The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1870-04-08
Who is Responsible for the War.

Who is Responsible for the War.
In the House, on tho l4th u!t. Hon.
D. W. Voorhees, thus briefly but forcibly
refers to the thread-bare charge that the
war and the expenditures 1t occasioned
OF course under the rules, can 0c-
cupy the floor but five minutes, would
not seek the floor at all but for the fact
that have so often heard these unjust
charges in regard 10 tho responsibility
Of the Democratic party for the war and
the expenditures caused by the war.
do not feel that it would bc right and
lust TO the great mass Of patriotic men
of that party TO allow these aspirations
any longer TO go unanswered.
/ have MS much distastc as the gentle
man from Ohio (Mr. Garfeld) can have
for entering into partizan controversies
on this floor. ! dislike exceedingly tol
refer parties by name. But in response
to what the gentleman has said, let mel
call his attention to the great fact that
the organ Of the Northern party, when
the Republican party was only North
ern party, only a sectional party, when
it had no existance south OF Mason and
Dixon's line, the great organ Of this
party, the New York Tribune, when We
pproached the hour of collision, speak
inc the full volumcd voice of his follow
ers. told the Southern States TO go, and
20 to peace, and said that it would not
advocate or support Union held to-
gether by bayonets.
From early in the winter Of 1850 and
1861 after South Carolina had seeded, on
till the next April, when the cannon Of
enemy doomed upon Fort Sumter, the
great newspaper organ OF the Republic
can party continually told the South in
clarion tones that the Southern States
could 20 that there would be no war;
And since the war closed Southern men
without number have told me that they
carried copies Of the New York Trib-
une to the public meetings OF their peo-
Iple, not merely for the purpose OF firing
the Southern heart" but to convince the
Southern mind that they could secede
could disrupt and break up this Union
!, without any fear of war; that the great
lparty Of the North, as represented BY
This great organ, did not mean war, bu1
lmeant to allow peaccable secession. No
only that, but one Of the leading Repub
lican organs in the gentleman's owl
IState, the Cincinnati Commercial, sale
the same thing and the leading Repub
,llican party organ in my own State, tn,
indianapolis Journal, took similar po
! Isition.
These allegations from the leading
newspapers Of the Republican party lur
: : ed the South to secession. They inform
! led that there was no coercion to b
! dreaded, that there would be no collision
lof armies. And more than any othe
7. lone thing in the sight Of God and MAJ
'Ithat fixed the responsibility for this wa
Il lis the course pursued by the Republican
press during the years 1850 aud 1885,
:. 1.-The great and acknowledged organs tha
spoke with authority.
) So far as the Democratic party wa
. . concerned, we saw the troubles approac
: with horror and dismay. 1t was ca
amity that wrung tears OF grief froI
us when We saw the men Of the Sout
leaving these halls aud inaugurating
: s'disolution OF the Union.
= And more than that, when stood upo
!. this floor, on one occasion, oppOsin
!. many measures Of the administration
y and speaking for the Union, closed b
y saving that under any and all circun
y stances whatever, l would oppose di
y solution Of the Union. The Richmon
= |" Whig" and Mobile "Register," Ill
y y several other important Southern paper
= but those two rccollect particularly. d
!. nounccd me by name, as they denounct
:. Mr.. Richardson, OF Illinois, Mr.. Pendl
= ton, Mr.. Pugh, and Northern men wi
- were in pubic life, who intimated TIL
y tile Union ought 10 be preserved on Il
~ original basis Of the Constitution. The
!, !" said, in terms, that the best friends tn.
y had in tie cause of disuni0n were Il
'e extreme Radicals Of the North; th'
!. said that the best recruiting sergean
"a were the proclamations against slave
~ issued by Abraham Lincoln, aud the c
e tremc measures Of Congress.
~ have been impclled 10 say this mnc
p and would gladly say more ii l had tim
or The following soliloquy of a drum
eli man is deserving Of publication. TI
y inevitable over-laden tile comes in I