Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-05-01

demanded Of Mr.. IincOln-was practical recoS /
milton of facts known to exist, and policy based
upon the actual, not upon any theoretical ideas OF
the state of the country. Instead OF TINS, ne
started with governmental theory, and attempt
ed to make the facts and his administrative policy
conform thereto. Need the reader be pointed to
the consequences of such craftsmanship? Behold
it in nation involved in civil war-brother
fighting against brother, State against State, sec
ton against section, and at this moment an hun
bred thousand men preparing to engage IN a saw
age and destructive war.
The action of the Southern people has been
rash and precpitate 1t has not been marked by
that prudence and patience which we had hoped
to witness They have assumed that the rights
which have been denied Them will continue to
be withheld, and that their only remedy was to
be found in a separation. We, on the contrary,
hoped for advantages to them, for justice and
equal rights from delay and an appeal to the PEG
pie, and we urged upon them that policy. They
chose the direct road to separate existence
through secession, and forthwith withdrew from
the Union, taking possession, as far as they were
able, of the public property in their respective
States. Ii was this which President Lincoln de
clared his intention TO hold and re possess, and
uDon this point the war has been commenced.
The Confederate States have the responsibility OF
/ firing tic fast gun-a responsibility, however
mus, n ..e! by the declarations OF the FreSi-
dent to the Virginia Committee, which fully lndl
/ cate his purpose to use force to maintain or re
gain possession of the public property.
/ The fault in this contest IS not by any means
| all on one side Both parties have committed
! grave errors, through which the country has been
plunged into a war, the extent or consequences
| of which no man can foresee, but which, at the
! best. must prove most disastrous to all our pc
litical, moral and material interests. The state
ments contained in our dispatches from ASH
ington, from Albany and from other points, m
dicate in some degree, the kind OF war IN which
we are about to engage. Hundreds OF thousands
/ of men and hundreds of millions of money will
be demanded and every State called upon TOR Its
quota of the blood and treasure which are TO be
squandered in the attempt to mike willing out of
unwilling members of the Unon-tO compel men
/ to remain against their will in Government
whose substratum and foundation principle Is,
| that IL exists bv the consent of the govern d.
It is time to pause. The first act in.this great
drama has been performed Fortunately it has
been attended with no serious loss of human life.
| Ii this war Is to 20 on-if an enlightened nation
like ours in this enlightened age, is to settle it,
domestic differences by the sword and not by rea-
son, we must prepare for sacrifice by thousands
/ and tens of thousands, and for the prosrati0n OF
all our highest hopes and expectations. 1t is not
too late to appeal to reason and Jusuces TO
restore peace and avert the horrors and sacrifices
of civil war.
! What stands in the way of such Il solution OF
| our difficulties? The Confederate States do not
want war. The United States DO not want war.
| The former claim the right which the colonies ex-
! ercsed in the revolution, of establishing an indie
pendent government The latter have nothing
| to gain by coercing them to remain in the Union
| against their will. That would destroy the prin-
| cipIe upon which the whole fabric of our institu-
tions rests Let us then resort to the mehodswhich
civilized nations employ to settle their differences
| Let hostilities cease. and diplomacy be substi
tuted Let us learn from the Confederate States
what they demand, and, Inconsistent with national
honor, grant it and let them 90 in peace. If the
war is ever to cease, negotiation must produce
such cessation Why not negotiate now and
fight afterwards, if fight we must; but let not the
folly be perpetrated of fighting first, and resorting
| lastly to a method which might have averted the
/ war.
| We suppose no sane man expects to c0erce the
eceding States back into the Union. How much
satisfaction, then, can be derived from the utmost
humiliation if that shall prove practcable,of their
| people through the agency of military power?
! How will the prosperity, the glory or the happi-
ness of the people. in either section, be promoted
by any victories which either may achieve over
| the other?
If the leaders of the two Governments are men
of sense. and not maddened with fanaticism and
folly-if the people are not possessed with the
war spirit, to the degree of banishng reason from
her throne, an effort will be made to stop this
monstrous evil and substitute for it the reign OF
peace What is now demanded, is not the cour-
age to fight. but the courage which dares TO arrest
the war and carnage which now threaten the de
struction of our lberties-Nesc York Journal o.
| Commerce