The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-08-28
Letter f-Gm senator Grimes

| sDSnAANoAoNs 3Aos3 AoUi'
GESrLExES II have received your tavo,
Of the 18th inst, in which you congratulate
me upon my return to the State and invite
me to address the people of this city, al
such time and place as may designate, or
the important questions now before the
country involving the existence OF the gov
ernment. .raq s. m
appreciate, as ought, the kind feeling
that prompted this invitation and return you
my sincere thanks for it. 1 would address
you at any time and atany place, if sup.
posed could communicate particle of in
formation not already in the possession or
within the reach of every citizen of the
State. could only say in many words,
what now say in few, that it seems to
me that there is no safe alternative before
US, but to give firm and ardent support to
the government in its attempt to put down
insurrection and rebellion. More than any
State in this Confederacy. Iowa should ~
sIst the pretended right of a State to secede
from it. Our position in the centre of the
continent, without foreign commerce, de
pendent upon other States for our markets
and for our means for transportation to reach
them, would soon. If the right to destroy the
Union by the secession of the States be con-
ceded. place us in the character of depen-
dent and conquered province. We need.
and must have, at whatever cost, perma-
nent government and unrestricted access to
the Atlantic ocean and to the Gulf Of Mexi-
CO. There must be no foreign soil between
us and our markets.
As one Of the Representatives Of Iowa in
the Federal Congress, have sought to give
expression by my votes to what believed
to be their wishes, but have acted upon
my own convictions of duty. shall con-
tinue to do so until this unholy war shall be
brought to a successful conclusion.
The public debt that this war will impose
upon us will appeal some and perhaps dam
pen the patriotism of some. Most erroneous
impressions, however, seem to prevail as to
the magnitude Of our present indebtedness.
and that which we are likely to create The
entire public Indebtedness Of this country
on the 9Th inst, the day Congress adjourn
ed. was $111 900, 900. most of which was
inherited from the preceding Administration
and the. estimated expense of the next year
for military, naval, and civil purposes, were
less than $500, ,000, ,000-less than the annu-
al expense Of Great Britain in time Of pro-
found peace. In connection with the agcre-
gate Of these two sums let us remember that
Enc'and paid eigh. thousand five hundred
millions Of dollars to carry on her wars with
the first Napoleon. She was contending
for her commercial rights, and the result
showed that her money was we'll expended ::
We are not only contending for our CONNER
cial rights, but we seek to uphold and per-
petuate the best government ever known
among men.
Foreigners call us, with great truth, the
most impatient people on the earth. This
natural impatience is greatly increased
by our present troubles. We all want peace
restored and business revived, and most Of
us believe that permanet peace can only be
established by the victorious arms of our
soldiers. Our anxie:ies in this regard are
very liable TO cause US to do injustice to the
government and to ourselves also. We
clamor for victories, forgetting that the
most thorough preparation is necessary to
the country four months ago, and ask that
that shall be done in a week which requires
months of arduous labor to perform. Very
few fully appreciate the difficulties by which
the President of the United States found
himself surrounded, when he assumed pow
er on the 4th of March last Many of the
Executive Departments had recently been
under the control of traitors. The army had
been dispersed and demoralized, and many
of the most trusted and prominent officers
were disloyal. Our vessels Of war were
scattered upon foreign and remote stations.
The Departments were full ofspies and trait
o:s. The public armofies had been plum,
eered and their contents delivered to the
rebels. The President was without an ar
my, without navy, without arms or mum.
tions Of war, and with enemies within and
without. In this condition Of things, and
after an almost uninterrupted peace Of Atty
years, he was called upon to organize in q
few weeks five armies. each Of them larger
than any that had ever been marshaled or
this continent, and to lmpsovise navy witt
which to blockade coast greater in extern
than that which England was unable t.
blockade with more than four hundred yes
vessels of war in 1924. That there hav,
been mistakes committed in the selection o
agents and officers cannot be denied, bu
that there has been any lack Of energy o
devotion to the cause Of the country, i
seems to me that no fair man who examine
the subject will assert. Few persons com
prehend all the labor, the time and the per
plexities involved in furnishing clothing
arms, transportation, stores and pay for fon
hundred and fifty thousand men. and in pur
chasing or building, manning, arming an
equipping two hundred vessels ofwar by
government whose credit was impaired
whose armories had been destroyed, an
|, whose munitions of war had been stoler
and to do all this in the space Of thrc