The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-04-09
A DEMOCRATIC CONFESSION OF REPUBLICAN,
WISDOM

NlSDUM.
On Wednesday, Mayor Zolinger, of
Fort Wayne. in a speech welcoming the
Indiana Encampment of the Grand Army
OF the Republic to the inequalities of
the city, made use or the following
language:
To these loyal and faithful men is due a
debt of gratitude, not only from Americans.
but from the world. They were the men
who voluntarily loft home. friends and all
that was dear 10 them. to endure the hard
ships. depriv atoms and dangers attendant
upon war. The results they attained were
never before attained by any army of any
period. They built the Republic anew
and on the foundation of liberty and
equality. The Declaration of Independ-
ence. through their efforts. ceased to
tie theoretical and became practical:
The Constitution itself was amended
and reformed. AMI became. in fact. guar-
antee of human rights. And all this from
the self-sacTlice of the soldiers OF the Re-
public. q eelf-sacrifice that abolished the
human auction block. that made the home
OF the black man as secure from mOlesta-
ton as that OF the white man. and substi-
tinted the reign of the golden rule for that
OF the lash. 1t was for the glorious cause OF
liberty you fought, and those above you
whom the living armies shout. i may say
without exsggeration that he war OF the
reballion marked a crisis In the worlds
history. lt Is almost impossible To con-
ceiye of the results that would have fol-
lowed the defeat or the Union armies.
The significance of the OregoiDg quo
tation lies in the fact that Mayor Zoll-
niger, although he was a gallant soldier,
| is now a prominent Democrat, and that
every word of the above is a declara-
ton of the political stupidity and
sweeping condemnation of every prOmi-
| nent Democrat in Indiana during the
war, and the contest which resulted in
making 1.-THE Declaration of Independ-
ence practical" in the abolition of "the
human auction block" which "made the
home of the black man as secure from
mOlestation as that of the white, and
substituted the reign of the golden rule
| for that of the LASH" Of all tho States
| of the North, in none We're the Demo-
| cratic leaders more hostile and active
] 10 defeat the Union cause aud to fight
| the overthrow of slavery than in In
cratic organizations in Indiana tofesist
| the Union cause, and men were in
dictrd for dislOyalty. During the sum-
mer of 1862 Democratic convention III
this city, attended by many prominent
leaders of the party, adopted long list
of resolutions. OF which the following is
n sample:
Resolved. That We protest. in the names
of ourselves and of our children and in the
name OF all that is dear IN the future OF
| onr beloved country. against tho mis-
| chievous measure OF negro emancipation
| In the District of Columbia.
Hundreds of resolutions were passed
i'll Indiana decouncing President Lin
coins emancip alton proclamation. The
| necessity of holding Democratic seces-
! sion sympathizers in check during 1868
aud 1864 i'll Indiana was ono of the great
embarrassments of the Lincoln govern
ment. The Legislature elected in 1862
| refused to vote dollar to recruit and
arm troops, and Governor Morton OBJ
tanned the money upon his own respon-
/ sibility and was denounced by every
| Democratic paper in Indiana for SO do
| ing. When the amendment was pro-
posed TO the Constitution which pro-
vided that neither slavery nor in
voluntary servitude shall exist in the
| United States" every Indiana Demo-
crat in Congress voted against it. Mr..
Holman, yet in Congress, making the
motion to refuse the resolution a second
reading. When the anti-slavery amend
ment was proposed to the States, q
Democratic Legislature in Indiana re-
fused to ratify it, every Demo-
crat voting against it. When, in
1864. the Democratic national convention
declared against emancipation, de-
/ nounced Abraham Lincoln and de-
manded an armistice, Indiana Democrats
led, and cheered the speech of Horatio
Seymour when he denounced the order
which forbade the shipment of arms in
Indiana in August, 1864, as an invasion
of the right of the people to bear arms
| Attention is called to these things and
to the speech of Mayor Zollinger the
other day because it is sweeping con-
demnatiOn of the policy and the I'M
| patriotic efforts of the Democratic or
| ganization of Indiana, which then de-
nounced the whole policy which resulted
| In emancipation in the most violent lam
guage, and left nothing undone which
its leaders could inspire to defeat the
government and the Lincoln policy. If
the Democratic party now agrees with
Mayor Zollinger in his Grand Army
speech it practically admits that the
Republican policy during the war period
was wise and progressive and the DEM
ocratic unwiso and reasonable. The
party which was wise and right in the
greatest crisis nation ever knew de-
serves. thirty years later, confidence and
support in preference to one which now
admits its folly.
| THE STREET-CAR CHANGE.