duty that I owe to my country; yes, sir, that I owe to my wife and children. By your failure to exercise the powers of this Government, by your failure to enforce the laws of the Union, I am separated from those most dear to me. Pardon me, sir, for this personal allusion. My wife and children have been turned into the street, and my house has been turned into a barrack, and for what? Because I stand by the Constitution and the institutions of the country that I have been taught to love, respect, and venerate. This is my offence. Where are my sons-in-law? One to-day is lying in prison; another is forced to fly to the mountains to evade the pursuit of the hell-born and hell-bound conspiracy of disunion and secession; and when their cries come up here to you for protection, we are told, "No; I am against the entire coercive policy of the Government."

The speech of the Senator from California the other day had the effect in some degree, and seemed to be intended to give the question a party tinge. If I know myself, — although, as I avowed before, I am a Democrat, and expect to live and die one, I know no party in this great struggle for the existence of my country. The argument presented by the Senator from California was, that we need not be in such hot pursuit of Mr. Bright, or those Senators who entertain his sentiments, who are still here, because we had been a little dilatory in expelling other traitorous Senators here

tofore, and he referred us to the resolution of the Senator from Maine, which was introduced at the special session in March last, declaring that certain Senators having withdrawn, and their seats having thereby become vacant, the Secretary should omit their names from the roll of the Senate. I know there seemed to be a kind of timidity, a kind of fear, to make use of the word "expel" at that time; but the fact that we declared the seats vacant, and stopped there, did not preclude us from afterwards passing a vote of censure. The resolution, which was adopted in March, merely stated the fact that Senators had withdrawn, and left their seats vacant. At the next session a resolution was introduced to expel the other Senators from the seceded States who did not attend in the Senate; and my friend2 moved to strike out of that very resolution the word "expelled," and insert "vacated"; so that I do not think he ought to be much offended at it. I simply allude to it to show how easy it is for us to forget the surrounding circumstances that influenced our action at the time it took place. We know that a year ago there was a deep and abiding hope that the rebellion would not progress as it has done; that it would cease; and that there might be circumstances which, at one time, would to some extent justify us in allowing a wide margin which, at another period of time would be wholly unjustifiable.

1 Mr. Fessenden.

2 Mr. Latham.

All this, however, amounts to nothing. We have a case now before us that requires our action, and we should act upon it conscientiously in view of the facts which are presented. Because we neglected to expel traitors before, and omitted to have them arrested, and permitted them to go away freely, and afterwards declared their seats vacant because they had gone, we are not now prevented from expelling a Senator who is not worthy to be in the Senate. I do not say that other traitors may not be punished yet. I trust in God the time will come, and that before long, when these traitors can be overtaken, and we may mete out to them condign punishment, such as their offence deserves. I know who was for arresting them. I know who declared their conduct to be treason. Here in their midst I told them it was treason, and they might make the best of it they could.

Sir, to sum up the argument, I think there is but little in the point presented by the Senator from New Jersey, of there being no proof of the reception of the letter; and I think I have extracted the staple commodity entirely out of the speech of the Senator from Delaware; and so far as the force of the argument, based upon the Senate having at one session expelled certain members, while at the previous session it only vacated their seats, is concerned, I think the Senator from California answers that himself. As to the polished and ingenious statement of the case made by the Senator from New

York, I think I have answered that by putting the case upon a different basis from the one presented by him, which seems to control his action.

Mr. President. I have alluded to the talk about compromise. If I know myself, there is no one who desires the preservation of this Government more than I do; and I think I have given as much evidence as mortal man could give of my devotion to the Union. My property has been sacrificed; my wife and children have been turned out-of-doors; my sons have been imprisoned; my son-in-law has had to run to the mountains; I have sacrificed a large amount of bonds in trying to give some evidence of my devotion to the Government under which I was raised. I have attempted to show you that, on the part of the leaders of this rebellion, there was no desire to compromise: compromise was not what they wanted; and now the great issue before the country is the perpetuation or the destruction of free government. I have shown how the resolution of the venerable Senator from Kentucky 2 was defeated, and that Southern men are responsible for that defeat, six sitting in their places and refusing to vote. His proposition was only lost by two votes; and in the end, when the seceders had gone, by only one. Well do I remember, as was described by the Senator from California, the sadness, the gloom, the anguish that played over his venerable face when the result was announced; and I went

1 Mr. Harris.

2 Mr. Crittenden.

across the Chamber, and told him that here were men refusing to vote, and that to me was administered a rebuke by one of them for speaking to him on the subject.

Now, the Senator from Delaware tells us that if that compromise had been made, all these consequences would have been avoided. It is a mere pretence; it is false. Their object was to overturn the Government. If they could not get the control of this Government, they were willing to divide the country and govern a part of it. Talk not of compromise now. What, sir, compromise with traitors with arms in their hands! Talk about " our Southern brethren" when they present their swords at your throat and their bayonets at your bosoms! Is this a time to talk about compromise? Let me say, and I regret that I have to say it, that there is but one way to compromise this matter, and that is to crush the leaders of this rebellion. and put down treason. You have got to subdue them; you have got to conquer them; and nothing but the sacrifice of life and blood will do it. The issue is made. The leaders of rebellion have decreed eternal separation between you and them. Those leaders must be conquered, and a new set of men brought forward who are to vitalize and develop the Union feeling in the South. You must show your courage here as Senators, and impart it to those who are in the field. If

you were now to compromise, they would believe that they could whip you one to five, and you could