The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-08

| activity. The Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth
! Regiments were mustered in by candlelight
| and started to the front before the break
| of dawn The government needed ammuni-
tion-Morton on his own responsibility,
| established great mandatory OF the ma
| terials of war Admiral Foote needed pow
| der TO lombard Fort Henry-Morton fur
nished ii. and the rebel stronghold fell
| Most of the ammunition with which the
battle of SilOh was fought and won was
| supplied by Morton. Indianas soldiers
needed overooats; the supply of the govern
himself bought nearly thirty thousand
| overcoatS, paid for them, and while the
| government waited Indiana's soldiers were
kept warm. Our treasury was. empty from
| the very start-Morton raised on private
| paper more than s4,O000N0. Such were the
| countless deeds of Morton. He the
| Unions flaming sword all along the border.
| He was faith to the faltering. certainty to
the doubtful, courage to the weak of
| heart, and an inspiration to every State
| and every man throughout the entire Ma
| ton.
And all this time men on Indiana soil
| plotted treason and planned his death. More
| than once they sought his life; one time
| their hGllet barely missed its mark. These
| were the only men that Morton ever hated.
He respected the enemy in the field-they
| were brave men. fighting for a mistaken
! cause. But for the towards who sought by
| stealth 10 kill the cause for which he mad
| sent 100000 Indiana boys to battle; for that
| craven organization of infamy and treason
! the Knights of the Golden Circle, Oliver r.
Morton had q hatred hot as the thunder
| bolts of God. Yet when their leaders. con-
demned to death. stood in the shadow of
| the gallows1 Morton interceded with the
! President and saved their lives-so close to
| the fountains of righteous wrath in the
| breast of this tender and heroic man, the
| springs of rnercy,Welled.
WHY HE CHAMPIONED RECONSTRUCT
TION.
| Morton's whole career was based upon
| profound belief in the common people-not
the theoretical belief of the doctrnaire, not
/ the simulated belief of the demagogue-but
| the living, vital, human faith of one who,
| himself, is of the people. That was why he
| was a Nationalist. That was why he sent
| that telegram to Lincoln the very hour the
| President called for troops-he believed that
| the 10000 men he rendered would respond.
| Faith is the heart of deeds. That was why
ne builded arsenels, bought provisions,
| equipped quarter of a million men for war
! he believed the people would sustain him.
| That was why he pressed the ratification
1 of the fourteenth amendment. and, as SEN
| ator, the adoption and ratification OF the
| fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of
| the United States. That was why he
championed reconstruction based as he de-
| clared upon the everlasting principles OF
/ equal and exact justice to all men.
| Reconstruction has been assailed. But,
| after all it was the best. 1t is so easy to
criticise--so hard to build: so easy to be the
| lawyer-so hard to be the statesman: What
| would have been the result If Johnson
|
| have been to-day had the slaves been made
/ poems instead Of citizens? Judgment shud,
ders at the problem this generation would
| have had to solve. Faults in reconstruc-
| ton? Yes. Evil consequences? Yes. Yet
| after all Morton's way was probably the
| best. Let the Gordon knot be severed;
| strike the shackles from mind and soul as
| we'll as from ankle and from arm; pro
| claim liberty throughout the land to all the
| inhabitants thereof" republics can endure
| only when ali men understand citizenship
| and the way to understand 1t is to exer-
else that priceless privilege; These were
Morton's principles. and who can prove
| them wrong? After all the quickest way
to reach the day is through the gates of
| dawn
And he knew that republic can only. be
| preserved by parties. He understood that
PRINCIPLES are greater than personalities,
| and, therefore. that party. standing for
| principle. is greater than any man standing
| for a personality. Therefore he was
partisan: A partisan like Morton IS ore
| who believes in the sovereignty of an idea:
| A partisan like Morton is one who would
| have theories reduced to practice. A par
| tisan like Morton is one whose faith in es-
| sential things dissolves his discomfort with
| Observation-Disclosures loyalty to an eternal be-
lief is greater than his dislike of any tenn
| Dorary representative of that belief All
| the worlds achievers have been such par
| tisans From Savonarola to Luther. from
| Cromwell to Gladstone. from Washington
| to Lincoln. the lords of human conviction
| and achievement have been, for that very
reason. partisans of the cause they cham
| pioned Between the Dartisan of a cause
! and his opposite is all the difference be-
/ tween beliefs and interests between con-
victions and investments. between prin-
ciple and an eXpedient. In this sense Nor
| ton the king of partisans. He was a
| partisan of principle: but he was not the
| puppet of pachine-a distinction ire
| quently forgotten. No man honored a
| conviction that differed from his own more
| than did Morton the incarnation of convlc-
| tion no man so swift and terrible in wrath
| at wrong in his own party than he, it's
| strongest leader. Senator Caldwell was
CHARGED with buying his way t. the fr,s Sen
| were powerful. His wealth was great
other senators softened-yielded. But
Morton chairman ct th the committee ON on OF
| that Caldwell ought to be expelled. and. in
| the face of powers that threatened and in
| f1uences that beseeched. pressed the renort
! so fiercely that the corruptionist resigned to
save expulsion. That illustrates the differ
| ence between a partisan and a puppet.
| like that. Courage and honesty. the gift of
| seeing things. and an appalling energy
| these were the reinforcements which Nor
| ton brought TO the cause Of the Union He
| was bridled hurricane. He was the light
ming, controlled by Intelligence. md he
! another age. would have made men call
| him a seer. Mcclellan called him IAN
| alarmist, He called Mcclellan wicked
| incapable" 1t was question of correct
| vision: Mcclellan could only see by the
| light of the gold lace on his uniform: Nor
ton saw through the hearts of men under
| stood the conclusion Of the SyllOgiSm of
| events, and so beheld the flag of the Re
| A
| experiment in lihertv-saw that dear ban
| ner carrying with it the destnies of his
| country and the hone Of all mankind. sink
| ing from sight in the smoke of rebellion.
THE SOLDIERS FRIEND.
And so, with a passion we cannot under
| stand in these cold days, he spoke and
| wrought. But you understood him, gentle
men, when he handed you your colors and
| spoke 10 you those words of fire at part
| ing You understood him when suffering in
| the hospitals of pain, comforts and cheer
and nursing came to you from the dear old
Indiana home. sent by the hand of your
| great war Governor. You understood him
when the soldiers from other States told
you how they looked on Morton as their
| Governor. too. / know a family of SOL
| diers Ohio volunteerS-yet such was the in
| fluence of that matchless man on loyal
hearts from every State that in that house,
| hold to this very day the name of Morton
| is second only to the name of Lincoln as
! the best beloved of all our countrys civil
names since Washington. This Napoleon
of patriotism was national in his
from authority absolutely reliable that
he made many secret trips to Wash
| ington to strengthen the decision of
! the President perplexed with conflicting
considerations and distraut with the
| double necessity r acting, and, at the same
| time, of holding together discordant ee-
ments essential to success. which decided
! action in any direction threatened to ex-
| plode. / told that Lincoln declared that