defamation. This little clique of Southern dem- | this, and if thereby the North has the prepon agogues has had no terror for me. You may stand in awe of them, but I do not. I never have and never shall stand in awe of aught except my Maker. My sentiments are based on conscientious convictions, and cannot be controlled and governed by the fear of being stigmatized as unsound to my section. The Southern men at the head of the rebellious movement, as well as those of that part of the country sanctioning it, entirely ignore the great principle of our country-to abide the decision of the ballot-box, and, if defeated, try it again. Instead of such a course they resorted to arms with a view of overturning the Government. Such a sight as this arouses all the manly feelings in my nature, and rouses my very soul to arms. It is not a liking for the government of President Lincoln that induces all of us to stand up for the Union, but because we are a law-abiding people. (Applause.) Throughout my entire life I have always entertained an opinion that Congress has power to control slavery, and also that it was the duty of that body to exercise such control. It was not on the principle that Congress should set forth that slavery is immoral, or that it should interfere with the institution as it exists in the Southern States; but it was that, if the whole country was given up to slavery, they would not be honored in the non-slaveholding States as a land which was the home of the brave and free. With the natural order of events flowing smoothly, as previous to the reopening of the slavery agitation, the institution would continue, as established, two hundred years to come. While in Congress, Southern men came to me and said that, if it was confined to the States in which it is at present, it would soon die. Take the census of 1840 and that of 1850, and observe the rates of increase of both sections. Then compare it with the territory not yet settled, and you will readily exclaim, Why fight about territory-why brue your hands in blood about territory not needed by either side? The principles on which I placed myself have been sanctioned in Western Maryland, and even from my boyhood have I maintained them. They have been vindicated by the people selecting me as their representative in Congress by ten thousand majority, given by a generous and confiding people, who, on the same enunciation of these opinions, chose me as the Chief Magistrate of Maryland. Why it is that the Northern section of our country increases in population more than the Southern section, I will not dwell, but only refer to one cause, and from which, as a natural result, it will always increase more rapidly. derance, we should submit to it. Five-andtwenty years ago I assumed the opinion which I now hold, but would not wish to controvert the opinion as expressed by Chief Justice Taney in the Dred Scott decision, and therefore abide by it. The remarks which I have expressed, my friends, are made with a view to allay the prejudices which unfortunately exist among the citizens of Baltimore in this great crisis of our country. Prejudices and passions they are; and never have more unjust and unwarranted allegations been made than what a number of your citizens generally receive as truths. Chief among these is an assertion that President Lincoln, who for the time being is our Chief Magistrate, is a political abolitionist. I hold in my hand the Inaugural Address of President Lincoln, a portion of which I will read. It is the same position occupied by Mr. Van Buren in 1832, when he received the vote of Maryland for Vice-President. It is the position of Henry Clay (tremendous applause) in his whole career-a favorite of old Maryland; of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, through a long period of the country's early history. Mr. Lincoln declares that "he has no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery where it exists." The votes and resolutions in the convention that formed the Chicago Platform expressly declare the same doctrine. Expressly did that platform recognize the right of the South to a maintenance of the inviolable right to the control of her domestic institution as necessary to the just administration of the Government. It is true, however, that it was also a great principle to resist the extension of slavery where it did not exist. Born in Maryland, a son of a slaveholder, living among slaveholders, serving in the position of Chief Magistrate of the State, I have always held these opinions, and avowed that I would exclude slavery from any new State, but where it was established as a vested right I would defend the right with my blood. But if I was going to lay the foundations of a new State, I would never sanction the incorporation of slavery as an institution. Mr. Thomas distinctly averred that there was nothing in the designs of the Chief Magistrate, or of any of his Cabinet, to lead any person in Maryland to believe that they purposed interfering with the institution of slavery. In New York and Ohio the Democratic party had lost power by showing more sympathy with Southern rights in years gone by than was right. At the present time, however, as if to show that the design of the Republican party was not to interfere with the institution in the Southern States, the party had invited the Democratic I allude to foreign emigration-persons ar-party into a union with them on the only true riving in the Northern section, who, from not being indoctrinated into the institution in their native land, have an inborn hatred of slavery, and therefore seek that part of the land where the laboring class is free. They are right in ground of supporting the Union as it is. They had elected a Democratic Governor in Ohio, as well as representatives in Congress, by large majorities, and in New York they had also elected Democrats by triumphant majorities. Thus in two populous States they had aban- | listened to by the great throng with eagerness. doned the principles of the party, and made During the delivery of his impassioned words combinations with the Democrats in order to the utmost quietude prevailed, while again the cherish the Union. In this State he regretted most enthusiastic applause greeted some of his to see men claiming to be Democrats organizing remarks. an opposition to Government, and giving evidence of sympathy with traitors. Mr. Thomas referred to the assistance rendered by the leading Whigs of 1832 to General Jackson, when South Carolina raised the nullification banner. Then Clay, Webster, and Adams, forgetting all that had induced them to oppose Jackson in his course toward the United States Bank, the National Road, and other prominent measures, readily rallied to his support. They knew the great distinction between the persons administering the Government and the Government itself, and gave all their powers to sustain the latter. President Lincoln now claims from all citizens the same loyalty as was evidenced in 1832, when the Government was wantonly assailed by rebellious men. Doc. 116. "CONFEDERATE" ADMIRALTY COURTS. ACTION IN REFERENCE TO FEDERAL PRIZES. THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICASOUTH CAROLINA DISTRICT-In the Court of Admiralty of the Confederate States of America for South Carolina District.-The Confeder ate States of America, to the Marshal of the Confederate States for the district aforesaid, or his lawful deputy, greeting:-You, and each of you, are hereby commanded, without delay, to cite and admonish all persons in general, except cite and admonish, and these are, therefore, to citizens of the United States, who have, or pretend to have, any right, title, claim, interest, The speaker alluded to the expressions made use of by secessionists in reference to subjugat- of the brig Betsey Ames, her tackle, etc., and property, or demand, whatsoever, in, to, or out ing and coercing States, and that it was unlaw- her cargo, against which a libel hath been exful to imprison persons who were wanting inhibited and filed in the said court, by S. H. loyalty. He dissented in toto from the opinion of Chief-Justice Taney in the case of John Merryman, though having the utmost respect for the distinguished jurist. Lebby, master of the private armed schooner Sally, in a cause of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, that they be and appear before the Hon. A. G. Magrath, Judge of the said Court, at He referred to General Jackson's course in a court to be bolden at the Confederate Court New Orleans, where, a large portion of the in- House, on Thursday, the 14th day of November, habitants being of French descent, he was ap- at eleven o'clock A. M., to show cause, if any prehensive that they would not be as loyal as they should be, and had occasion to arrest one should not be granted, and the said brig Betsey they have, why the prayer of the said libel of them. After the retirement of the old hero Ames, and her cargo, condemned as lawful prize to the Hermitage, all the leading men who pre-of war. viously had abused him without stint acknowl-premises, you shall duly certify unto the judge And whatsoever you shall do in the edged that he had done right. So will it be aforesaid, at the time and place aforesaid, togethwith President Lincoln when the present crisis er with these presents. is past. He then referred to the efforts made in this State by the secessionists to control the Legislature, with a view of crippling the General Government, and expressed himself as being favorable to the utmost exercise of all the powers of Government to prevent such aims. If they were desirous of ending these difficulties, he would suggest to them, as well as to the State prisoners in Fort Lafayette, that if they would take the oath of allegiance and become loyal citizens, they could regain and retain their liberty. Mr. Thomas continued to urge these views at length, and passed on to the questions of tariff and other measures, which were sometimes urged by those friendly to the South as inducing their present position. He referred to the present attitude of England and France as not being calculated to create any alarm, and then rapidly alluded to the position of affairs even if the independence of the Confederate States should be acknowledged, and generally referred to the position which Baltimore would be placed in as a commercial city. He concluded his address at ten o'clock, being the said Court, at Charleston, the 30th day of Witness, the Hon. A. G. Magrath, Judge of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. B. C. PRESSLEY, Libellant's Proctor. H. Y. GRAY, Clerk Confederate Court. THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, SOUTH CAROLINA DISTRICT-In the Court of Admiralty of the Confederate States of America for South Carolina District.-The Confederate States of America to D. H. Hamilton, Marshal of the Confederate States for the district aforesaid, or his lawful deputy, greeting:-You, and each of you, are hereby commanded, without delay, to cite and admonish, and these are, therefore, to cite and admonish all persons in general, except citizens of the United States, who have, or pretend to have, any right, title, claim, interest, property, or demand, whatsoever, in, to, or out of the brig Grenada, her tackle, etc., and cargo, against which a libel hath been exhibited and filed in the said court, by S. H. Lebby, master of the private armed schooner Sally, in a cause of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, that they be and appear before the Hon. A. G. Magrath, Judge of the said Court, at a court to be holden at the Confederate Court House, on Monday, the fourth day of November, at eleven o'clock A. M., to show cause, if any they have, why the prayer of the said libel should not be granted, and the said vessel, the Grenada, and cargo, condemned as lawful prize of war. And whatsoever you shall do in the premises, you shall duly certify unto the Judge aforesaid, at the time and place aforesaid, together with these presents. Witness, the Hon. A. G. Magrath, Judge of the said Court, at Charleston, the twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. PRESSLEY, Libellant's Proctor. H. Y. GRAY, Clerk Confederate Court. Doc. 117. degree of dignity and firmness they willingly submit to the judgment of the world. Their efforts were unavailing, yet they may prove valuable hereafter as another added to former examples of manly protest against the progress of tyranny. On my return to Kentucky, at the close of the late special session of Congress, it was my purpose immediately to resign the office of Senator. The verbal and written remonstrances of many friends in different parts of the State induced me to postpone the execution of my purpose; but the time has arrived to carry it into effect, and accordingly I now hereby return the trust into your hands. And in this connection, since the Government at Washington has thrown a drag-net over the whole surface of society, to collect proof against individuals of connection with the Government of the Confederate States, and since a portion of the Northern press has charged that certain private correspondence, recently seized at Phil ADDRESS OF JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE adelphia by the Federal authorities, will con TO THE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY. By your representatives in the last Legislature you conferred on me the commission of Senator in the Congress of the United States. In March last, when my term of service began, the Union had been dissolved by the withdrawal of seven States, which the policy of coercion has since increased to twelve States. At that time a majority of the people of Kentucky still cherished the hope of a peaceful reunion. Soon afterward, when the Government at Washington commenced that series of usurpations which has now left nothing of the Federal Constitution, and resolved on a war of subjugation against the withdrawing States to secure union and brotherhood, you determined to take no part in the war, but to protect your liberties by a position of armed neutrality. This decision was expressed by a large majority of the people at the election in May. I had opposed this policy before the election, but afterward, in common with the great mass of those with whom I had acted, I acquiesced in your expressed will, and have maintained it as the fixed attitude of Kentucky. In obedience, as I suppose, to your wishes, I proceeded to Washington, and at the special session of Congress, in July, spoke and voted against the whole war policy of the President and Congress; demanding, in addition, for Kentucky, the right to refuse not men only but money also to the war, for I would have blushed to meet you with the confession that I had purchased for you exemption from the perils of the battlefield and the shame of waging war against your Southern brethren by hiring others to do the work you shrank from performing. During that memorable session à very small body of Senators and representatives, even beneath the shadow of a military despotism, resisted the usurpations of the Executive, and with what vict me of political crimes, I deem it due to you and to myself to declare that I have not done or said any thing inconsistent with the relations I have borne to the State and to the Federal Government, or which could reflect a stain upon the commission which I now surrender. I do not resign because I think I have misrepresented you. On the contrary, I believe that my votes and speeches in the Senate have expressed your deliberate will as attested through the ballot-box. I resign because there is no place left where a Southern Senator may sit in council with the Senators of the North. In truth, there is no longer a Senate of the United States within the meaning and spirit of the Constitution. The United States no longer exists. The Union is dissolved. For a time after the withdrawal of the Southern States, and while there was a hope that the rupture might be healed, it might be assumed that the Union was not yet dissolved, and such was the position of Kentucky in declaring her neutrality and offering her mediation between the contending parties. But time has now elapsed, and mighty events have occurred, which banish from the minds of reasonable men all expectation of restoring the Union. Coercion has been tried and has failed. The South has mustered in the field nearly as many combatants as the North, and has been far more victorious. The fields of Manassas and Bethel, of Springfield and Lexington, have marked with a terrible and sanguinary line the division between the old order of things and the new. It is the right of Kentucky and her peculiar duty to recognize these great facts and to act on them. The Constitution compact which created and upheld the old Union is at an end. A large number of the original and additional parties have withdrawn from it-so large a number that its stipulations can no longer be executed, and under such circumstances no court has ever decided a contract to be binding between the remaining parties, or attempted to enforce its execution. The Constitution requires positively that each State shall have at least one representative in Congress, but now twelve States have none; that each State shall have two Senators, but now twelve States have none; that all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States, but now in more than one-third of them none are or can be collected. Commerce cannot be regulated between the respective States. Uniform rules of naturalization and bankruptcy cannot be adopted. Post-offices and post-roads, in nearly half the States, have been given up, and a preference is given to the ports of one State over those of another. Even the election of a President has become impossible. The Constitution is mandatory on all the States to appoint electors, and requires a majority of the latter to elect; but more than one-third of the States refuse to appoint, and hence no election can be made by the people. If the election goes to the House of Representatives, the Constitution requires that at least two-thirds of the States shall be represented in that body. The Constitution can no longer be amended; for it requires three-fourths of the States to concur, and more than one-third of the States have withdrawn from the Confederacy. All the safeguards provided for by the States in the instrument, still farther to secure public and personal liberty, have been destroyed. The three departments of the Federal Government, which were carefully separated and their boundaries defined, have been merged into one, and the President, sustained by a great army, wields unlimited power. The exemption of persons from arrest without judicial warrant, the right of a citizen to have his body brought before a judge to determine the legality of his imprisonment, the security provided against searches and seizure without warrant of law, the sanctity of the home, the trial by jury, the freedom of speech and of the press-these and every other precious right which our fathers supposed they had locked up in the Constitution, have been torn from it and buried beneath the heel of military power. The States made the Constitution, placed rigid boundaries around that Government, and expressly reserved to themselves all powers not delegated. They did not delegate to the Federal Government the power to destroy them-yet the creature has set itself above the creator. The atrocious doctrine is announced by the President, and acted upon, that the States derive their power from the Federal Government, and may be suppressed on any pretence of military necessity. The gallant little State of Maryland has been utterly abolished. Missouri is engaged in a heroic struggle to preserve her existence and to throw off the horrors of martial law proclaimed by a subordinate military commander. Everywhere the civil has given way to the military power. The fortresses of the country are filled with victims seized without warrant of law, and ignorant of the cause of their imprisonment. The legislators of States and other public officers are seized while in the discharge of their official duties, taken beyond the limits of their respective States, and imprisoned in the forts of the Federal Government. A subservient Congress ratifies the usurpations of the President, and proceeds to complete the destruction of the Constitution. History will declare that the annals of legislation do not contain laws so infamous as those enacted at the last session. They sweep away every vestige of public and personal liberty, while they confiscate the property of a nation containing ten millions of people. In the House of Representatives it was declared that the South should be reduced to "abject submission," or their institutions be overthrown. In the Senate it was said that, if necessary, the South should be depopulated and re-peopled from the North, and an eminent Senator expressed a desire that the President should be made a dictator. This was superfluous, since they had already clothed him with dictatorial powers. In the midst of these proceedings, no plea for the Constitution is listened to in the North; here and there a few heroic voices are feebly heard protesting against the progress of despotism, but for the most part, beyond the military lines, mobs and anarchy rule the hour. The great mass of the Northern people seem anxious to sunder every safeguard of freedom; they eagerly offer to the Government what no European monarch would dare to demand. The President and his generals are unable to pick up the liberties of the people as rapidly as they are thrown at their feet. The world will view with amasement this sudden and total overthrow of a Constitution which, if respected, might have been the boast and safeguard of the United States for many generations. When the historian comes to investigate the cause of this result he will record the fact that no department of the Federal Government has ever exhibited a case of aggression by the Southern States upon their Northern associates, and he will trace the dismemberment to the ignorance or disregard, upon the part of the latter, of the true principles of a Confederacy, to long continued and flagrant violations of the Constitution, to avarice, fanaticism, and general corruption. Against all these usurpations I protested in your name, in the presence of their authors, and at the seat of their powers. I protested in vain, and never again will I meet in council with the usurpers. And now, fellow-citizens, I am sure you will pardon me if I add a few words in reference to the condition of our State and my own course. The Constitution of the United States has been destroyed, and by no act of Kentucky. The power she delegated in that instrument to the Federal Government had vested to her, and any exercise of power over her by that Government, acy stood fully revealed, while the people, whose only error had been their generous credulity, stood thoroughly betrayed. It is known to citizens of Louisville, of all parties, that just before that meeting of the Legislature a mem nent citizen of Kentucky that the position of the State should not be maintained, that the Government preferred hostility to neutrality, and that Kentucky must be compelled to support the Federal Government in the war. Your wishes, fellow-citizens, had been spurned, and you have been thrown into this vortex by the Government at Washington, aided by their Kentucky sympathizers. without her consent, is usurpation. In the wreck of the Federal system she exists an independent Commonwealth, with the right to choose her own destiny. She may join the North. She may join the South. She may poise herself on her own centre, and be neutral.ber of the Washington Cabinet said to a promiIn every form by which you could give direct expression to your will, you declared for neutrality. A large majority of the people at the May and August elections voted for the neutrality and peace of Kentucky. The press, the public speakers, the candidates-with exceptions in favor of the Government at Washing ton so rare as not to need mention-planted themselves on this position. You voted for it, and you meant it. You were promised it, and you expected it. The minority acquiesced in good faith, and at home and abroad this was recognized as the fixed position of the State. It was taken at the beginning of hostilities, and it is but reasonable to infer that every subsequent act of outrage by the Washington Government has confirmed your original purpose. Look, now, at the condition of Kentucky, and see how your expectations have been realized -how these promises have been redeemed. First, by the aid of some citizens of the State, arms belonging to the whole people were illegally and secretly introduced by order of the President, and distributed to one class of our people upon the false pretence that they needed them for protection against their own fellowcitizens. This was the first violation. The pretended reason for the military occupation of the State, founded on the occupation of Columbus by Confederate troops, is uncandid and false. For, besides the fact that the invasion of Kentucky was a foregone conclusion at Washington, and that camps of soldiers were under arms in our midst to invade Tennessee, it is notorious that General Grant left Cairo to seize Paducah before the occupation of Columbus, while, in taking the latter place, the Confederate troops anticipated the Federal troops by less than an hour. For further proof of the insincerity of the false clamor about the invasion from Tennessee, the Confederate commander announced to your authorities that he occupied Columbus purely in self-defence, and stood ready at any moment to withdraw simultaneously with the Federal forces. To say that Next, Federal military officers began to re- the Washington Government had a right to incruit soldiers and establish camps in our midst, vade the State, is to say that you had no right and Federal money was lavishly expended, in to be neutral; and to submit to the invasion the hope to demoralize and corrupt the people. from a power which has effaced every vestige A studied system of deception was practised as of the Constitution, would be to bow in the long as possible on the people. For a time it dust and surrender to a simple despotism. was denied that they were Federal camps, and It is not necessary to say much about the Leit was said that they were merely voluntary as-gislature. A majority of them, instead of prosemblages of Kentuckians for their own protec-tecting the rights and persons of the citizens, tion and that of the State. These monstrous falsehoods have since been freely exposed. This was the second violation. | have, either voluntarily or under duress, been engaged in sustaining the usurpations of the Federal Government, in passing bills of pains Previous to these events the State was in a and penalties to terrify a spirited people into condition of tranquillity and peace. No indica- servitude, in depriving the Governor of his tions existed anywhere of internal disorder. just constitutional authority, and in abdicating But now the people, becoming alarmed at these their share of the Government by formally inproofs of a purpose to force Kentucky into the viting a Federal military force to take posseswar, began to assemble in great mass meetings sion of the State, well knowing, as they did, and to demand loudly the promised neutrality. that this military force would supersede the The Washington Government, however, and its State Government. Of that body nearly oneabettors in Kentucky, supposing their schemes fourth have retired because of the military octo be ripe for execution, now resolved to have cupation of the State, and the seizure, impriswhat they called "active loyalty." About this onment, pursuit, and exile of many of the time the Legislature met, and the drama then most eminent and patriotic citizens of the State moved rapidly on. The camps were avowed to by that military force. The voices of these be Federal camps. The guns which had been members can no longer be heard in the councils clandestinely and illegally introduced, now of the State, nor their votes be taken. The called out to maintain active loyalty." Fed-Legislature is thus, to say the least of it, a mueral officers began to swarm among us. Every tilated department of the State Government. appliance of corruption, every allurement of It is true that there remains a sufficient numambition, was brought into play. ber for a quorum; but are they free? For, Presently a Federal army was in possession when the Federal Government takes military of large portions of the State, and the conspir-possession of a State, its Legislature must con |