The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-08-31
WHEELING, w. ", THURSDAY 4
REPUBLICAN " HARMONY. +"
Hon. Montgomery Blairs Speech.
SEWARD, HOLT, STANTON, STEVENS

osWAuVg null oIAutVW5 OIsssuS
We regret that our limited space will
not permit the publication of the entire
speech delivered last Saturday b, Hon
Montgomery Blair, at Clarkesville Mary
land. There is great deal in il which
We do not approve. but it ia all eloquent,
and the revelations of secret history
which it affords ar- Interesting to all
Mr.. Blair refers first to the history of
Buchanau's administration, aud charges
Buchanan and his cabinet with being
parties to the conspiracy to dissolve the
Union. He then speaks of Mr.. Seward
who was designated as Secretary of State
soon after the election Of Mr.. Lincoln.
1t is asserted tha. he, as the incoming
premier, exerted much influence, even
before Lincolns Inauguration, in shaping
the policy of the Government. He gave
the Southern Commissioners to under
stand that no resistance Oh the part Of
the general government wonld be offered
TO secession. and that Fort Sumter
would be evacuated Mr. Blair said:
1t is apparent from the whole course of
public affairs, that Mr. Seward acted in
concert with Buchanans administration
during the last three mouths of its term.
He was no donbt, advised, through Mr..
Stanton. who was i'll Mr. Bnchanans
Cabinet. of the policy it had adopted in
reference to the seizure of ey
erything that appertained 10 the ma
tion of the South 1t was through the Co
alition then formed between Mr. Seward
and Mr. Stanton that the latter became
Secretary of War to Mr.. Lincoln. He
apprised Mr.. Seward of this treaty of the
War and Navy Departments. under Bn-
chanam, to make no resistance to the pol
icy of disolving the Union--to offer no
coercion to impede its march to indepen-
dence-and Mr. Stewards cou se shows
that he approved and adopted this poll
CIV. Is it not strange that Mr.. Seward
should have kept that paralysis in the
country from the 4th OF March to the
18th of April, when the conhasration
of Sumter aroused the people Did
Mr. Seward partake of the feeling which
prompted Mr. Chase, his colleague i'll the
Treasury, to exclaim, Let the South 60
it is not porth fighting Jor7' Is it posi-
BILE that these ambitious aspirants, who
have shown such eagerness for the pres
idcncy are willing to sacrifice that vast,
rich section of our Union to the petty
object of personal aggrandizement
Mr.. Blair then proceeded to prove that
Joe Holt, now chief OF the bureau OF
military Justice" was at that time Sc
cessionist He wrote a letter in 1860,
threatening secession unless the liberty
bills" were repealed by Northern Legis-
latures, and new constitutional guaran-
tees given for the protection of, slavery.
While he was filing deposition of Sec
retary of War in Buchanan's cabinet he
refused to permit General Scott to rein.
force Sumter aud opposed the introduc-
ton in tue Senate by Preston King, Of
bill to permit the Union men of the
South to organize aud arm, under the
authority of the United States, to defend
themselves.
Mr.. Stanton, now Secretary of War,
then Attorney General, vas in full SYM
pathy with the leaders in Congress who
dragged the South into rebellion He
met Senator Brown, of Mississippi, at the
door of the Supreme Court as he passed
from the hall of the Senate, after taking
leave of it as secessionist forever He
encourag"I him; he told him he was
right; it was the only course to save the
south; he must keep, his constituents
up to it, &c. This is proved by Mr..
Brown, former senator from Mississippi,
who mentioned it at the time to the Hon.
James Rollins, of Missouri. Mr.. Sauls-
bury, senator from Delaware, by reso
luton offered to the Senate LAST winter,
proposed to substantiate Il before a com
mite of that body, but the committr.
was not granted. The fact is confirmed,
too, by the known relations of the Secre-
tary to parties at the time, and have
been assured by one of his colleagues in
Buchanan's cabinet that in his inter
course with his associates of that ilk he
was most violent in denonncing any at
tempt to maintain the Union by force
and continued his denunciations till,
he entered Mr. Lincoln's cabinet.
Is it not for this he was solaced aud
glorifed by the Thad Stephens party in
the resolutions of the recent convention
at Harrisburg, in which President john
son is substantially pronounced an usur-
per for presuming to set mp governments
in the Southern States, instead of calling
on Congress to take the subject in hand,
to which they claim it belongs exclusive
ly! They declare also that these States
should not be allowed State Govern
ments, and their motive for claiming au-
thority for Congress is evidently because
they believe Congress would not sanction
the organization of such governments =
Mr.. Santon concurs with them, and has
been aud is yet aiding fhem effectively
in their scheme. This Explains the re-
tention so long of vast and unDecessa-
~ military force and some ofthe remark
able movements made by portions of it,
involving enormous expenditures, as
believe, against the wishes Of the Gener-
al-in-chief and the remonstrances of the
Secretary of the Treasury. Besides the
corruption fund thus secured, it serves
to bankrupt the Treasury, and thus COM
pei the call of Congress. great point in
the Uama of his Associates