The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-07-12

Thanks to the generalship and the courage OF
he soldiers, the Army Of the Potomac is safe
It only remains now to strengthen and sustain it.
We must not expect any very speedy movement
upon Richmond, for the army is not in condition
to make 1t. But the ranks of that army must
be filed up. The terrible gaps which battle and
disease have made in its heroic columns must
be stopped. It is not now question of gener-
alship, nor of political sagacity-it is one Of
strength. 1t can do no good to depose Generals
or dismiss Cabinet officers. Those We have are
fully adequate to the emergency, if they are on
" sustained by the confidence and energy Of the
nation. It is impossible for an Administration
to be fautless, or to escspe much just ceneure,
in the midst of responsibilities and labors such
as now surround our Government. But it Is
equally impossible to charge an Administration
with every failure on it's part to fulfill the ex-
pectations of an eager public. ...
The Hon. Jordan stokes. of Tenn. ON the
Origin and Character OF the War.
The Hon. Jordan Stokes, one of the most
accomplished and distinguished public men
of Tennessee, delivered Fourth of July ora
ton in Nashville. We extract passage, the
reading of which we recommend as antdote
for the poisonous lies of Vallandigham nd
of his tribe:
x It will be seen on brief review
of the matters urged by the leaders. of seces-
sion and revolution in this State that fraud,
falsehood, deception and menace were the
effective means of subduing the loyalty of the
people, and without which Tennessee would
be standing this day erect in the Federal
Union, with no stains of innocent blood on her
garments,
President Lincoln and his Cabinet had in
augurated the war, and the curse of its evils
should fall on their heads; and SO deeply was
this falsehood i'm bedel in in the public mind
that thousands of the ignorant and reckless
believe it still, and will not listen to refuta-
ton of its truthfulness although the friends of
General Beauregard claim for him the high
honor of striking the initial blow in the glori-
Gus war for Southern independence 1t would
be useless waste of time to array the facts
now open to all inquiring minds, which fix
the responsibility Of the Inauguration of the
war on the conspirators in the Gulf States.
But President Lincoln had no power under
the Constitution and laws to call out the mill
tia on the fall of Fort Sumter; his proclama-
ton to that effect was dangerous stride to-
ward despotism, and no freeman was worthy
of the name who would not resist the aggres
sion and denounce the usurper. And on this
imaginary and delusive rock the loyalty Of
thousands of Union men was wrecked, and the
ruins may still be seen whirling in the eddy
ings of the rebellion. Had the charge been
true in the sense and to the full extent main
tanned, it came with an exceedingly bad grace
from men who had conspred and been COM
bined together for months previous to trample
the Constitution under their feet, and over
throw the Government at the expense of a civil
HL,k ~ %,o &c, oy,l n,
which called forth this famous little document?
A powerful cons piracy had been formed against
the Government extending its poisonous
branches into every Southern State, and
rebel government had been formed with author
ity from rebel Congress to call into the field
one hundred thousand men. A considerable
number were already in arms under hostile
flag unknown to the Federal Constitution, and
hundreds more were fiocking daily around it,
Disloyal Secretaries in the Cabinet of Mr. Bu-
chanan had sent the main body of the regular
army to remote forts and stations; dispatched
ali the vessels Of war, except few, on mis-
sions to distant coasts and seas. and transfer
red large quantities of the public arms and
ammunition from the interior and loyal States
to the forts and arsenals in the Gulf States II
The seeded States had taken possession of the
most of the these forts and arsenals, with
their stores; had plundered the mint at New
Orleans and turned them over to the service of
the rebel Government The armed rebellion
had fired at the Star of the West with the ma
tional ensign waving from its masthead; had
bombarded and reduced Fort Sumter; the Sec
rotary of War for the rebel government had
issued the boastful and vindictive threat in a
speech to an excited crowd, that the rebel flag
would soon wave over the National Capitol,
and it might in time wave over Faneuil
Hall: and the insane cry of son to Washing
toni" thrilled, all like stream Of electric fire
through all the streams of Secession and dis
union. What must Mr.. Lincoln do in view of
the impending dangers? Must he ingloriously
and dastardly fee from the White House and
give up the Capital to the insurgents, with its
archives, its public buildings, its vast stores
of public property, and its cherished mem cries
of our past history? No man has ever presi-
ded over this great country as Chief Mag,s
trate, with the exception Of MIR. Buchanan,
who would not have called out the militia to
of the public property, and threw himself on
the patriotism of the loyal people for his vim
dication against any charge of usurpation-
Why the great rights of self defense, selfpres-
walton, which lies at the very foundation of
individual security, applies with equal il not
greater force to the safety end preservation of
Governments, and in the absence of any other
authority, this would have excused, if not jus.
tilted, the conduct of Mr.. Lincoln. But the
trainers of the Constitution would have poorly
deserved the gratitude of posterity had they
created q Government and left it without the !
necessary powers to preserve its existence
against the open attacks of instruction or re-
bellion. The leaders ought to have the can
dor and fairness to tell the people that the |
Constitution vested in Congress the power to
"provide for calling forth the Militia to exc
cute the laws of the Union. suppress insurrec-
tons and repel INVASION that Congress had
passed an act in 1895, clothing the Executive
with authority to call forth the militia in case
of instruction, invasion or rebellion; and that |
Mr.. Lincoln's dangerous stride of power turn
ed upon the proper construction of this Act,
several eminent lawyers Of secession senti-
ments in this State agreeing with Mr.. Lincoln's |
views of his powers under the Act. And so |
the enormous usurpation of the Executive,
dwindles into insignifcance when compared
with the great object of preserving the Gov