Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-04-18
INDIANAPOLIS, IND, MONDAY,

cry man, woman and child whom we bad robbed This
may be reason why the enemy kept well
or, vol J. p z9l. laar
But, as before stated, the Governor assumes
this position to show our right to abolish slavery
because slaves produce something TO eat and
something to wear. Upon like logic he might
say, women produce soldiers, and, therefore we
will destroy all the women of rebels; or If the
rebels should invade Indiana, they could as well
say, six hundred women in indianapolis have
been manufacturing cartridges to shoot at Us, and
therefore we will destroy these six hundred wo-
men. We suppose the Governor, in reference to
this matter, proceeds upon the same theory with
the Abolitionist in Congress- who sold bis vote,
and when reproached Herewith and asked how
his constituents would view such conduct, re-
plied-"Ohl so vote right on the nigger ques-
ton, my constituents will overlook everything
else" SO If Morton is in favor of abolishing
slavery, il is no odds whether he can give good
reason, or indeed any reason at all therefor
The Governor further says in regard to
PRocRAsTINArrNG THE WAR.
Lingering and protracted wars are the most terrible
calsmies that befa nations. only they con
the blood and substance Of nation, but they are
attended With decentralization and dissolution Of the
frame work Of sciciy dreadful than the loss of
The Governor never uttered a truer sentence
than this. And yet, strange as i, may appear,
he one of the fiercest men for the war before
it was inaugurated-bcfore the South had taken
ore step towards it yea, before single State
had seeded. When the question was being dis
cussed in public prints, whether Mr.. Lincoln,
who had few days before received plurality Of
votes, should give to the South some informal
assurance that their State rights and institutions
should not be interfercd with by his administra-
ton; we say about this time, to-wit, the third
week in November, 1850, Oliver Il. Morton, who
had then lately been elected Lieutenant Gov
crnor, made speech at the Court House in In
dianapolis. Sec indianapolis Journal of that
date for synopsis thereof. 1t was the fortune
of many to hear that effort and truly no dung
hill rooster ever strutted on one side of fence,
and crowed and bantcred q bclligcrcnt inclined
cock on the other side, with more fourishcs and
more gusto than he dened the South 20 attempt
resistance to Abraham Lincoln. He was stir
rug mp our people 10 the war heat, as sayages
do by reciting deeds of blood and carnage in
their painted dances around the war post. He
was for Snoring the worm-eaieH State Of South
Carolina into bhe ocean, II a wds possible" AT the
same time, without doubt, demagogues Of like
degree, in Southern communities, were urging
the people TO the battles dread array, by pctur-
ing TO them their real or fancied wrongs. Now,
after three lingering years of horTOrs-years in
which the armies of the republic have swallowed
more lives than any have in like period since
the days of Cyrus, of Xerxes, and of Alexan-
der, he comes forward again, in the same city,
and in whining tone cxclaims, these are "ter-
riblc caamitics" this loss of blood and treasure
but still "more dreadful than this loss" is the
dissolution of the framework of society,"" and
the decentralization" of the citizens. Well he
might say this, when the obligations of law have
come to be regarded as but n rope of sand, by
private citizens; and why because they are to-
tally disrcgarded by public officers. Look at the
letter of the Attorney General. Look at the in
augural of President Lincoln, in which he saws
:" 1 have no purpose nor lScfd right to interfere
with slavery, nor inclination TO do so :" and his
reply to the Chicago clcrgymcn, in which he
AYERS like sentiments, and says il would be i'm
polite; and vet, nine days afterwards lie did at
the bidding of Abolitioni5ts, that very unlawful
and impolitic act" Look at the Governments
bastiles all over the land, filled with private cti-
zens of the loyal States, imprisoned without q
charge or authority of law, and discharged with
out hearing. Look at the official stealing and
public plumber all through the country, from
cabinet officers down TO drummer BOYS" (see
speech of chairman Of Investigating Committee
in House of Representatives in Congress, Feb
ruary I, 1852 until more is stolen yearly than
Democrats used in carrying on the Government.
Look at the suspension of the great writ of right
Look at the acts of the Governor himself pro.
ceeding in total disregard of all law, as we have
shown. and vet have the elfronery TO stand up and
talk about ''dcmoraiization. after having avowed
that whatever the law might be he had deter
mined to do so and so. But lingering war is q
terrible cainsity" Why did he advise war at
all Why did he, and other Governors of north
ern States, rush on TO Washington and advise
war Why was the assembly at Altoona! Per-
haps on that night in November like the war
horse, che smellcth the battle afnr off the thun-
der of the captains, and the shoutiugs,' Job SO:
25,) and that he saw away down the vista Of
time. if Through glass darkly," (Cor Is:
l2) the public plumber in store for high officials
BE that as it may, his voice was for war-no
compromise. When Virginia, that mother of
States and of statesmen following her own ex-
ample of 1882, when she had appointed commits
sioners to confer with other Siatcs-( Mansf. Life
of Scott, p. 25O) called upon the border States
TO meet in solemn, peaceful counsel, what did
Governor Morton doa Appointed to represent
Indiana Of t,,lcon,proDaissg hostility to any
peaceful adjUStment-men that he knew would
take no step to avert the "terrible calamIies" of
which he now talks nor would they agree to any
such being taken by others-1nen who were mere
sectional pariisans, and he prates now of no party
And what does he sfill say in regard TO a contin-
uance of these terrible calamities,' and ending
them by
COMPROMISE.
'The man who wcn!d counsel the nation to stay the
march Of our victorious armies and give the rebellion
text' compromising with errng brethren must be
traitor sr fool.''
President Lincoln, three years ago, said, in bis
inaugural address, that suppose you go to war,
YOU cannot fight always, and after much loss on
both sides and no gain on either the same iden-
teal question which caused the strife remains
open for adjustment" Adjustment-how by
settlement, arrangement, compromise, il you
please. So General Jackson, after a long life in
public affairs, in his farewell address, says:
But the onstution cannot be maintaiued, nor the
Union preserved, in opposition public feeling, by the
mere cOercjce fOtcers conded TO the General Govern
ment.i .,...-...
Was Jackson q traitor and is Lincoln fool
According TO Morton, both these things must be
+ true. So in the time of the whisky insurrection,
when Washington was President he compro-
missed with the insurrcctionists whilst they had
arms in their hands. Hildrcth's History of the
United States, vol. 1, I'd series, p. 49s TO Sic.
But VIC suppose, according to the Governors
logic, Washington, in this act, showed himself
to be traitor or fool.l So in 1882, when South
Carolina proclaimed that they world not submit
to the tariff laws, and proposed to "nullify"
them by State Legislation and State action, Gen.
Jackson, who was President. declared that % the
Union must and shall be preserved" !" although,
in point of fact they had proposed multiplying,
+ and vet remain i'm the Union; but mt the same
time, Congress passed, and he approved, law
agreed upon as compromise (Mansf. life of
Scott, p. 249, y and, in this, no doubt, the Gov
ernor thinks he guilty of reasonable or
very foolish thing Wilson's Hist U. s., P.
1915. But the extreme position Morton takes
shows that "great men arc not always wise men,"
Job 80: 9. But he is ready to dodge behind the
subterfuge that the man who would counsel the
nafiou IN afov the march of our armies I" &C