The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-09-05


| With the appreciation OF President
Buchanan and the Northern Democracy,
they rapidly seized. without opposition,
forts, dock yards, arsenals, mints, Gus
tom houses, ships Of war, and public
property of every description, until
| there remained but one little spot, in
! Charleston harbor. over which the dag
of the Union continued to wave.
BUCHANAN s CABINET A CoHCLAvB or CON-
Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet had been q
| conclave of conspirators. His Secreta-
| ry Of War had distributed the arms and
munitions through the South. His Sec
retary of the Navy had scattered our
little feet to the four corners of the
world. His Secretary OF the Treasury
had SO managed the Treasury as to
leave it without a dollar and thus all
had been done that could be to make
/ the rebellion easy And when, on the
! 4th Of March. 1861, the Government
| passed from the Democratic to the Re
| publican party, seven States had already
seeded. and the rest were getting ready;
/ the Confederate constitution and gov
ernment had been formed at Montgom-
cry, and q Confederate army OF more
than thirty thousand had been organized
and all not only without opposition from
the Government or the Democracy, but
with their positive appreciation; and it
is not too much to say that, if the pow
er OF Mr.. Buchanan and the Democratic
party had lasted sixty days longer, the
work Of secession would have been SO
fully completed that the Union would
have been lost forever.
But the echo of the first gun against
Fort Sumter awakened the slum bering
patriotism of the people The nation
sprang to its feet as il suddenly aroused
from deep sleep The ranks of the
people were closed up. party lines were
obliterated, and the Democratic leaders
disappeared like driftwood in q turbu-
lent sea, submerged tor a season, but to
reappear at future time. They eau
tiously remained ont Of sight until the
fall Of 1861. when the disasters of Bull
Run and Ball Bluff, and the slow pro-
gress of the war gave them courage to put
their heads above the surface and sur
vey tue situation. They Immediately
began the work of reorganizing the
Democratic party upon the basis Of op-
position to the war and rightfulness of
the rebellion. The subsequent terrible
defeat and sacrifices suffered by McClel-
Ian on the Peninsula, inspired them
with high hope and courage. and they
so far succeeded in discouraging the
nation as to carry the fall elections in
1862 Then began those reasonable
cries, which were kept up with ever-in-
creasing violence, until the final surren
der of Lee before Richmond.
They declared that we could never
conquer the South; that every act OF
Congress for the suppression Of the re
bellion was unconstitutional and void
That our national bonds were worthless;
that Treasury notes were fraud; that
the::act of Congress making them legal
tender was a nullity; that the Northern
people were tired of the war, and would
speedily abandon it; that the people of
the North would resist draft laws, taxa
ton, and every attempt to interfere with
slavery; that the nation was on the verge
of bankruptcy, and that if the war was
protracted, revolution in the North
was invi,able.
The rebels believed these enormous
lies, and protracted the war for more
than two years after they had become
convinced that they could not succeed
by force of arms. For more than two
years they continued the struggle, ex-
pecting every day that something would
turn up in the North by which their tri
umph would be secured.
When hope long deferred made their
hearts sick. and despair was coming up
on them. the Democratic leaders of the
North renewed their exhortations, re
doubled their assurances Of assistance,
and proclaimed that the hour Of deliv-
erance Was at hand. And. on the 29th
day of July, 1864, in the midst Of the
last great campaign. when Grant was
struggling through bloody fields to Rich
mond, and Sherman fighting his way
step by etep to Atlanta, more than ten
thousand Democratic politicians assem-
| bled in the city OF Chicago, and with q
fierce enthusiasm that threatened to
overcome all opposition, declared the
war unconstitutional, wicked, and q fail
| urc, and imperiously demanded that it
should at once be abandoned Will any
| whose front is not of brass tell me that
! this did not encourage the rebellion?
tell you that it did-that it cost US thous-
ands of lives. and protracted the war
for months. The news sunk like lead
| into the hearts of our soldiers, but sent
| a thrill of hope and ordinations of Joy
! throughout the rebel camps.
WHAT DEMOCRATIC MIsRKPEKskNrroN COST.
Every one of these enormous lies that
have enumerated cost the nation not
less thsn twenty thousand lives and
$500. 600, 900. They made it necessary
to raise new armies, to create new loans.
to impose further taxes, and TO lay new
and heavy burdens upon the people. al
ready taxed and tried as no other nation
had ever been. II you would fully com
prehend the work Of the Democratic
politicians of the North. You must read
the costly and bloody record Of 1868.
1864. and 1865. Now that Ne are in
possession of the archives OF the rebel
government. and now that the rebel
leaders are free to tell the story Of the
rebellion, we know that the war could
not have extended beyond the year 1862
but for the CO operation OF the North