The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-09-07
"GEEERALp STEVENSON AS A LOYAL MAN
IN WAR TIMES.

So much OF the policy and conduct of
the copperheads during the war was so
%reDugnant o the average thought of the
men of this generation that a spirit of
incredulity prevails when what they
said and did is told by survivors, and it
is difficult to make the young believe
that men who now claim to be loyal were
ever SO antagonistict to their country and
SO unrelenting against those who were
devoting themselves to the preservation
of the Nation; thus, when it is alleged
that General" Stevenson distributed
arms among his fellow-copperheads,
though attested by witnesses who would
be believed on any other subject, his
general denial is accepted as sat
isfactory, and men who would. shudder
at the thought of voting for n man who
would arm men against their loyal
neighbors in such q crisis, vote for him.
But there was a class of Democratic
measures that became written history,
and which cannot be ~pooh-poohed aside,
and which no man can indoIse, even now,
unless he ia now. as he was then, in
hearty sympathy with the measures and
the men engaged in them.
No man OF woman who was in middle
life In 1864 can ever forget the pail of
gloom that settled on almost every
household that summer. The draft of
500. 900 that had been ordered in Febru-
airy had taken the flower of many a fam
lily to the front when they were not
bic to hire a substitute, as young
Grover Cleveland was; and though the
ultimate result of the war vas not
doubtful. yet the rebels were displaying
wonderful persistence, in hopes that the
oncoming presidential election would
develop such unrest among the people
of the North as to compel a surrender of
the Union cause, so that they might die
tate terms of peace. This was the con-
ditiOn when the Republican convention
met. June 8, in Baltimore. Its platform
gave no uncertain sound. 1t read:
Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to
do every thing in our power to aid the gov
ernment In quellIng. by force of arms, the
rebellion now raging against its authority,
0bo " W jill Wlbn AZ Va "
offer any terms of peace except such as
may be based upon an unconditional sur
render and a return TO their inst allegiance
to the Constitution aud law of the United
States.
The reading of this declaration quick
ems the blood of every remaining old
soldier, and no less of every young
American whose blood has not been
tainted by inheriting the virus of old
time apprehension. Of course. old
copperheads despise it now, as they did
then, but some of them are too polite
to say so. A few weeks later the DEM
ocratic party met in national convention
at Chicago. 1t was composed largely of
members of the knights of the Golden
Circle, and entirely of men in sympathy
with the rebels in arms, as is shown by
their resolutions, two of which read as
follows:
Resolved, That this convention ex Explicitly
declares, as the sense OF the American peo-
DIE, that after four years of failure TO re-
store the Union by the experiment of war,
justice. humanity, liberty and the public
welfare demand that immediate efforts be
made for a cessation of hostIlities. with q
view to an ultimate convention of the
Stat6s OF OJDeT DeaCoaOl6 me6uS. TO IDo
end thatat the earliest practicable moment
peace may be- restored on the basis of the
Federal Union of the States.
Resolved. That the aim and object of the
Democratic party il to preserve the Federal
Union and the rights of the States unim-
paired.
The now "Generar Stevenson was a
ruling spirit in that convention, and 40
enthusiastic in its ''aim and object" that
he was put on the electoral ticket by
his kith in Illinois to go from town to
town and appeal to the voters of that
State to halt Sherman midway to the
sea and Grant cutting his way through
the Wilderness, and to forget Antietam
and Gettysburg and Atlanta, and scores
of other Union victories long enough to
hold a parley with armed rebellion and
see on what terms they would accept
nois repudiated him by more than
twenty-five thousand.
One feature of these resolutions can
hardly be appreciated by the young men
of this period. The only question at
issue between Union men and the rebels
was our national integrity. Then, as
now, the Republicans claimed that the
United States constituted a nation, one
and indivisible. while then, as now, the
Democratic party maintained that the
bond of union was only that of a con
federation of independent and sover-
eign States. Everything else that
seemed involved in the war was abso-
lutely subordinate to this central and
sole issue, and the Democratic party
then, as now, North as well as South,
maintained this doctrine; hence that
convention expressed the true Demo-
cratic doctrine of war times and before
the war as wen as of tosday. when it
said that ''the aim and object of the
Democratic party is to preserve the Fed
eral Union and the rights of the States
unimpaired."
General S~tevenson's part in this at
tack upon our national integrity cannot
be denied. If he has aver changed his
views upon the supreme sovereignty of
the State no one knows of 1t. He is, in
fact, appealing to the people for support
now, as then, on the doctrine of a con-
federation of States, not of q union of
States in one grand nation. OF course,
he will be supported now, as then. by