Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-05-25

and that we intend 70 do.
At no time before the present in the history of
our country has it ever been questioned that the
people had a right to meet together in a lawful
and peaceful way TO consult in regard 90 the CON-
mon welfare. Now il is a fundamental principle
of our Government that whenever a majority of.
the people so determine, they have a perfect right
to alter and change their government IN such
manner as they see proper. We have a right TO
canvass the acts Of The men who are in power,
and if they do not conduct the affairs of the coun-
try in an acceptable manner, we have a right 70
displace them
But we are told that we must not discuss the
measures Of the Administrator in the conduct of
the war lest we interfere with its success in put
ting down the rebellion. / tell you my friends,
the truth is, the administration has done nothing
toward putting down the rebellion. On the con-
trary, the weapons of the South have been sharp
ened by the policy at Washington. Ii is this
that has welded the people of the South together
as one man; it is this that has brought about d.
vision and discord in the North. / know Of no
man on this earth who holds more dear that |.
the sacred emLlems of our great and glorious
Government: who has been more disposed to
worship al the feet of those noble men who framed
it, or who feels a deeper interest in the preserva
ton and perpetuity of our free Institutions than l
do myself. But if the men now in power really de
sign the restoration of the Union and the preser-
walton of our national liberties, all / have to say
is, their policy is not calculated to carry out their
designs.
Look az some of the results of this policy.
When the war commenced there was a divided
South and there was a firmly united North. The
sound of the first gun fired at the national flag,
waving over the ramparts Of Fort Sumter, united
the hearts OF the people ofthe entire North as the
heart of one man. At the same time there was
discord and division among the people of the
South. President Lincoln himself said IN his
message to Congress, that in his judgment, there
was a majority of the people in favor of the Union
in every Southern State with the single excep-
ton of South Carolina. Where are those South
ern Union men now? Why is it tSat their voices
are not heardi. 1t is because the unjust and iDju-
dicious policy of the Administration has left them
no alternative but resistance to the Government.
1t started out with the declaration that it would
make no terms with traitors. What wonder is it
that the Southern people should be united2 1t
must be either a ~victor's wreath or a felon's
grave. There was no hope of peace, no posi-
biity Of reconciliation
Fellow citizens: l for one have always been in
favor of the prosecution of this war under such a
line of policy and upon such principles as were
adapted to render il successful in the restoration
of the Union. have desired to see il conducted
on the principles of the Crittenden resolutions so
as to separate the people of the South in feeling
andin action from the leaders of the Rebellion.
Wisdom, as well as science in war, would say TO
us-divide your enemy if you would conquer
him. That would be the plain dictate of com
mon sense; but ON the other hand, the entire poll
CIV of the Administration has been directly the
other way. When it proposed TO emanciDate the
slaves of the South, the Southern people needed
no more to convince them that they had nothing
to hope from the justice OF the Administration
That satisfied them as well as true hearted think
ing men in the North, that while the Administra.
ton would uDouestionably put down this rebellion
if by that they could accomplish the emaDcipa
ton of the slaves. vet if they could accomplish
only one purpose they would prefer to free the
negroes and have a Southern COnfederacy upon
our border. They saw that the war was not being
waged for the Union, but COR the negro, and the
same cause brought about at once unity in the
South and division in the North.
Fellow Citizens: In view of these facts. the
great question which presents itself TO us to-day
is, What are we to do? How are we to act2
Ny friends. permit me TO say to you that it is
not every unconstitutional act of legislation, nor
yet every lawless usurpation of power that will
justify a great people in asserting that great and
ultimate right of revolution which is their only
remedy when all else has failed. We have seen
the disposition that was manifested by this Re-
publican party when they aped by their conduct
the secession acts of JEFF. Davis and his crew.
The people of Indiana at the last October cleo
ton, by a majority of over ten thousand votes,
decided against the policy of the Administration
They elected Democratic State officers and a de
cided Democratic majority in each branch of the
Legislature. Now, if these Republicans had
really been as much opposed TO secession and
revolution as they pretended to be. they would
have submitted TO the will of the people and al
lowed the Democratic Legislature to enact such
laws as they thought best. But instead o. that
this factious minority began TO exact terms from
the majority almost as soon as the session was
opened. and finally ten days before adjournment
they left their seats and went to Madison. where
they organized a mock Legislature and spent the
remainder of the session. In my judgment. they
stopped too soon-they ought to have gone fur
ther-they belong on the other side of the Ohio
river, and if the present orders that are now in
force in j Indiana had been vigorously enforced in
their case, every man of them would have been
sent south Of our lines.
What was the pretext OF these Republican
boilers for this conduct? Why, they said the ma
jority party were going to pass laws that were
distasteful to them. and unless they gave them
guarantees that all their demands should be met
they were going to withdraw Now that is Just
what the South did. There was not a single
step in the progress of their secession that they
did not ape the conduct OF JEFF Davis and his
crew. They said the Democrats had passed an
unconstitusiona military Law. Wellifit was un
e constitutional there we're the courts to which they
might resort aud by whom the unconstitutiona
law could have been easily set aside. But what
were. the obiectional features of that military
law? The principal one they urged was that in
3 the organization OF the militia the power to ap-
point the officers was taken out of the hands oI
the Governor and committed to the hands of the
people. Was there anything wrong in that
Could not the appointing power be safely con
hded TO themg
There was another objection. 1t was this:
The arms designed for the arming Of the militia
of the State, which had been distributed by the
Republican authority upon purely political prin
ciples, were to be recalled tits a fact worthy oil
notice, that up to the present time. so far as
arms have been distributed for the purpose oil
arming the militia. they have in all cases. with
out a single exception, been distributed solely to
Republican organizations. My own opinion is
that in times like this. we need no armed militia
at all, but il we are to have them, we do not want
them as armed political organizations. Well. the
Republicans of the Legislature, fearing the effect
OF this law upon their policy and their future
career, undertook to repudiate their obligations
and 20 secede from the performance of those du
ties which they owed 20 the people who had elect
ed them. / do not undertake 70 say that they
have not 10 the arming of the militia executed
the bare letter Of the law upon the statute book
but what I say is. that there has been all along
an unjust discrimination against the Democrat
of the State. And tbs very easy TO see why i
has been so If | should get a commission L
raise a company of volunteer militia / do not sup
pose many Republicans would put down thei
names upon my muster roll: ana l apprehens
most of you Democrats would feel equally 10th
TO sign a muster roll for some of these Republi
can gentlemen. Yet. singularIy enough. vher