2350
Cleveland Morning Leader, 3 February 1864
(ed; 106 inches)
~ See original
p.2, col.2
~ View at ChronAm
2350 - L. Feb. 3; ed: 2/2, 6 - In his Congressional speech on confiscation
of Confederate property, the Ilon. James A. Garfield declared that such
confiscation was justified by the action of the South. He said in part:
"When the government of the United States declared that we were in
a state of war, the rebel states came under the laws of war. By their
acts of rebellion they swept away every vestige of their civil and polit-
ical rights under the constitution of the United States. Their obli-
gations still remained, but the reciprocal rights which usually accompany
obligations, they had forfeited.
"The question then lies open before us: In a state of war, is this
resolution legal and politic?
"I remember to have said to a friend when I entered the army, 'You
hate slavery; so do I; but I hate disunion more. Let us drop the
slavery question and fight to sustain the Union."
"Mr. Speaker, I am surprised and amazed beyond measure at what I have
seen in this House. Having been so long with men who had but one
thought upon these great themes, it is passing strange to me to hear
men talking of the old discussions of a few years ago. They forget
that a nation sometimes may live a generation into a single year and
the experience of the last three years has been greater than that of
centuries of peace and quiet.
"If we want peace that is not a hollow peace, we must make thorough
work of this war. We must establish freedom in the midst of servitude,
and the authority of law in the midst of rebellion. We must fill the
ranks of our armies, assure them that a grateful and loving people are
behind them and they will go down against the enemy bearing with them
the majesty and might of a great nation.
"The war began by proclamation and it must end by proclamation."
Mr. Garfield's speech cuts so directly down to the heart of the whole
question of confiscation that our readers will be glad to read it. It
has been spoken of as the most effective speech made in Congress this
session." (106)
Index terms:
Confederacy; *Confiscation (Civil War); Garfield, Maj. Gen. J. A.; South; Union; U. S. Congress; U. S. constitution; U. S. House of Representatives