The Republican journal., 1871-02-16
NUMBER 32.
Mr.. BLACK TO MR.. WILSON.
ITO BE CoNTINuEn.7


to great weight, because it is coupled with an ac
which attests its entire sincerity. 1t is part o
his certificate that when Mr.. Stantons nomination
as Secretary Of War was sent to the Senate, ht
(Sumner) Immediately rose to urge the coniirma-
ton, stated his acquaintance with the nominee an(
said emphatically, ''Wihn my knowledge he is
one of u.s." Mr. Sumner certainly would not have
made such a declaration at such time and fol
such Il purpose unless he had the clearest convic
ton, based upon personal knowledge, that Mr.
Stanton was an abolitioniSt Of the most viruent
type, prepared to tread the Constitution an! the
statute book under his feet, and ready to go ali
lengths for the subvcrsion of liberty and Justice.
There is another fact corroborating your view
which you have not mentioned but of which you
are fairly entitled to the benefit. When Mr. STAN
ton went into the War Department he immediate
y began to act with reckless disregard of his sworn
duty. He surrounded himself with the most loath-
some miscreans, and used them for thei foulcst
| purposes. Law. Justice and humanity were utterly
outraged. Those who knew him as did, and had
heard him curse the perpetrators Of such crimes
only a month or two before, exercised the charity
which helieyeth all things, and concluded that he
was moved by some headlong impulse which had
suddenly reyolutionzed all his thoughts feelings
and principles of action. But your proofs show
that in the kindness Of our construction we dld not
give heed enough to the maxim, Memo f"pente
JAN tNrptSslnNS. Such depth could not be
reached by single plunge. The integrity of his
moral nature must have previously undergone that
gradual process of decomposition which could re-
suit only from long and sympathetic association
with the enemies of the Constitution.
On the whole, it must be admitted that you have
made out this part of your case. With Democrats
he was Democrat, enjoying their confidence and
taking their tavorS, while he caused it to be we'll
understood among ''men of your school in morals
and politics" that his devotion to the Democracy
was entirely simulated 1t is now also clear be-
yond doubt, that to Southern men he avowed HIM
self a fullblooded secessiOnist. The testimony OF
Governor Brown to that effect is as good as any
that you have produced to prove him an abolition
ist, and you have made the fact so probable in it.
self, that slight proof would be sufficient to
establish it.
Is not my conclusion IA fair from the pre-
misses, that this is the most ''maryelous' impos-
ture upon record? Does the history Of the world
hold all its pages of wonders another case III
which man has raised himself to the highest public
| employments under two different parties Of di-
ametrically opposite and hostile principles by
making simultaneous professions of fidelity to both
OF them? DO not mention Sunderland, for his hy-
pocrisy gained him nothing; nor Talleyrand, for
he merely a trimmer; Benedict Arnold
for he acted his double part only during few
months, and closed it with ignomnous failure. To
find a parallel, you must go to another scene OF
action, and a far lower line of life Jonathan Wild
for twenty years imposed himself on the London
police an honest man and most Jealous friend
of justice, pretended to assist the officers in their
business, and shared richly in their rewards; but
during all that time he was the adviser, the guide
philosopher and friend of the principal thieves in
the city, and to them he constantly betrayed the
measures taken by the public authorities for the
preservation of order and law.
IL. we are QIIeclly at issue upon int question:
whether or not Mr.. Stanton advised President
. Buchanan, before his appointment Attorney
General that war might be legally made against
the States, and the people thereof in which ordi-
nances of secession had been passed, by way OF
coercing them to remain in the Union. on say
he sent for by the President and gave him that
advice, accompanied by an argument in writing,
| which was so convincing that it inserted in
| the first draft of the message, but afterwards
stricken out No such paper being in existence
and Mr.. Buchanan as we'll as Mr.. stanton being
dead, your allegation is easily made; if it be true
it is hard to prove. and though false, 1t Is harder
still to diSproye. The evidence you produce is Mn
Dawess statement that Mr.. Stanton told him So
| say nothing about the danger of relying on the
accuracy of a conversation reproduced from mere
recollection, after so long a time; but | answer
that it is not true, for the following reasons:
4 I. Mr. Buchanan made it a rule never to seek
advice from outsiders on legal questions. When
he was in doubt he took the opinions of hose who
were officially responsible for their correctness.
| He had no kitchen cabinet.
| ,. If he had made this AN exceptional case, and
taken Mr. Stanton into his counselS by the back
stairs and if Mr.. Stanton had furnished him with Il
paper which produced conviction on his mind that
all his constitutional advisers were wrong, he
would most certainly have shown it to them, or
| told them of it.
ty. and the absurd opinion which you attribute to
HIM could not have found loi9nent IN his mind,
even for one moment
4. If he had really entertained such notion,
and desired in good faith to impress it upon the
Administration he would not (I think he could
not have concealed ii from me. 1t would have
been contrary to the whole tenor Of his behavior in
| those days and what is more, very much against
his own interests
j. He did express views exactly the opposite OF
those which YOU say lie Urged upon the President.
He endorsed the opinion which gave on the 2Oth
of November, 1860, in eXtravagant terms of appro-
bation adhered steadily to the doctrines OF the an
nual message, and when required officially to pro-
nounce upon the special message Of January, 1861,
/ bn Sfr l,1.I
equlvocay. In all the discussions upon the sub
ject he did not once intimate that there was. or
ever had been the slightest difference between
him and the other members of the Administration.
Do you mean to say that this was mere sham y?
| Was he so utterly devoid of all sincerity, hon, I,
and truth, that he gave the whole weight Of his in
fuence and power to the support OF 4 doctrine
which he believed to be not only false but pcrni-
ciouS? If he such Il knaye AZ that. then tell
me what reliance can be placed on any statement
he NAV have made to Mr.. Dawes
| III. Did he betray the Buchanan Admini>tr;l-
ton while he was a member of it? Was he false
to the principles that he pretended to believe in !?
Was he treacherously engaged with you in tryil@
to defeat the measures he was trusted to support
Did he aid and strengthen and assist yon in your
efforts to backen the reputation Of his associates
and friends. Before these questions are answered,
let us look for moment at the situation we We're
| in.
! Mr.. Buchanan uoilipis5cd rotnd on AL sides
with more difficulties and dangers than any other
public man in this country ever encountered. The
party which elected HIM was utterly routed
its force wasted by division. its heart broken by de-
| feat. Every Northern State was in the hands of
enemies, flushed with the insolence of newly-ac-
quired power; and after his official condemnation
Of secession the South fell away from his side in u
| body. With bitter remorseless. unreenting foes
in 'front.' and flank, and rear he was literally I'M
supported by any political organization capable of
making itself felt. But he was ''shiel,lel. and
hemed, and weaponed with the TRUTH" and he
went right onward in the path made sacred by the
footsteps Of his great predecessors lie declared
the secession ordinances were utilities; the Union
was not for day. but for all time; State could
not interpose itself between the Federal Govern
ment and individual citizens who violated Federal
laws the coercive power did not apply to a State,
and could not be used for purposes of indiscrm-
nate carnage, in which the innocent and the guilty
| would be mingled together; but the laws must be
executed, and the just rights of the Federal Gov
ernment maintained in every part of the country
against all OpposerS. The whole theory of the
Constitution, as eXpounded by the men that made
it, and all their successors down to that time, JUS
tice, humanity, patriotism, honor and conscience,
required him to announce and maintain these prn-
ciples. They were not only true, but were either
expressly or implicitly admitted to be true by all
except the open and avowed enemies of the Union.
| The secessiOnists of course. had trained them
selves to different way of thinking, and they i'm
medately assumed an attitude of pronounced hos
tilty to the Administration. The foremost of the
| abolition orators and the leading newspaper organ
of the socalled Republican party took the high
ground that the Southern States had a right to
break up the Union II tney pleaseu, anu could not
justly be opposed. But, though they ''lrew much
people after them," and gave great encouragement
| to the insurrectionary movement no man who
was at once honest, intelligent, and true to the
country, failed to the wisdom of the Presidents
views. The President elect endorsed them fully
on his way to the capital, rs he did afterwards by
his official action From all quarters addresses and
petitions came up, which showed the popular ap-
probation of them. Even the Massachusetts Leg
isature, without one dissenting voice in Its more
numerous branch, and by an overwhelming ma
jority in the other House, passed solemn resou-
ton approving them in the strongest language, and