The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-20
JOHN A. LCGAN'S NEW BOOK.
"The Great Conspiracy-Its Origin and
History Told by an Earnest Man.
Secession the Result of Deliberate Plot
History of the Wharf.-The Solid South
in Control of the Government.
Chicago Tribune.

Inc 0roat ConSplracy-ltS origin ana HIS
tory by Gen. John A. Logan "a. r. Hart &
| co., is the work of q man who is thoroughly in
earnest. Others have forgotten that rebellion
| was a crime; he has not. Others have drugged
their memories that they might not remember
the deliberate conspiracy which caused the civil
war-the sacrifices of that great struggle, the
unspeakable infamies and cruelties of treason
| in arms, and of more oowardly copperheads at
the rear; the pretended submission of rebel lead
ers at the South; the campaign of assassination
! by which the Constitution and the laws have
been suppressed in Southern States and the
people therein deprived of republican form of
/ government General Logan has not.
| General Logan has been too much in earnest
to polish his sentences. There is no pretense of
literary finish, no effort at fine writing, in this
grim, soldiery recital of fact and yet there is at
1 times real eloQuence of expression and through
out q remarkable wealth of information mar
shaled with the power of one who feels that
others must share his ownantense convictions if
! he can but get the same facts before them.
| General Logan begins by a history of the origin
| of slavery in this country. With characteristic
frankness he states his belief that the fathers of
| the Republic were blameworthy for consentng to
what have been called the compromises Of the
| Constitution
1
nance of 1877, and the Louisiana purchase by
jefferson, he points ont the fact that Mr.. Jeffer
son could not have been unaware that the ac-
| QUESTION of territory thus affected insured the
1 extension of slavery
| The history of the Missouri struggle and COM
promise is briefly stated; and there follows in
| the second chapter a strong review of the early
history of the country in the matter of taxation
1t is shown that the first tariff on imports,
| approved by President Washington July A.
17o9-a date not without its signihcance'--was
next to the act prescribing the oath used in or
| ganizing the government, the first act of the
| first federal Congress.
| The annexation of Texas the war with Mex
| leo. and the defeat of Mr. Clay are briefly re-
| viewed and it shows that the compromise of
| 1850 was quickly followed by attempts to organ
ize the territory of Nebraska in violation of the
Missouri Compromise There follows very full
| account of the great debate between Mr.. Doug
| las and Mr.. Lincoln. in which, notwithstanding
| the authors strong friendship for Mr.. Douglas,
| it wonld seem that the argument of Mr.. Lincoln
| convinced mis- judgment. Thus he says:
But Douglass partial victory-if such it was
| so far from settling the public mind and the
| public conscience, had the contrary effect 1t
| added to the ferment which the pro-slavery
| olgarchists of the Southland especially those
| of South CarOlina-were intent upon increasing,
until so grave and serious a crisis should arrive
| as would, in their opinion, furnish justifable
pretext in the eyes of the world for the contem.
| plated secession or the slave States from the
Union
| General Logan work is in no part stronger
| than in the overwhelming array of proof that
| secession was the result of deliberate and long
| meditated conspiracy having for its ultimate
end the establishment of = separate aristocratic
| government, in which the deteSted idea of equal
| rights should have no place. and of which free
| trade should be the cornerstone Even to those
| who were active in public affairs in those days
| the recital will come like revelation, so
| strongly does the author group facts which all
rel m her bnt aS re
which many have forgotten, and other facts
which now for the first time made public.
| Mr.. Buchanan is not regarded as conscious
| tool of the conspiracy; of him it is said:
"But a weak and feeble old man-still suffer
| ing from the effects of the mysterious National
| Hotel poisonlng-wa now In the executive chair
| at the White House Well-meaning, doubtless
| and Union man at heart. his enfeebled intel
| lect was unable to see and hold firm to, the
| only true course. He lacked clearness of per
| ception. decision of character, and nerve. He
| knew secession was wrong, but allowed himself
| to be persuaded that he had no constitutional
| power TO prevent it,"
The persistent rejection of every compromise
by the Southern leaders is effectively described
| and, after showing the nature of the Crittenden
| and Peace Congress compromises, each com
| pete surrender of all vital points, the writer
| says:
'To spurn such propositions as these-with
| all the concessions to the slave power therein
contained-was equivalent to spurning any and
| all propositions that could possibly be made and
| by doing this the seeding States placed them
| selves-as they perhaps desired-in an utterly
| rreconcilable attitude and hence, to certain
extent which had not entered into their calcula-
! tons, weakened their cause in the eyes of many
| of their friends in the North, in the border
States, and in the world. They had become i'm
| placabes Practically considered, this was their
| great mistake"
! The account of Mr. Lncoln's inauguration
and his touching appeal to the patriotism of the
| &c Fnl10 hxr >aA ~tsN
! deep feeling of the writer is shown:
"How the great and just, and kindly brain
| in the dim shadows of that awful first night at
| the White House. must have searched up and
| down, and along the labyrinths of history and
| corridors of time everywhere in the past for
any analogy for excuse for the madness of this
| secession movement-and searched in vain
with his grand and Astounding faith in God,
| how Abraham Lincoln must have stormed the
very gates of heaven that night with prayer that
| he might be the means of securing peace and
union to his beloved but distracted country!
| How his great heart must have been racked with
| the alterations of hope and foreboding-of
| trustfuuess and doubt. Anxiouly he must have
| looked for the light of the morrow. that he might
gather from the press the manner in which his
| inaugural had been received. Not that be feared
| the North--but the South. How would the way
ward, willful. passionate South receive his prof
| fered olive branchP
So strong was the impression actually pro
| duced upon the people that the conspirators
| themselves found it necessary to begin the con-
test in order to hold the States already in revolt.
| Thus Mr.. Glchrist of Alabama gave warning
| to the conspirators: Unless you sprinkle blood
| in the face of the people of Alabama they will
be back in tie old Union in less than ten days
The next day. says General Logan, General
| Beauregard opened his batteries on Sumter, and
| Alabama was saved to the Confederacy." There
| follows a strong review of the influence of the
| tariff question in bringing about the revolution
/ airy movement and the utterances of many lead
| ing men of the South cited with great full
| ness. particularly the letter of Mr.. Lamar. now
! Secretary of the interior, declaring that ''any
concession by the North will fail" to prevent
secession, and Senator Yulee's letter discussing
| the intention of conspirators to remain in their
/ places until Marsh A. in order TO keep the
hands of Mr. Buchanan tied and disable the Re-
publicans from effscting any legislation. The