Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-03-03

speaks plainly Tor ITSELF lt Is the solemn pledge
of the Government that under no circumstances,
will it interfere to change or abolish modify
any of the laws or institutions of the States
which are in rebellion. Will that pledge be keptl
What say the leaders of the movement for uni
versal emancipation to thisg Mr.. Seward says
that such a measure would be prevented by the
judicial authority even though the President and
Congress and the people should all act together
for its promotion. What say the profound
lawyers on the opposite side to this barrier raised
in an unexpected quarter against the fufillment
of their fond hopesl | leave them to dispose of
it by some slight of hand more familiar to them
than to me.
Under date of April 10, 1861. Mr.. Seward
wrote to Mr.. Adams, the American Minister to
England; and in his official instructions to him
spoke as follows:
''You will indulge in no expressions of harshnesss or
dsreSpect, impatence, concerning the seeded
States their agents, their people, hut you WILL the
contrary all the while remember that those States
now they always heretofore have BEEN and notwith
standing their temporary sefdelusion they always
continue to be, equal and honOred members Of this Fed
era Unon and that their citizens, throughout all poit
ical misunderstanding and alterations still and al
ways must be our kindred and countrymen."
On this doctrine, sir, | take my stand. 1t en-
braces the deliberate conclusions of my mind and
the sentiments of my heart. / believed in the
principles laid down by the Secretary of State,
on the 10Th day of April, when they were written,
and | believe in them now. If others have
changed since then, | have not. The Union
which | seek to have restored is the old Union,
as it was made by ancestors; not new and
different one shaped and fashioned to suit the ca
PRECIOUS nOt0ns OF modern politicians. ! long to
see the States once more reunited as ''equal and
honored members of this Federal Unon,' with
the Constitution unchanged i'll letter or in spirit,
extending its protection and its blessings alike to
them all. | have no wish, however, for the kind
of Union which now seems to meet the appro-
baton of many of the distinguished leaders of
the dominant party. Rome had her subiugated
provinces, reduced to squalid wretchedness by
her vast standing armies Her trembling trbu-
taries walled and bled beneath her cruel power.
Her cOnsuls went forth to govern. to rob, TO
pluuder to scourge. and to cruelty. She reduced
independent sovereign States to territorial
vassalage. She received their enforced hom
age as a cOnqueror. She confiscated their
lands and their substance She filled her lap
with extOrted wealth. But does the sad sequel
to her history commend her policy to us for
adoption? Standing armies preyed upon her vi
tails and smOte down her liberties Unwilling
unequal, and dishonored States arose against her
when ever the opportunity offered. The Gaul
the Briton, the Tartar, the Hun, the Goth, the
Vandal, all,
Dealt upon the seven-hilled cty's PRIDE"
rfed her of her glory, and repaid her thousand
fold for the bitter humiliations which her AFRO
gance had inflicted. All history repeats the same
teachingi
England in modern times, has contributed her
example to this great lesson of history. Her
whole existence has been one protracted strug
gle to hold within her grasp conquered and vas
sal colonies. Her success has, indeed, thus fan
been great but her experiment is not over. She
has formed many unions with weaker Powers
whose soil she has laid waste, and whose people
she has murdered; but what sorrowful spectacle,
they arel She has union with Ireland, but
who wants to behold one like il on this continent
filled with blood, with bitterness, with tears oi
grief, with cries of hate, with charging armies
with revolution following revolution in quick anC
horrid succession, and with all those repulsivt
crimes which forever attend such events, anC
over which humanity has shuddered and wept il
all ages! No, sir; let US labor for no such Union
as this. All history, all ages, and every cline
contain volumes of teaching on this mOmentOus
subject. 1t becomes the American statesman tC
heed their warnings. Give US back the Union a.
railways heretofore has been, consisting of "eQua
and honored members" Fail to do this: striI
the States of their attributes States under the
Constitution, and reduce them to territorial bon
dage, measure already introduced into the othel
branch of Congress, and though our ar
mics may be victorious in every field
though they may, in their triumphant
march. cross every river. scale every noun
tain, and encamp in every valley, from the Poto
mac to Mobile, there will never come day wher
the angel of peace will return to the land-thert
will never come day when the drum-bea anC
the roll call of vast standing armies shall cease tC
be heard; and there will never come a day wher
the football Ofthe Federal tax gatherer shall cease
to be heard at the threshold of every laborer
hamlet from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean
There will be no peace in such a Union. Tn,
lightning of civil war will be forever playing il
htlul CLEANS along our horizon. The people o.
the South are "our kindred and countrymen,
and the blood which we inherit in common, The
proud race to which we belong, never yielded
passive obedience to the degrading conditions o
inequality and dishonOr l am fully aware thai
the sword must now bring the conclusion of thi:
unnatural strife. | ain fully aware that a result
must be attained now on the battle field There
was time when it was not so, and history viii
embalm in everlasting infamy the names of those
who rejected peace-who rejected union wher
both were offered on honorable terms. ! leave
the past, however, at least for to day, and dea
with the present. Let the armies move on, anC
bring speedy issue to this war of kindred anC
countrymen;" but let them move in the nam,
of the Constitution in the name of the laws; il
the name Of the Union, composed of equal anC
honOred MEMBERS" in the name of God; anC
guided by the precepts of an enlightened Christi
anity.
am not done vet, however, Mr. Chairman
with the recorded pledges of the Government
They exist on every leaf and page of the history
of the first three months of this war. They are
strewed on every hand during that period, and
leave the labOrer in that field only the difficulty
of selection, not that OF discovery. Sir. wher
that dear and hOnored State, Kentucky where my
ancestors were born, where they fought where
they died and where their ashes repose was
trembling in the balance; when their fate from
day to day was unknown; when the ties of blood
and kindred and similarity OF domestic nstitu
tiOns and interests pulled hard against the strong
anchor of her fidelity TO the Union, and when she
poised herself upon her proud neutrality between
the North and the South, one OF her most elO-
quent and gifted sons spoke to her on behalf oI
the present Administration in language which
Kentuckians trusted, which they received as an
Executive promise, and on the faith of which
thousands of her troops are now in the field.
On the 3lst day of May. 1861. Joseph Hol
wrote his celebrated letter to Mr.. Speed which
rang through the country like clarion. In il
he said:
No eNcesses will mark the footsteps Of the troops
the Repubc institutions OF the States will be invaded
tanpered with; rights of persons property will
be violated. The known purposes Of the Administration
and the high character Of the troops employed, alike
guaranty the truthfulness Of this statement"
Not content. however, with this most explicit
and most satisfactory assurance that the rights o
the States were to be respected, Mr., Holt pro
ceeded to convince Kentucky that her rights in
the Territories were also amply secured, and
would be carefully guarded by this Admnistra
ton. He discussed that point as follows:
"1he Supreme Court has decided that the citizens o.
the slave States can WILL take their slaves into all tn,
Territories Of the United States and this decision, which
has been resisted interered with in single
case the law Of the land and the whole power of the
Government is pledged TO enforce IT, That it will bs
Loyalty enforced by the present Administration
tain doubt. A Republican Congress, at the latG
session. organized three new Territories and in the
ganic law Of neither there introduced, attempted
!. = >. ~.