Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-12-24

foolish elamor the streets OF the national cap
it'll has been vexing the question whether Gen.
Halieck Gen Burnside were responsible for
our late disaster. 1t WAS neitheTl
The responsibility for the murder Of our sol.
diers and for the horrible deadlock in the cam.
paign" went beyond the General commanding in
the field or the General COMMANDMENT Chieil
One or other of them might have ordered the
Inflated movement, but Abraham Lincoln was
Commander in Chief of the army and navy
From that sad fact, and from its logical Sc
quences, there was no escape.
The movement on fredericksburg was recog
nized rs the crowaing crisis OF the war. With il
were linked almost indissolubly, the destnes of
the Republicl Ii the nation conquered there,
the rebellion ended! II the nation failed
the rebellion was not indeed finally successful but
il had demonstrated its ability To weather the
second winter of revolt, and had compelled the
recognition of foreign powers. Hencelorth We
must fight To subjugate an independent country,
not 10 reduce 10 obedience certain revoked prov
inces.
The issue was made up Its momentous
breadth was fully acknowledged, and TIE Com
mander IN Chief could not evade the response
bity of ordering his preparations accordingly.
IL mattered little, so far as the people were con
cerned or history was concerned, what Burnside
did, or what H.leck did. The Administration
had in It's hands the means To insure success
With those means in ITS hands, it failed! We
were repulsed, de eatedl A.
Ii was selt-damnation Again and again the
Administration had exhibited feebeness when the
times demanded strength. IL had now demon
strated folly in council and imbecty in action
But one course was left The President during
his official term, is like the King--he can do no
wrong But the Ministry was condemned 1t
must 20 out.
The Senators, Of the party TO which alone the
A "A a 4
vote, promptly recognized the necessity of the
hour. They delibemted the matter. gravely.
cautiously. fully. Their conclusion was unani
nous. The Administration, as il then stood
could not be supported by the friends OF the
country.
am writing Of matter which has been studi
ously concealed, and OF which none save the
Senators themselves. can tru,hlully profess pre-
else knowledge But il is understood that they
presented their ultmatum 20 the weak wayering
honest, trne man. whom the terrible exigencIes
OF the crisis and the di>tracting anxieties OF his
high position bad overwhelmed. He must reor
game his Cabinet; he must gather about him as
counselors the strong trUe friends of the country
the ablest minds the public men of the nation AT
iorded, must be summoned to the work of saving
the almost ruined Republic; Traitors 81 mpAthiz
with traitors, the careless, who only sought o.
swell their Own fortunes 10y sorging the vitaIs
OF the country, the imbeciles and the towards
must be turned out; or he must re,ignl The time
has passed Tor trifling with the nations life; ami
Bo mere man could be permitted longer 10 i'm
peril Tor whatever reason or in whatever way
the national existence
30 much was known or understood by yester
day noon. Toward evening the first public init
nations of the crisis began to leak out Here =
little and there little came to light: and by
midnight, though still far from generally known.
u was common talk in the inner circle of well i'm
formed officials that the long expected Cabinet
crisis had come, aud that Mr. Seward had ten
dered his resignation
AT lO o'clock last night so much was embodied
in a dispatch to the Gazette and duly sent TO the
telegraph office; hut | have no idea that. under
the worse than French espionage OF the press
which II has been one of the works OF the now
cruinbhng Cabinet To create, the dispatch ever
escaped the PENCIL OF the Government censors
This morning the air thick with the rumor.
which, however baseless in themselves, are never
without their significance TO the practical Wash.
ington observer.
There was general dissolution of the Cabinet:
Mr. Seward had come to open quarrel with Mr.
Stanton; both must go OUT one had gone out !:
there had been an alteration at the White House
IN Cabinet council; il had even come To persouaI
violence; the whole Administration was breaking
up; Stanton had to go: Halleck had to go; in the
whole Administration there was but one man
H.,
principles he had professed. and who still com
manded the confidence the country had ever re
posed IN HIM; Stewards private papers were all
packed up Mt the State Department preparatory to
abdlcaing; so were Assistant Secretary Fred
Seward'S the nomination for successorshp TO the
Department OF the Interior was suspended; every.
thing was in transition state; the very materials
for coup detat were prepared; where the end
might he no man could tell
So the hurried vhispers on Tho oo..>o-- 81
the avenue, in the Departments. the committee
rooms and the Hobbies Members drew elch
other aside and eagerly inquired what truth there
was IN all this. The Presidents Private Secre-
tary appeared on the floor of the House. ana 10
the scores OF questions that assailed him. scarcely
pretended to conceal that the crisis had come, and
that the whole Administration seemed under
going revolution. Democrats and border State
men uneasily lowered about their Republican
friends, and hoped Mr. Seward had not been
sacrihced Everybody on the rack of ex
pectaton.
At this writing flour p NJ it is well under
STOOD tnat Mr. Seward's resignation has been
rendered; anu there are reasons for believing that
Secretary stanton, Secretary Blair and General
Halleck, at least, will also be compelled to follow
Mr.. Seward's example. Ii scarcely stops even
there zen. Meigs Il almost certain to be dis
missed The intimate friend of jeff Davis can
no longer control the immense interests of the
whole Suartermaster's department of the United
States army. Other heads Of bureaus are likely
to follow him.
Ii IS not known or probable that Messrs Welles
and Bates are Ia go out, but i'm the whole Cabi
net Salmon Z. Chase alone commands that conf
dence that the people and their representatives in
Congress demand
As vet all Is confusion. Beyond Mr. Seward
there may possibly be no changes, but il is
hardly probable. The President has been
warned, by those whose warning he Must heed
that ore removal will not cure the disease that
has eaten out the strength of his Administra |
ton The knife must 90 deeper. 1t remains 10 |
see whether it will 90 by his direction or without
IT,
Of the new men whom the President must call /
around nm, little has AS vet been said Senator |
feS>enden seems foremost in the minds of all for |
the Secretaryship of State; Senator Sumner is /
also talked OF, but there is general agreement /
that he Is better where he is. Judge Holt is |
mentioned, but the tendencies of the times are not
to Border State men. And Thos. Ewing of Ohio. /
ex Senator and ex Secretary, has also been sug |
Sested. This only. however. has been settled
that the day of fourth rate lawyers and politi |
clans in the Cabinet of the nation at a tune Ike
this, has passed.
The results of this revolution will be far-reach-
ing. The President may sttemDt to stop short
but it Is hardly possible that he can succeed
Never were such immense resources so reckleSsIy
sQuandered, while the nation was perishing Now 1
at least have faith th.t thev will be husbanded
and employed Give US such an Administration
azT il fol t,. -.