The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1866-05-31
The War for the Union---Mr. Cowan.s Re-
marks.

We give below extracts from the elo
quent remarks of Senator Cowan on
Trumbulrs amendment to the Postoffice
Appropriation Bill.
Mr.. PRESIDENT: think, in view of the
danger which portends and which has
been alluded to by the Honorable Senator
from Michigan, that this is a good time
to be brave, and good time to say stout
things; and l am glad he has availed
himself of the opportunity. l am not so
well pleased that he has claimed for him
self the position of Leonidas and his
Spartans in the pass of Thermopvle in
his fight. There the three hundred stood
against an invading horde of foreigners
who sought their country. Where is tie
Senator standing now? Is he standing
in the breach? Ay, sir directly in the
breach; but it is in that breach which
the American people desire TO heal. He
stands in that chasm which they would
bridge over. He stands in the mouth
of that wound which they would close
and cicatrize This is his true position
He stands in the very breach which pre-
vents the Union, the Union for which the
war of which he has spoken was under
taken, and for which it was carried
through in the manner in which ii was
carried through.
The Senator alleged that the Southern
States during the war were out of the
Union, and he appealed to me as to
whether they were not ont OF the Union.
Admitting for the nonce his postulate, l
put the question. what was the war for?
That he promised to answer, but that
was what he did not answer 1t is the
~ that for which the
American people look from that honor
able Senator and those with whom he
acts What was the war for? 1t the
ordinances of secession, if the rebellion.
If the war if any thing which occurred
during that time took the eleven States
in question out of the Union, what was
the war for? The Union man answers,
it for the purpose of supporting and
sustaining and restoring the Union; If
they were out, it was to bring them back;
if they were not out, it was to keep them
in
Has not that been the understanding
Of tue American people, with the excep-
ton, perhaps. of a few extremists! Sir
that was the unanimous opinion of the
/ Congress Of tie United States in July,
1861 That was the almost unanimous,
If not the unanimous expression OF the
Oi}llIol u liiC ~ a. sststS'N - " Vic ob-
ect and purpose of the war Was 1t
false? Did that resolution assert "A false
hood or was it n Iruthf Did it assert
the true intention cf the people, or was
it 4 cover for q design Which they chose
to conceal. and which IS only developed
now in the face of the people!
say to the honorable Senator from
Michigan that the for the Union;
ii was to save the Union; it was to res
tore it and to compel the submission of
those who desire to dismemher the Union
70 the laws and the Constitution Of the
country. The honorable Senator is q
member of the star chamber committee
of fifteen, he is member of that com
mittee which carries in its girdle the
keys of the Union; he was appointed to
inquire into the temper of The Southern
people; he was appointed to inquire
whether the people of those States were
fit to be restored to their rights under
the Union; and now / say, as l said the
other day, if what he says is true, he in
dorses the Chicago platform.
He has established himself upon the
platform that the war was a failure; and
he filings out broadly, into the faces of
| American soldiers and American citizens.
that instead of restoring to the Union
and to the country and to their rights
under the Union the people of the South,
the war was a failure; and here, in the
open face of day, in the presence of the
people he says the Southern people are
Il conquered people, anu that we hold
them. to use his own language, by the
point of the hayonet.
Mr.. President, is that so: | do not
undertake to take issue with the gentle
man upon the fact as to whether the
condition of that people be what he rep
resents i. to be or not. 1t is enough for
! me to know that that is the ground upon
| which he plants himself here; and am
exceedingly glad that he has so manfully
avowcd it. The rebellion then, was
successful in that; it took the rebel States
out of the Union; it took their people
out. matter of course. loyal and dis
loyal false and true. faithful and unfaith-
full; and since they have been out, and
since the re-conquest has been made. if
you please to call it so. or since the
conclusion of the war. they have re-
manned aeAors the Union, and are held
as conquered people. If that is true,
saw so. We will meet YOU in the pass
of Thermopyla or at Philippi, if you
please.
Mr. President, let US lock at this ques-
ton cody. / ask again, bv what warrant
did we make this war; Was it because.
as the Question was put to me the other
dav there Is such thing as political
dominancy. political sovereignty, by
which one people have a right to dorni-
nate another people: Who will dare to
avow it upon this floor? Our warrant was
the Constitution and the laws We said
to southern people: you bound your
selves, States and people. with us in that
Constitution; you assisted in making
those laws; and now you refuse to fulfill
your obligations; now you undertake to
secede and withdraw yourselves from
the operations of the very law that YOU
assisted to make under that Constitution:
you provided that the Executive of the
nation should swear to support the Con
stitution; You provided that he should
see that the laws were faithfully execut-
ed; you provided that those laws should