The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-01-27
EDWIN M. STANTON.
HIS POLITICAL POSITION IN 1860.
r Ds<Htsce1tc%s Of the CJoFe of President Bss-
chd1d1I'S characterization.
HON. JEREMnHs s. BLACKS CARD TO rHR PUBLIC.


paper writers have revived Il e scaudalous
accounts " hch began TO he propagated, l
think, il 1862 concerning his conduct while
mem ber of DIR. Buchanan's Cabinet. It
is asserted that he came into that admins
tration with views entirely opposed to those
OF the President and the men no where to
be his colleagues, all of whom. except Holt
and Dix, were in favor VI the Southern Con-
federacy. aud ready to sacrifice the Union !;
that supported by these two be bulied the
rest; that he terrified the President by TIN eats
| Uf resignation into measures which other
wise would not have been thought of; that
! he urged inimediste war upon the seeding
States TO crush GU: the rebellion; that though
defeated in this by the treason of his asso-
| ciates, be carried with high hard other
| points Of soundpolicy that by these hardy
| displays of hostility to the administration
which trusted him he promoted the interests
q w5n the ga itufe of its eneme,
This is the substance expressed in my own
| plain English of many statements coming
| from various sources extensively circulated
and so generally believed that if not soon
| ccntradicted they al likely to be received
authentic history. They are not only
false, but they must be injurious to Mr.. Stan
tens reputation; and they are grossly IN
[
sTAEToN's DEMOCRATIC RECORD
| l am not the special defender Of Mr. Stan
ton aud / certainly would not assail him.
| Before he fell away from the dcmocra attic
| faith our friendship was intimate and close.
| There was no separation afterwards except
the separation which is inevitable between
two persons who differ widely on public
subjects between two persons " ho differ
| a. L-.l;.
TO be vitality important. Our correspond
ence OF last summer and autumn (began by
| myself shows that l was able to forgive
! him my particular share Of the injury he
! had done to the liberties Of the country, and
| he had my sincere good wishes for his future
| health and welfare. His political attitude
! towards the Buchanan administration pre-
| vlous to his appointment az Attorney Gen
| eral is wholly misunderstood or else wifuiy
! mlsrepresent ted. He was fully with US at
every stage of the Kansas question, and DO
! man felt more lOathin2 contempt than be
| did for the knavery of the aboitiouists in
refusing to vote upon the LecomptOn consti-
tuition, when nothing but a vote was needed
| 10 expel slavery from the new State and
thus terminate the dispute by deciding it in
the way which they Themselves pretended to
wish. lie wholly denied Mr. Douglas' no.
| tions, and blamed him severely for the un
reasonable and nischievous schism which he
had created in the party. The Know Moth
! lnglsm OF Bell aud Everett found no favor
Ia his eyes. In the canvass of 1860 he re-
! garded the salvation Of the country as hang
ing upon the foIlorn hope Of Breckinridge's
| election. We knew the sboltionists to be
the avowed enemies of the Constitution and
the Union, and We thought the republicans
would necessarily be corrupted by their al
| lance with them. As we saw the march of
these com biued forces upon the capital we
telt that the constitutional liberties Of the
country were In as much peril as Rome was
when the Gauls were pouring over tie bro
ken defences of the city. Whether we were
right or wrong is net the question now. 1t
IS enough to say that Mr.. Stanton shared
these apprehenslous fully. He more than
shared them; to some extent he inspired
them, for he knew Mr. Lincoln personally
aud the account he gave of him was any
thing but favorable.
Mr.. LINCCLH's E!E EcTIoN
The 9Th of November came, and Mr. Lin
coin was legally chosen President by the
electoral machinery of the constitution
though the majority of the popular vote was
! against him by more than a million. The
| question was now to be tested by actual ex-
pertinent whether a party which existed
| only in one section, and which was organ
/ lied on the sole principal Of hostility to the
/ rights, iute erests and feelings of the other,
could or would administer the federal gov
ernment in a righteous spirit of Justice. or
whether the predictions of all our great
statesmen for thirty years must be verified
that the abolitionists when they got into
! power would disregard their sworn duty to
/ the Constitution, break down the judicial
authorities and claim obedience to their own
mere will as "higher law" than the law Of
the land. The danger was greatly aggra-
waited by the criminal misconduct Cf large
bodies in the South, and particularly in
South Carolina, where preparations were
openly made for resistance. What was the
federal Executive to do under these circum
stances 2 Make war 2 He had neither au-
thority nor meas to do that, and Congress
would not give him the one or the other
Should he compromise the disputes He
could otfer no terms and make no pledges
which would not be repudiated by the new
| administration. Could he mediate between
the parties Both would refuse his umpi-
rage, for both were as hostile to him as they
were to one another Nevertheless he was
| bound TO do them the best service he could
IN spite of their teeth and that service con-
sisted in preserving the peace of the nation.
1t vas his special and most imperative duty
not to embroil the incoming administration
by civil war which his successor might be
unwilling to approve or to prosecute 1t
was undoubtedly right to leave the Presi-
! dent elect and his advisers in a situation
| where they could take their choice between
compromising and fighting. In fact Mr..
Lincoln was In favor of the former, if his
Inaugural be any sign of his sentiments.
sTANToH's POSITION
The mind Of no man vas more deply i'm
/ bued with these opinions thar Mr. Stanton's.
The idea never entered his head-certaiply
never passed his lips-that the President
ought to make war upon tie States, or put
the whole people out of the protection Of the
laws. and expose them all to indiscriminats
slaughter as public enemies because some
iQQiYidualR aDnonO tharo he Jor. - Al.