The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-08-02
General Morgan at Ashland, July
25th, 1871.
SYNOPSIS.

The audience was large aud atten,
tive. He spoke in the Town Hall for
about two hours.
His speech was substantially a com
pend of his st. Clairsyille effort, and
opened on the priceless benefits of good
government, and the necessity of adj
herring strictly to the doctrines of the
fathers and the provisions of the Con,
stitution, that harmony might exist in
all parts of the Union. On the Sc
cession of the South and the conduct
of Mr.. Lincoln and his administration
he spoke substantially as follows:
"Unhappily no sooner did Mr.. Lin
coin become President than civil war
was regarded as inevitable, and South
ern officers ct once commenced to re-
sign their commissions. The inaugur-
alton of the new President took place
on the 4th of March, and the resigna-
ton of Colonel Samuel Cooper, AID.
~iutant General of the United States
Army was accepted three days after.
ward-fve weeks before Fort Stump
Ter was fired upon. The acceptance
of these designations was taken as a
notice that Southern officers could re-
sign and go South whenever they de
sired to do so. This fact emboldened
such of the Southern leaders as de-
sired a conflict, and the destruction
and surrender of Sumpter was the re
suit. What would you have done, my
Republican friends, if, after the sur
render of Sumpter, Southern officers
had rendered their designations for the
avowed purpose of taking up arms
against the United States-would you
have accepted them? think not
Would you not have arrested them as
prisoners of war Had that course
been pursued, confederate armies could
not have organized, and even had they
been, without generals to lead them,
the conflict would have been sharp
and decisive. The opposite course was
taken. Between the capture of Stump
ter and the I'd of June following, the
resignationso Of more than one hnndred
and eighty officers had been accepted,
and the Republican administration
furnished Jefferson Davis with great
captains like Robert Z. Lee, Albert
Sidney johnson, Joseph E. johnson,
James M. Longstreet, and scores of
others of scarce less skill and distinc-
ton. Prior to leaving our service,
they held the highest rank in our army,
and each of those chiefs was eXpe-
rienced in war. This fatal blunder
cost half n million of lives, and thou
sands Of millions of dollars, and such,
my countrymen, will be the judgement
of history. Uncontradicted L have
twice charged this fact on the floor of
the House, and as l held in my hand
there, so I do hold in my hand now,
the official evidence of what l charge
the Register of the Army of the
United States for 1861. And once
for all I desire to say, that 1 will, in a
spirit OF kindness, answer all questions
which may be asked me concerning
the subjects 1 sdiscuss. I do not
charge the Administration with treach-
cry in accepting those designations,
but l do say that, at least, it was not
only unwise to do so, but a s%tupendous
blunder.
THE WAR DEBT.
My friends, the ascertained war debt
of the country amounted TO about
twenty-five hundred millions of dol
lars. During the administrations of
Lincoln, johnson and Grant, accord
ing to MI. Boutwell,, there has been
collected from the tax payers of land
about twenty-seven hundred millions
of dollars from three to four hun
bred millions of dollars more than
the original debt! What has become
of the money? A true statement of
the amount of bonds redeemed shows
that only two hundred and twelve
millions, instead of five hundred mil
lions, as alleged by Senator Sherman
and the Republican papers, have been
redeemed! Here is q sum equal to
two thousand five hundred millions,
to be accounted for. What has be-
come of it? Wa this ~stupendous war
debt necessary?
But to the proof. In Europe as in
the United States, a certain class of
Een have long professed to believe
that national debt is a public bless
ing that debt and capital are the
same. Such was the doctrine of those
who created the funded debt of Eng