The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-27
III 90 II
q PENNsTLvANIA "a

Tagalog revolt. so then every word Of Mas
sachusetts disaffection was promptly re-
ported TO the British government. and thus
helped TO prolong the war. increase the loss
and intensity the suffering. AT one time
the idea OF negotiating a separate treaty
with Great Britain, which. of course. would
be fiat treason under the Constitution. was
actually discussed by members of the Mas
sachusetts Legislature. Encouraged by our
Dl-success in the Canada campaign. the
anti-war party finally called the iii-omened
Hartford convention. on the very day. as u
happened, that We received England's pro-
posals for peace,
Twenty-six delegates responded. They
sat behind closed doors, and their DELHI
erations came TO nothing. Our radical AN
ti-imperialists' of to-day are no more posi-
tive that shall never - able TO ind
Aguinaldo or pacify Luzon than those
twenty-six delegates were that General
Jackson would never be able to defend
New Orleans. When the details OF the
treaty of Client arrived, showing that We
that Great Britain had not carried one
thing for which she contended. the anti
war leaders of Massachusetts We're COM
pletely crushed. Their humiliation was all
the keener for the fearful flashing which
they received from old John Adams. then
four score and more, who. though socially
and politically affiliated with those men.
had parted with them on the crucial issue
of loyalty to the Republic.
FELL ON THE STATE.
with these misguided leaders of the oppc-
sition. 1t fell with terrible force upon
Massachusetts. The war once ended, no
State in the Union was so mean as She
From one end of the country to the other.
says an historian of those times, 1.-THE word
Yankee gecame a byword." A flood OF
cheap English goods fell upon our young
manufactures and overwhelmed them. For
eign ships swept of our carrying trade. A
panic Frustrated our banks. But our peo-
pie got sympathy. Their leaders had
made a terrible mistake, and they were
paying for IL in loss Of prosperity as well
as In loss of reputation. As Adams sand:
so discredited was Massachusetts that
she scarcely ventured TO complain. for
every complaint.b by her press was answered
by the ironical advice that she should cali
another Hartford conventioni"
This heavy cloud which hung over Mas
sachusetts was not lifted until the supreme
sacrifice of lS6l-65 The opprobrium or de-
lection of 1872 prevented our State from
being the moral power which she ought
TO have been and could have been In the
long years of the political struggle for free
dom and Union which followed. As we read
now the tremendous appeals and argu-
ments of Webster, We wonder how they
could ever have been resis:ea, and now. In
spite of them the South could have rushed
on to secession. But aias- II we read the
Southern reply we find that Webster him.
self taunted with having advocated
secession, and that, too, in faS or OF a for
eign power. This charge marred all his
splendid logic, broke the spell OF his
majestic eloquence. South Carolina, ac-
cused of plotting treason. replied holly
that If to leave the Union in time OF peace
were treason, IL were less odious in princi-
pie than to plot to leave IL in war. And.
indeed, is this not true?
Because of this early stigma, which we
of Massachusetts, have naturally fastened
to forget, but which the South and West
have just as naturally not forgotten, IL
can be clearly seen that ii is very impor-
tant that there should never be again
the slightest pretext for suspicion OF
Massachusetts loyalty. Looking back
through the long vista of nearly ninety
years can see that the men OF that time
who were against the war and against
the government were honest men. able men.
learned, eloquent. distinguished for all
public and private virtues. 1t Is impossi-
BILE to speak of them in any other than
kindly way-in all their personal relations
But as even the ablest and best OF men
sometimes err, they erred, and for half
century their State suffered in dimmed
prestige and shrunken influence.
These are not altogether agreeable rem
iniscences But they are fac.s-yital facts,
indisputable facts, known to every student
of our earlier history. The Journal has re-
called them to help its readers understand
more adequately why those who realize
that Massachusetts, was once wrong and
realize the price she paid for 1t, are in
tensely solicitous that now she should both
be right and appear right