649 T28 opy 1 OUR CIVIL WA LECTURE DELIVERED IN PORTLAND, MAINE, BY P. B. TEMPLETON, FORMERLY ONE OF THE OFFICIAL REPORTERS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, DESCRIBING, FROM HIS PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE, THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS ON BOTH SIDES. CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION — REMOTE AND PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE WAR — NOT SEC- TIONAL — NOT PARTY — WAR OF TREASON AGAINST A LOYAL GOVERNMENT. CHARACTERS WHO TAKE PART IN IT; OUE SIDE: JEFFERSON DAVIS, % V ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, HOWELL COBB, J. P. BENJAMIN, W. L. YANCEY, R. M. T. HUNTER, JAMES M. MASON, &C. &C. THE OTHER SIDE: ( ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ( GENERAL SCOTT, HANNIBAL HAMLIN, SALMON P. CHASE, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES SUMNER, W. P. FESSENDEN, HENRY WILSON, eeches have been made, and hundreds of volumes have been written. That possibility is one which appeals to the heart of every American citi- zen, for it involves the whole theory of our government ; and no true American can be found who is willing to entertain, much less to ex- press, a doubt of it. This is a question which appeals to our fire- sides — to our dearest interests, socially, commercially, politically, and religiously ; as well as to all our best, most liberal, and patriotic feel- ings. Lose the principle of Universal Suffrage, and America is gone as a nation, and will become an easy prey to the i-apacity of any or every government in the Eastern hemisphere which may choose to invade her territories. This, however, is out of the question. We do not mean to lose the possession and the practice of this principle of Universal Suffrage: it is one which cannot be erased from the American conception of true liberty. "The ballot box — the ballot box," is the watchword and the war-cry of every true republican ; and, mark you, it is the destruction of the ivjfuence and power of the ballot box which is the great object and aim of the instigators of our 'present national trouble. We cannot and we should not forget our history; and the more frequently it is repeated, and the more deeply it is impre.--se(l upon our hearts, the better American and Republican citizens we shall certainly become. We cannot and we would not forget the Fathers of Plymouth Rock ; we cannot forget the spirit which animated them to leave their native land, by reason of religious intolerance, to seek a refuge and a home in a far-off and unknown wilderness; we cannot forget the dangers they encountered, and the toils and sufferings they endured; we cannot forget the instructions they gave to their children ; we cannot forget all they taught us of educational, industrial, and commercial enterprise; we cannot forget their brave success — how they conquered alike the savage and the wilderness, and made the latter to blossom and bear fruit — how by their unexampled frugality, their incessant labor, their deep thought, their strict morality, and their earnest religious devotion, they gave to us the germ of our free institutions — the germ of that which we now possess in the name of political right, without the preservation of which all their toils and dangers and sufferings and teachings and examples will avail us or our posterity but little. It is true tliat since the lauding of the Fathers we have become a mixed population. We are not, even now, all the descendants of the men who estab- lished this republic after the revolution ; we were not all born and educated on this benignant soil; but to this glorious Mecca of liberty thousands and tens of thousands — yea, millions on millions have joy- fully pilgrimaged — bringing — when they had naught else to bring — their bone and muscle and intelligence ; and, when they had aught else to bring, their silver, their gold, and their incense, all of which they joyfully laid down in their devotions as at the holiest shrine, and who now feel that if that holy altar of liberty is desecrated, if its holy fires are extinguished, the mournfulness of the deepest desola- tion must again pass ovei* the world. Gentlemen, you all know that it is everywhere said and believed that the United States of America is the last hope, refuge, and anchorage of all the world of the oppressed. It would be fair and proper, now, briefly to inquire what has been the cause of our present national troubles — not only the remote, the growing, but the present cause ? Gentlemen, I have already inti- mated that it is a contest for the supremacy of an autocratical or oligarchial government, in opposition to the principJe of Universal Suffrage exercised through the purity and security of the hcdlot box. This is the contest. The foundation of this contest lies, un- fortunately, in the Constitution of the United States, a provision of which has been construed to recognize a certain class of men as both men and property. Be not alarmed, for, mark you, I find no fault with the Constitution of the United States : it is an instrument almost as sacred to me as the Bible itself Not a single sentence, line, word, syllable, or letter in that sacred instrument would I wish to have altered. I loved the Constitution before ever I set foot on the American shore, or saw a blade of gi-ass growing on American soil ; with my own hand I w^ote nearly one hundred copies of it twenty-five years ago, at a time and in a country where few printers would have dared to print it, for fear of arrest for the publication of seditious documents ; and so familiar was it to me, and so deeply did I become imbued with all its leading features and ideas, that there was not a word in it which I could not repeat by heart, from the first line of the preamble to the last letter in the signature of George Washington ; and, as a brave soldier would wish no holier shroud to enfold him in death than the stars and stripes of his coun- try, so, after receiving the grace of God, I want no better passport to the final resurrection than that a copy of this Constitution be placed in my coffin. But this particular provision, to which I have referred, has been seized upon by contending parties. North and South, as a cause for angry and passionate strife, — the Northern man justly complaining that he was not equally represented in the National government, and the Southern man fearing, in his conscience, that this discrepancy or inequality of representation might, in the end, prove the over- throw of his unhallowed ownership in man. The Northern man has said to himself that it is a political and economical impossibility that a man can be a man and property at the same time. It is an anomaly which the human mind cannot either comprehend or recon- cile, any more than it is possiljle for a person to be in two places a thousand miles apart at one and the same instant ; and it is not to be wondered at that lie demands the abrogation of the distinction, so far as his political status is concerned. He says in his heart to the Southern man, " If you have property so have I ; and if your prop- erty must be represented in the National councils, so must mine. There is no reason, therefore, why your particular species of property should be regarded in the two-fold capacity of property and man. We want to be equal ; we want our property to be equally assessed ; we want our equal voice in all that affects our property, our liberty, and our happiness ; but we cannot understand this double dealing. We want you to keep your property as property; but do not play a sleight-of-hand game with us, because, if you attempt to pass a bogus legislative or constitutional bill upon us, you may depend upon it that it will ultimately be rejected as counterfeit when it comes to be pre- sented for payment at the popular bank. Now it is needless to say that, under our republican institutions, the Southern States have had largely the advantage in this matter of congressional representation. They have been regarded as the spoiled children of the Northern and Western States ; and because they were weak in population, the latter States have borne with their petulance until their arrogance has really become unbearable. Now I do not believe there is a single man here who would hurt any Southerner to the amount of a hair of his head, or that would interfere with any of the con- stitutional rights of the Southern States ; but when some of the people in these States are a little naughty, they must receive such a reasonable chastisement as a tender father would give to his dis- obedient child ; and when that child is sufficiently repentant, he will find his father's arms extended widely open to receive him again to his duty, his allegiance, and his father's love; and it may be, as in the case of the Prodigal Son, that for him Avould be "killed the FATTED CALF." That such will be the final result of this unfor- tunate family quarrel I have not the slightest doubt. This war has been characterized as a war of geographical sec- tions — and again by others as a war originating out of party and political strife. Gentlemen, it is no such thing. It is neither the one nor the othei". It is not a war of geographical sections — for among the millions of the South there are millions of patriotic men whose voices, by reason of oppression and the misrepresentations of Northern feeling, cannot be heard in favor of the Union. Our social relations are so intimately interwoven that it is not jiossible to sus- tain the assertion, with any show of reason, that this is a sectional war. Neither is it a war between political parties, for every shade of political party is represented on the one side at least. We have democrats of every grade — Hunkers and Barnburners, — Hard Shell and Soft Shell, — Breckinridge Democrats and Douglas Democrats — Old Line Whigs — Republicans of the abolition, the radical, and the conservative stripe — all, all of us on the same side. No, gentlemen, this is neither a war of sections nor of parties ; it is a war of rebel- lion against a constitutional government — a war of treason against loyalty — a war conceived, hatched and matured by a gang of am- bitious traitors, some of whom I propose very shortly to describe to you. This war has been sneeringly characterized by some presses, North as well as South, as "President Lincoln's War" — Northern presses, I regret to say, which, under cover of sustaining the Union, clearly do all in their power to render aid and comfort to the rebels. Now, gentlemen, you know that President Lincoln never so much as raised his finger to create or commence this war. On the contraiy, he bore with the seizures and aggressions and violations of the Con- stitution and the laws by traitors — a system of things inaugurated and perfected under the preceding government — he bore with these, thinking the people of the rebellious States would of themselves see the gulf into which they were plunging, and would arrest the career of the madmen who were leading them onward — he bore, I say, all this with patience and hope, until the people of the loyal States began, in tones unmistakable, to intimate that he must preserve the govern- ment he was elected to administer, or ignominiously resign his posi- tion to some one who Avould. The history of the whole world, from Adam to tlie present hour, furnishes no such example of patient forbearance, and of anxious desire not simply to prevent collision but to reconcile and harmonize our national intei'ests and feelings ; and even to bring back the vilest traitors to a sense of their duty and their own good. No, gentlemen, this is not President Lincoln's war, but if you like my opinion, it is James Buchanan's war ; it is John B. Floyd's war ; it is Howell Cobb's war ; it is Isaac Toucey's war ; it is the war of Jefferson Davis — of Alexander H. Stephens — of J. P. Benjamin — of John Slidell — of J. C. Breckinridge — of James M. Mason, cum midtis aliis, whose names on this page of our history will forever be classed with that of Benedict Arnold, and will forever be regarded with equal execration. Now, after this long introduction, I must state that I have two objects in view. I propose to give you a few personal sketches of the chief men who are figuring on both sides of this unhappy contest. Almost all of them I knevv' personally. Next, a few words relative to the character of Southern troops in contrast with that of Northern troops, and then conclude with some appropriate remarks contrastive of the traitor and patriot. I trust you will not accuse me of vanity when I mform you that I was one of the official reporters in the United States Senate when Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Thomas II. Benton, John C. Calhoun, and many others now no more, were prominent characters on that floor, and when many living characters now acting a prominent part in our country's history were there also. With all these men my professional occupation as a reporter brought me in almost daily contact; so that, in almost every case, what I have to say is derived from personal knowledge. JEFFERSON DAVIS. First, then, gentlemen, for a few of those men who have had the most direct hand in creating this war; and first and chiefest of all, is Colonel or General Jefferson Davis — the man who would be the destroyer of the United States, and the founder of a government which he may depend upon it the great powers of civilization will never recognize. He was in Maine and Massachusetts some three years ago, alledgedly for the benefit of his health, but evidently, as subsequent events have shown, for the deeper purpose of spying out the nakedness of the land, and estimating the number of traitors on whom he could rely to favor and assist him in his treasonable projects. He accepted and partook of the hospitality of our New England homes ; he was everywhere treated as a gentleman, and one thing is very cer- tain — he was neither tarred nor feathered, as any one of us would un- doubtedly have been had we been in his territory at the time, and spok- en as freely as he took the liberty of speaking in ours. He Avas receiver! into the houses of our most reputable citizens ; horses and carriages were at his command ; he was shown all our fortifications, and all our weak points of military defence. Some of your newspapers flattered and fawned upon him, while others treated him with but little deference. But who is this terrible Jefferson Davis? I have not traced his his- tory further back than that he was a cadet at West Point, where he undoubtedly received a good military education. After his departure from that celebrated school, the fii'st thing that is heard of him as 9 being remarkable, is, his winning the affections of an amiable lady — the daughter of General Taylor, who, as you all know, was our hon- ored and lamented President of the United States. Of course, no one can reasonably object to gallantry of this kind, for I at least believe that in these affairs ladies and gentlemen ought to have, and they generally wUl have and contrive to have their own way. Such always has been, and doul)lless always will be, the law both of man- kind and of womankind in these matters. But General Taylor, in this instance, did not like this particular kind of law, and, with his proud, manly and honorable spirit, he refused for long and many a day to hold any intercourse with Jefferson Davis, on the score of his having been guilty of what he (General Taylor) believed to be an unholy theft. Besides, General Taylor was a man for the Union, — the whole Union — and he wished no family association with a man who had encouraged the repudiation of just debts, and who other- wise advocated doctrines subver.-ive of the stability of the country. It was only when Jefferson Davis gallantly distinguished himself as a son of Mars, as well as a son of Cupid, that the old General consented to acknowledge him as a son-in-law. A partial reconcilia- tion took place, but it Avas never remarkably cordial ; and through the influence, in part, of friends of the worthy General, Mr. Davis obtained a seat in the United States Senate, in 1848, as a Senatorial representa- tive from Mississippi, but he was never admitted into close relationship with General Taylor's government. In fact, it was then well known that the father-in-law and the son-in-law were at the very antipodes of political faith. General Taylor wished California to be admitted as a State, in order to save the agitation of the slavery question, and Jefferson Davis opposed the admission with all the feeble power of which he was capable, and was one of the seven who, when the bill was finally passed, demanded that their impotent protest should be entered on the Journal of the Senate. Thus it happened that the old feud between him and President Taylor was not cordially settled even in General Taylor's life time. I shall not soon forget the first time I was called upon to take notes of one of Jefferson Davis's speeches in the Senate. I was cautioned by the knowing ones among the reporters to be on the alert, for he was said to be very difficult to report, on account of his mumbling indistinctness and rapidity of utterance ; and of his excessive disposi- tion to indulge in technical phraseology, whenever an opportunity was afforded. As he rose from his seat, his cheeks were puffed out, evidently with self importance. His eyes sometimes cast down, some- 10 times elevated, sometimes wandei-ing around tiie Senate Chamber, finally became fixed upon the Vice President — then Mr. Fillmore. He proceeded with a pomposity which at once indicated conceit. His enunciation was very indistinct, even to the quick ears of report- ers : his manner was cold, ungenial, and overbearing, and full of that kind of sternness which usually distinguishes military oratory. Even then, he seemed to be filled with the idea of secession; and it seemed, so far as I could judge, to be his especial desire to please John C. Calhoun, who was sitting on his left, and watching with his eagle eye every word which fell from his lips. I cannot, at present, recall the subject of the speech, but I distinctly recollect that it fell dead upon the ears of the Senate ; and I could see the smile of Clay and "Web- ster and DaAvson and Berrien and Seward and Douglas and Soule and Benton — all great lawyers, and all great statesmen — playing up- on their lips, at the evident egotism of the Senator from Mississippi. His older and more wily colleague from the same State (Henry S. Foote) replied to him ; and, with a withering sarcasm and a volubility of verbiage peculiar to himself, appeared to make Mr. Jefferson Davis look as small a man (so far as regarded statesmanship or legis- lative or forensic ability) as was then within the semi-circle in front of the Vice President's chair. — Such was my first experience of President Jefferson Davis. The only interest which he afterwards excited in my mind, as a Senator, was, when it came to my turn to .report him, how I should contrive to report him faitlifully, so as not to disgrace either him or myself. — During the severe contest in 1850 on the question of the admission of California, Mr. Davis was one of the most pompous and bitter opponents of the admission of that state : and it not unfrequently happened that he received severe ex- coriations from. " Old Bullion," and the more witty but not less astute Senator from New Hampshii-e, John P. Hale. It fell to my lot, during that session, to have frequent occasion to visit Mr. Davis at his room, and I must do him the justice to say, that, in his privacy and personal intercourse, I always found him a perfect gentleman. At the close of the session I travelled with him from Washington to Pittsburg in Pennsylvania. At that time we liad to travel in stages across the Alleghany Mountains, and down the Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers in a miserable little steamboat. JNIr. Davis's wife, the daughter of General Taylor, (then in deep mourning for the recent death of her father,) was one of our tx-avelling companions. As a companion in the stage, Mr. Davis was exceedingly agreeable, and showed a great versatility of talent and 11 careless easiness of manners. I noticed, however, as we were passing down one of the aforesaid rivers, that he took particular interest in the card playing, which was common on these steamers in those days among the rougher sort of passengers. I have seen him stand be- hind the backs of the players for an hour at a time, (particularly when they were playing what is called the game of "bluff,") appa- rently watching, with much interest, the success of the man who was the best bluffer. On the way he lost two of his trunks, but by dint of telegraphing, and other means, he and I recovered them, and he went on his way down the Ohio, and I pursued mine up the Alleghany. Without going too minutely into his history, we next find him as Secretary of War, under President Franklin Pierce. Both of these gentlemen, you know, were in the Mexican war, and whether Mr. Davis assisted Mr. Pierce when his horse took that unfortunate faint- ing fit, I am not informed ; but it is very certain that they were sub- sequently most intimately related — brothers in arms and equally brothers in peace. Mr. Davis kept his position as Secretary of War until the very last. He saw no reason to resign. I saw him on two or three occasions in the War Department, and was always received with courtesy and kindness ; and on one occasion, chatting familiarly about the effect his speeches produced, he remarked, that he thought he ought to take some lessons in oratory, but that he did not believe that, with any amount of instructions and application, he could ever come up to the Ciceronian standard. At the close of Mr. Pierce's administration he went home, and was reelected to the United States Senate, where he remained until his treasonable plots were, to his mind, matured and completed. Of course it is unnecessary for me to say, that he was in constant communication with John B. Floyd, his successor in the War Department, and there can be no doubt that he was, in all respects, a partice^JS criminis in all that Floyd con- templated and performed. Physically, Mr. Davis is a weak man. His health is not good. He has all the ambition of being a Dictator, but not the requisite powers, either of head or heart or body, to accomplish the object of his ambition. By some men, in his own State, he has been called a coAvard, on the ground that on one or two occasions he refused to be provoked into fighting a duel. I do not, however, believe that he is cowardly as a soldier. He is wily, crafty, and ambitious ; and, I fear, in all respects that go to making up an honest man, he is entirely de- ficient. He hates General Scott with the bitterest of all hatred — 12 and I believe there is not much love lost between tliem. In stature, Mr. Davis is about five feet six or seven inches ; his age I should judge to be somewhere about fifty. His talents are undoubtedly varied and he will, unquestionably, be a formidable enemy. From what I have seen of him, my impression is, that his great and leading idea is to be a second Napoleon, with the evident hope of being a greater man than the third and present Napoleon. It is not for me to make any predication of your sentiments on this subject as to its result; but I cannot refrain from presenting to you one paragraph m his message to the Confederate Congress, as being remarkably illustrative of the character of the man. It is as follows : "The declaration of war made against this Confederacy by Abra- ham Lincoln, the President of the United States m his proclamation issued on the fifteenth day of the present mouth, rendered it nece.- saiy in my judgment, that you should convene, at the earliest practi- S mSit,to demise the measures necessary ior the defence of the country." The "declaration of war made by Abraham Lincoln" !! If this sentence, in its statement and argument, does not show to you the most brazen falsehood, or the most unaccountable ignorance and con- ceit, I cannot conceive how another sentence could be constructed that would more effectually do so; and yet this is but one of a thou- sand of the same unprincipled character, all equally illustrative of the bombast and impudence of this unmitigated traitor. _ Such, gentlemen, is a brief description of the man who is at tlie head of the rebel movement. Such is the man against whose mach- inations and ambition your brothers, fathers, and sons have gone forth to ficrht for the preservation of the liberties of our beloved Amenca ! Such is the man who would destroy our glorious constitution, and plant a secession flag on the cupola of Faneuil Hall! Are you m love with him? No. Are you afraid to meet him ? No. Do you believe him honest in his protestations (?) for the preservation of our government as handed down to us by the Fathers? No. Do you ^ot all think that he is scarcely worth the price of rope enough to afford him the just retribution of a traitor to his country .'' L^*^*— ves-yes.l All of us will say yes ; I do, with all my heart : for since I began this sketch, developments of his character have been made which stamp him, in my mind, as the most treacherous villain, the vUest hypocrite, or the most confirmed madman that ever escaped from Bedlam. 13 Now this man — like a wandering comet — has got a tail in which there are some brilliant sparks ; and if time will permit, I intend to speak of some of the sparks m that tail. But there are two heads and two tails in this secession business, and I think I shall deviate from my original purpose so far as to put the heads together first, and make a little comparison of their relative weight and worth, and then dispose of the tails afterwards as time and opportunity may allow. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. We have seen one President — the President of the Confederate States as they ai-e called. He is comparatively small in stature ; you can judge of the largeness of his intellect by what you saw and heard of him when he visited New England, and by the folly he has exhibited in his efforts to subvert this government and establish a despotism upon its ruins. Let us look at the other President — Abraham Lincoln. He is tall in stature — stands, it is said, six feet two inches in his stock- ings. You all know, however, that a man is not to be judged of solely by his physical appearance, or by the amount of flesh he may be able to carry. The real worth of a man is not to be judged of by the amount of his specific gravity, or by the length of his perpendicularity. But if a perpendicular man of six feet two inches has hack hone enough to support that perpendicularity, and if, with such a stature, nature has given him equal propor- tions in the head, we small men are very apt to look upon such a man as a giant. Now we have this tall giant, Abraham Lincoln, elected according to the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, as our chief magistrate. I have never seen him to know him, so that I can give you no true description of his physiognomy. His visage has been represented to the public eye in all sorts of con- . tortious — so much so that a Philadelphia lawyer of some celebrity once suggested that if Mr. Lincoln would give him permission to commence actions in his name against all the artists who had de- famed his pkisique, he would be able to make a larger sum in one year than any lawyer could do by miscellaneous practice in double the time. I have not seen this giant, but I have heard and read something about him ; and from my reading (although I would not fall down and worship a statue because it is tall) I must confess that it has given a new impulse to that American spirit within me that loves tall things. This tall man, Abraham Lincoln, is our rightfully 14 constituted President. Let us look at him a little as he has shown himself by his acts. He is but a man, and in all probability will commit errors. This is to be expected — for human nature nowhere is perfect ; and no one who has not frequently witnessed tlie labor to be performed by a cliief magistrate, whether of the Nation or of a State, can imagine its variety, its arduousness, and its harrassing effects upon bodily health. But still this man is a giant ; and it is, and always has been, in the nature of humanity, from the nursery upwards, to look up to a giant. Now for the Constitution and the Union, and the enforcement of the laws, we have Gentlemen, I was going to say we have THREE giants — the giant Lincoln, the giant Douglas, and the giajit Scott, united together as a trinity in unity to preserve intact this American Union — but one of them is no more ! DOUGLAS. Wliile yet the eyes of more than a million of American voters are dimmed with tears in consequence of a nation's bereavement, it would ill become me to trespass upon a nation's grief. Alas ! Great Douglas ! I knew him well ! and whatever else may be said of him, by friends or foes, be mine the privilege to declare that he was EVERY INCH A MAN. LINCOLN— (i?es«7«erf.) A separate word about this giant Lincoln — for I find I am trench- ing upon time more seriously than I expected. It was said of him sneeringly that in earning his livelihood he was chiefly distinguished for his capacity in splitting rails ; and others said he was a man of such mighty power that he would eventually split the Union. Another class sneered at him because he was honest and indus- trious enough, and had ability enough to steer a flat boat down the Mississippi River. It was further said of him, before the election, by some papers which have since nobly come to his support, that he was so undignified as to sit on the doorstep of his own cottage and converse with a friend in his shirt sleeves. These were, of course, the meannesses of pohtical animosity, intending to convey the idea 15 that because of this simple unstarched mode of life, Mr. Lincoln could not satisfactorily occupy the presidential chair. These, how- ever, be it known, were all insinuations against the dignity of LABOR, and any insinuation against that dignity aims at once a fatal blow at the American heart. But taking up the story of the shirt sleeves, let me say to you now. that Mr. Lincoln has taken off his coat and rolled up his shirt sleeves in order that he may work in good earnest for the preser- vation of the government in its entirety and integrity. He means to fight for it, as it seems fighting there must be — to die for it if die he may ; but, in any and every event, determined he is to leave the United States as he found them — a government established by Uni- versal Suffrage, and sustained by the purity of the ballot box. It is a glorious thing for free America, at tliis moment of her history, to have a President who is not ashamed to sit on his own doorstep in his shirt sleeves and converse with a friend. Oh, if there is a thought that can inspire approval and admiration, it is that thought of easy freedom in the person of a high functionary ! How many millions oi' hearts and voices have poured out their ovations to the brave, but, as some would say, "undignified" Garibaldi, who, when he had wrested the sceptre of Italy from the grasp of tyrants, modestly re- tired to an agricultural life, bearing his honorable wounds, and yet humbly earning his bread after having dictated terms to princes, and when he might have become a prince himself. He, gentlemen, wore a RED FLANNEL SHIRT; and if the dictator of Southern Europe assumed the liberty of wearing an easy costume like this, instead of arraying himself in the glittering trappings of silver and gold, surely the President of a great and free people like those of the United States may do the same without disparagement either to his own honor or the honor of his country. Gentlemen, this sense- less, malicious, spiteful venom falls harmless when spit upon the honest and the brave. Nay, it operates more frequently for good than for evil. Why, I know a man who had the control of seventeen votes in the circle of his own family and friends, who, at the last election, had almost determined to use his influence, to that extent, in favor of Bell and Everett ; but this and other miserable insinua- tions determined him in favor of the man thus maligned, and all these votes were thrown into the ballot box for the successful candidate. 16 GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. Of General Scott I can say little more than the whole history of his life has told you. He is a man who lives in the hearts of the peo- ple by his deeds ; who gives his whole being to his country, accepting only the reward of one who has done his whole duty, and who is wil- ling to continue to do it unto the last hour. I cannot easily forget the first time I saw that great man to know him. It was on the floor of the United States Senate, on a very solemn occasion. What think you was the occasion ? It was when the corpse of Henry Clay was borne into that august chamber to receive the last sad tribute of respect. During the funeral obsequies General Scott went behind one of the pillars of that chamber and wept. I felt, when I gazed upon the coffin of the great Kentuckian, that a great man was gone, but that yet a great man was living; and when I saw those tears fall from the eyes of General Scott, I felt that although he possessed all the military fire, and all the bravery of a true soldier, he equally possessed the heart of a true man, and we may rest assured, that, although the rebels say that he is old, and past the age of seventy-six, he has all the spirit and intelligence and patriotism which actuated the fathers of 1776, and that they will jirobably soon discover to their cost. Such, gentlemen, are two of the giants agamst whose stately forms Mr. Jefferson Davis is endeavoring to dash out his brains as against a wall. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. But who have we next, among the men who have created this war? We have Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the Southern Confederacy. I must say, gentlemen, that I am more sorry to see Mr. Stephens in that position than I would be to see any other man among the rebels. Mr. Stephens is a lawyer of unquestioned ability, and is, perhaps, as ready and eloquent a debater as ever was within the halls of Con- gress. No man in former times has plead more eloquently for the preservation of the Union and the Constitution. He is a man o such mark as a speaker, that, whenever he got the floor in the House of Representatives, he was listened to with the utmost attention. There was no scattering of the House, as is too frequently the case when certain members rise to read manuscript speeches, one word of 17 whicli they nev(?r wrote for themselves ; but when Stephens spoke, groups of members would collect around him, and watch with eagerness every word that fell from his lips. I verily believe it was wholly and utterly against Mr. Stephens's wish to aid. in any way, this secession movement, but that he was forced into it by the same sort of pressure of circumstanc(!s which lias sometimes forced otherwise honest men to take to the highway in order to preserve themselves and their families from starvation. But Mr. Stephens has taken the fatal step, and he must abide the consequences of his action. So fully impressed am I with a belief in Mr. Stephens's former patriotism, and of his love for the whole country to be preserved under a common government, that I feel assured he would now gladly retrace his steps if he had a fair and honorable opportunity of doing so. That opportunity, however, in all probability will never occur. In stature Mr. Stephens is about the medium height. His consti- tution is not by any means robust. Stories say of him, that many years ago he fought a duel with bowie knives, in which he killed his antagonist, while he himself was fearfully mangled ; by reason of which his constitutional powers became much impaired. He looks, even now, like an over-grown boy, without beard, and of very sallow complexion. His voice has something of effeminacy in it, but it is clear, and though shrill, is by no means disagreeable. He is unques- tionably a man of distinguished ability, and those Northern men who know him best, cannot but regret that he has placed himself in such an unfavorable position. Such is a brief sketch of the rebel Vice President. HANNIBAL HAMLIN. We have presented you with a brief picture of the rebel Vice President. Now we have a legitimate Vice President, — Hannibal Hamlin, — who, in the event of President Lincoln's assassination (which you know has been threatened), or of his dying a natural death before the expiration of his office, — both of which events I \ pray God to forefend, — I repeat, that we have a legitimate Vice President, who, in either of these calamitous events, will not disgrace tlie Presidential chair, as I am sure he will not disgrace that of the Vice President. j It might seem a work of supererogation to say anything to citizens of the New England States, and especially to citizens of the State pf Maine, concerning one of their own honored statesmen ; especially I ^ ) 18 concerning one who has held so prominent a position before the public eye for so long a period as Mr. Hamlin has done. He is not, like Vice President Stephens, so eloquent and forcible in debate, but of one thing I can assure you, he is not less shrewd ; not less inibnned in regard to all that appertains to the real and permanent ^\•elfare of the country ; not less honest ; not less patriotic; not less industrious, and not less determined — yea, as determined, more determined to destroy this viper of secession, tlian Mr. Stephens possibly may be, or can be, to galvanize it into actual and permanent life. Mr. Hamlui is a worker. In the Senate he was always at his post; and as a committee man he was constant and indefatigable in his labors. As chairman of the Committee on Commerce for a niun- ber of years, looking first, to the interests of the whole country, and secondarily only to those of his state, he earned a reputation for ability, industry, and integrity, so that it rarely happened that any of his suggestions in open Senate were seriously controverted or dis])utcd. As a member of the Committee on Printing, he saved and tried to save the country from a system of the most wasteful expenditure in the printing department; and the country has shown its appreciation of his long and faithful services by placing him next in succession (so far as we have succession) to the highest position to which rea- sonable human ambition can aspire — that of being the head of a free, an industrious, a thinking, and a great })eo]5le. We have, therefore, a President and a Vice President in all mate- rial respects equal, and in many other respects infinitely superior to the bogus President and Vice President of the Southei-n Confeder- acy. But I fear tha't I am becoming tedious, and I must skim over these individual representations more rapidly. HOWELL COBB. We have next, taking a leading part among the rebels, Howell Cobb of Georgia, Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, who kept that place just long enough to spend every dollar there was in it, and every dollar he could prevail upon Congress to vote him — long enough to waste all the millions which were in the Treasm-y when he went there, and long enough to saddle the country with many millions more, which Mr. Cobb will find the whole country, and not a sectioUy will be called upon to pa}'. The securities of the United States in foreign hands will be demanded of the United States by foreign governments. They will be demanded of the whole United States, and not of a Northern Section or of a Southern Confederacy. , I have not time, and it is scarcely worth the ti'ouble to attempt toi describe Mr. Cobb's personal appearance, or his style of oratory.' The latter certainly is not very fascinating; and as for the former, i! is sufficient to say, that he is so vain of it that he imagines a Indy cannot look upon him without being incurably smitten. 19 Mr. Cobb was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1849 to 1851. It took about three weeks to* elect him. He finally carried the House m preference to Robert C. Winthrop, of Massa- chusetts, by a veiy small majority — not exceeding two or three votes. He has since been President of the Southern Congress, (his vanity always led him to seek such positions,) and if reports spoke truly, he magnanimously announced his determination, at the close of the Monlgomery Congress, to retire into private life. It is to be hoped tliat he will adhere to this determination, for it might be exceedingly dangerous for the preservation of his personal dignity, under the present state of financial derangement, that he should make his appear- ance either on Wall Street in New York, or on State Street in Boston. SALMON P. CHASE. Now% on the other hand, as Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, we have under the present administration one Salmon P. Chase, formerly, and again latterly, United States Senator from Ohio, and, for several terms, Governor of that prosperous, liberal, and wealthy State. Mr. Chase is a lawyer of considerable reputa- tion, an easy, deliberate, yet fluent and effective speaker, and is more- over a careful and calculating man. He has clearly learned the eco- nomical lesson, " take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves." He is a close man, and I believe a thoroughly hon- est man ; and you know that such .a man is the right man to have charge of the public purse — because the public purse is your purse and my purse — the nation's purse ; and Salmon P. Chase will faith- fully guard it from abuse. J. P. BENJAMIN. There is another man whom I must mention on the other side — Senator Benjamin, of Louisiana. I find I must cut the matter short. He is about the meanest of the whole brood of secessionists, and Heaven knows they are all mean enough. How, after he departed from a New England College in such a disgi*aceful manner as he did, he ever got into the United States Senate, is a mystery there is no time now to solve. I mean no offence to any religious persuasion iwhen I say, that Mr. Benjamin belongs to the lineage of Israel — I whether to the tribe, the name of which he bears and disgraces, is immaterial. I say I mean no offence to any religious persuasion, for, thank God, our glorious Constitution guarantees perfect freedom of (religious opinion and ex])ression. Mr. Benjamin came to Yale Col- jlege to obtain such an education ;is he could not obtain in Louisiana: put having certain proclivities said to be common among certain Jew- ish tribes, he !\])propriated the funds and other property of liis fellow Itudents to his own uses ; and for that reason was quietly dismissed t-om tlie establishment. We hear somewliere of a "ruling passion" leing "strong in death."' IMr. Benjamin lias certainly not yet conquered 20 his ruling passion, for he has recently given active signs of its vitality by aiding, abetting and comforting, and, no doubt, personally Ji*- sisting the traitors and thieves who seized upon and jjilfered the United States Mint at New Orleans ; and indeed it has been insinu- ated that, in this respect, IMr. Benjamin is so mean a man that he is in all probability a true descendant in a direct line from that mire- penting thief who was cruciiied on the left hand side of our Lord || and Saviour Jesus Christ. OMNIBUS. It was my intention, gentlemen, to have spoken of other leading men on both sides of this unfortunate quarrel, from my own knowl- edge of them; but I hnd that I have laid out too broad a programme ibr a single lecture. I intended to have spoken of Toombs, of Hun- ter, of Mason, (the most insignificant and pom})ous of all the Virginia aristocracy,) of Slidell, of Mallory, and Yulee, and especially ol' Bayard of Delaware, Avho, you remember, was President of the Charleston Democratic Secession Convention, who still keeps his seat on the floor of the United States Senate, and who — always ex- cepting Mr. Benjamin — is about as mean and unprincipled a legisla- tor as ever occupied a seat on the floor of that chamber. In contrast with these men, it was my intention to have said a few words about Mr. Seward as in o])position to Toombs and Hunter, Mr. Sumner in contrast with Mason, Mr. Fessenden as against Slidell, Mallory, Yulee, and Bayard, and Henry Wilson and John P. Hale as against the whole gang of traitors, who so recently defiled the Senate Chamber with their foul-mouthed treason. I intended to have spoken of Simon Cameron, the aged but well worn and still l)right patriot of Pennsylvania, who is now Secretary of War; ot' the brave Ben Butler of Massachusetts, (I know him well,) who, tliough but a recent convert, is as zealous and enthusiastic and true in his support of the Union, as Avas the Apostle Paul in favor o! Christianity, after he had seen the light and heard the voice whih journeying to Damascus. I intended to have spoken of all these and of other distinguished and patriotic men, whose names will, b\ future generations, be embalmed in the history of their country V greatness and glory, but I find it is impossible, and I must conclud( this desultory discourse with a few words only concerning the REBEL AND LOYAL TROOPS. On this subject, I will take (he liberty of presenting a short ex tract, which I wrote a short time ago lor one of the Boston paper?- and which contains some carefully calculated facts. I ask specifi attention to the figures. " Let us look at this Avar rpiestion for a moment as to the con parative numerical strength of the contending parties. 21 The total number of votes cast at the last presidential election, according to official returns (leaving out the vote of Califoi'nia and Oregon), was about 4,528,1)00. This, with the two exceptions above named, was the total vote of all the States — free and slave. Now, supposing that the whole of the slave States arrayed them- selves against the government (which is not the case and there are millions of Union men in the seceded States), the vote of the Free States remains as tbllovvs : — For Lincoln, ...... 1,813,1 (j7 For Douglas, 1,225,484 For Bell, 171,654 For Breckinridge, 244,900 Total vote of the Free Slates, . . 3,455,205 These figures, deducted from the total vote cast, leaves 1,073,700 cast in ALL the Slave States ; or, to present the case in clearer juxtaposition, the figures stand thus : — Free State voters, 3,455,205 Slave State voters, ..... 1,073,700 Or about three and a half of the former to one of the lattei". From the responses received from all of the Free States we may rely upon almost the whole of the above to lend their aid in some way in support of the government — or at letist that the raising of troops will be in the proportion of three and a half in the North, to one in the South. Is there any doubt — can there be any reasonable doubt — as to the final result of the contest ? " From the mere question of numbers, then, gentlemen, you see at once where the strife must end — particularly wlien you consider that the intelligence, the order and subordination, and the courage also largely preponderate on the side of the numbers. Now, of what class of men are these Southern troops made up ? Some few of them may possibly be owners of slaves, and may be incited with all the enthusiasm which a fanatical belief in the justice of their cause can inspire ; but if you look into the facts as regards the proportion of slave owners to the rest of the white population in the South, you will find that only about one in twenty of the Southern whites owns a slave. In other words, say there are 400,000 slaveholders out of 8,000,000 of white population. Now, do you suppose these slave- holders are going to leave their slaves to idle away their time, and perhaps to murder their families, while they are fighting this ridicu- Uius battle of secession ? Not they. They dare not. They know ')etter. Who, then, have you mainly to fight ? Why, this degraded '.•lass of " poor whites," as they are called ; and I can assure you, •'■'rom what I have seen of them, many are degraded enough. This h the refuse out of which the Southern army must be chiefly com- Mosed. I have seen them in South Carolina, and North Carolina, 22 and Virginia, and ^;ome other of the Slave States, and I tell you that these men will not stand lire. I know pretty well what these Southern men are ; I know that they are impatient of restraint, and that though in a hand-to-hand fight with revolvers and bowie knives many of them woidd fight most desperately, yet their ranks cannot be kept in that military order which is essential to success upon a hii'ge scale. I have frequently seen some of their crack companies " play at soldiers ;" and although I am no military man, I have no hesitation in saying that if some of our Northern volunteers had wit- nessed tlie ludicrous exliibitions which I have witnessed they would be ready to split their sides with laughter. Even fighting upon their own soil, a well disciplined force would scatter these men like chaff before the wind. Other causes, in addition to our present knowledge of their ])ecul- iar characteristics, lead us to this conclusion — such, for instance, as tlie danger of insurrection among the slaves, whom they must keep in subjection at all hazai'ds ; the ignoring of all popular I'ight in re- fusing to submit the question of secession to a vote of the people; the vast number of Union men in all the seceded States, who only wait a fair oi)portunity to rally under the National Standard ; the enor- mous pi'iA'ations and losses which these Southerners have entailed and will entail upon themselves by this unholy crusade against the best government in the world ; and above all and beyond all, the in- tuitive knowledge that their cause is founded in injustice, and woidd tend, if successful, to the establishment of the vilest and most o})pres- sive despotism which the Avoi-ld has ever seen — that of Nero not exce|)ted. Shakespeare has truly said — '• Conscience makes cowards of us all," and also that " Thvice is he armed who hath his quarrel just, And he but naked, though locked up in steel, AVhose conscience with injustice is corrupted." And you may depend upon it that the consciences of tliese men, when the first fiush of anger has passed away, Avill bite them as v/ith a scorpion's sting, and constitute a more fearful avenger than all tlie hosts of the North, thus rendering them the most cowardly of all cowards — the coward who feels he is in the wrong. Now, even if time would permit, it would almost be insulting to sjjcak of the thousands of brave men who have gone and are going Ironi Maine, New Ham])shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, AVisconsin, Minnesota, and one or two other States, to crush out this unnatural rebellion. I need not speak their praise. Their deeds, so far, have already bespoken it as an eainest of what we may expect in the future. When we consider the char- acter of our brav