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

Tor themselves ana their children, decreed as |
their portion, will they throw down their arms /
ana submit to the termsf Who shall believe
that the free. proud American blood, which |
courses with quick pusation through their |
veins our own, will not be spilled TO the last
drop in resistance? This is the source Sir from
whence comes encouragement. strength, support |
and sustenance for the COnfedera.es; herein lies
the secret Of the unity of their action, the pro-
longation of the contest, and the desperation of
the conflict produced, not by anything said. or
measures proposed by gentlemen upon this side
OF the House, or by any measures proposed or
policy advocated by the Democratic party, but
| by the acts of the gentlemen who make the
charges; and the President aud his military CON-
manders. who issue the proclamations and mill
tarv orders.
! Mr. Chairman: have deemed it proper thus
to advert to the charges of encouragement to the
Confederates. repeatedly made upon this floor;
| and | again recnr to the consideration OF the
Union: Can the Union be restored by warf
answer most unhesitatingly and deliberately, no,
never: .'war is final. eternal separation" Ny
first and highest ground of opposi lion to its fur
ther prosecution. is that Il is wrong: it is in vio-
lation of the Constitution and of the fundamental
| PRINCIPLES on which the Federal Union was
founded. Ny second objection is that, as poll
icy. it is not recOnsiructive, but destructive; and
will. if continued. result speedily in the destruc
ton Of the Government and the loss of civil lib
|
therefore, Immediately cease.
In order, Mr. Chairman. that we know what
views were entertained upon the right well as
the expcdency of c0ercing states into submission,
by some of the departed as we'll ms living states
men of the country, previous to the commence
ment of the present war, propose to call the
attention Of the House and the country to few
extracts which to my mind are worthy of consd
| Grafton at this time
| In 1897 durino tho administration IF I n
Adams, when the Legislature of Georgia had
passed an act setting aside the laws of Con-
gress regulating intercourse with the Indian
tribes within her limits, the messages of the
President on the 9Th and 9Th Of February, 1927,
in relation thereto, were referred to select com
mittee of the Senate of which Col Benton was
chairman, and of which Martin Van Buren, and
Gen VIM. Harrison each afterwards President
OF the United States, were members. The com
mittee, in their report SENATE documents. second
session, Nineteenth Congress-DOcument No.
3d. say:
at is believed to be among these axioms,
/ which in government like may he
permitted TO dispute. that the only security for
the permanent union Of those States. is to be
found in the principle of common affection, rest
ing on the basis of common interest. The
tons of the Constitution would be impotent to
retain. in concerted and harmonious action,
twenty four sovereignties, hostile in their feelings
|
of a real or imagined diversity Of interest The
resort to force would be alike vain and nugatory
| Its frequent would subject it, with demonstra-
tive certainty to ultimate failure. while It's tempo
rary success would be valueless for all purposes
of social happiness. In such contests, however
unequal and however transient, the seeds of DIS
union would be thickly sown. aud those who may
be destined to witness them will speedily there
after be called to lament the destruction of the
fairest prospect Of civil liberty which Heaven in
its mercy has vOuchsafed to mai. "The com
mittee will not enlarge upon the frightfut conse
/ quences of civil wars. They are known to be
calamitous to single governments, and fatal to
coufederaeies."
The prediction Of the committee of the destruc-
ton of the faircst prospect OF civil liberty which
Heaven in its mercy has vouchsafed to man, is
already in great danger of being realized aud
every hour the is continued only widens the
separation and increases the danger. But, sir. |
propose to Introduce the opinion of another de
parted statesman, of the school of politics to
which the gentleman on the opposite side of the
cha mber belong, and for whose political opinions
they entertain the highest regard That profound
statesman, after the experience of MANY years in
the most exalted station, and With a perfect
knowledge of the subject upon which he spoke.
said:
Nations acknowledge no Judge between them
upon earth, and their government from necessity
must, in their intercourse with each other decide
when the failure of one party to a contract
perform its obligations absolves the other from
the reciprocal fuliillment of its own. But this
last of earthly powers is not necessary to the
freedom of independence OF States connected
together by the immediate action of the people,
OF whom they consist. To the people alone is
reserved as well the dissovng as the constituent
power. and that power can he exercised by them
only under the tie of conscience binding them to
et1- II 81.
qualifications may admit the same right
vested in the people OF every State i'm the Union,
with reference TO the General Government. which
was exercised by the people Of the United Colo
mics with reference to the supreme head of the
British Empire, of which they formed part. and
under these limitations have the people of each
State in the Union right to secede from the
COME erlfed Union itself Thus stands the
right. But the insouble link of Union between
the people OF the several States OF this cOnfeder
ated nation is, after ALL not in the right but in
the heart, If the day should come (mav
Heaven avert it,) when the affections of the peo-
pie of these States shall be alienated from each
other; when the fraternal spirit shall give way to
cold Indifference: collisions of interests shall
tester into hatred, the bands of political assoca-
ton will longer hold together parties attracted
by the magnetism of cOnciaied interests, and
kindly sympathes; and far better it will be for
the people of the disunited States to part in
friendship from each other than to be held to-
gether by constraint. Then will be the time for
reverting to the precedents which occurred ~ the
formation and adoption of the Constitution, to
form again a more perfect Union, by dissovng
that which could to longer bind. and to leave the
separated parts to be reunited by the laws of po-
4 ltich graytation To the centre
Thus, Mr.. Chairman, spoke John Quincy
Adams in an address delivered before the New
York Historical Society the 3Oth of April
1889. in commemoration of the fItieth anniyer-
sary of the Inauguration of George Washington
as President of the United States. Mr. Adams
was a believer in the doctrine therein set forth,
and the leaders of the party to which he belonged
shared in that belief, and continued TO do so until
the present unnatural civil war. Ii il was sound
doctrine before secession took place, and the war
begun. what is there in either to change the
principle?
Andrew Jackson in his farewell address to the
American people. has soemnly warned them that
the citizens of one section oi the country ed
in arms against the other, would be the end of
the Union aud end of the hope of freedom
He says that, elf such struggle is once begun
and the citizens of one section of the country are
arrayed in arms against those of the other, in
doubtful conflict, let the battle result AS it may.
there will be end of the Union and with il an
end of the hope of freedom The victory of the
injured would not secure to them the blessings of
liberty: i. would avenge their wrongs. but they
would themselves share in the common ruin
The Constitution cannot be maintained. the
Union preserved, in opposition to public feeling
by the mere exertion of the coercive power of the
government"
But this opinion. that the Union cannot be
preserved by the coercve powers of the govern
meut, WIS not confined to the departed statesmen