitd -will them to that effect was, in relaiion to the ownt-rs ofthe property wrongful ; fnd, if, in relation to the slaves ihemselvef", it wag an tngagemcLt which tbe Brilist' governmeiitaPSbmedupon themselves aLd sanciiontd itcouldnot divfst the owners cf tbe savesoftbe.r properly, nor release tbe British government; from the obligation to the United States, and to the owners, lo evacuate the place without carrying them away."' Mr. Adams wrote to Mr. Rush, at London, as lollows : "The only equity of theBritish side is that they sign- ed the article without being awareofits full impoit, and that the stipulation was uicompatible with their previous promises to the negroes. This is tlie real knot of, tbe question bet weeu us, an 1 its solution it", that they had no right to make any such promises to he negroes. Tte principle is, tha'^tje emancipaiioi. of an enemy's slaves is not among the acts <;f ie^jilim te war— as I elates to the owneri^; it is a deiitructiou it private property, nowhere warranted by the usag s oi war. This principle niutt, I think,.be peculiarly 1;;- ■ 1.1 • miliar to the Emperor of Kuseia, and may be prested ,i''r)i npon his attention in the case of reference with effect." On the ISth ot October, Mr. Adams again wrote to Mr. Middleton, uud expressed his views in the strongest language. He said : "In the statement of tbe British ground of argument upon tbe claim in the subiuitsioii, they have Oioad y aseerted the right of eooanci^^ating slaves— pi ivate pro- perty— as a legit'mate right of var This is uttei'y jincomprehensibleontbepartofa nation wnoee sub- eels hold slaves by mii'ioi:8, and who. in this very treaty, recognize them as private properly. Na s'kLi right is acbnowledned as a law of war by writers who admit any limitation. The right (f putting to deaih all prisoners in cold blood and without spi cial cause migh'. as well be pretended to be a law of war, or tbe lighttouse poifoned weapons, or to aseassmate. I think the Empen r will vol recognize the rightof "-marj- cipation a legitima'e wa fare, and am persuaded you will present the argument aguins; it." Now, gentlemen, no languatje can be stronger than tbi!«, which Mr. Adam.s here uses against what Mr. Lincoln has done, or is to do. "The Emancipatiou of an Eueuiy's slaves (he says) i.** not iiinoDgihe acts of legitimate war," almost the languat^e of Edmund Burke. " No sucti right is aciiuowledged as a law of war by writers, who admitof any limitation." Mr. Adams expresses his horror of such war, by classing it '■'■ with put- ting to death all prisoners in cold biood," or '• the use of poisoned weapons," or ^'■assassination." The Emperor of Kussia decided on the words of the Treaty, that the slaves must be paid for, and they were paid for, $1,200,000 under this, the Treaty ot Ghent, and the Treaty of 1783. It is now said, ihatac a Jate period oi life, Mr. Adams retreated from ihe&e positions, and ex- cused himself for so doing,ibat lie wrote under in- structions from the tneti administration, and did ^ not express his own opinions. It is true, that | al'.er Mr. Adams had been defeated for the Presidency in 1828,- as,he deemed, by the South, exasperated, it may be by that defeat, he did agree, that "the War Power" could abolish slavery, but his "War Power" was not laid down to be in a Proclamation from the Presi- dent ot the Unittd States, but in Congress. CoMGUESS (be said) (speech of 1842) has power (thus) to carry on the war, and not the President alone. One of the laws of war, he sets down to 1 e : "When a country is invaded and two hostHe armies are set in mariial array, tL-e Commanders in both ar- mies have power to emancipate Slaves iVi the invaded territory.'''' But our President in the White House, with no sword buckled on bis belt.even, lUOO miles or more from Texas, &c., which our armies have never invaded, fulminates from that White House, in a mere Proclamation, a law of war,hb- eraiing the slaves in a Territory he has never even seen. (App-ause.) It matters not, however, what Mr. Adams said, in tbe hef^.t of debate in 1842,— lor then he was but Mr. Adams,— whereas as Minister to Eng- Und, and as Secretary of State, representing and acting for the Government of tbe United States, he committed this Government, and the People, in 181.5 and in 1820, to principles which no honest, consistent successor iu that Government can now retract. Mr. Adams in 1815 and 1820 spoke for the United Slates: in 1843, he spoke for Mr. Adams alone. '1 here is, our record, a record made up from 1776, cu to 1818, in two Treaties of Peace, in diplomatic correspoLdtnce, and in the receipt of moneys thereon, and this record cannot be got over, or put under,— for it stares us in the face, on every bide we turn. (Applause.) The emancipation and the use of negro slaves, as President, Lin- coln is using atid emancipating them, is, then, in violation of every princii^e and every precedent of our intercourse in such matters, with foreign States. (Great cheers.) Gentlemen, these historical recollections, I am well aw ire, in a popular assembly like this, are somewbat dull,— but I feel iu addressingyou that through this Association I am addressing no inconsideratile portion of our Northern country- men, and I trus', directly or iLdrectly, some of llie conservitise people of the South. (Ap- Vlause.) Hence it U LOt decl iiuation that is useful now, but ititiruction, the right reading of the riiiht records We must show both the North and the South, that the war waged was a war for the Constitution aud the Laws, uota war to break Coustituti(!-ns and Laws, — and a war lobe Wiigpdaccordiu;;tothe laws of nations, as expounded by such etniLent men as John Jay and John Quincy Adam.s, when tfey were ad- dressing other nations. THE WAR POWER. But we are told, gentlemen,— no matter what Constitution, no matter what the laws ol nations, this is a war power, President Lincoln is using to support the very life of the nation. He has the rigDi to exerc any, and whatsoever power he may deem best tiiteU to subdue the common en- emy. Or, in other word*, tbe President of the United States has but to involve the people in a war, with anybody, ostensibly to maintuia the Conetitution, and he can then pervert that war, to subvert mat Constitution, and to extinguish the life of the nation. (Applause.) What pro- position more absurd ? What better confutation than the mere simple statement of such an ab- surd proposition. (Applause.) In an ab- stract struggle, then, for the Rejiublic, we must die in Despotism ! To live, we must commit suicide ! To restore the Union, we must make the Union not worth a restora- tion ! Now this is not the sort of Government under which we bargained to live, or to die even. (Cries of " no, no.") We have never agreed to subvert the Constitution in order to restore the Union. We have never agreed to surrender Liberty, Property, Free Speech, Free discussion, or Freedom in the concrete or ab- stract to^ny Executive Governmtnt,orExecutive Power. (Cries of Never, never.) And if ever the time comes, when under any " War Power," it may be necessary to subvert the Constitution, and thus to give up our Rights and Liberties, it is a matter of indiflcrence to me, whether a Union thus achieved, be maintained or not; and I say here, and hpsitate not to say, that the quicker we be rid of sucn a Union, under such a Go- vernment, the tetter lor all concerned. (Loud, and prolonged, and reiterated applause, the audience rising, and giv- ing three cneers for Mr. Brooks ) This \V;ir Power is a new name for a very old thing. It is the new name of Despotism, and of Mili- tary Despotism, tbe very worst sort of despotism on earth. When the Roman Republic was changed into the Roman Empire— when the Ro- mans lost their Consuls, the Tribunes, thtir Senate, all but in the name, and thus lost ail their rights and liberties, their Impekatou, the Latin name for their Abraham Liucoiu, their Commander-in-Chief, was scaicely ctianged by the War Power into the modem word, Emper- or. Augustus, or Tiberius Cic? ar, but became Kaiser, or Czar, that is Csesar. Hence, let us pat down our foot at the start, and declare, wc recognize no Presidential War Power, no Impe- rator to be turned into any Eynperor, no Caisar t* be madeinto any Kaiser, ov Czar. He who attempts to govern the People, under any other Powi r than the Powers of the Constitution; he who leaps over the Laws of Civil Liberty, and the Civil Law, into that boundless field of Despot- ism, claimed as a War Power, establishes princi- ples and precedents,from Emperors and Caesars, and merits the execrations of every free man. (Applause.) Hence, I say, when a President ordains Law by Proclamation, under the pretence that he has such right, under any unknown, illimitable War Power, his Proclama- tion is not to be regarded as Law ; it is not Law —(cheers)— and the President of the United States has no more right to declare it Law, than you or I, or any other man. No General in the field is bound to respect such Proclamation. No soldier in the field owes it obedience, or fidelity. (Tremendous and long continued cheering.) Gentlemen, your cheers remind mcjfhat this is strong language, — but it is iuch as the crisis de- mands. Somebody must speak, when the great bulwarks of Law are being broken down, and everything is thus b>'iug put in peril, and I may as Well speak as other men. Some Humble sen- tinel mubt stand on tbe outposts ot the Consti- tution, and the Law, and standing there, must speak, and cry our against Proclamation Law, againstExecutivesdispei)hingwith,orsu(ipcnding Law. Two montljs ago, I know it would not have been safe thus ti» upnold Law, or to declare against the violation of Law, — nut it is safe now. TDen the casernes of Fort l^afayeite, or Fort Warren would have been my doom. (Cries, not now.never, never ; we 've put a stop to all that.) But when a President is unfaithful to his oath to uphold the Constitution and the Law, and sub- verts thut Constitution and the Law,— it is my duty, it is your duty, before God and man, to denounce all his arbitrary uses of Power. (Great applause, and three cheers lor the Speaker.) SUBJUGATION IMPOSSIBLE. In the beginning of this war, — when it was a war tor the Constitution.and for the whole Uni- ted States, not only were the people of the North a unit, or nearly so, — but we had a great and powerful party in some of the ■Southern Strtes of the Union;— and for that Constitution, and under that Flag, which was the symbol of the Constitution, there was a fair prospect, not of subjugating, not of exterminating, not of crushing out the people of the South,— but by prudence and wisdom, and a lair adhesion to the principles of theConstituiion.andof the Laws of Civilization as well as of Nations, ot bringing back tbe great body of the Soutnern people to the embrace of the Union, and to the reverence of that ancient and honorable Flag. It was their Flag, as well as our Flag,— and the j associations connected with it, were as dear to tfjero as to us. (Applause.) But I hesitate not uow to say,— what hitherto I have re- frained from saying, though often felt, t hat it is vain, utterly vain, to attempt to sub- jugate, extinguish, or exterminate six or seven millioDS of Anglo-Saxon people. (Applause.) Their race is our race. The blood that ruEs in our veins is their blood. The same pulsations that beat in our hearts, beat in theirs. Tne same current of life that flows in us, flows in tliem. Now, who of us, standing here on this Northern soil, believes. Southron or Saxon, Celt or Teuton, or Frank, can invade, or conquer, or subjufiate us. All Britain, all France, the whole South, combined, could never shake us from our propriety, and make us tremble, and yield, un- der invasion. (Applause.) Subjugation- si<6- ^M^o- isnota word of Anglo-Saxon derivation, or origin. (Cheers.) Anglo-Saxons never were, never are, never will be. Drought under tbe yoke — subjugated, conquered, crushed out, extermin- ated. (Cheers.) Fdmund Burke well compre- hended all this, and in that masterly speech ot his on " Conciliation with America," cm d four cases where, for years and years, the British gov- ernment had attempted to subjugate a neighbor- ing people— the people of Ireland,— ofWales,and ot the Counties Palatine of Durham and Chester. Ireland was five hundred years, he shows, in the proccbs of subjugation, and arms never did con- quer her. "It W..S not English arms (says Burke), but the English Constitution that con- queref British liberty, and Irelatid then began to be subjugated. When En- gland piled fifteen acts of penal legislation upon 10 Wales and Welshmen, "no Englishman travel- ing in that, country could go six yards from the high roadwitbout being murdered." (Laujibter.) " When, after two btiudred years of struggle, the day fetar of the Euiilish CoDSiitulion," odds Burke, "bad arisen In their hearts, all was har- mony, within, and without — Wmul alba ntxutis 8»ellartfuli!it, Df fluit Biixis agitatus humor, &c. &c. And the like is said of the Counties Palaiine, Durham and Chester. Hence how vain this at- tempt to subjugate, e'u^h out, or exterminate millions of our own people, of our own flesh and blood, — protpcfed as tbey are by au almost, boundless territory, stretching froni tbeFotomae to tlie Rio Grande,— a territory almost without high roads, in large plantations, without visible population,— in winter, no inconsiderable por- tion unaer water ; in summer, the beat so pressive that the mai of the North can hardly endure exposuie to the rays of the sun. Such a territory, if there were no defenders upon it, would be almost unconquerable, geographically, or climatically, if I may coin the word. The subjugation, therefo-e, of such a people, or such a,territory, in such a climate, maj as well be abandoned first as last. If we wish then to bring them back into the Union, we must bring back to them the Constitution and the Protection of the laws. We must do what Burke saio.was done for Ireland and Wales, throw over them the protecting folds of the Constitution, in the spirit in which that Constittition was formed. We must re-lift up from the ground where it was trodden under foot, the Constitution, and on'y the Constitution. (Applause.) We must do Equity and Justice, and then we can exactEquify and Justice. We must hold out Equality for the States, and then we can enforce Equality. We must respect our own rights, and the rights of States, and then we can compel respect for these rights upon others. We must rear up here in the North, a Conservative, Coustitutioi-al Party, and when that Party is reared up, which accepts the Constitution not as this man or that man expounds it, — but as the Supreme Court has ex- pounded it (cheers), then, and not tiil then shall we be a re-unitt d States. Then, and not ti 1 then, shall we begin to suDjugate the South. Force nor Violence can evtr win back a People to love. Conquest would but impose the necessity for re-conquest, until here, as in Europe, we should ever be revolving in the ruinous circle of War and Despotism. Wehuldinihe Soitth, now, only wLat is under the ran^je of our guns. Our con- quest is only of the soil on which we are tread- ing. To hold all this, to possess, to occupy a territory so vast, not a'one are one nii'lion of men indispensable to hold, — but a million more, to conquer, to sutjugate, as well as to occupy, oi;,to re-fill the ever thinning rankis of those who do conquer and subjugate. How much better, then, how much wiser is the law of sell-Govern- ment, or of that home Government, that State Government, which relieves a nation fioiao obligations so vust, and impresses the duty ot Government, upon every individual. Rely upon it, then, the only army for subjugation is the Constitution of the United States, and the principles of fret self-government, interwoven in every part of it. !'ut what we are doing now, — organizing and arming negroes, forming negro Battalions, Regiments, and Brigades,— is but out- raging puNic sentiment. All Europe is crying out against it. The whole civilized world shrinks from, and abhors any prospect of the repetition of the bloody scenes of H.iyti and St. Domir go. That European sjmpatby and civilization which h.as Mtherto looked up to us as the model Re- public, now turns with horror from white men co-operating with African slaves to shed frater- Ea' b'.ood. We have no hope, then, from the «orkl ; we can have no hope in ourselves, until we retreat from tLis disgraceful exhibition of twenty millions of white men calling on four millions of negroes to ili;ht eight millions, at the most, of -white fellow mt a right then, we have now. that every body had not then. The great principles of British and of American personal Liberty were as well secured under the old Confederation ef States, as under the Confederation of the United States, But thf re were other things wanting we had not under the Constitution,— free trade, free inter- course, a common currency, — and, above all, protection and security from European inter- vention, or invasion. Thirteen independent States had thirteen different Custom Houses, and thirteen different laws, and regulations of commerce, and of trade. There was one rate ot duties in Fewport, Rhode Island, .and another in New York, and yet another in Baltimore, or Norfolk. The Fathers of the Republic then felt the great business necessity of creating order out of this chaos,— iind of adding to a Free People, a system of Free Trade, and of Free intercourse. It was intep.est, then, self-inteb- EST, as much as patriotism, that laid the founda- tions of our Government. Tbere were debts to be discharged, otiigations to be met, a navy to 11 be created for tho protecLi.m of coiiiin.rrce, that ) iro back, aud go back as fast as pos«U>le to the could only beachieved by a goveruajf'Dtof thel reesta^ilishuieut of our Custom Houses our United State,-. Undtr tie uuidauce of these im- ! uuifortn bistem of duiic*. Whic they are doing pul.sesofsLlfiuiLit.-r, OD ttie 11th of Sf-pieUibur, ; ui the iuterior of Vi. fciini.i, -wheiti r they are in 1780, Cominissiouers from several States asseiu- rehellion or i.ot iu 1. v;i-. or G. ofia biit litttle bled in Annapolis (Md.) '-to consider upon th j | eooccrn us, if ne b-.l.i nu to (Jaivcbtorj lo Fort best raeaus ot remeiiving the defects oi i Pul iski. to New Orlcju-. to Not folk, aod c jllect the Federal Government." Their very platform itie Revenue, and aitend lo the. wd-hts and ■Wets ' to take m^to cousideratiou the tkade ai^d | measures. (Alau-h) If ia Tennessee, ever, """" "*■'''" '''' '^ c^— -•■'> . -• ' - j ^^^^,J (.hooue to rebel, let tijcm rebel till tbey tired of it, provicl.-d at New COMMEHCE of the United Stares, and to cousid huw far an uniform t\stem, iu th-^iir commercial | are iutercourse aud ie!.'iii.t!ions, migut be necessarj' to their common inueue.-jt aad permanent har- mony." The vuL'ar in-pirati m of Tr idesturted the Convention held iu Fui) idelpuia, aii.r-rwards, in 1787. Such men as Washiuijton, Hamilton, Madison, Frauklm, Roger Sherman, Ru'ltdge, aud Pinckuey, did nut hesitate to assemble, and to act upon this great inspiration of self luteresi, and ot Commerce aud Trade. Free trade, a free intercourse, free rivers, tliey well reasoned, ■were indispeusablj' necessary among a f :ee i)eo- ple. The main purpose for which this G )Vern- ment was created, our Constitutional history shows, was to have Imt one system ot cu-loms, and of dudes, from Georgia to Maiue. Or, iu other words, more tersely expressed, this is an exterio)\ not an interioi-. Government. Tne Federal Government was crea'.ed, not for mo- rals, not for religion, not for slavery or anti- slavery, — but topiomotethe "geneial welfare,"' or, in other, more vulgar parljnce, to collect duties, to raise revenue thnrcby, to coin money, to h ive uniform weights aad measures, to have on^ pi'eut othee, and to regii ate commerce with foreign nations. I repeat, our great Fa- Orleans they will pay the duties, and let us alone in Kentucky, and on the nvigition of the Rivcrs. The beauty of our lorni of Govern- ment is, thax we have little or nothing to do with what is going on in Tennessee, or Alabama, or Mi»fii-i,usand miles,— as be gathers up his reasons iu the using rivulets of the icy Rjcky Mountaius, aud rolls th>'m on, iuro volumes of irrcffisirDle logic to- ward '.he Gulf of Mexico. ( A,.>piause.) Toese great waters must, -it is the law of inexorable necessity, — Deloug to one people, and i)e iu one country. The holding on to wnat we h ive got, on the Mississippi, on the Gulf, on tue Chesa- peake, ou the Capes of Virginia, is as indis- pensable lo our safety as it is for the safety of the So i h lo have them too. We are bound together thus, we are linked to- gether, for weal or woe, — and no wise man will fight to put asunder wuat, God has thus joined together. (Applause.) If we part by Tre ity, we [lart hut soon to meet again iu war. Eternal War, or E-ernal Union, seems to be our Destiny. (Annliusel Tell me not, that the Ohio can ■;Jc: Fr.ince and 12 Germany, or, as tin; Danube parts Nationalities, — tell me not all ttiis, unless you tell me, in the bame breatb, tbn numbers of the huge btand- ing armies, that garrison the Rhine and the Dauuhe, ai«d secure Peace only by bristling in arms, eiernally. (Applause) England could not live without Scotland and Wales, and France perished in provinces, and Germany has been drenched with human gore, — because,rnment, be respecifully requested to in- terpose in Older to arrest the existirg civil war : 1, Byiuvliinathe non.slaveholdirg States and the lojalBlaveholdiDg8tat.j6— Dtlaware, Mary'aud, Ken- tuckv a ' d Missouri— to meet in convention in Louis- ville. Ky , on the — day of Fehniary npxt. 2. ByVeqviPS'iPg the permission of the President of the UiJited Sialesto send Citnni1sHor,t rs to Viiginia, Norlhftiid Houth Carolina, Geoigia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Lou'siara, Arkansas, Texas, and Tennes- eee, to invite them also to meet in lite national con- VPTition. And S. Be iff urther Resolved, That thp President "be re- Qiii'sttd bv the State Government oiNew Jersey to de- clare an armietice with or for such Sij-te or States as m-dy accept this call for a national convention. Resolved, That a commiitee be created on the part of this Association to present these regolutions to tbe ncvernorand Legislature of New Jersey, and to urge v.oon thats'a'e, tha*, incoDBideration other revolu- tionary history and patriotic associations, she is en- titled tbun 'o lead in a na'ional convention for the res- toration of the Union of these Slates. The resolutions were greeted with a torrent ol cheers,and it was asked that they be passed upon immediately. 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