sha A. Grow, Edward Haight, Richard A. Harrison, John Hickman, John B. Steele, Francis Thomas, Charles H. Upton, R. V. Whaley. William S. Holman, John Law, John A. Logan, John W. Noell, George H. Pendleton, Nehemiah Perry, and James C. Robinson, voted for JOHN S. PHELPS, of Missouri. Sydenham E. Ancona, Henry C. Burnett, Thomas B. Cooper, Philip Johnson, Elijah H. Norton, John W. Reid, and Benjamin Wood voted for CLEMENT L. VALLANDIGHAM, of Ohio. George T. Cobb, James E. English, Moses F. Odell, E. Henry Smith, Chauncey Vibbard, Elijah Ward, and George C. Woodruff voted for ERASTUS CORNING, of New York. William Allen, Joseph Baily. James R. Morris, Warren P. Noble, William G. Steele, and Chilton A. White voted for SAMUEL S. Cox, of Illinois. Samuel S. Cox, Jesse Lazear, and Daniel W. Voorhees voted for WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON, of Illinois. Philip B. Fouke and Hendrick B. Wright voted for JOHN A. McCLERNAND, of Illinois. Charles B. Calvert voted for JOHN W. CRISFIELD, of Maryland. George P. Fisher voted for CHARLES B. CALVERT, of Maryland. William E. Lehman voted for HENDRICK B. WRIGHT, of Pennsylvania. John A. McClernand voted for JOHN W. NOELL, of Missouri. Clement L. Vallandigham voted for GEORGE H. PENDLETON, of Ohio. GALUSHA A. GROW, one of the representatives from the State of Pennsylvania, having received a majority of all the votes given, was declared by the Clerk duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the thirty-seventh Congress. Whereupon, Mr. Grow was conducted to the chair by Mr. Blair, of Missouri, and Mr. Richardson, of Illinois; and the oath to support the Constitution of the United States having been administered to him by Mr. Washburne, one of the representatives from the State of Illinois, he addressed the House as follows, viz: Gentlemen of the House of Representatives of the United States of America: Words of thanks for the honor conferred by the vote just announced would but feebly express the heart's gratitude. While appreciating this distinguished mark of your confidence, I am not unmindful of the trying duties incident to the position to which you have assigned me. Surrounded at all times by grave responsibility, it is doubly so in this hour of national disaster, when every consideration of gratitude to the past and obligation to the future tendrils around the present. Three score years ago fifty-six old merchants, farmers, lawyers, and mechanics, the representatives of a few feeble colonists, scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, met in convention to found a new empire, based on the inalienable rights of man. Seven years of bloody conflict ensued, and the 4th of July, 1776, is canonized in the hearts of the great and the good as the jubilee of oppressed nationalities, and in the calendar of heroic deeds it marks a new era in the history of the race. Three-quarters of a century have passed away, and those few feeble colonists, hemmed in by the ocean in front and the wilderness and the savage in the rear, have spanned a whole continent with a great empire of free States, rearing throughout its vast wilderness temples of science and of civilization upon the ruins of savage life. Happiness seldom if ever equalled has surrounded the domestic fireside, and prosperity unsurpassed has crowned the national energies. The liberties of the people have been secured at home and abroad, while the national ensign floated honored and respected in every commercial mart of the world. On the return of this glorious anniversary, after a period but little exceeding that of the allotted lifetime of man, the people's representatives are convened in the council chambers of the republic to deliberate upon the means for preserving the government under whose benign influence these grand results have been achieved. A rebellion-the most causeless in the history of the race-has developed a conspiracy of long standing to destroy the Constitution formed by the wisdom of our fathers, and the Union consecrated by their blood. This conspiracy, nurtured for long years in secret councils, first develops itself openly in acts of spoliation and plunder of public property, with the connivance or under the protection of treason enthroned in all the high places of the government, and at last in armed rebellion for the overthrow of the best government ever devised by man. Without an effort in the mode prescribed by the organic law for a redress of all grievances, the malcontents appeal only to the arbitrament of the sword, insult the nation's honor, trample upon its flag, and inaugurate a revolution which, if successful, would end in establishing petty, jarring confederacies, or despotism and anarchy, upon the ruins of the republic, and the destruction of its liberties. The 19th of April, canonized in the first struggle for American nationality, has been reconsecrated in martyr blood. Warren has his counterpart in Ellsworth, and the heroic deeds and patriotic sacrifices of the struggle for the establishment of the republic are being reproduced upon the battle field for its maintenance. Every race and tongue almost is represented in the grand legion of the Union, their standards proclaiming, in a language more impressive than words, that here indeed is the home of the emigrant and the asylum of the exile. No matter where was his birthplace, or in what clime his infancy was cradled, he devotes his life to the defence of his adopted land, the vindication of its honor, and the protection of its flag, with the same zeal with which he would guard his hearthstone and his fireside. All parties, sects, and conditions of men, not corrupted by the institutions of human bondage, forgetting bygone rancors or prejudices, blend in one united phalanx for the integrity of the Union and the perpetuity of the republic. Long years of peace, in the pursuit of sordid gain, instead of blunting the patriotic devotion of loyal citizens, seem but to have intensified its development when the existence of the government is threatened or its honor assailed. The merchant, the banker, and the tradesman, with an alacrity unparalleled, proffer their all at the altar of their country, while from the counter, the workshop, and the plough, brave hearts and stout arms, leaving their tasks unfinished, rush to the tented field. The air vibrates with martial strains, and the earth shakes with the tread of armed men. In view of this grandest demonstration for self-preservation in the history of nationalities, desponding patriotism may be assured that the foundations of our national greatness still stand strong, and that the sentiment which to-day beats responsive in every loyal heart will for the future be realized. No flag alien to the sources of the Mississippi river will ever float permanently over its mouths till its waters are crimsoned in human gore, and not one foot of American soil can ever be wrenched from the jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United States until it is baptized in fire and blood. [Gentlemen, as your presiding officer, it becomes my duty to apprise you that any demonstrations of approval or disapproval of anything done or said during your sessions is a violation of parliamentary decorum; and the Chair would also inform the persons in the galleries that applause by them is a breach of the privileges of the House. The Chair hopes, therefore, that any demonstrations of applause will not be repeated.] "In God is our trust, And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Those who regard it as mere cloth bunting fail to comprehend its symbolical power. Wherever civilization dwells, or the name of Washington is known, it bears in its fold the concentrated power of armies and of navies, and surrounds its votaries with a defence more impregnable than battlement, wall, or tower. Wherever on the face of the earth an American citizen may wander, called by pleasure, business, or caprice, it is a shield secure against outrage and wrongsave on the soil of the land of his birth. As the guardians of the rights and liberties of the people, it becomes your paramount duty to make it honored at home as it is respected abroad. A government that cannot command the loyalty of its own citizens is unworthy the respect of the world, and a government that will not protect its loyal citizens deserves the contempt of the world. He who would tear down this grandest temple of constitutional liberty, thus blasting forever the hopes of crushed humanity, because its freemen, in the mode prescribed by the Constitution, select a Chief Magistrate not acceptable to him, is a parricide to his race, and should be regarded as a common enemy of mankind. This Union once destroyed is a shattered vase that no human power can reconstruct in its original symmetry. "Coarse stones, when they are broken, may be cemented again-precious ones, never." If the republic is to be dismembered, and the sun of its liberty must go out in endless night, let it set amid the roar of cannon and the din of battle, when there is no longer an arm to strike or a heart to bleed in its cause; so that coming generations may not reproach the present with being too imbecile to preserve the priceless legacy bequeathed by our fathers, so as to transmit it animpaired to future times. Again, gentlemen, thanking you for your confiding kindness, and invoking for our guidance wisdom from that Divine Power that led our fathers through the red sea of the revolution, I enter upon the discharge of the duties to which you assign me, relying upon your forbearance and co-operation, and trusting that your labors will contribute not a little to the greatness and glory of the republic. Before administering the oath to such of the members as were present, Mr. Stevens moved that such names upon the roll as should be objected to, when called, be passed over until the other members are sworn in. Pending which, Mr. Colfax moved to amend the same by striking out the words. "as should be objected to," and inserting in lieu thereof the words. as may be contested." Pending which, Mr. Richardson moved the previous question; which was seconded and the main question ordered; and under the operation thereof the said amendment and the said motion as amended were agreed to. Mr. Burnett submitted the following resolution, viz: Resolved, That the question of the right of Charles H. Upton, William G. Brown, K. V. Whaley, John S. Carlile, and Edward Pen dleton to seats upon this floor be referred to the Committee of Elections, when formed, and that they report, &c. Pending which, After debate, Mr. Ellihu B. Washburne moved the previous question; which was seconded and the main question ordered to be put. When On motion of Mr. McClernand, Ordered, That the said resolution be laid on the table. The oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States was then administered by the Speaker to such of the members as had previously answered to their names, except Mr. William E. Lehman, of Pennsylvania, and Mr. A. J. Thayer, of Oregon, whose seats are contested. The name of William E. Lehman having been called, Resolved, That the Clerk of the House be directed to insert the name of John M. Butler upon the roll of members, as the representative from the first congressional district of Pennsylvania, and that William E. Lehman shall be entitled to contest the seat of the said John M. Butler by giving him the required notice at any time within three months. Pending which, After debate, Mr. Fouke moved that the resolution be laid on the table. The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are Mr. William Allen Mr. Henry Grider Edward Haight Aaron Harding Abraham B. Olin Mr. George H. Pendleton Frederick A. Pike John F. Potter John W. Reid Alexander H. Rice William A. Richardson Albert G. Riddle James C. Robinson |