Doc. 157. Col. Cochrane's speech, delivered at Washington, D. C., Nov. 13, 1861.
The following is Colonel Cochrane's speech, made to his soldiers on the occasion of the presentation of a flag:soldiers of the First United States Chasseurs (bravo Colonel): I have a word to say to you to-day. You have engaged in an arduous struggle. You have prosecuted it; you intend to prosecute it; you have stood unflinchingly before the enemy; you have proved yourselves patriotic, able, and tried soldiers, and you are entitled to the meed of praise. I, your commander, this day feel that it is a proud duty to extend to you the hand of approbation, and to declare that you are worthy of your country.
Soldiers, you have undergone labor; you have faced the enemy; you have stood without retreating before their fire; you have borne the inclemencies of the season, and you are ready to advance with that grand army of which you are a part. Your country opens its arms, receives you to its bosom. It will always praise and applaud you. Its commanders stand at the head of the column, and, with you behind them, they are not to be deterred. But the command is forthcoming — forward, march! toward the enemy. Take his possessions, for they are yours, they are yours to occupy; they are yours to enjoy; you are no marauders, you are no plunderers of property not your own, but you are the avengers of the law; you are the right arm of the Constitution; under your flag march patriotism, and order, and republican institutions; in your train follow peace, prosperity, and liberty; you are the servants of these high potentates, and the arm through which they strike is the arm of the worthy public servant who stands behind me on this occasion, the Secretary of War. Soldiers, you have been called to the field, not as marauders and mercenaries, but as the defenders of our high faith, defenders of our glorious reputation, defenders of our honor and renown, around which cluster the memories of the past, and whose feats and performances will yet distinguish the future. You are led forward by a commander under whom to serve is a pride for the highest among us. He enjoys the confidence of the people, and his reputation already renders powerless the arms of your enemies. By him we have won victories in the South, and by these victories we have assurances of triumphs yet to come. Beaufort is ours — Charleston may be ours — the whole country now disintegrated may be shortly united by the force of those arms of which you are a part, and the Union once more signify to the world the intent of that glorious motto, E Pluribus Unum. Then no longer shall be heard that fell doctrine of secession which would tear us asunder, and distract, part from part, this glorious Union; but we shall all be as we have been, one and inseparable, under the flag of our glorious nationality, won by our fathers, and preserved by you. (Applause.) Here is assembled, upon the banks of the Potomac, an army, the like of which the world has never seen. The motive which has gathered that army together never before was presented to the eye of history. It was congregated by no despotic order; it was the voluntary wish, the motive power, of every man composing it — the power of men rushing, as with one purpose, to reinstate the flag of our Union and save the Republic. That, soldiers, is your mission; and you have a commander who, with lightning speed, will lead you to conquest, and with equal speed will transmit the glory of your labors to the remotest corners of our country. And now, permit me, though the shades of night are falling upon us, to indulge in a few words as to the cause of the war, and the means by which it is to be brought to a successful termination. The material aid I have already adverted to; the motive power remains to be commented upon. On the one side you have the Confederate army; on the other side you have the grand Union--the Federal army. Now, the difference between these two words, in their common acceptation, is the cause for which these two armies are fighting. It is secession against federation; federation against secession. Nationality against disunion; confusion against order; anarchy against a good, free, and liberal Government — a Government made equally by the Fathers of the South and the Fathers of the North. We are in a revolutionary period. The South contend for the right of revolution. We admit the right, but while we admit it, we invoke the sole umpire which may be invoked on such occasions — the umpire of the sword, the umpire of force, the ultima ratio, that last effort to which men appeal when they have differences otherwise irreconcilable. They — the [374] South--have resorted to arms, and they have compelled us to the same resort, and if they claim that it is a war of self-preservation on their part, it is equally a war of self-preservation on ours, and if we are in controversy for very existence, then I contend that all the resources, all the means within ourselves, individually, collectively, and nationally, must be resorted to and adopted. (Applause.) But some friend, a doubter, exclaims: “Would you disrupt and tear asunder the Constitution?” Where is the Constitution? Would you tread and trample upon that sacred instrument, and no longer acknowledge its binding force? No longer be bound by its compromises and decrees? I answer, No. The Constitution, by the necessity of the controversy, is cast behind the arena in the strife. Nay it rests there safe until, the present strife being over, it shall be restored to its original purity and force. Like the Sybil leaves when lost, the remainder become more valuable in our eyes, and in the midst of carnage we will clasp to our bosoms that instrument whose worth has never been transcended by human efforts. Soldiers, to what means shall we resort for our existence? This war is devoted not merely to victory and its mighty honors, not merely to the triumph which moves in glorious procession along our streets; but it is a war which moves toward the protection of our homes, the safety of our families, the continuation of our domestic altars, and the protection of our firesides. In such a war we are justified, are bound to resort to every force within our power. Having opened the port of Beaufort, we shall be able to export millions of cotton bales, and from these we may raise the sinews of war. Do you say that we should not seize the cotton? No; you are clear upon that point. Suppose the munitions of war are within our reach, would we not be guilty of shameful neglect if we availed not ourselves of the opportunity to use them? Suppose the enemy's slaves were arrayed against you, would you, from any squeamishness, refrain from pointing against them the hostile gun, and prostrating them in death? No; that is your object and purport, and if you would seize their property, open their ports, and even destroy their lives, I ask you whether you would not use their slaves? Whether you would not arm their slaves, (great applause,) and carry them in battalions against their masters? (Renewed and tumultuous applause.) If necessary to save this Government, I would plunge their whole country, black and white, into one indiscriminate sea of blood, so that we should in the end have a Government which would be the vicegerent of God. Let us have no more of this dilettante system, but let us work with a will and a purpose that cannot be mistaken. Let us not be put aside from too great a delicacy of motive. Soldiers, you know no such reasoning as this. You have arms in your hands, and those arms are placed there for the purpose of exterminating an enemy unless he submits to law, order, and the Constitution. If he will not submit, explode every thing that comes in your way. Set fire to the cotton. Explode the cotton. Take property wherever you may find it. Take the slave and bestow him on the non-slaveholder if you please. (Great applause.) Do to them as they would do to us. Raise up a party of interest against the absent slaveholders, distract their counsels, and if this should not be sufficient, take the slave by the hand, place a musket in it, and in God's name bid him strike for the liberty of the human race. (Immense applause.) Now, is this emancipation? Is this abolitionism? I do not regard it as either. It no more partakes of abolitionism than a spaniel partakes of the nature of the lion. Abolitionism is to free the slaves. It is to make war upon the South for that purpose. It is to place them above their masters in the social scale. It is to assert the great abstract principle of equality among men. But to take the slave and to make him an implement of war in overcoming your enemy, that is a military scheme. It is a military necessity, and the commander who does not this, or something equivalent to it, is unworthy of the position he holds, and equally unworthy of your confidence. Emancipation! Are we engaged in a war of emancipation? If so, who commenced the war? Not we. And if we did not commence the war, we cannot be charged with its consequences. Where had it its origin? It had its origin in the South. It was and has been a war of the South against the free institutions of the North. Let me illustrate. Are we to free their slaves? We do not intend it. Do you recollect the resolution which was passed the last session of Congress, which distinctly declares that it never was intended by anybody in this wide land to free the slaves? “Compromise,” too, has been talked of in this matter. Why did they not compromise? Because it was not their object. I say it fearlessly, for I infer it from scenes in which I was an actor. At Charleston I remember, when Mr. Douglas could not be nominated for the Presidency, they were not satisfied to remain in the Convention. Trying all their schemes, and failing, they professed themselves satisfied, and yet, satisfied as they proclaimed themselves to be at midnight, the very first thing next morning was to secede from the Convention. This, you know, was a foregone conclusion. Nothing could be satisfactory to them except that arms should be resorted to, and the fate of revolution abided by. I declare, therefore, that the war is not of our organizing, but it has been forced upon us by a crafty enemy — an enemy resolved to do or die; to destroy our free Government, or perish in the attempt. And what is their object? Why, their object is to tear down this proud, noble, and beneficent Government, to establish a reign of terror, anarchy, and confiscation in the land; to implant upon this our soil the hideous doctrine of the right of secession, so that when one State. [375] secedes another may secede, and still another, and still another, so that within forty-eight hours, by the light of their reason and the exactness of their judgment, you may establish on this continent thirty-four independent Governments. Thirty-four, did I say? Why, no, not thirty-four merely, but every county, and every city, and every village, and hamlet; nay, every person who suffers from indigestion at the dinner-table, may claim the same right, and thus, soldiers, we shall have the confusion and disorder which will plunge into dismay and ruin the best and most benevolent Government in the world. Now, what is our object? It is simply to arrest the sway of this fell spirit of secession. It is to maintain our Government, to establish and vindicate law and order, without which neither happiness nor prosperity can exist. You are engaged, too, by the strength of your arms to protect our commerce with other nations, and when victory crowns your devotion to your country's cause — as it assuredly will — you will be proudly pointed at as the champions of American rights, as men who have maintained their dearest principles, and as those who, from this time forward, shall live in the most grateful remembrance of the living, and whose names shall descend with marks of imperishable honor to the remotest posterity. But, soldiers, to accomplish all this, not merely arms are necessary, not merely men to carry them, but that powerful and overwhelming spirit which constitutes and makes us men, that spirit which lifts us up above the creeping things of the earth, and brings us near the Deity in accomplishing his work on earth. Oh, then, let us not think that the “battle is to the strong” --let us not merely depend on discipline and order, but with that fervidness of soul which inspired our fathers at Bunker Hill, and Saratoga, and Yorktown, come forward and give effect to all that is valuable in the name of patriotism, and honor, and religion.
Never, no — never, will you succeed until that spirit is once more manifested and developed which actuated the soldiers of Cromwell, who, on the field, invoked the Lord God to arise. So let it be with us. We must be, at least, one with him in spirit. Let us, like Cromwell, invoke the Almighty blessing, and, clothed with the panoply of patriotism and religion, strike for our homes and our country. (Immense cheering.) Let us — oh, let us, without reference to any differences of the past, keep our eye steadfastly on the great object to be achieved, the nationality and independence of this country — the salvation of civilization from the insults and assaults of barbarism; and then, but not till then, will you be worthy to be recognized as a distinguished portion of our great American army. (Long continued cheering from the whole regiment.)
Immediately after the speech of Col. Cochrane there was a tumultuous demand for the Secretary of War. Mr. Cameron came before the regiment, and said:
soldiers: It is too late for me to make you a speech to-night, but I will say that I heartily approve every sentiment uttered by your noble commander. The doctrines which he has laid down I approve as if they were my own words. They are my sentiments — sentiments which will not only lead you to victory, but which will in the end reconstruct this our glorious Federal Constitution. It is idle to talk about treating with these rebels upon their own terms. We must meet them as our enemies, treat them as enemies, and punish them as enemies, until they shall learn to behave themselves. Every means which God has placed in our hands it is our duty to use for the purpose of protecting ourselves. I am glad of the opportunity to say here, what I have already said elsewhere, in these few words, that I approve the doctrines this evening enunciated by Col. Cochrane. (Loud and prolonged cheering.)
