Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-11

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one Democratic Legislature 20 which BE could
look for Support and relief All were Republi-
clu. aad most OF them Of a radical and violent
character Manv Of them bold. bad men
VINO would scruple AT nothing TO attain their ends,
even 20 the Ogerturung % the Government and
daring usurrnstion They saw that upon such
men he was entirely dependent for his army II not
for his treasury
At the commencement of the war. he consent
Ell 70 the plan OF raising the volunteer forces
through the State Executives. and allowing them
To appoint all the regimental and commissary
officers AT this juncture there we're three hun
drel thousand volunteers assembled and organ
lied IN these States. held aud controlled by the
State Governors and commanded by officers ap-
pointed by them. and still subject their mill
tary orders their superior officers. Nearly. if
not quite all of these Governors were camorous
for radical measures-for the oclamaton-a
measure which they proieSsed 20 believe would
crush the rebellion and the war directly and that
without IL there was no hope of success
Here was pressure. Here was a visible, tan
gible power sufficient to overturn the Govern
ment and hur Mr. Lincoln FROM the Presidential
chai'-a measure which We have every reason TO
believe actually contemplat Ell, at least. by
portion OF these State Executives, and who shall
say that il would not have been actually accom-
plishej had the President finally yieldedr Then
there would have been no peaceful October aud
November elections. The conservatives would
then have had double task to perform. and
would have achieved double victory True, he
resisted and complained till the meeting OF the
Governors at Altoona was about To assemble,
and give shape aud unity to this mighty force,
aud then who shall say for himself that he would
not have yielded? No doubt there men VINO
would not have given way to this threatening.
crushing pressure. but they are the men who
would never have allowed this combination
against the Government and the Constitution, TO
have assumed such vast proportions.
Here were facts which have already become
history. and these are the constructions given TO
them by ~ least portion of the conservative
Republicans who. with Mr. Lincoln himself, had
been devoted followers OF Henry Clay and Daniel
Webster. and who believed that Mr. Lincoln told
the truth when he said that at heart he was op
posed to the violent doctrines of the Proclama
ton, and they firmly believed that he ouly Yielded
his own judgment and deserted his own cherished
policy under this almost rcsiStless pressure They
believed that the Abosionists had. with violent
hand, seized him and demanded of him the Proc
lamation and a change OF policy pain Of depo-
stion. They saw there was no wav of Wrestling
him from this violent erlsp-Oi discriminating
him from the me-hes in which they had entaugled
him, that he might conduct the Government and
prosecute the war upon constitutional principles
and for constitutional ends but in the success of
the Democratic purity
Thus reasoned portion, but not all Of those
who had become Disguised and alarmed the
new policy SO suddenly inaugurated at Washing
ton. Others and there is no doubt there are
many OF them who believed that Mr. Lincoln had
at heart been in deep sympathy with the most
radical from the beginning. and had only affected
moderation matter OF policy, when they
lockcl back and remembered all he had said and
done, they could see this radicalism cropping out
many occasions, when he care-sed and
countenanced Wendell Phillips. and many other
Indications equally suggestive, and upon review
OF his writings and sayings designed to create an
impression of a conservative purpose they found
certain reservations and qualifications indicating
preieterminatlOn to adopt the radical policy as
soon he could do so safely They bel eyed
that while he chad held the word of promise
the ear, he designed 'to break it TO the hope "
This class of men left him in disgust for they
had lost all faith in his integrity.
Again, there were Others whose attention was
arrested principally by the imbecility OF the Ad
ministraton While it was obstinate it was
weak Ii was incapable of comprehending the
magnitude of the rebellion and The resource and
endurance Of the South, and was utterly unable
ehectuaay TO use the vast resources placed in its
hands so as to produce any adequate results.
They believed that the President was not Judge
of men nor things That he could neither con
duct the himself nor comprehend the capaci-
~ of others TO conduct it, That the whole his
tory of the Administration was combination of
obstinacy and vacillation. The proclamation. as
Il war measure completed their disgust and des
troyed their last hope in the ability OF the Ad
mnistraton to prosecute the war to IA successful
issue. IL was m4e child's play on a grander
scale than ever before exhibited in the histo
ry of the world. They felt that the interests.
nay. the life, of the nation were wick edy trihed
wiih and that the time had come If the country
was to be saved at ALL for the great mass of the
peOple-whose servants our rulers are-whose in
terests are committed TO their hands-whose
country and whose Government it is that is to be
saved or loSt-to band together under some form.
some organization, and form such party as by
its numbers and its influence, would make itself
heard and needed at the seat of Govern ment.
The only way 10 do this was for all the conserva-
tive men OF the nation to rally around the Demo
cratic party.
IL is not my purpose to express an opinion as
to which was nearest right; but by whichever of
these various motives or considerations the Re
publicanS who came to our support were iufu-
enced all agreed in the last conclusion.
Before the smoke of the political battle Of 1860
by which Mr. Lincoln was placed in power. had
cleared away, a civil war was inaugurated. which
had been provoked and led on. though certainly
not justified. by the wild tanatacsm of the very
leaders of the party which had placed Mr. Lin
coin IN power. and Democrats were called upon
to 20 and shed their blood and expend their sub
stance in a war which they believed might lave
been avoided by proper conciliatory course
which they had recommended. but had been
treated with contempt 10y those in power Bus
notwithstanding all this. the Democrats had shut
their eyes to all that had gone before, and hushed
the involuntary murmurngs that the war was
needlesSly provokedby that Wild fanaticsm which
had lust defeated them nj the polls and they had
rushed 20 the ranks under Mr. Lincoln only re.
membering that their country and lis Constita-
ton were in danger These conservative Ropnb-
lcans had witnessed all this and they appreciated
it. They saw thar the Democrats had come up to
the support of the country even more cheeriulIy
and earnestly than had their political opponents
in whose han0s was all the patronage of both the
civil and the military administration All could
see TINT the Democrats had boldly fought and
freely bei from no sordd mOtves--to maintain
party ascendancy. but solely to maintain the
Union and the Constitution.
When they saw all this. the conviction was
forced upon them that to the Democratic party
alone must they look for the salvation of the
country and the restoration of peace and the
Union They found only in the Democratic
party those principles for the conduct Of the war
which Mr. Lincoln had always maintained OF
proicSse u maintain, until he Vas forced to
abandon them as some of them believed. against
his own settled convictions of right and policy
Thus alone could he be enabled Ia return or be
forced back 10 his old conservative policy, which
afforded the only hope Of an honorable termina-