Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1863-01-22


was no petty inaurrection, no temporary com.
bination 20 pbstruot the execution OF the laws
in certain States, but a REyoLUTIeE, system.
ATTIC, deliberate, determined, and with the con,
sent Of majority Of the people Of each State
which seeded. Causeless il mag have been I;
wicked il may have been but there IL was !;
not to be railedat, still less TO be laughed at,
but 10 be dealt with by stateamap as fact
No display of vigor or force slohe, however
sudden or great, could have arrested il even
at the outset, it was disunion at last The
Iwolt tud come But civil war had not yet
followed In my deliberate and most solemn
there was but one wise and master
ly mode Of dealing with it. Non-ooercion
would avert civil war, and compromise crush
out both Abolitionism and Secession. The
parent and child would thus both perish. But
a resort TO fierce would ct once precipifate
war, hasten secession, extend disnnion, and,
while it lasted utterly cut of all hope Of
compromise | believed that war, il long
enough continued, would be 6nal eternal dis
union said it | meant it and according
to the utmost OF my ability and influence,
exerted myself in behalf Of the policy of nom
.coercion II was adopted by Mr. Buchanan's 5
Administration, with the almost unanimous
consent of the Democratic and Constitutional
Union parties in and out Of Congress and,
in February, with the concurrence Of major
.ity Of the Republican party in the Senate and
this House But that party, most disastrous.
" for the country, refused all compromise.
How, JUDGED, could they accept any2 That
which the South demanded and the Demo
cratic and conservative parties Of the North
and West were willing TO grant, and which
alone could avail to keep the peace and save
the Union, implied q surrender of the sole vi
tai element Of the party and its platform
.oi this very principle, in fact, upon which it
had Just won the contest for the Presidency ;
not indeed, by a majority OF the popular
yote-the majority was nearly q million
against it--but under the forms of the Con-
stiution. Sir, the crime, the "high crime"
OF the Republican party was not so much its
refusal TO compromise, as its original organi
cation upon basis and docrine wholly incon-
sistent with the stability Of the Constitution
and the peace of the Union
But to resume the session of Congress ex-
pired The President elect was inaugurated :;
and now if only the policy of non-coereion
could be maintained, and war thus ayerted,
time would do its work in the North and the
South, and final, peaceable adjustment and
reunion be secured Some time in March il
was announced that the President had resolv.
ed to continue the policy of his predecessor,
and even go a step further and evacuate
Sumter aud the other Federal forts and ar
senals in the seeded States His own party
acquiesced; the whole country rejoiced The
policy Of non-coercion had triumphed and
for once, sir, in my life | found myself in an
immense majority No man then pretended
that Union founded in consent could be
cemented by force. Nay, more, the President
and the Secretary of State went further
Said Mr. Seward, in an official diplomatic let.
ter4 Me- Adams; w. -JA--. 1AA1ll
"For these reasons he (the President) would
not bA'dispesed.to rejecta jeaFdinaIdoenA of
theirs, (the Secessionists,) namely that the
Federal Government could not reduce the
seeding States to obedience by conquest, al.
though he we're disposed to question that pro
position Bat in fact the President Willingly
accepts it as true Only an imperial or des-
potie Government could subjugatethoroughly
disaflected and insurrectonary members of
the States. ........i ..4
Pardon me, sir, but beg to know whether
this oonyietion of the President and his Sec
retary is not the philosophy of the persistent
and most vigorous efforts made by this Ad.
minisraton, and first of all through this same
Secretary, the moment war broke out, and
the United States into An imneria1 or ;dnsao,;o
Government? Bnt Mr. seward aJds "a pUs'G
agree with him:
"This Federal Republican svstem Of orrs
Of all forms of Government tho voou Jus ra
which ia most untitled for sncb aIoton{ o"e
This, sir was on The inn Of Snr1 H., y
that very dav the feet vas nn aan aHp {el
Charleston The noI;cv of noa"o "a S1'i ior
abandoned Collision }oIowed n the a"u ,;I;'n Teen
we're Iordefed out; civil war beSan ~ oiAe' ''''"