Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-05-15

MATHS Or ADVENT 4St0Os
Isassars IL lines or isssl in:srtion, SIG
:" .'''@ 800 month, aso
500
10 90
A liberal deduction made on larger advertisements
All transient advertising must be paid for in advane
Daily, per annum,.-.- ----------.---.So.0o
fri-Wssklv.--.--.---..-.-- Soo.
Who was In favor Of Compromise,
The political enemies of the Republican
party have made it q standing charge that il
was opposed to fair compromise Of the dif
ferences existing at the outbreak Of the re-
bellion, and is therefore responsible for the
war. 1t matters not that the leaders among
the rebels have themselves exploded the &C.
cusation repeatedly and effectually by declar.
ing that at the time they wanted no compro-
mise, would have entered into none in fact,
that if blank sheet Of paper had been offer.
ed them upon which to write their own con-
ditions, they would have rejected it - the
charge has been reiterated as often as oppor-
tunity has offered. In view of this fact, David
Dudley Field, of New York, has recently
done an excellent thing, in the effectual &C.
pose of the falsity of the accusation alluded
to. He was member of the Peace Con-
gress that met in Washington City in Febru-
ary, 1861, from which strong hopes of some
accommodation which would avert war were
at one tune entertained, and his statements
60 to the proceedings of that body, which
was composed of representatives from rather
the mers conservative elements of the South.
If anything like reasonable adjustment of
differences were possible, it is fair to infer
that it could have been had there-at least so
far as the disposition of the South was favor
able to it, Mr.. Field first submitted to the
Congress the following:
''The Union of the States under the Con-
stltution is indissoluble, and no State can Sc
cede from the Union, or nullify an act of Con-
gress, or absolve its citizens from their para
mount obligation of obedience to the Consti-
tuition and laws cf the United States"
This was laid on the table by the majority.
Mr.. Field then proposed the following:
ut is believed to be the true intent and
meaning of the present Constitution, that the
Union of the States under it is indissoluble."
This was rejected by the CONSERVATIVES"
Governor Roger S. Baldwin (Republican)
of Connecticut, then submitted the following:
WHEREAS, Unhappy differences exist
which have alienated from each other por-
tons of the people of the United States, to
such an extent as seriously to disturb the
peace of the nation and impair the regular
and efficient action of the Government within
the sphere of its constitutional powers and
duties and
WHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of
Kentucky has made application to Congress
to call Convention for proposing amend
ments to the Constitution of the United
States; and
"WH WHEREAs, 1t is believed to be the opinion
Of the people of other States that amendments
to the Constitution are or may become neces-
sary to secure to the people of the United
States of every section the full and equal en-
joyment Of their rights and liberties, so far
as the same may depend for their security
and protection on the powers granted to or
withheld from the General Government in
pursuance of the national purposes for which
it was ordained and established, -
"This conference does therefore recommend
to the several States to unite with Kentucky
in her application to Congress to call con-
vention for proposing amendments to the
Constitution of the United States, to be SUBJ
mitted to the Legislatures of the several
States, or to conventions therein, for rati6ca-
ton, as the one or the other mode of ratiica-
ton may be proposed by Congress, in accord
ance with the provisions in the fifth article of
the Constitution"
u This proposition was sustained by Mr..
Field and all the Republicans; but it was We
hemently resisted by their opponents and de-
feated. Yeas, eight States; nays, thirteen
States. Eue'y Slaoe State represented in
that Congress Delaware, Maryland, Vir-
ginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee
and Missouri-all voted nay.
Here it will be seen was q determination
manifested on the part of the men who as
sumed to represent the South, to oppose even
the Endorsement of the abstract doctrine Of
the indissolubility Of the Union. They were
unwilling to put themselves upon the record
against secession. They were ready to sup
port no proposition which did not involve
more or less directly the theory of their in
dependence of Federal government. To have
compromised with them would, therefore,
have been compromising away, instead Of
preserving the Union. No basis of peaceable
adjustment, it is plain, could have been ar
ranged with them which would have been ac-
ceptable to the Democracy of the North, if
their professions of ,Unionism are to be relied
upon. Finally the proposition adopted by
the Peace Congress was opposed by the Re-
publicans, it being the same as that rejected
to the bitter end by the Democrats of the free
States at the Charleston Convention. When
it was presented to Congress it met with no
success whatever. In the Senate, Mason and
Hunter, Of Virginia, Green Of Missouri, and
Lane of Oregon, denounced it; and when it
was put to the vote, only three Senators out
Of thirty seven gave their voices in its favor.
In the House its fate was scarcely better
This shows conclusiyely how far the Repub-
licans, or in fact any party Of the North, were
responsible for failure to compromise at the
time the war Of dissolution began. =
TIE UNrA1L1NG RuLE.-It is no unwarrant-
ed use oflanguage when We say that the man
who charges that there is any evidence Of .
design on the part Of the Government to