Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-11-16


interpostion of kind Providence restoring peace
to our country and the world, arrested the most
deplorabe catastrophe. and, turning to the recep.
tacle of things lost upon earth, the adjourned
convention fro m Hartford to Boston. extinguished
(by the mercy OF Heaven may it be forever)
the projected New England Confederacy. vol
Ingersol's War of 1912, p. pig 1t twas during
this attempt to establish New England Confed-
eracy that Mr. Josiah Quincy. one OF the ablest
and most accomplished men of Massachusetts, the
near connection of j. Q. Adams, then FEEDER
alist and now a radical, and ardent supporter of
Mr. Lincoln's Administration, gave an exDosi-
ton of the constitutional views held by the feder
al and radical secessionists of the Eastern section
of the Union. The particular occasion was this:
Soon after Mr. Jefferson became President. Louis
lana acquired, whereby the United States got
the control of the Mississippi river. New Eng
land opposed this acquisition because II tended TO
increase the power of the South and West. and
thus relatively diminish hers; and on the l9lh of
January, 1911 on the bill TO provide Tor the for
nation of State Government in part OF the &C
Qured Louisiana territory, Mr.. Quincy asserted
that the passage Of the bill would be, pso facfo
dissolution of the Union. Excitement Vas pro-
duced by this proposition. Mr.. Poindexter,
leading Southern statesman from Mississippi, and
bosom friend of Henry Clay, called Mr.. Quincy
to order, declaring that lit was radically wrong
solve the Government, and trampIe this body
itself to dust and ashes"
"Mr Quincy repeated and justified the remark
he had made. which, to save all misapprehen-
sion, he committed to writing in the following
words: IF this bill passes, it is my deliberate
opinion that il is virtually a dissolution OF this
Union; that it will free the States from their
moral obligation, and, il will be the right of
ALL so il will be the duty of some, definitely to
pranara for a canaratnn orncohlv IL thqv ran
violently if they must" And the House, by three
majority, refused to sustain Mr.. Poindexter, of
Mississippi, and decided that Mr. Quincy's trea-
sonable remarks "were in order" and he pro-
ceeded in his speech, to enforce them thus: 81
will add only few words in relation to the moral
and political consequences ofusurping this power.
have said that il would be virtual dissolution
of the Union; and gentlemen express great sensi-
bility at the expression. But the true source of
terror is not in the declaration | have made,
bat ia the deed you propose. Is there a moral
principle of public law better settled, or more
conformable to the painest suggestions OF reason,
than that the violation of contract by one of
the parties may be considered as exempting the
other from its obligationsl" 4 Bent. Deb, p.
326, ct seq.
Returning. now, from the DEPRESSION, proceed.
SECESSION HEREsY.
Upon the refusal, as have sad of all guaran
tees after the election of Mr.. Lincoln the South,
adopting the secession theory of the Eastern rad
icals and claiming that the North had broken the
contract OF union by refusing to return fugitive
slaves. &c began TO seeede This radical doc
trine of secession. from its first advocacy in New
England, the Northern Democracy had opposed
as political, a constitutional heresY: but my
own attention first most decidedly called to,
and my mind finally settled upon the principle
that our government was designed to be perma.
nent in form, with certain powers for self-pres-
ervatiOn, by the act and declaration of Southern
statesman. When, in 1912, Mr. John O. Adams
presented to Congress petition from Massachu-
selts radicals Tor the dissolution of the Union,
the Hon. Thomas F. Marshall OF Kentucky, on
the 18th of February of that year, introduced the
following preamble and resolutions, viz:
''waEREAs The Federal Constitution is a permanen,
form Of government, and Of perpetual obligation, until
altered modified in the mode poated out in that in
strumen and the members Of this House, deriving their
political character and powers from the same,
support it, and the dissolution of the Union necessarily
implies the destruction OF that instrument the overthrow
OF the American Republic, and the extinction OF our ma
ona exstence proposition, therefore, TO the repre-
sentstives of the people, TO dissolve the organic laws
framed by their constituents, and support which they
are commanded by those constituents be before
they into the execution OF the political powers
created by and intrused to them, high breach of
privilege contempt offered to this House, direct prop
os6n 10 the Legislature and each member OF it 10
init perjury and involving necessarily in its execution
and its consequences the destruction Of country and
the crime of high treason
Resolred, therefore That the Honorable John Quincy
Adams member from Massachusetts, in presenting for
consideration of the House Representatives the
iiOn U the Unon has offered the deepest ndgnity to the
House Of which he is member an Insult to the people
of the Uni cd States OF which that House is the legs
tive and WILL if this outrage be permitted pass
unrebukec aud unplnshed have diSgraced his country
through their representatives, in the eyes Of the whole
2ssolred, ts,fher, That the aforesaid John Quincy
Adams, for this insult, the first OF tia kind ever offered
20 the overnntnt and for the wound which be has per-
mited be aimed, through his nsrumenality, at the
Constitution ard existence Of his country the peace the
security and liberty of the people of these States might
well be held 10 merit expulsion from the national coun
cils and the House deem act Of grace and mercy
when they only niict upon him their
for conduct SO utterly unworthy Of his past relations
the State and his present position. This they hereby
do, for the maintenance Of their purity and dignity
For the rest they turn him to his conscience,
and the indignation OF all true American citizens.'
WHAT THE WAR WAS FOR Ia The BEGINNING.
At the Inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, then, mat
tiers Stood thus. No guarantees 10 be given the
South The South determined to secede if guar
antees were not given. The right to secede
dsuied. War followed, tor whatg Simply, we
were told, to put down the rebels and assert the
authority of the United States over the seeded
States. At the commencement ot the war, the
rebellion, as all agree, was confined to body of
LEAD ers, a faction of the South. who had got pos
session of the State governments. A majority of
the people were still for the old Union and pre-
pared TO carry the elections tor it, and thus re
sumo their political connection with, and old
position in the Union. Mr. Beeener SO asserts in
his late Manchester speech. All that needed to
accomplish this, and end the war in less than a
| year was, that the Government at Washington
should aid those Union men, by so con
ducting the civil administration and the
war as to assure those Union men that the rights
of the South. as formerly enjoyed, were not TO be
curtaed This policy. it was necessary, of
course, for the Administration TO pursue steadily
and for considerable time, because confidence
is plant of slow growth, and it required months,
n the then condition of the country, for knowl-
eige of any friendly acts or measures of our Gov
| ernment to make its way through hostile armies
and hostile Southern Government down to the
! people under that Government, while that Gov
eminent would speedily publish among them
every act of our Government of political abo-
lition bearing.
THE CIVIL POLICY IN CONNECTION WITH THE WAR
And now we have arrived at the point where
another most disastrously fatal step was taken by
| the Administration, under RADICAL influence ta-
ken knowingly, designedly and in breach Of
faith to the conservative men of all partiesin the
nation; a step which has brought untold saf-
fering upon this country, and is likely to still
add indefinitely to il, and yet may, possibly, be
| followed by the consequence of the disruption of
the territory of the Republic, as well as the over
throw of other parts Of it, though hope and pray
that it may not. The step to which | allude was
that of adopting policy of administration that
Knocked the hopes of the Union men Of the South,
blasted their prospects. and drove them all, be-
trayed and humbled. but embittered, into the sup
port of JEFF. Davis; in short. policy to make
rebels. policy to extend and intensity the re-
belion instead of extinguishing IL. And admit
it to be my deliberate opinion that this was done