Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1871-07-26
A CUTTING REVIEW.
A SYNOPSIS or
Gen. MOrgaf's Speech at Mansfield,
June 20, 1871.
THE FATAL MISTAKE.

have inaugurated secession and
war had Southern statesmen
been satisfied that they could
not obtain the aid of the South.
ern officers, who were in the
service of the United States to
organize and command their
armies? 1t is not probable
Unhappily no sooner did Mr..
Lincoln become President than
civil war was regarded as inev.
table, and Southern officers at
once commenced to resign their
commissions. The Inaugural
ton of the new President took
place on the 4th Of March, and
the resignation of Colonel Sam,
uel Cooper, Adjutant General
of the United States Army
was accepted three days after
ward-fve weeks before Fort
Sumpter was fired upon. The
acceptance of these designations
was taken as q notice that
Southern officers could resign
and go South whenever they
desired to do so. This fact
emboldenpd such Of the South.
ern leaders as desired q conflict,
and the destruction and surren,
der of Sumpter was the result.
What would you have done,
my Republican friends, if, after
the surrender 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, confeder.
ate armies could not have or.
ganized, 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 2'l Of June follow
ing, the designations of more
than one hundred and eighty
officers had been accepted, and
the Republican administration
furnished Jefferson Davis with
great captains like Robert e.
Lee, Albert Sidney johnson,
Joseph e. Johnson, James M.
Longstreet, and scores Of 9TH
ers of scarce less skill and dis
tinction, Prior to leaving onr
service, they held the highest
rank in our army, and each of
those chefs was experienced
in war, This fatal blunder
cost half a million Of lives, and
thousands Of millions of dol
lars, and such, my countrymen,
will be the judgment of histo-
ry. Uncoutradicted [ have
twice charged this fact on the
floor of the House, and as |
held in my hand there, so do l
hold in my hand now, the Of
fetal evidence of what /
chargc--the Register of the
Army Of the United States for
1861. And once for all | de-
sire to say, that | will, in a
spirit of kindness, answer all
questions which may be asked
me concerning the subjects |
discuss. I do not charge the
Administration with treachery
in accepting those designations
but | do say that,at the least, it
was not only unwise to do so,
but a stupendous blunder.
THE WAR DTIT NOT NECESSARY.
But to the proof. In Europe
as in the United States, q GER
tain class of men have long
professed to believe that a ma
tional debt was a public bles.
sing; that debt and capital are
the same. Such was the doc
trine of those who created the
funded debt of England. Such
was the doctrine of Jay Cooke
when acting as agent of the
Federal Government for the
sale of its bonds. There are
but two methods by which the
expenditures Of government
can be maintained. Taxation,
without debt; or borrowing
first with heavy debit and on.