invited to a Whig Caucus at the house of Mr. Lincoln's brother-in-law, where Mr. Lincoln proposed to throw Henry Clay overboard and take up Gen. Taylor in his place, giving, as his reason that if the Whigs did not take up Gen. Taylor, the Democrats would.

Singleton testifies that Lincoln, in that speech, urged, as another reason for throwing Henry Clay overboard, that the Whigs had fought long enough for principle, and ought to begin to fight for success. Singleton also testifies that Lincoln's speech did have the effect of cutting Clay's throat, and that he (Singleton) and others withdrew from the Caucus in indignation. He further states that when they got to Philadelphia to attend the National Convention of the Whig Party, that Lincoln was there, the bitter and deadly enemy of Clay, and that he tried to keep him (Singleton) out of the Convention because he insisted on voting for Clay, and Lincoln was determined to have Taylor. Singleton says that Lincoln rejoiced with very great joy when he found the mangled remains of the murdered Whig statesman lying cold before him. Now, Mr. Lincoln tells you that he is an OldLine Clay Whig! * * *

"What part of Henry Clay's policy did Lincoln ever advocate? He was in Congress in 1848-9, when the Wilmot Proviso disturbed the peace and harmony of the Country, until it shook the foundation of the Republic from its centre to its circumference. It was that agitation that brought Clay forth from his retirement at Ashland again to occupy his seat in the Senate of the United States, to see if he could not, by his great wisdom and experience, and the renown of his name, do something to restore peace and quiet to a disturbed Country.

"Who got up that Sectional strife that Clay had to be called upon to quell? I have heard Lincoln boast that he voted forty-two times for the Wilmot Proviso, and that he would have voted as many times more if he could. Lincoln is the man, in connection with Seward, Chase, Giddings, and other Abolitionists, who got up that strife that I helped Clay to put down.

"Henry Clay came back to the Senate in 1849, and saw that he must do something to restore peace to the Country. The Union Whigs and the Union Democrats welcomed him the moment he arrived, as the man for the occasion. We believed that he, of all men on Earth, had been preserved by Divine Providence to guide us out of our difficulties, and we Democrats rallied under Clay then, as you Whigs in Nullification-time rallied under the banner of old Jackson, forgetting Party when the Country was in danger, in order that we might have a Country first, and Parties afterwards.

"And this reminds me that Mr. Lincoln told you that the Slavery Question was the only thing that ever disturbed the peace and harmony of the Union. Did not Nullification once raise its head and disturb the peace of this Union, in 1832? Was that the Slavery Question, Mr. Lincoln? Did not Disunion raise its monster head during the last war with Great Britain? Was that the Slavery Question, Mr. Lincoln? The peace of this Country has been disturbed three times-once during the War with Great Britain, once on the Tariff-question, and once on the Slavery Question. His argument, therefore, that Slavery is the only question that has ever created dissension in the Union, falls to the ground."

* * *

"Mr. Lincoln tries to avoid the main issue by attacking the truth of my proposition, that our Fathers made this Government divided into Free and Slave States, recognizing the right of each to decide all its local questions for itself. Did they not thus make it?

"It is true that they did not establish Slavery in any of the States, or abolish it in any of them; but finding thirteen States, twelve of which were Slave and one Free, they agreed to form a Government uniting them together, as they stood divided into Free and Slave States, and to guaranty forever to each State the right to do as it pleased on

the Slavery Question. Having thus made the Government, and conferred this right upon each State forever, I assert that this Government can exist as they made it, divided into Free and Slave States, if any one State chooses to retain Slavery.

"He says that he looks forward to a time when Slavery shall be abolished everywhere. I look forward to a time when each State shall be allowed to do as it pleases. If it chooses to keep Slavery forever, it is not my business, but its own; if it chooses to abolish Slavery, it is its own business-not mine. I care more for the great principle of selfgovernment, the right of the people to rule, than I do for all the Negroes in Christendom. I would not endanger the perpetuity of this Union, I would not blot out the great inalienable rights of the White men for all the Negroes that ever existed!

* * *

"Hence, I say, let us maintain this Government on the principles that our Fathers made it, recognizing the right of each State to keep Slavery as long as its people determine, or to abolish it when they please. Our Fathers, I say, made this Government on the principle of the right of each State to do as it pleases in its own domestic affairs, subject to the Constitution; and allowed the people of each to apply to every new change of circumstances such remedy as they may see fit to improve their condition. This right they have for all time to come.

"Mr. Lincoln went on to tell you that he does not at all desire to interfere with Slavery in the States where it exists, nor does his Party. I expected him to say that down here. Let me ask him, then, how he expects to put Slavery in the course of ultimate extinction everywhere, if he does not intend to interfere with it in the States where it exists?

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"His idea is that he will prohibit Slavery in all the Territories, and thus force them to become Free States. He will extinguish Slavery in the Southern States as the French general exterminated the Algerines when he smoked them out. He is going to extinguish Slavery by surrounding the Slave States, hemming in the Slaves and starving them out of existence, as you smoke a fox out of his hole. He intends to do that in the name of humanity and Christianity, in order that we may get rid of the terrible crime and sin entailed upon our Fathers, of holding Slaves.

"Mr. Lincoln makes out that line of policy, and appeals to the moral sense of justice and to the Christian feeling of the community to sustain him. He says that any man who holds to the contrary doctrine is in the position of the King who claimed to govern by Divine right. Let us examine for a moment and see what principle it was that overthrew the Divine right of George the Third to govern us.

"Did not these Colonies rebel because the British Parliament had no right to pass laws concerning our property and domestic and private institutions without our consent? We demanded that the British Government should not pass such laws unless they gave us representation in the body passing them,—and this the British Government insisting on doing-we went to War, on the principle that the Home Government should not control and govern distant Colonies without giving them a representation.

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'Now, Mr. Lincoln proposes to govern the Territories without giving them a representation, and call on Congress to pass laws controlling their Property and domestic concerns without their consent and against their will. Thus, he asserts for his Party the identical principle asserted by George III. and the Tories of the Revolution!

"I ask you to look into these things, and then tell me whether the Democracy or the Abolitionists are right? I hold that the people of a Territory, like those of a State (I use the language of Mr. Buchanan in his Letter of Acceptance), have the right to decide for themselves whether Slavery shall or shall not exist within their limits. The point

upon which Chief Justice Taney expresses his opinion is simply this, that Slaves being Property, stand on an equal footing with other property, and consequently that the owner has the same right to carry that Property into a Territory that he has any other, subject to the same conditions."

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If the people want the institution of Slavery they will protect and encourage it but if they do not want it they will withhold that protection, and the absence of local legislation protecting Slavery excludes it as completely as a positive prohibition. You Slaveholders of Missouri might as well understand what you know practically, that you cannot carry Slavery where the people do not want it. All you have a right to ask is, that the people shall do as they please; if they want Slavery let them have it; if they do not want it, allow them to refuse to encourage it."

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Judge Douglas concluded the long and memorable Joint-debate by declaring that "if we will only live up to this great fundamental principle of (non-interference), there will be peace between the North and the South. The only remedy and safety is that we shall stand by the Constitution as our Fathers made it; obey the laws as they are passed, while they stand the proper test; and sustain the decisions of the Supreme Court, and the constituted authorities."

CHAPTER B.

MASKED TREASON EXPOSED.

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JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL HOLT'S REPORT ON SECRET ASSOCIATIONS AND CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT-EXPOSÉ OF THE ORDER OF SONS OF LIBERTY," 66 KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, KNIGHTS OF THE MIGHTY HOST," ETC., ETC. ONE TREASONABLE ORDER WITH MANY NAMES. Pages 757 to 779.

99.66

PAGES.

FIRST-ORIGIN, HISTORY, NAMES, ETC., OF THE ORDER....758 to 759.
SECOND-ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS OF SAME..
THIRD-ITS EXTENT AND NUMBERS..

.759 761.

.761 762.

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764.

...764

766.

.766" 768.

.768 777.

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FOURTH-ITS MILITARY CHARACTER AND ARMED FORCE...762
FIFTH-THE RITUAL, OATHS, FORMS, AND CEREMONIES.
SIXTH-ITS WRITTEN PRINCIPLES.

SEVENTH-ITS SPECIFIC PURPOSES AND OPERATIONS.
EIGHTH-WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY

Τ

.....

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..777 779.

HE following official report of Hon. J. Holt, Judge Advocate General, upon certain "Secret Associations," lets in a flood of light upon the purposes, plans, and methods, of the Northern and Western allies of the Southern Rebels.

"WAR DEPARTMENT, BUREAU OF MILITARY JUSTICE." WASHINGTON, D. C., October 8, 1864. S

HON. E, M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

SIR: Having been instructed by you to prepare a detailed report upon the mass of testimony furnished me from different sources in regard to the Secret Associations and Conspiracies against the Government, formed, principally in the Western States by Traitors and disloyal persons, I have now the honor to submit, as follows:

During more than a year past, it has been generally known to our Military authorities that a secret and treasonable organization, affiliated with the Southern Rebellion, and chiefly Military in its character, has been rapidly extending itself throughout the West. A variety of agencies, which will be specified herein, have been employed, and successfully, to ascertain its nature and extent, as well as its aims and its results; and, as this investigation has led to the arrest, in several States, of a number of its prominent members as dangerous public enemies, it has been deemed proper to set forth in full the acts and purposes of this organization, and thus to make known to the Country at large its intensely treasonable and revolutionary spirit.

The subject will be presented under the following heads:
I.-The Origin, History, Names, etc., of the Order.

II.-Its Organization and Officers.

III.-Its Extent and Numbers.

IV.-Its Armed Force.