Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-04-11
FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE,
In Answer 90 Gov. q. p. M"rton's
Erroneous Statements 20 the ne
publican state Convention,
February es, 1894.
PREPARED AND PUBLISHED BY ORDER or THE
DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL CoaNITTER


To the People Of IndiaRas
On the Esd day of February, 1864, Oliver p.
Morton was nominated by the so-called Union
Convention for the Office of Governor of the
State an Office the salary whereof he has been
receiving, and the duties of which he should have
been discharging, for the past three years. Our
attention has been called by the Daily Journal, a
paper in his employ 10 his utterances upon accept
ing that nomination, some Of which we desire to
notice, for the purpose not only of showing the
hypocrisy Of the man, but the malicious partisan
falsehoods Of the assertions made by him. Hy-
poeritieal because intensely partisan, whilst he
proposed TO discard party.
First, be spoke as follows of the
LEGISLATIVE ACTION.
II seemed appropriate occasion pass review the
ssigs s. ihs Ssie during The Pat two years.
stood he had taken such he could gain ofi-
eal duties and frequent Illness put in writing he
about TO say He then read a. follows:
coPPKHHEAD AD AcrOS II THE LEGIslATURE.
The beginning Of late session signazed in the
House BY act absurd and insulting il
lutiOnary.
The Constitution impose the obligation upon the Cow
Of communicating with the Legislature by
from time TO time, aud imposes like obligation upon
the Legislature Of receiving aud considering such m s.
sageS In discharge obligation the Governor :,
Es sem-annual MESSAGE to the Senate and House. The
Senate received The message and ordered II to be prn ed
but the House refused receive g., returned he
Governor and passed resolution receiving and adopting
the message OF the Governor Of New Yotk. aughser
From such beginning il was not hard 10 predict the
end. The House hal begun It's legislative by a
insult the Executive, By sgrsnt violation Of
the Constitution which IL had, but few hours before,
support. The revolutionary policy tb inaugu-
rated pursued with ssng violence and open dis
regard OF uiional obligations. Its time chiefly
consumed b the Introduction OF d loyal resolutions the
OF actOus and reasonable sentiments intended
o excite the people against the Government aud destroy
its power TO suppress the rebellion
The necessary and legitimate subjects OF legislation
were dsregarcd or kept back aside from apPrOpTia
tiOn for their per diem aud mileage, which
paseI on the first day OF the session. Every other ap-
preparation absolutely suppressed until Friday the
las day out one of the ses>c1 known that
no quorum present in the House -fSdidaH Jour
md, Feb. A. ls54-
Before dissecting these extraordinary state
ments the attention Of the reader is asked TO
certain provisions of our Constitution First, is
Article 3, sec. The powers of the Govern
ment are divided into three separate departments
the legislative, the executive, including the
administrative, and the judicial; and no person
charged with official duties under one OF these
departments, shall exercise any of the functions
of another, except as in this Constitution ex-
pressly provided" l Rev. Statutes, p. 4S.
Il viii be observed that in this section the
poscers of Government are distinctly divided into
three co-equal and coordinate departments; and
so, by implication, by the Constitution of the
United States. Art. l, 2 and 81 Rev. Stat.
DID. 20, 26 and 20.
An able writer upon the Theory of Govern
ments, SAYS: when the legislative and execu-
tive powers are united in the same person, or in
the same body of magistrates, there can be no
liberty" Again: "There is no liberty, if the
judiciary power be not separated from the legis-
lative and executive" MOntesquieu, b. IL, ch. 6.
So I Blacks Comm, lac. So. DIR. Paley says !:
The first maxim of free State is, that the
laws be made BY one set of men, and admins
tered by another" Moral Philosophy, b. 6, ch. 6.
So in the Federalist the production of jaw
Hamilton and Madison, advocating the adoption
of the Constitution of the United States, Nos. %
and Al, it is said The accumulation of all
powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in
the same hands, whether of one, few, or many
and whether hereditary. selfappointed, or elec
tive, may be Justly pronounced the very defni-
ton of tyranny" See, also, ElliOt'S Debates
I33: Jeffersons Notes on Virginia, 1875
Ii is not alone the remarks of Gov. Morton
which calls the attention of all thinking men to
these first principles of Government, and awakes
alarm at his manifest desire to depart therefrom,
but that attention is quickened, and the alarm
lead of the President of the United States, who,
by his Proclamation, backed by military array
has attempted to suspend the functions of the
Courts in the North, and seeks to legislate for
the South; who, at the very beginning of this
war, set at naught, and directed Mis- military
officers to utterly disregard, the decision of the
highest judicial officer in the United States
that of Judge Taney in the Merryman case.
Keeping in view these general principles of the
Government and the fact that each coordinate
branch thereof is equally entitled to the respect
Of the other branches we look with astonishment
at the very first line of this carefully written
speech, as given in the Journal, to-wit: Coop
perhead action in the Legislature" Now, if it
was simply Oliver p. Morton who was thus
branding the legislative department of the State
with vile eDithets, and referring to it in slang
phrase il would be exactly in place with his an
tecedents his habits, and his tastes. But when
tie Governor Of a STATE, containing near mil
lion anu half of inhabitants, undertakes TO
give a semi-oficial statement of the action Of a
coordinate department, he should, at least for
the time being, assume 10 be gentleman, If he
Is not IN fact
The same style is kept up throughout the ex-
tract which we have quoted above. He charges
the members of the House of Representatives
with having acted in absurd, insulting, re-
volutionary, unconstitutional manner" and with
having uttered disloyal, factious, and treason
able " sentiments.
II ought not to be forgotten that the people of
Indiana had rejected Morton as an aspiront for
Governor, and elected Willard; that it was only
BY being tackled on to the tail Of the ticket with
the Hon. Henry S. Lane a leader that Nor
ton crept into power, as It were, bv the back
stairs Notwithstanding this he thus puts on
airs, and in vile language arraigns those who
were elected directly by the people to fill the
places they occupied-did not come in by acci
dent.
Bat WHY all this clatter such as a fishwomau
of the strand would make simply to cover up
the Infamous conduct of himself and his friends
At that legislative session. He had advised them
70 so act and when the public indignation is
about TO be visited upon them. he is the first to
CRY out theft thiefll If he can clear him sell
and his friends by thus crying out, he will be
satisfied If not his desire is to- at any rate save
himself by abusing the "House," without any
discrimination as to his friends in it.
He says the House " would not receive hi
message, and insulted him by adopting resolu
ton approving that of Governor Seymour o
New York. What are the facts, not bare asser
tons, but facts as they appear of record--a rec
ord ordered and approved by the Legislative
BODY, to-wit, the BREWER Reports of the Journa
and Debates BY A. & w. ii. Drapier! The ses
sion 10 which he alludes commenced its sitting
on the sth day of January, 1868, at 10 o'clocI
In the forenoon. The roll was called and th'
Senate organized, and thereupon Mr.. Claypool
of Fayette, Republican, offered resolution a
follows
Rssokued That the members Of this Legi-Iature wi.
vote for no for ONCE who Is not in favor Of vgor
Gus prosecution Of the waf, and Who y not unslterab
opposed the Of State states from tb
Union. Brewer Reports, vol c, p. =
This resolution was referred to the COMMITTEE
on Federal Relations, but not until certain Re
publican members had an opportunity to ventil
ATE their ideas by insinuations that Democrat
were disIoyal- Brew. Rep, p g.
On the same day, and at the same hour, tn
House of Representative met and organized
and thereuDon Mr.. Jones, Republican, offerel