The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-08-04

A Historical Allnsaon.
l. The Sentinel and Journal have
been discussing the characters of their
respective party leaders with q good
deal of vigor. and. what Byron regards
IS particularly valuable qualities in
popular writing, wrath and partiali-
ty. But neither has allowed as large
an introduction of fact as the political
career of its subject. extending over :
period OF twenty years, at least, would
Mr.. Hendricks justice by an allusion
to his record. He inherited a con-
spicuous name in Indiana politics, and
. wide family influence. These sent
him to the Constitutional Convention
in 1850, where he established his rep
utation for prudence by q silence
which offered nothing to refute, and
an inaction which proposed nothing to
assail. His record was spotless bo.
cause it was blank. He maintained
In Congress, where he went next, the
credit Of being ''safe man, who did
nothing that could iniure his party"
by the easy process Of doing nothing
at all. and he filled term in the Gen.
eral Land Office with the same emf
| nent propriety of emptiness. By this
| time he had constructed SO thick a
! cushion of immunity from attack, that
he became a valuable protection of
his party. His nomination would
deaden adverse blows, because they
had to reach through SO great depth
of service without substance He was
elevated to the Office of Hudibas's
feather bed betwixt the wall and
heavy brunt of cannon ball" and it is
the only one he ever held. the duties
of which required no more than nature
gave him power to do. It made him
the final resource in uncertainty or
distress, not because be could allevi-
ate either better than anybody else,
but because his career of nothing made
him less likely to aggravate either
than anybody else. He was like Nc
Gary's beans in Kape's expedition,
always on hand and abundant: ''Fotch
along the resarve," says McGary.
Hahn t got no resarve," Then fotch
along the beans" And "Old Beans"
has been steady Democratic diet, fiat
ulent but filling, ever since. The first
positive step in any direction he ever
took in his life was in 1862. and he
step at all. SO that he could move, as
In the Democratic State Convention
of 1862, he was strongly impressed
with the idea that the nation would
60 to pieces and the government with
It. and, to keep ground for his own
footing, he advocated Mississippi
Valley Confederation. Vallandigham
had proposed division into four gov
ernmente, but Mr. Hendricks. with
characteristic caution, would not ven-
ture SO far, SO he took quarter of
the bigger scheme Of treason. This
committed him against the Union, but
he wouldn't have gone so far if he
hadn't thought the Union was gone
altogether. 1t was one instance OF
moral cowardice converted by circum-
stances into something like treason
able audacity Still hopeful OF the
success of the rebellion, he stood
complacently by when McClellan's
failure had disheartened the nation.
and Stover's forgery had alarmed the
State, and saw letters of Democrats to
soldiers melting them to desert pub
lished by scores in all the loyal papers.
He saw 2.300 desert in one month in
the winter of 1862, and counted 1t an
increase of Democratic votes, and new
er raised voice or hand to stimulate
duty or resist the rebellion. He saw
John Davis and Delana Eccles or
ganizing open obstruction OF the ma
tional tax and apprehended conscrip-
ton, and he gave it the encourage
ment of silence, for in his position in
action was positive assistance. He
saw Langsdale's cavalry fired upon in
Morgan county by Democratic, when
in service in the arrest Of deserters,
and never opened his mouth in repro
baton of the intended murder and
actual rebellion. He saw Stevens
murdered in Rush county, McCarty
shot in Daviess. and Freeman killed
in Sullivan, by Democrats, while they
we're enrolling for draft under the
laws made by the Congress OF which
he was a member, and the Recording
Angel has not got pen mark to chow
his disarprobation. He saw Demo-
cratic mobs. in resistance of the laws,
Sullivan aud Knox, and Morgan and
Rush, and Daviess, and a score more
of counties, and said no word for or
der or peace. When the Democrats
in the Legislature of 1863 introduced,
in one form or another, over forty
propositions iavoring the rebellion by
peace or an armistice to give it time
to recruit, he, who had been chosen to
the Federal Senate by the same body,
acquiesced When it rejected the
message of Governor Morton and
adopted that Of Seymour, Of New
York, what did Mr.. Hendricks to re-
buke go gross and wanton an insult
not only of the States dignity but of
the cause of loyalty and honest faith?
Nothing. When bill No, 22l was in
troduced, what said he to its inta-
mously revolutionary purpose? Moth
ing. In direct violation Of the Con-
stitution, it displaced the Governor
from the command of the State army,
and all military power whatever, and
put both in the hands of four State
officers. three of whom, Joseph Ris-
tine, James s. Athon and Oscar B.
Hord, were Sons Of Liberty, sworn to
resist the Government IN the war and
aid the rebellion, as Mr.. j. j. Bing-
ham, the editor of the Sentinel, testi-
fed. Mr.. Hendricks never interposed
a word against its passage. His ac-
quiescence strengthened it, as his dis
countenance would have defeated it,
and it passed to third reading. and
would inevitably have become Law
if the Republicans had tamely endur-
ed the revolutionary outrage. When
the conspiracy to release the rebel
prisoners, rob the arsenal to arm
them, and kill the Indiana troops
here, was on foot, Mr.. Hendricks
best friends were in it, and when i,
was exposed no word of reprehensioI
came from him. In all that was trea-
.o~.kDo ~;olonk h1ooA- ~uI