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


up claim Of the party TO whom such service or labor
may be due Il is scarcely questionable that this pro-
vision intended by those who made il for the reclaim
ing of what call fugitive slaves and the intention o
the lawgver is the law. All members Of Congress swear
their support the whole Constitution TO this provision
much any other. To the proposition, then that
slaves whose cases come within the Of this clause
shall be delivered up their oaths are unanimous
How strange all this sounds here now, and in
what startling contrast with the principles daily
announced by the great leaders of that party
which made Mr.. Lincoln President No power
to touch the institution of slavery in the States,
and faithful enforcement of the fugitive slave
lawl Eleven months ago such the doctrine
proclaimed on the eastern steps of this Capitol by
the President Such the honest, con6ding peo
pie believed it would continue to be when they
threw aside the implements of peaceful industry,
and resorted to the sword.
But these positions of the President are
repudiated. because, as it is asserted, they were
assumed under circumstances far different from
those which exist at present. The shortest
swer to this feeble excuse for fragrant violation
of the Constitution exists in the following extract
from the message of the President of July 4th to
the extra session of Congress:
Lest there be some uHeasnes in the minds of candid
what Is be the Of the Government to-
ward the Southern States after the rebellion shall have
been suppressed the Executive deems proper say it
will be his purpose them ever to be guided by the
Constitution and the laws: and that he will probably
Of the Federal Government relatively to the rights of the
States and the people under the Constitution than that
expressed in the inaugural address"
Thus the pledge which made in the
inaugural address on the 4th of March, renewed
in explicit terms on the 4th of July. The firesof
civil war which were smoldering and hid In
March were leapng up to the very heavens in
July. The rebellion which in March looked like
a distant speck had spread until il darkened halt
the sky by midsummer. Its boundaries were as
large then as new. and its flag floating in de
fiance in sight of the Presidential mansion. Bat
ties had been fought, lives lost, property destroy
ell, treasures plundered forts taken, the flag torn
and diShOnOred and the authority of the Govern
ment driven out of eleven States of the Union
with insult and scorn. Yet, in the face of all
this, with the full proportions of this great rebel
lion in clear view, the President reasserted the
policy Of the inaugural: and in doing so, again
announced that he neither had the power nor the
inclination to interfere with slavery in the States
where it exists. and that the tugititive slave law
must be enforced and Obeyed.
Sir, where then was the indignant thunder
which has shook this Hall during the present ses-
sOnl In what cave were the winds then impris-
Oned? What enchantment chained the fiery zeal
of the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr.. Ell
liotIl What prudential considerations induced
the veteran leader from Pennsylvania Mr. Ste
vens to nurse his wrath and keep it warm for a
future day? Where was the able gentleman from
Ohio, Mr.. Bingham, who now champions the
cause of abOtiOnsm 50 warmly and so gallantlyI
And even the voice of the gentleman from Hi
nois, MIR. Loveoy,l who, like the war horse
of the Scriptures, is eager for the battle, where
the negro is involved, was silent. Ay, sir, they
were silent then, and silent all The day and the
hour had not yet arrived to throw Oft the disguise
which was assumed to hide the purposes which
are now avowed. Soldiers were yet rushing to
the field. The great army was not yet complete.
The music of the Union vet resOunded through
the land. unmarried by the discordant cry of Abo-
litOnism. There were no speeches then in favor
of universal emancipation, servile insurrectiOns,
the destruction of State Governments and their
reduction To the condition of territories. Far
otherwise.
Mr. Bingham. The gentleman will pardon
me; | not altogether silent during the special
session upon that subject.
Mr.. Voorhees,. Certainly not; but the gentle
men will hardly assert that his voice heard
as 1t has been during the present session.
Mr. Bingham. No, sir; but | did something
better than speaking. | reported bill which
passed this House. and which, in my judgment,
gives freedom to five hundred thousand slaves.
Mr. Voorhees,. But thagenteman did not
then extend his proposition to the liberation of
the whole four millions of slaves of the South.
Yet he has proclaimed that to be the true policy
of the Government during the present session on
this floor.
Mr. Bingham. OF course not but it did go,
in my judgment. to the extent of five hundred
thousand slaves.
Mr. Voorhees,. Yes, sir; his proposition at
the extra session, he thinks, would liberate only
about five hundred thousand slaves; but in his
speech on the fifteenth of January, of the pres
ent session, he asserts it to be the duty of the
Government to declare free the whole four mil
lions of slaves held in the South. But, sir, to
proceed:
| have thus shown the faith which the highest
officer in the Government plighted with the peO-
pie on this subject There might rest, and call
upon him in the name the people to frown upon
the efforts which his political partisan friends
making here to cause that faith to be broken. But
there are others of eminent position, and in whom
the people have the highest hopes aud interests
cOnfded, who gave public assurances in the early
stages of this war OF the manner in which it
should be conducted with regard to slavery, to
which desire TO call the attention of the House
and country.
On the 26th day of May, at Cincinnati, Gen.
George b. Mcclellan, then name comparative
ly unknown, now filling the civilized world where
ever the story OF our great calamity has penetra.
ted, issued his proclamation to the Union men of
Western Virginia. With it as his fOrerunner, he
crossed the Ohio river with ten thousand sons of
the Great West, and planted his banler on the
soil of slave State. Was his mission to "pro.
claim liberty throughout all the land to all the
inhabitants thereof" according the stereotyped
war cry this floor? Did his soldiers, brave
and honest men. feel, according to the speech of
the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Ste
vens, that the cause in which they had shoulder
ed their muskets would not enable them to con-
tend successfully with the rebel forces unless
their march became crusade for the freedom of
the slaveI No, sir, nothing of this. The Gene
raj commanding held the following language on
the manner in which the campaign to be con-
Quoted:
Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors
TO induce you believe that advent among you will
be sgnalzed by interference with your slaves under
stand thing clearly, only will abstain from all
such interference. but WILL the contrary, with an
iron hand, crush any attempt nsurrectiOn their
part"
remember well how this proclamation of the
young Western General rang through the country
Its terms suited the law abiding people of the
mighty Northwest. 1t filed them with bright an
ticpatiOns of his future, which | hope NAV all
be fulfilled They took this proclamation as a
pledge, sanctioned too, by the Executive, that
the arms of the Government we're to be used to
maintain all the laws, State and Federal, through
out the nation, 1t was worth, sir TO the recruit
log service hundred thousand men in the valley
of the Mississippi
kno" not now IL was received away up To-
wards the North star, in the cold latitude of New
England, where the abolition of slavery is an ob
ject OF far dearer and higher import than the re-
construction Of the Union ON the basis of the
Constitution. But at least cry OF horror arose
from that virtuous region then, no explosive pro
test burst from Puritan lips. Their hour had not
been reached, the fulness of time had not come,
the ranks of the army were not full, and they
waited-yes, sir, they waitedl But is the pledge
which was given to the true friends of the Con-
stitution and the Union by the Commanding Cen
eral of the armies of the United States on the
banks OF the Ohio, TO be broken on the banks of
the Pntnnnaca He haa ai nee thar, dra hi.