Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-08-13

But whatever may have been the secret
purpose and meaning Of The inaugural, prac
ticaiiy for six weeks the policy Of peace
| prevailed ; aud they were weeks Of hapai-
hess to the patriot. and prosperity 10 the
country Business revived: trade return
| ed commerce hcurished Never was there
fairer prospect before any people. Seces
SION IN the past languishpd, and was spir-
itiess and harmless secession in the future
was arrested. and persisted. By over
wbelming majorities, Virginia, Kentucky,
! North Carolina. Tennessee and Missouri
| all declared for the old Union, and every
heart beat high with hope that in due
C urse of time, aPd through faith and pa
thence, and peace. and by ultimate and ad-
equate compromise. every State would be
restored to 1t. 1t is true, indeed, sir, that
the Republican party, with great unanimi-
ty and great earnestuess and determination
had resolved against all Cancellation and
compromise. But, on the other hand, the
whole Democratic party, and the whole
Constitutional Union party, were equally
resolved that there should be no civil war
| upon any rfetext; and bdtb sides prepared
FER an appeal to the great and final ar5iter
OF all disputes in a free Countrywide pso-
pie
Sir, i do not propose to inquire now
whether the President and his Cabinet
were sincere ard in earnest, and meant
civil war, ard only waited t. gain tine till
they were fairly seated in power, and had
Disposed too, vt that pr0digious horde Of
sp"llsmen and Office seekers, which came
down at the first like an avalanche upon
themY But do know that the people be-
lltved them sincere. and cordially ratified
and approved OF the policy Of peace net
az they subsequently, responded To the poll
cy of war. IN whirlwind Of passion and
madness, but calmly and sOberly, and as
the result OF their deliberate and most
solemn judgment and believing thai civi!
war absolute and eternal disunion. while
secession was but partial and temporary.
they cordially Endorsed also the proposed
evacuation OF Sumter and the other rorts
and public property within the seeded
States. Nor, sir, will | stop now to ex-
plnre the several causes which either led 10
change in the apparent policy or an
early development of the original and real
purposes of the Administration. And the
hrst of these was PARTY NECESSITY, or the
camor Of politicians, and especially of GER
tain wicked, reckless and unprincipled
conductors of partisan press The peace
policy was crushing out the Republican
party. Under that policy, sir, it was MELT
ing away like snow before the sun. The
general elections in Rhode Island and Con
necticut, and municipal elections in New
York and in the Western States. gave
| abundant evidence tina. the people were
resolved upon the most ample and satisfac
| tory constitutional guarantees to the South
as the price Of the restoration Of Union
Aud then it was, sir, that the lung and az.
| onizing howl of defeated ana disappointed
politicians came up before the Adminis,ra
! ton. The newspaper press teemed with
| appeals and threats to the President The
mails gioanei under the weight of letters
demanding a change Of policy; while a
secret conclave of the Governors Of Massa>
chusetts. New York. Ohio and other States,
assembled here, promised men and money
To support the President in the irrepressible
c'rfiict which they now invoked. And
thus 1t was, sir, that the necessities of a
! party in the pangs of dissolution, in the
! very hour and article of death, demanding
| vigorous measures, which conld result il
nothing but civiI war, renew ed secession,
| ard absolute and internal dIsuninn. were
nreterred and hearkrned to before the peace
aud harmony and prosperity of the whole
Country.
But there was another and vet stronger
impelling cause without which this horrid
calamity ut civil war might have been
postponed, and, perhaps, finally averted.-
One o. the last and worst acts of Con-
| gress, which, born in bitterness and nur-
tured in CONFUSION, literally did those
things which 1t ought not to have done.
aid left undOne those things which it GU Int
to have done, was the passage of an OBJ
scure, i'll considered. i'll digested and IN
statesmanlike high productive tariff act,
clmmonly known as 1.-THE MORRILL, Ia
RIPF." Just about the same time, too, the
Confederate Congress at Montgomery adop.
ted our old tarig of 1857, which we had
rejected to make way for the Morrill, act
fixing their rate of duties at five, fifteen,
and twenty per cent. lower than ours The
result was as inevitable as tn, laws Of
trade are inexplnruhle. Trade and COM
merce-and especia1ly the trade and CON-
MERGE Of the Wesi-began to look TO the
South. Turned out of their natural CT urss
years ago. by the canals ard Railroads o
Penusy wanna ard New York, and diverted
eastward at a heavy loss to the West, they
threatened now to resume their ancient
and accustomed channels-ihe water cour
ses-the Ohio and Mississippi And polit
ical association and union, it was vel
known. must soon follow the direction O.
trade and interest. The city of New York
the great Commercial emporium Of the
Union, aud the Northwest, the chief gran,
airy Of the Union, began to clamor DOW
loudly for repeal Of the pernicious and
ruinous tariff Threatened thus with the
loss of both political power and wealth, OF
the repeal Of the tariff, and at last, of both
New England-and Pennsylvania, too. tb,
LAM nj laH -, 4
now coercion and civil war, with all IT.
horrors, as the price Of preserving either
from destruction. Ay, sir. PennsyIvania
the great keystone of the arch Of the Union
was willing to lay the whole weight of hei
iron upon that sacred arch, and crush i
beneath the load. The subiugatiOn Of the
South-sy, sir, the SuIjugation of the
South l am not talking to children OIL
fools for there is not man in this House
fit to be a Representative here who does moi
know that the South cannot be forced L
yield obedience to your laws and authority
again until You have conquered and subju
gated Eer-the sutjugation Of the South
and the closing up of her ports, first b,
force, in war, and afterwards by tarif
laws, in peace, was deliberately resolved
upon by the East. And, sir, when one,
this pulley was begun. these self same mo
tives vt waning commerce ard threatened
lies OF trade Impelled the great city o
New York, and her merchants and her pol
itirians and her press, with here and Their,
All honorable exception. Ia place herself il
the very front rank among the worshirper
oi Molcch. Much, indeed, Of that Outburs
and uprising in the North, which followed
the proclamation Of the 18th of April, a
well. perhaps, as the proclamation itself
was called forth, not So much by the fall 0
S-mter-an event long anticipated-as b,
the notion that the instruction, )" as It wa
called, might be crushed out in a few
weeks, If not 10y the display, certainly, a
least, by the presence of an Overwhelming,
fuIce.
These, sir, were the chief causes which