Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton - For Four Years and Four Months a Prisoner (For Charity's Sake) in Washington Jail by Daniel Drayton
page 36 of 110 (32%)
page 36 of 110 (32%)
|
Those two abolition incendiaries (Giddings and Hale) threw firebrands yesterday into the two houses of Congress. The western abolitionist moved a resolution of inquiry into the transactions now passing in Washington, which brought on a fierce and fiery debate on the part of the southern members, in the course of which Mr. Giddings _was compelled to confess_, on the cross-questioning of Messrs. Venable and Haskell, _that he had visited the three piratical kidnappers now confined in jail, and offered them counsel_. The reply of Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, was scorching to an intense degree. The abolitionist John P. Hale threw a firebrand resolution into the Senate, calling for additional laws to compel this city to prevent riots. This also gave rise to a long and excited debate. No question was taken, in either house, before they adjourned. But, in the progress of the discussion in both houses, some doctrines were uttered which are calculated to startle the friends of the Union. Giddings justified the kidnappers, and contended that, though the act was legally forbidden, it was not morally wrong! Mr. Toombs brought home the practical consequences of this doctrine to the member from Ohio in a most impressive manner. Hale, of the Senate, whilst he was willing to protect |
|