13 Why sir, under other circumstances, it would be amusing to hear my friend from Ohio [Mr. Cox] descant on the qualities of the Yankee. I am not surprised that his congregation in New York were convulsed with laughter at his delineations of Yankee character. With all the nasal twang of the Yankee, and-with many of those peculiarities by which he is known in all countries, they must have readily come to the conclusion, that if the gentleman was not born in Yankee land, there was a live Yankee around, near the place of his birth. (Laughter.) How could they help their- mirth, on such an occasion, and with such a specimen before them? It is no wonder then, they felt great merriment at the exhibition they were having of the Yankee on that occasion. Sir, being of the Hibernian stock, although born in the State of Vermont, I am unable to appreciate this cant about Yankees, and New England. I a,m not ashamed of my origin, nor the place of my birth. Vermont has never done anything that I am aware of, to disgrace me; and God being my helper, I will try to do nothing to disgrace her. My colleague [Mr. Vallandigham] in his able and extraordinary speech the other day, says: It is now two years, sir, since Congress assembled soon after the Presidential election. A sectional anti-slavery party had just succeeded through the forms of the Constitution. For the first time a President had been chosen upon a platform of avowed hostility to an institution peculiar to nearly one-half of the States, there was an irresistable conflict because of that institution between the States; and that the Union could not endure “part slave and part free.” Congress met, therefore, in the midst of the profoundest agitation, not here only but throughout the entire South. Revolution glared upon us. Repeated efforts for conciliation and compromise were attempted in Congress and out of it All were rejected by the party just coming into power, except only the promise in the last hour of the session, and, that, too, against the consent of a majority of that party, both in the Senate and House, that Congress—not the Executive—should never be authorized to abolish or interfere with slavery in the States where it existed. South Carolina seceded; Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Lousiana and Texas speedily .followed. The Confederate Government was established^ The other slave States held back. Virginia demanded a Peace.Congress. The Commissioners met, and, after some time, agreed upon terms of final adjustment. But neither in the Senate nor the House were then allowed even a respectful consideration. Sir, what are the facts? The gentleman here seeks to convey the impression that the war was brought on the country by the Republican party, when every man knows, that for months before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln the war had commenced. On the 21st day of January, 1861, Judge David A. Smalley in his charge to the grand jury of the United States District Court for the southern district of New York said: “It is well known that war, civil war, exists in portions of the Union; that persons owing allegiance to the United States have confederated together, and with arms, by force and intimidation, have prevented the execution of the constitutional acts of Congress, have forcibly seized upon and hold a custom house and post office, forts, arsenals, vessels, and other property belonging to the United States, and have actually fired upon vessels bearing the United States flag and carrying United States troops. This is a usurpation of the authority of the Federal Government; it is high treason by levying war. Either one of thoseStcts will constitute high treason. There can be no doubt of it.” This was while the patron saint of all the sympathizers with the rebellion, James Buchanan, was President of the United States. What was the action of this man Buchanan at this time when war was upon
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