The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-09-20
MORTON VS.. MORTON.
The Senator's Sentiments in '6S
and ~.
OPPOSITE OPINIONS.


To the Editor of the Sentinel.
SIR: Can there be a more crushing or
effective answer to Morton's bloody shirt
than Morton himself? Certainly not. By
mers accident this morning picked up
political scrap-bOok, improvised by myseli
about 1869 or 1870, and in it was the fol-
lowing, copied from the indianapolis Jour-
nal by some Of her paper. Unfortunately,
] omitted to note the date of the paper,
but the elections alluded to In the article
will enable the politician to fix the year.
The article is introduced by the editor of
the paper from which it was Clipped thus:
SENATOR Morton, through the Journal OF
Saturday, thus lays down the fu-
ture policy of his party: The sentiment
OF the thinking portion OF the
people of the whole country has been
especially drifting toward the speedy OBJ
liberation OF the last vestiges OF tho war
and the return as far as possible and rap
idly as possible to the condition Of entire
and complete union and harmony not
only in the general government, but in
the several states. The elections in Ten
nessee and Virginia, where the disfTan
chising clauses OF their state constitutions
have bees so overwhelmingly repudiated,
have fastened the growth of this feeling
in Missouri and West Virginia. In the
former state the movement is ably led by
Senator Carl Schurz, aided by the Missouri
Democrat and the Westliche Post. In
the latter state the movement was only
commenced this summer, but 1t has al
ready attained such dimensions and such
velocity that it will undoubtedly sweep
the state in the coming election, and secure
q legislature which will put in opera
ton the constitutional plan by which
the disfrsnchisement may be removed.
''This movement, which has swept over
the states of Tennessee and Virginia like
g bosom, has gathered too much momen
tum to be east y stepped. It has force
enough to command dispassionate and
reasonable attention from the r publican
party. Clesr-hesded Republicans will see
that the duty of that organization Is to
lead and guide the inevitable, so that the
work accomplished in the years of blood
and turmoil may not be overturned. IL is
not for the Republican party to array it
self in feeble opposition to this current
and be overcome and borne away.
THE ENFRANCHI-FMENT OF ALL PEOPLE
MUST COME
sooner or later, If we expect to have a
union and live in peace and harmony one
with another. We can not keep bleeding
and fresh the wounds OF the war. We can
not be constantly tearing open the bloody
history OF the past. We can not SAFELY
keep large portion OF the population dis
ebled and DISTINGUISHED. We must bind 10
the bruises and wounds of rebellion; we
must heal discussions, we must walk
shoulder to shoulder in the accomplish
ment OF future and not drift
away each from the other upon the
disagreemeDts of the past. Nor
can TIE Republican party safely
and logically affirm its principle OF equal
ity without providing the way for the en-
reimbursement of the former rebels, who
are to live wi h us. be part of us and whose
destiny is wrapped up in ours in spite OF
all we can say or do" Was Morton sir
cere in These utteTaDces thsn, or were
they not the results CT fear and fore
bodings of defeat in the coming eIec ions
If the party should persist in bloody shirt
appeals ard practices? His appeal to the
party then, was not prompted by msnliness
and humanity and desire for taIr deain4
toward the down-trodden South, but from
q fear OF the loss OF political power,
unle,s the party should change it's tactics
This appeal in favor of right and human
ity was answered by renewed Repu bllcan
victories, and now, that such course will
not insure Republican victory, Morton
goes back to the war era and seeks TO gain
votes by an appeal to the meanest pas
sions and worst impulses OF fallen human
ity. In thus contrsdictiDg and stultifving
himself Morton is simply consistent with
Morton. One thing Is beyond peradven-
ture, he can neither cheat, nor dalude, nor
coax any upright or isir-minded man TO
vote the Republican ticket by merely
hsanting the bloody shirt OF prejudice and
hate before his ewes. He said then,
1--WE CAN NOT KEEP BLEEDING THE WOUNDS
OF THE WAR,
If we expect to live In peace and harmony
one with another. we can not keep bleed
Ing and fresh the wounds of the war; we
ka ofo anti fk.nI
bloody history OF the past. but must ind
up the bruises and wounds OF the rebel |
Lon, must walk shoulder to shoulder In
the accomplishment of a future. Their
destiny is ours In spite of all that we can
do" II that was good sense and sound
logic some i've or six years since, is IL not
equally so now? Voters of Indiana, read |
the above from Morson's pen few years |
since, and see II you don't think that he |
talked then like q rational man, and seem
dDgly with the heart of human be- |
ing. Follow that advice now, and don't |
listen to his insane rsvings over
southern outrsges, crop of which is in
vented to order by carpet baggers in the |
South and sent up into the North to in |
flame the public mird, and thereby infiu |
ence elect ions. In 1868, in 1872 ana now |
again 1876 The outrage mills have been |
started, and the fact that these only grind |
In the yesrs of our presidential elections is |
significant. and rebuts the idea OF truthful |
ness. FslsehOOd can be manufactured to |
order, but truth is born of facts, and don
come to the bidding of man or devil. |
Morton himself don't believe the false |
hoods he retails of southern outrages, bu' |
he resorts to this method now to give q |
pretext for DISTINGUISHING, by the use o
the bayonet, the men he then sought to en-
franchise, blowing hot and cold with the
same breath. / hope, Mr.. Editor, that you
will at once publish the above article frd m
consistent Morton's pen, and by thus le.-
tipg the people see what manner of man
he is, destroy or at least cripple bis power
for further malicious mischief.