Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-05-25
The Mass Convention---Letter from
Hon. James w. wall, of New
Iar1av
BUR.rSeros. April &c. 1863.


BUR.rSeros. April 90, 1863.
J. J. Bingham, See'y Of Committee.
Ny DEAR Sin: IL would give me much Meas
ure to be present on the Goth of Nav next at your
Conventions: but my time will be so occupied dur
ing that month, with prior engagements, as to
make il impossible. | am glad to find that the
great West is moving with a vigor, and earnest
ness that the great cause in which they are en-
gagged demands. The fearful condition of the
times demand ali your energies. Let no one de-
ceive you that this is a war for the Constitution
and the restoration of the Union. This is no
war for the Union. The iron wedge driven into
the stalwart body of the oak does not more surely
tear asunder its twisted 6bres, than the advance
of Lincoln's army pierces into and rends asunder
the flores of this Union. You need only scan
attentively the acts of the last and present Con
gress, and OF the President himself, TO learn that
III > a war for subjugation or humiliation. and for
uprooting forever, from Southern States. the pc
culiar institution. A war for the Union forsoothi
Oh yes it is for the Union, but il is for a union of
all the vilest elements of New England fanatic
cism against the Constitution and the laws-a
war for the union of all the public pIunderers,
contract jobbers aud camp followers to rob the
public treasury-a union of place men and priests
to create Offices and salaries, that they may hang
like vampires on the full blooded tanks of the
body polite. Let any man close his own eyes.
with the honest impulses of his heart,
and be still, and he will see the same horrid Wis
ion, that the Roman poet saw in Lucan's Pharsa
liza. While meditating upon the horrors of the
the civil war then raging. the poet falls asleep.
and sees a vision of Rome herself ~plunging
the dagger into her side, and from the gaping
wound it makes, flows forth a mighty torrent Of
blood that deluges whole cities and submerges
entire provinces, until the Roman land becomes
one vast sea OF blood.
He may toy with the delusi0n, that il is only n
contest for the Union and the supremacy of the
Constitution, and that, like a phoenix, the Repub
lie shall spring forth with renewed energy and
life from the ashes of this cruel strife; but in
spite of the deloslon he will find that the dread
vision will overshadOw him, while the most cruel
forebodings will fill his mind as to the future.
This Is not a war when the foreign invader is
met at the nations threshold, and the pride and
the flowers OF the country NAV well be invoked
to drive him back. IL is "A civil war; a war with
men of the same race and with the same ardent
love of liberty in their bosOms; a war invoking
the most deNdly passions. and brutalizing the
most refined feelings; a war where the conquered
will be MS demoralized as the conquerers, and
where constitutional liberty will find her grave.
We read and mourn over the horrors that the civil
war evoked. We wonder at the fierce and deadly
struggle Of the middle ages of Italy-thebloOdy
contests of the Gnelphs and the Ghibbelines, but
MutatO nomine de te tabuLa nGssatur. ''Change
but the name and the story is told of yourself"
Every victory is a victory over ourselves; ev-
ery wound inflicted penetrates our own vitals. 1t
Is the suicide of u great Nation, unless the dead
" steel can be snatched from the hands that
seem; intent upon concentrating the deadly work.
| see ho hope for the country except through the
pathway of a speedy peace. Let a convention
Of States be called By the first of next July, to
devise ways and means for putting an end to this
strife. A two years continuance of il must in.
volve us in hopeless ruin by forcing us to accept
a military despotism to escape anarchy. This
administration has falsely and wickedly declared
that this war was popular in its origin. Was it
popular2 The people never were permitted
to pass upon it md If they had been, we
should have had no war. But even if the
war was popular in the beginning, no man in
his senses can pretend that it could maintain its
popularity under the decisions by which the peo-
pie have been deceived. This Administration
has cheated the nation by a thousand misrepresen
tations, By a thousand false stories. and false
promises. II has made war upon the liberties of
this people, and deprived them of their consiitu-
tional rights. If the Administration rushed into
this war because il was popular. they ought now
to conclude il, because il has ceased TO be so.
Whatever doubt there might be oe its original
popularity. there certainly can be no doubt of its
present adherence. We. the people, have ac-
quiesced tamely in the abnormal acts of this Ad-
ministration; but let us say to them. if you 20
any further, reject our advice. and you may feel
our vengeance, through the ballot box.
Yours, respectfully,
JAMES W. WALL.