USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 12
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OPPOSITION.
New York,
362,646
312,510
295,897
306,649
New Jersey,
· 58,324
62,801
46,710
61,307
Pennsylvania,
268,030
208,412
215,616
219, 140
Ohio, -
· 231,610
210,831
178,755
184,332
Illinois,
172, 161
160,215
120,116
136,662
Indiana,
· 139,033
133,110
118,517
128, 160
Michigan,
88,480
66,267
68,716
62, 102
Wisconsin,
· 86,110
66,070
66,801
67,985
Iowa,
-
70,409
57,922
66,014
50,898
667
REVOLUTION OF THE BALLOT.
unteers, three-fourths of whom would doubtless have voted the Union ticket. The opposition secured a like success in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, while Michigan and Wisconsin were carried by the republicans by a small majority only.
The final proclamation of emancipation was issued, as prom- ised, on January I, 1863. No state-paper ever produced an effect so momentous upon the Nation as this. To the patriot, it was the harbinger of a restored Union, whose foundations were to rest upon human freedom; to the disloyal, it was at once a menace and a blow. Hundreds of thousands of slaves had already been freed under the laws of congress and the operations of war; and whether the proclamation, extending beyond the lines of military occupation in the rebel states designated as such, had the effect of emancipating any slaves, was happily a question which culminating events left it unnecessary to decide. But as an exercise of the war powers of the executive in supplementing the anti-slavery legis- lation of congress, and as a formal announcement of a policy of emancipation which the military and naval authorities of the United States must recognize and maintain, no less than as an authorization of the employment of former slaves in the army and navy, its moral effect was as far-reaching as it was benefi- cent. It strengthened the arm and imparted fresh vigor to the efforts of the patriot at home, while it gave the country a posi- tion among the nations of the world higher than it could have hoped to attain in centuries of traffic in the bodies and souls of men.
The revolution of the ballot in Illinois was complete. The democrats not only elected their state officers, but carried the legislature also, securing a majority of one in the senate and twenty-eight in the house.
The twenty-third general assembly convened Jan. 5, 1863 .*
* Members of the twenty-third general assembly:
SENATE: Democrats-William Berry, McDonough; Israel Blanchard, Jackson; Wm. H. Green, Massac; Hugh Gregg, Williamson; Colby Knapp, Logan; John T. Lindsay, Peoria; Albert C. Mason, Knox; Samuel Moffit, Effingham; James M. Rodgers, Clinton; William A. J. Sparks, suc- cessor to Rodgers; Bryant T. Scofield, Hancock; William H. Underwood, St. Clair; Horatio M. Vandeveer, Christian; Linus E. Worcester, Greene. Republicans-John H. Addams, Stephenson; Edward B. Allen, Kane; Washington Bushnell, La Salle; Henry E. Dummer, Cass; Isaac Funk, Mc Lean; Cornelius Lansing, Mc Henry; Alonzo W. Mack, Kankakee; William B. Ogden, Cook;
668
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
Samuel A. Buckmaster of Madison County was elected speaker, receiving fifty-two votes to twenty-five for Luther W. Lawrence of Boone, and one for Selden M. Church. John Q. Harmon was chosen clerk, and Charles Walsh, door-keeper. Manning Mayfield was the choice of the senate for secretary, and David J. Waggoner for sergeant-at-arms.
Mr. Buckmaster had already served two terms in the senate and four years in the house. He had also been a member of the state constitutional convention. He was a gentleman of popular manners and fine address. His remarks on taking the chair sounded the keynote of the future reactionary proceed- ings of this afterward notorious legislature. Among other things, he said: "I trust that you will feel it your duty to enter the solemn protest of the people of Illinois against the impolicy and imbecility which, after such heroic and long - continued sacrifices, still leaves this unholy rebellion not only not subdued, but without any immediate prospect of termination, and I trust that your action may have a potent influence in restoring to our distracted country the peace and union of by-gone days."
On the evening of the day the legislature convened, a large and enthusiastic meeting of those opposed to the administra-
Joseph Peters, Vermilion; Thomas J. Pickett, Rock Island; Daniel Richards, Whiteside; Jasper D. Ward, Cook.
HOUSE: Democrats-Perry A. Armstrong, Grundy; Charles C. Boyer, Will; Michael Brandt, Cook; William J. Brown, Adams; Samuel A. Buckmaster, Madison; Albert G. Burr, Scott; John S. Busey, Champaign; Thomas B. Cabeen, Mercer; Gustavus F. Coffeen, Montgomery; Chauncey L. Conger, White; Philander Dougherty, Clark; Jefferson A. Davis, Woodford; John O. Dent, La Salle; George Dent, Putnam; John N. English, Jersey; James M. Epler, Cass; Jesse R. Ford, Clinton; Melville W. Fuller, Cook; John Gerrard, Edgar; Theodore C. Gilson, LaSalle; John G. Graham, Fulton; James M. Herd, Wayne; Thomas B. Hicks, Massac; James Holgate, Stark; Charles A. Keyes, Sangamon; John Kistler, Rock Island; Lyman Lacy, Menard; Robert H. Mc Cann, Fayette: Edward Menard, Randolph; John W. Merritt, Marion; Ambrose M. Miller, Logan; Stephen W. Miles, Monroe; John Monroe, Vermilion; Milton M. Morrell, Hancock; William W. O'Brien, Peoria; David W. Odell, Crawford; Mercy B. Patty, Livingston; Henry K. Peffer, War- ren; Lewis G Reid, Mc Donough; Reuben Roessler, Shelby; Joseph Sharon, Schuyler; James M. Sharp, Wabash; Simeon P. Shope, Fulton; James H, Smith, Union; John T. Springer, Morgan; John Ten Brook, Edgar; James B. Turner, Gallatin; Charles A. Walker, Macoupin; James M. Washburn, Williamson; William Watkins, Bond; Elias Wenger, Tazewell; John W. Wescott, Clay; Alexander E. Wheat, Adams; Scott Wike, Pike; William B. Witt, Greene; Henry M. Williams, Jefferson. Republicans-Jacob P. Black, Kendall; Lorenz Brentano, Cook; Horatio C. Burchard; Stephenson: Joseph F. Chapman, Carroll; Selden M. Church, Winnebago; Ansell B. Cook, Cook; Francis A. Eastman, Cook; James Elder, Macon; George W. Gage, Cook; James V. Gale, Ogle; Wm. E. Ginther, Cook; Addison Goodell, Iroquois; Henry Greene, Jo Daviess; Elijah M. Haines, Lake, Demas L. Harris, Lee: Joseph N. Holyoke, Knox; Daniel R. Howe, Bureau: Chauncey A. Lake, Kankakee; Nelson Lay, Henry; Luther W. Lawrence, Boone; Sylvester S. Mann, Kane; John W. Newport, Grundy; Westel W. Sedgwick, De Kalb; Leander Smith, Whiteside; Boyington Tenney, De Witt; John Thomas, St. Clair; Amos G. Throop, Cook; Joseph B. Underwood, St. Clair; Thadeus B. Wakeman, McHenry.
4
669
THE TWENTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
tion was held in the hall of the house for the purpose of hear- ing from the several democratic candidates for the United- States senate. Speeches were made by Wm. A. Richardson, Samuel S. Marshall, Richard T. Merrick, and Wm. C. Goudy. The speakers vied with each other in denouncing the president as a usurper, and in characterizing the war as barbarous and disgraceful. A resolution was unanimously adopted, declaring "That the emancipation proclamation of the president is as un- warrantable in military as in civil law, a gigantic usurpation, at once converting the war, professedly commenced by the admin- istration for the vindication of the authority of the constitu- tion, into the crusade for the sudden, unconditional, and violent liberation of 3,000,000 of negro slaves; a result which would not only be a total subversion of the federal Union, but a revo- lution in the social organization of the Southern States. * The proclamation invites servile insurrection as an element in this emancipation crusade, a means of warfare, the inhumanity and diabolism of which are without example in civilized war- fare, and which we denounce, and which the civilized world will denounce, as an ineffaceable disgrace to the American name."
Gov. Yates, in his message delivered on the next day, made a full report of the part taken by Illinois in the war, including provision made for the sick and wounded, and amounts ex- pended therefor. He also, notwithstanding the adverse major- ity against him in the body addressed, discussed the overshad- owing issues of the war, calmly and fearlessly, insisting upon the patriotic duty of every citizen to stand by the government to the last.
He justified the attitude of the administration by the follow- ing arguments: "After years of deliberate premeditation and secret preparation, they [the states in rebellion] perpetrated the act of secession, denied their allegiance to the constitution, set up an independent government, despoiled the Nation of its money, its arms, and munitions of war, seized upon our forts, insulted our flag, fired upon our soldiers at Sumter, plunged our hitherto peaceful people into a sanguinary, fratricidal war, filled every homestead with grief, and covered the land with two hundred thousand fresh-made graves."
He defended the proclamation of emancipation, expressing
670
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
views in advance even of those of the president. He said, "but now the necessity of emancipation is forced upon us by the inevitable events of the war, and is made constitutional by the act of the rebels themselves; and the only road out of this war is by blows aimed at the heart of the rebellion, in the entire demolition of the evil which is the cause of all our present fearful complications. * The rebellion, which was designed to perpetuate slavery and plant it upon an enduring basis, is now, under a righteous providence, being made the instrument to destroy it. * I demand the removal of slavery. In the name of my country, whose peace it has disturbed, and which it has plunged into civil war; in the name of the heroes it has slain; in the name of justice, whose highest tribunals it has corrupted and prostituted to its basest ends and purposes; in the name of Washington and Jefferson, and all the old patriots who struggled round about the camps of liberty, and who looked forward to its early extinction; in the name of progress, civilization, and liberty; and in the name of God himself, I demand the utter and entire demolition of this heaven-cursed wrong of human bondage."
Having made these clear and unmistakable utterances on the main question, he approached by no roundabout method the attitude of those opposed to the administration. He said, "the secessionists have hoped for success on three grounds: First, upon our supposed inferior valor; second, upon foreign aid; and third, upon a divided North. The two first have failed them. They now despair of any foreign intervention, and on many battle-fields the cool bravery of our northern troops has proved an overmatch for the fiery, impetuous valor of the South. But can I truthfully say that their strongest hope and main reliance, a divided North, has failed them?" Proceeding to amplify this danger, he remarked: "when the North shall present an undi- vided front-a stern and unfaltering purpose to exhaust every available means to suppress the rebellion, then the last strong prop of the latter will have fallen from under it, and it will succumb and be for peace. Should division mark our counsels, or any considerable portion of our people give signs of hesita- tion, then a shout of exultation will go up throughout all the hosts of rebeldom, and bonfires and illuminations be kindled
671
ELECTION OF UNITED-STATES SENATOR.
in every southern city, hailing our divisions as the sure harbin- gers of their success. Can we," he continued, "consent to send a keen and fatal pang to the heart of every Illinois soldier, now fighting for his country, by ill-timed party-strife at home?" Speaking of the appeals which were made in some newspapers for a separation from New England, he said, "Not a drop of New- England blood courses in my veins. * I propose not to be the eulogist of New England, but she is indissolubly bound to us by all the bright memories of the past, by all the glory of the present, by all our hopes of the future. I shall always glory in the fact that I belong to a republic in the galaxy of whose shining stars New England's is among the brightest and best. Palsied be the hand that would sever the ties which bind the East and West."
This singularly bold and able state-paper, while it was hailed with joy by friends of the Union, fell upon the hitherto trium- phant majority in the legislature like a bomb-shell from an un- expected battery. No attempt was made to answer or even to meet its arguments, but opposition might be aroused against the cause which the governor so eloquently advocated, and by the adoption of a policy of obstruction his resources might be crippled and his hands virtually tied.
On January 12, the two houses met for the purpose of elect- ing a United-States senator to fill the unexpired term of Judge Douglas, in which O. H. Browning was now serving. Wm. A. Richardson, having been nominated in caucus, was elected, re- ceiving sixty-five votes to thirty-eight cast for Richard Yates.
The several resolutions on the subject of the rebellion intro- duced by those opposed to the administration as well as by its supporters having been referred to the committee on federal relations, majority and minority reports were presented on Feb- ruary 4 and 5. That of the majority, the adoption of which by the house was merely a question of time, embraced two general propositions-opposition to the further prosecution of the war under present administration methods, recommending an armistice, the calling of a national convention to conclude terms of peace, and appointing commissioners to secure these results.
The preamble to these resolutions, after denouncing the sus-
672
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
pension of the writ of habeas corpus and the arrest of citizens not subject to military law, declared that "the attempted enforce- ment of compensated emancipation, the proposed taxation of the laboring white man to purchase the freedom and secure the ele- vation of the negro; the transportation of negroes into the State of Illinois in defiance of the repeatedly-expressed will of the people; the arrest and imprisonment of the representatives of a free and sovereign state; the dismemberment of the State of Virginia, erecting within her boundaries a new state, without the consent of her legislature, are, each and all, arbitrary and un- constitutional, a usurpation of the legislative functions, and a suspension of the judicial departments of the state and federal governments, subverting the constitution-state and federal- invading the reserved rights of the people and the sovereignty of the states, and, if sanctioned, destructive of the Union- establishing upon the common ruins of the liberties of the people and the sovereignty of the state a consolidated military despotism."
The first resolution declared "that the war having been diverted from its first avowed object to that of subjugation and the abolition of slavery, a fraud, both legal and moral, had been perpetrated upon the brave sons of Illinois, who have so nobly gone forth to battle for the constitution and laws."
The second resolution declared "that we believe the further prosecution of the present war can not result in the restoration of the Union and the preservation of the constitution as our fathers made it, unless the president's emancipation proclama- tion be withdrawn."
The third resolution declared "that we are unalterably opposed to a severance of the Union."
The fourth favored assembling a national convention "to so adjust our national difficulties, that the states may hereafter live together in harmony."
The fifth memorialized congress, the administration at Wash- ington, and the executives and legislatures of the several states "to take such immediate action as shall secure an armistice, in which the rights and safety of the government shall be fully protected, for such length of time as may be necessary to en- able the people to meet in convention as aforesaid."
673
PEACE RESOLUTIONS.
The sixth provided for appointing commissioners to confer with congress and otherwise aid in securing the above results, as follows: Stephen T. Logan, Samuel S. Marshall, H. K. S. Omelveny, Wm. C. Goudy, Anthony Thornton, and John D. Caton, all of them, except the first named, being in sympathy with the sentiments expressed in the resolutions.
No one not present at the time can imagine the bitterness, even ferocity of temper, with which these resolutions were dis- cussed. They absorbed the entire attention of the members to the exclusion of all regular business, until February 12, when they were adopted by the strictly party-vote of 52 to 28.
The political program marked out by the majority included the taking of a recess from Feb. 14 to June 2, in order that the report of the peace commissioners, named in the foregoing resolution, might be, by that time, received and acted upon. The recess-resolution passed both houses, after repeated delays and the employment by the minority of all known parliamen- tary tactics; but the armistice-resolutions, owing to the death of Senator Rogers, failed to pass the senate. It was during this period of mental collision and fiery debate, that the ven- erable Isaac Funk, the sturdy, patriotic senator from McLean County, astonished the opposition in the senate by a speech as unlooked for as it was powerful and crushing in its expression of his own sentiments and those of the supporters of the administration generally. It was his first and only speech, but his plain, blunt words, spoken under intense excitement, proved at once the most startling and the most effective speech of the session. In vain did the presiding officer call for order, vain was all effort to check him. To restrain the enthusiasm of the public who filled the galleries was as impossible as to dam a mountain torrent, and to call the old man to order was as idle as to attempt to turn the raging whirlwind from its course. He spoke as follows:
"Mr. Speaker :- I can sit in my chair no longer and see so much by-playing going on. These men are trifling with the best interests of the country. They should have asses' ears to set off their heads, or they are traitors and seces- sionists at heart in this senate. Their actions prove it. Their speeches prove it. Their gibes and laughter and cheers
674
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
here nightly, when their speakers get up to denounce the war and the administration, prove it. I can sit here no longer and not tell these traitors what I think of them; and while so tell- ing them, I am responsible, myself, for what I say. I stand upon my own bottom. I am ready to meet any man on this floor in any manner, from a pin's point to the mouth of a cannon, upon this charge against these traitors. [Great applause from the gallery.] I am an old man of sixty-five. I came to Illinois a poor boy; I have a little something for myself and family. I pay $3000 a year in taxes. I am willing to pay $6000; aye $12,000! [Striking his desk a tremendous blow, sending the ink whirling in the air.] Aye, I am willing to pay my whole fortune, and then give my life to save my country from these traitors that are seeking to destroy it.
"Mr. Speaker, you must excuse me; I could sit no longer in my seat and calmly listen to these traitors. My heart, that feels for my poor country, would not let me. My heart, that cries out for the lives of our brave volunteers in the field, that these traitors at home are destroying by thousands, would not let me. My heart, that bleeds for the widows and orphans at home, would not let me. Yes, these traitors and villains in the senate [striking the desk a blow with his clenched fist, that made the chamber resound] are killing my neighbors' boys, now fighting in the field. I dare to say this to these traitors right here, and I am responsible for what I say to any or all of them. [Cheers.] Let them come on now, right here. I am sixty-five years old, and I have made up my mind to risk my life right here, on this floor, for my country. [This announce- ment was received with great cheering. Here the crowd gathered around him-his seat being near the railing-to pro- tect him from violence, while many sympathetic eyes flashed defiance.] These men sneered at Col. Mack, a few days since. He is a small man, but I am a large man. I am ready to meet any of them in place of Col. Mack. I am large enough for any of them, and I hold myself ready for them now and at any time. [Cheering from the galleries.]
"Mr. Speaker, these traitors on this floor should be provided with hempen collars. They deserve them. They deserve hanging, I say. [Raising his voice and striking the desk with
675
SENATOR FUNK'S SPEECH.
great violence.] The country would be the better of swinging them up. I go for hanging them, and I dare to tell them so, right here, to their traitorous faces. Traitors should be hung. It would be the salvation of the country to hang them. For that reason I must rejoice at it. [Cheers.]
"Mr. Speaker, I must beg the pardon of the gentlemen in this senate who are not traitors, but true, loyal men, for what I have said. I only intend it and mean it for secessionists at heart. They are here in this senate. I see them gibe, and smirk, and grin at a true Union man. Must I defy them? I stand here ready for them and dare them to come on. [Cheer- ing.] What man, with the heart of a patriot, could stand this treason any longer? I have stood it long enough. I will stand it no longer. [Cheers.] I denounce these men and their aiders and abettors as rank traitors and secessionists. Hell itself could not spew out a more traitorous crew than some of the men that disgrace this legislature, this State, and this country. For myself, I protest against and denounce their treasonable acts. I have voted against their measures; I will do so to the end. I will denounce them as long as God gives me breath; and I am ready to meet the traitors themselves here or anywhere, and fight them to the death. [Prolonged cheers.] I said I paid $3000 a year taxes. I do not say it to brag of it. It is my duty, yes, Mr. Speaker, my privilege to do it. But some of these traitors here, who are working night and day to put some of their miserable little bills and claims through the legislature, to take money out of the pockets of the people, are talking about high taxes. They are hypocrites as well as traitors. I heard some of them talking about high taxes in this way, who did not pay $5 to the support of the government. I denounce them as hypocrites as well as trai- tors. [Cheers.]
"The reason they pretend to be afraid of high taxes is that they do not want to vote money for the relief- of the soldiers. They want to embarrass the government and stop the war. They want to aid the secessionists to conquer our boys in the field. They care about high taxes! They are picayune men anyway, and never hope or expect to. This is the excuse of the traitors. [Cheers.] Mr. Speaker, excuse me. I feel for
676
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
my country, in this, her hour of danger, from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. That is the reason I speak as I do. I can not help it. I am bound to tell these men to their teeth what they are, and what the people, the brave, loyal people, think of them. [Cheering, which the speaker vainly attempted to stop by rapping on his desk, but really aided, not unwillingly.]
"Mr. Speaker, I have said my say. I am no speaker. This is the only speech I have ever made, and I don't know that it deserves to be called a speech. But I could not sit still any longer and see these scoundrels and traitors work out their hellish schemes to destroy the Union. They have my senti- ments; let them one and all make the most of them. I am ready to back up all I say, and I repeat it, to meet these trai- tors in any manner they may choose, from a pin's point to the mouth of a cannon."*
With a parting whack on his desk, the loyal old gentleman resumed his seat, amidst the wildest cheering and the clapping of hands.
One of the first of the few laws passed at this session was that appropriating $10,000 for the relief of Illinois volunteers wounded at Vicksburg and Murfreesborough. The commis- sioners appointed by the legislature-Lewis D. Erwin, Wm. W. Anderson, and Ezekiel Boyden-had distributed the amount where most needed, faithfully and efficiently. Those reached by this appropriation were but a few of the many needing like assistance. Accordingly, Gov. Yates made a most elo- quent appeal in a special message to the legislature, February 2, for further aid, and urged the appointment of a state-agent for this purpose. General appropriation bills were introduced in both houses. In the senate-bill, numbered 202, was con- tained, among other items, an appropriation of $10,000 as a governor's contingent fund, and one of $50,000 to be partly disbursed in aid of sick and wounded soldiers. Another bill, numbered 203, contained the same provisions as No. 202, ex- cept these items. The democrats were in favor of bill 203 but opposed to bill 202. On the last day of the session, Feb. 14, these appropriation bills were called up in the house, together
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