Mr. PENDLETON.-The gentleman yielded to me to put the question, and he declines to answer it.

Mr. BOUTWELL. I made the declaration in the beginning, that I would not be put upon the stand as a witness in reference to any particular statement I made; that I intended to make a statement, and leave it there for what, it was worth. I have yielded to the gentleman many times, an excess of courtesy which has borne heavily upon the patience of the House; and yet he still persists in putting the same question to me.

Mr. PENDLETON. I understood the gentleman to say that that proclamation did not depend on the meeting of any set of men. Do I understand the gentleman to say that in its broadest and fullest extent?

Mr. BOUTWELL. Having met the inquiries and declarations of the gentleman from Kentucky in reference to the Governors at Altoona, with the consent of the Chair, this business of interruption is at an end.

Mr. PENDLETON. Certainly I will not persist in my interruptions, if not agreeable to the gentleman.

Mr. BOUTWELL. To gentlemen on that side of the House, and especially to the gentleman from Kentucky, and those who have been engaged with him in this hopeless struggle to perpetuate the institution of slavery, I submit for their consideration, in this hour of their grief, that we have not only had the preliminary proclamation of September, 1862, but also the great charter of liberty upon this continent, the proclamation of 1863; and whether there be peace or whether there be war, whether there be

victory or whether there be defeat, whether there be union or disunion, that decree is eternal for this continent; and the gentlemen from Kentucky who still hope to resuscitate the institution of slavery, whether they give a timid and uncertain support to patriots struggling for the preservation of the Union, or whether they attempt to withhold from the gov ernment the physical and moral power of the slave element upon this continent, are still doomed to disappointment, and to disgrace, permit me to say, without personal reference to any man. It will stand upon the page of history as a foul blot, that the fairest portion of the North-American continent, that Kentucky, blessed with a soil rich and a climate inviting, a State of all the States which should have buckled on the armor, and, with the ancient warlike energy of her people, rallied to the support of the government in the hour of its trial, that she, I say, deliberately bowed the knee to slavery, and rendered the issue of the contest for a time uncertain. Devastation has already wasted her land, and she will yet be an object of pity to the people of this continent and of the world. And I now offer my sympathy in anticipation of the inglorious future which awaits that State, if her present policy be pursued, tendered with some hope that she mayMr. MALLORY. We scorn and despise your sympathy. [Loud cries of "Order!"]

[Mr. MALLORY made some remark amid tumultuous cries of "Order!"]

Mr. BOUTWELL. But I anathematize her no

longer. Kentucky has upon this floor some men true to liberty; and, if my voice could pass beyond these walls and reach those other sons of hers, misguided, unfortunate, but not yet lost to the Constitution and the Union, I would invite them, in common with the people of this country, to abandon the institution of slavery, to rally to the support of the Union and the Constitution, and thus help to make this continent the home of the free, where there shall be neither slave nor master any more.

347

CHICAGO CONVENTION OF 1864.

SPEECH AT FANEUIL HALL, SEPT. 6, 1864.

FELLOW-CITIZENS,—It depends very much

upon what we believe as to the future of this country and the rights of the people, whether we rejoice or mourn in consequence of the events in Mobile Bay and before Atlanta. If it was true on the 30th day of last month that the people of this country ought to take immediate efforts for the cessation of hostilities, then, gentlemen, we have cause to mourn rather than to rejoice. I understand that there were people in this country who before the 30th of August, since this war opened, had not, as an aggregate body of men, expressed their opinions in reference to this war, who then at Chicago declared that it ought to cease. I noticed, recently, two observations in the leading opposition newspaper of this city. First, a fear was expressed that hard names would be used; and, secondly, an apprehension was manifested that this meeting would have a political aspect or influence. I thought it likely enough that it would exert a political influence; for I observed in other newspapers that it was called to express congratulations over the events which have taken place in Mobile Bay and before Atlanta, and I thought that those events had had a political effect. I did not see exactly how it was possible that men

should assemble together to rejoice over events having a political aspect, without the meeting and the rejoicing having a political aspect also. Gentlemen, I have come here with the design, that, so far as I am concerned, the meeting shall have a political aspect. These times are too serious for the acceptance of any suggestion that hard names are not to be called, if hard names are deserved. The question is, not whether the meeting shall have a political influence, but whether it is really necessary to the salvation of the country that it shall have a political influence. I observed certain indications, while the person who last occupied the platform was speaking, which I thought were a slight deviation from that much-talked-of right of free speech. Now, then, I am about to read a resolution adopted at the Chicago Convention. I shall make two propositions in reference to it. I shall then ask whether this assembly assents to or rejects those propositions. If there be any man in this hall who denies or doubts the propositions, if I have the consent of the honored chairman of this meeting to ten minutes of time in which I can engage the ear of the assembly, I surrender it to that man, that he may have an opportunity upon this platform to refute, if he can, the propositions which I lay down. The second resolution of the Chicago platform is in these words: :

[At this point, there was considerable disturbance in the rear of the hall, created by one individual, and several voices cried out, "Free speech!" "Out with him!"]

He will be more useful to the country if he