Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-07-27

than physical force for securing peace upon the
basis OF reunion. And IL nav be the ONLY means
Tor securing that great object hitherto unrcalixed
and postponed and prevented by the policy and
incapaeity Of our rulers
Beside the revision OF our domestic policy and
the restoration Of constitutional principles there
/ IN, the great objects TO which We look are the
conclusion OF the war and the just determination
of the questions connected Herewith. The bnr-
den of this contest has become intolerable Pa
tlence has been exhibited by the people OF the
United States 10 the utmost extent of forbear
ance. They were told the war would last but
sixty days: they were told the South was not
united, they have been deluded throughout the
contest, nov more than three wears in duration.
by promises of speedy success: they have been
told TO trust aud applaud military chieftains who
were aiterward retired from service and de
nouneed and illuminated BY those who had IN
culcAted their peaise; they have seen variety Of
enterprises. both by land and water, miscarry
outright or fail in securing the objects for which
they were undertaken: they have seen the price
Of all the necessaries and comforts of life go up
to enormous rates, beyORd the ability of all who
are not rich or favored by Government patron
! age; they have undergone domestic bereavement
and bitter sorrow in all their homes from losses
incurred in the war; they have been constantly
supplied with false information about current
events, and have still offered them promises of
speedy and complete success quite unwarranted
by the past achievements of their rulers which
ignore all the real. ndubitable difficulties, origi-
nal aud created. which attend the struggle But
one thing they have not been told-one great and
important fact has not been disseminated under
| Government censorship, nor appeared anywhere
in official documents. 10 wit: that success in the
war aud the speedy return OF peace have been
all this time prevented and. will be bindered if
not prevented hereafter by the evil and odious
policy, and the incApacty of the Administration
itself.
These have united the South; these have
nerved the arms of southern soldiers in the field
and inspired them to united earnest, determined
resistance 20 our arms; these. in the darkest mo-
ments of the contest, have rendered their submis-
sion impossible They, and the populations they
represent, have seen before them the alternative
oil complete independence on the one hand. as
I the possible result to he achieved bv valor skill
! and endurance; and on the other, as the result
OF submission, confscation, emancipation dis
| grace and the iron rule of the conQueror; and
vieSing their position as presenting only choice
i between these results they have girded them
selves up To herculean and desperate efforts and
still stand defiant and unbrOken
IL is not for to fortell the future but it is
possible 70 conceive its dangers and to make rea-
sOnable provisions against them Certainly, it
Is possible for the people of the United States by
selecting new rulers, to put their public affairs
including this business of the war, upon a new
footing-to remove the main obstacle TO peace
and reunion, which has impeded their great eff
forts hitherto, and rendered their sufferines and
sacrifices unavailing for the object for which they
were incurred This is the great and necessary
! work to he done by them in reganng the road
OF safety, and to its performance they are earn
estly invited
When the members of the present aduinistra-
ton are removed from power, and patriotic and
Just men are made to fill their places the people
of the adhering sections of the country will have
done their part in removing the cause OF war and
the obstacle 10 peace, and will be represented
by men competent alike to conduct war and
to secure peace, who will call into existence, for
| the redemption and reunion of the country, moral
| influences more potent than physical force, and
who will achieve their mission before exhaus-
ton and intolerable suffering have been in
/ creased
RECONSTRUCTION
/ The propositions which should obtain in the
reconstruction of the Union are not difficult Of
statement and when contrasted with the policy
of the administration will appear to peculiar adj
vantage.
The first is. that the States shall stand as be-
fore the war except to changes which may be
| agreed up0H between or among them The
Constitution OF the United States is the rishtfu.
| and only bond OF Union for the States composing
the Confederacy, until the parties who are bound
by IL shall change its terms add To- its new
provisions Any other doctrine is revolutionary
and destructive and to be utterly rejected
whether founded upon presidential procIa nations
or statutes enacted by Congress.
| The powers of the Federal Government in all
its branches are confined within the provisions Of
the Constitution AMI cannot transcend them
Therefore the Constitution il is, including its
power of regular amendment, is the leading doc
trine of the great party which propose to save the
| nation in this day of its sore trial
Let the false and guilty doctrine that the
President of the United States by procla nation
or the Congress thereof by statute eau prescribe
alter, add to or diminish the conditions of Union
between the States be discarded at once and for
ever, and most of the difficulties which appear to
attend the question oil reconstruction will wholly
| disappear.
Those departments of the government are
confined to particular legislative and executive
duties, and cannot touch determine the rela
tons of the States with each other. That field
OF power is sacred to the great organized com
munities by whom the Union was formed and by
| whom alone il can be subjected to modification
or change
We have fought to restore the Union. not to
change it, much less to subvert its funda mental
PhNiP'NSi anu thO accompaniment vi It's EestOTa
ton is the compensation we propose to ourselv es
for all the cost and sacrifices OF the struggle
But what is impossible to the President or to
Congress it is competen; for the States, in their
sovereign capacity, by free mutual consent, az
thu proper time, to perform
The American States required compact of
union to go through the war of the revolution,
and it was made. Subsequently they required an
amended compact creating a more intimate
union. TO secure TO them the fruits Of independ
ence. From their deliberations on the late oc-
casion there resulted that most admirable nstru
ment, the Constitution OF the United States un
der which the republic has existed and prospered
for more than seventy years And now, under
our experience of revolt and war. and misgov
eminent. we may conclude that additional securi-
ties for liberty and union should be established
in the fundamental law Bot these securities
must consist OF limitations rather than of exten
sioas of Federal authority, and must not invade
| these fields of power which were left sacred To
State jurisdiction in the original scheme of
union.
| The constitution should provide against the
uncontrolled domination of sectional parties,
South or North, in the government of the United
States, the most indispensable and vital regu-
laton possible for safety and contnu ned ex-
sotan A. =