Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-05-06
rhe wicked Attempt to Precipitate
C,viI war IN the North.

There can be no doub, but tina, de-. gning. IN
scrupuIous and ambitious partisan leaders in the
North are attempting TO force civil war to per
pe,-ate political power in their hands This was
the spirit Of Governor MoRToNs speech al Ma
sonic Hall Las, Friday night. He did what he
could 10 invite collision which would tighten
the flames Of civil war. without having the bold
ness or the courage 70 recommend il.
In his speech he uttered the basesi and mos,
insulting accusations against the Democratic
party. He not only charged the leaders with
disloysl purposes, a. has been his custom here
tofore. but he branded sill with reasonable in
tentions We quote from the report Of his
speech in confirmation OF what say:
His ExceIlencv insisted that there was a circle
within a circle In the Democratic party There
wa reasonable organization within il The
leaders kept on the out skirts of IL But IL they
dared to raise their hands against this Govern.
ment he would promptly employ these twenty
thousand men now called for Ia put them down.
Their leaders might just well understand that
st once
For three years the Governor has been rei,erat
ing similar charges, but with all the power and
substantiate them. In some nei ghborhoods there
may have been outbreaks. but in every instance
they have been traced to gross outrages upon
personal rights. or to collisions liable to occur
AZ ANY time and which had no connection with
the troubles of the country.
We noticed in the Journal Of yesterday, n re-
port from Col. STRKIGHr addressed to Governor
MoRroS. upon what he terms the "Clay county
disturbance" Accepting his own statement. il
appears to have been his purpose to have brought
on an armed collision-to have inaugurated civil
war. He Was there in no official capacity but
assuming that an sssemblsge of men had con-
gregated for what he calls Unreasonable purpOs
es." he ordered two companies Of the Indiana
Legion NEAR Brazil) to assemble soGl as pos
sble. What for? The Colonel saws. TO give
1.-The reasonable. armed mob. an opportunity to
test the sincerity of their declarations by giving
them battle without delay" This armed mob. -
as Col. STREIGHr calls them. had done no harm
to any one and had committed no outrage what
ever, unless perhaps it to give expression to
the opinion that they had no confidence in the
what the Colonel CONSTITUTES into the expression
of the most bitter contempt rnd hostility to-
ward the State and national authorities" Ii
that be crime Governor morton will have TO
punish large portion OF hi, own party. for the
most hitter denunciations and expressions of
contempt of the State aud national authorities
come from leading Republicans all over the
country. But Colonel STREIGHr could
find no one to "giye battle" with his
armed legion His enemy before he got his
army in line OF battle had dispersed-as he saws
Gin few moments had oil left" II there was
any such gathering rs Col SrREIGHr describes
or an assemblage of any kind, can only say
those composing 1t displayed excellent sense by
not giving him the opportunity to make trouble.
as was clearly his intent
There is a moral in this affair to which we di-
rect attention. THERE'S no doubt but the men in
power would like TO bring in a collision so as to
give them an apology for inaugurating civil war.
difficulty Of that kind would be a God-send to
them And the more desperate their political
fortunes become. the greater will be their effort
to force a collision. In this, however, they will
fail The good sense Of the people will prevent
any such Issue The conservative party will
rely upon the agencies provided by the Constitu-
ton to place the Government under different,
Administration. They will insist upon free
and honest ballot. and to thst verdict, and TO
that only. will they submit. IL they cheated
out of that by either fraud or force, then and
not ill then. will be the time 10 seek the remedy
TO which an oppressed people have the right to
resort.