Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-12-01
Meeting of the City Democratic Assoc
ciation-Speeches by Hon. Joseph E.
Mcdonald and Hon. =. HI. Buskfrk.

Meeting of the City Democratic Asso.
ciation-Speeches by Hon. Joseph y.
Mcdonald and Hon. =. III. Busbfrk.
The Democratic Association met at the Mill
tary Hall last evening, Mr.. JACOB Null, Presi-
dent, in the chair, and ISRAEL KLINeESsMrH,
Secretary.
In pursuance to the request of the Association,
made at its meeting one week previous, Hon.
JOSEPH E. MCDONALD delivered the following
address:
Gentlemen of the Democratic Union AssOcia
tom"
The time has now come when we can take a
clearer view of the condition of the country, and
mark with some degree of accuracy the course
which events must take IN the future. The re-
suit of the last elections demonstrate a moral
aud political revolution, which has a deeper
meaning than mere dissatisfaction with the want
of energy in the present Administration 1t is
condemnation of the radical policy of the Repub
lican party, and of the Administration as the ex
ponent of that policy 1t is the voice of the peo-
Pile, heard for the first time during the war
''above the din of war; in tones that ought to
penetrate the dull ear of power, saying: "This
war shall not be waged in the spirit of conquest
or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrow
ing or interfering with the rights or institutions
premacy of the Constitution and to preserve the
Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of
the several States unimpaired.'
On the 9Th of January last, the Democratic
party OF Indiana met in Convention, nominated
its candidates, laid down its platform, unfurled
its banner, and full armed boldly entered the
field. Indiana was the first State in which the
banner OF our party was unfurled after the great
and disastrous defeat of 1860; but relying upon
eAn,,
principles. and the intelligence and patriotism of
the people, we refused all political alliance with
the Republican party, and called upon the con-
servative men to rally around our standard.
The Democracy of other States wheels into
line, and more the Democratic party is in
the ascendant in that broad belt of conservative
States extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Mississippi river, holding in its grasp the of
empire on this continent. New York, Pennsyl-
vana, New jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
have again united in defense of those great princi
piles upon which our Government rests; and for
the first time since the beginning of the civil war
conservative men are in position to be heard
and therefor the country has a right to know
their purposes.
To all who honestly desire to be informed on
that subject say: Consult our record and
examine the resolutions we have adopted, and
then if you give them your calm and dispassion-
convinced that all this Cry of dsloyaty is but the
coinage of malevOlent party spirit for partisan
purposes.
In one of the resolutions of the Sth of Janu-
AIRY Convention we declare: THAT the mainten-
ance of tie Union upon the principles of the
Federal Constitution should be the controlling
object of all who profess loyalty TO the Govern
ment; and in our judgment this purpose can only
be accomplished by the ascendancy of a Union
arfr inf fhn nh rh,n
counter-revolution, displace those who control
and direct the present rebellion. That no effort
TO create or sustain such party can be success
ful which is not based upon definite settlement
of the questions at issue between the two sec
tions"
This declaration of sentiment has been de-
nounced by the leaders of the Republican party
as containing the germ of disunion, but in my
Judgment it is clear exposition of the grounds
upon which true loyalty to the Government may
safely rest. Discarding party dogmas, it declares
the duty imposed upon loyal men in the present
disordered condition of Il country, and points
TO the only rational means by which the Union
can be restored. For until there shall be Union
party in the South strong enough to control those
States that in rebellion, under our sys-
TEN of Government, there can be no restoration
of the Union; and the only certain mode of
building up such party is in the one named in
quoted Why, then, has this sentiment met with
so much d favor from the Republican partyi
The answ. is to be found in the causes which
have led TO this war, and in the objects and pur
poses of the radical Republicans
The Sd resolution of the Sth of January Con-
vention declares "that the present civil war has
mainly resulted from the long continued, unwse
and fanaticai agitation i'll the North of the ques-
ton of slavery; the consequent organization of a
geographical party, guided by the sectional plat
forms adopted at Buffalo, Pittsburg, Philadel
phia aud Chicago, and the development thereby
of sectional hate and jealousy, producing (as
had long been foreseen and predicted by us its
counterpart in the South of secession disunion
and armed resistance to the Government, and
terminating in bloody strife between those who
should have been forever bound together by fra
ternal bonds.''
I his is the truth, as history shall record it,
when the day shall come that dispassionate re-
view of our times can be written.
In the heated political contest of 1860 culmin-
ated the bitter sectional animosites which had for
years been accumulating. and the success of the
Republican party threw to the surface and placed
in power the radical men of that party; men
whose intense Abolition sentiments were far in
advance of the great body of the party they pre-
tended to represent. And ii here and there
man of more conservative type was elected, his
feeble voice was hushed by the camor raised by
those who claimed to lead the Republican col
umn. With this class of men in power in the
Federal Government and i'm all the non slave
holding States the storm of civil war broke over
the land. and for more than eighteen months it
has ragged with fury unknown to modern war
fare. The Federal Government has in that time
called into the field over 200 900 of her volun-
teer soldiery. OF this number Indiana has fur
nished over 100.0 .000 out of voting population
of less than 100000 The rebel States have not
beep idle. The proportions of this greatest of
modern rebellons have grown in a corresponding
degree with the magnitude of the pressure that
has been brought to bear against it, until the
Southern States now vast military camp,
in which are assembled majority of their fight
ing men.
Battles have been fought that would have
overthrown any dynasty in Europe an6 they
have marked and marred the pages of history
with an indelible stain of blood. As yet there
have been no fruits but those gathered by that
irresistible conqueror. Death, and are swallowed
up by the grave. OF the men of Indiana who
have gone forth to battle, at least 10000 this
day sleep beneath the sod the sleep that knows no
waking. Some have died in the hosptals-some
have tell by the way side, and many in battle
There is not battle field, save the first at Bulls
Run, that is not stained with the best blood Of
Indiana. Their graves are scattered where the
unknown dead are buried over a frontier of more
than 1000 miles. Let them not be forgotten
Their devotion to their country has been sealed
with their blood, and although they may have
been the victims of the bunders of the men in
power, or, what is worse, of the cool malevoence
of that blind spirit of fanaticism that knows no
remorse and hears agonizing groan-yet their
memory is dear TO the State that claimed them
as her sons. Let the Representatives of Indiana
see TO it that some suitable memento be de7sed
to preserve their names aud their deeds from the