The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-04
travesty on the justice and impartiality of
the Almighty.

denied him the blessings of education, had
surrounded him with the darkness Of super
stition, instilling into his benighted under
standing mysterious creeds and dogmas,
the purposes of which were to strengthen
their right 10 rule and control him. They
taxed the very sweat of his brow and stole
his hard-earned wages under the false pre-
lenses thus created. They marched him OF
70 the field of carnage and death. to fight
Tor something in which he had no interest,",
10 crafty their avarice and ambition. lie
was compelled TO accept somebody's creed
and worship the kind of god another had
created Tor him and pay heavily TOT TINS
forced service He was taxed without rep
resentatiOn, and when his money was taken
from him he had no voice in its eXpendi-
ture. If any man claimed the right 10 as
sert his manhood and made an open p-o-
test against the invasion of his rights, II
he dared thus to think and speak for HIM
self the rack. or the gibbet. or the fagot be-
came his portion In short, it was serfdom
or slavery without hope for himself or MS
children. This is the condition of the great
mass Of the human race to-day. If the
colors on the map of the world were Sc
lected to exhibit the exact status Of hu-
man rights the blackneSs of injustice, cruel
~ and oppression would cast their norrd
shadows on the page.
But the great battle of the revolution in
TINS country came and the world looked
on in wonder. After a long and bitter
struggle victory perched on the banner OF
the common man. Thrice is he armed who
great conflict 1t more than a
test for the rights Of the colonists. Incom-
paraDly more. The men who followed
Washington were unconsciously fighting
the battles for oppressed humanity for all
time TO come. They fought for the only
Kind OF government that is worthy the
name, a government, as Abraham Lincoln
said, "of the people, by the people and for
the people. The contest came at most
prOpltious time for the colonists. Had Eng
| land had the benefit of a submarine tee-
graph to daily tell the tale of the poverty
and weakness and often the depression of
| the patriots, and in addition had The aid
| OF the swift steamships OF the present time
| she might have struck blow that would
nave postponed the victory for a century.
Had George III, the British King not been
| an lmbecile, sometimes sane and sometimes
| insane, there might have been concessions
made and compromises accepted that would
nave saved England the disgrace of entire
| defeat, and to-day we might, instead OF
chanting the praises Of George Washing
| ton and his low-patriots have been Join
| ing with the Canadians in singing God
| Save the King" The colonists commenced
| their life in this new land not as adj
VenturerS to acquire wealth, but to have
| civil and religious liberty. They were of
| that noble race the Anglo-Saxon, a race
| that would seem predestinated to give lam
| guage, literature. legislation, law and lib
erty to the world.
| A STAND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
1t was the very time and a new CONT
| nent the very place and our brave revolu-
| tionary sires the very men to make the
stand for human rights The formation of
| the American Union and the adoption of
| the Constitution by the several States,
creating a national government, gave our
| country place among the family Of ma
| tons. The monarchists of the old world
! jeered at the experiment OF a nation
| founded on universal suffrage, with no
| standing army, but depending entirely
| the citizen soldiery TO maintain order. Their
prophets of evil proclaimed that such
government would dissolve when internal
| strife came to test its coherency, that it
was too weak to stand the strain of civil
| war, that the mob would control She gov
eminent. But the unparalleled growth OF
| the Nation in wealth, population and in
| telligence won the respect of all other gov
ernments and challenged the admiration
| or the thoughtful people of the civilized
| world.
The cupidity of the British slave trader
! had forced on the colonies the curse OF
human bondage, which was such an inCOn-
4 gru1ty with our free institutions that il
brought on the great civil war of 1861. And
when that great conflict came the mon
archs and despOts rejoiced i'm the hope that
their prophecies would be fulfilled and that
| they could point TO our failure of self
government to secure more willing submis-
/ sion OF their subjects to their autOcratic
| demands. The success of our Republic Tor
| more than three-quarters of a century had
| commended itself to the intelligence OF
every land and cline. 1t had so permca ted
| the masses that many a monarch was com
| PEELED to abandon some offensive royal pre-
| rOga tive, was forced TO loosen some chain
| of tyranny and to lift some burden from
! the shoulders of oppressed humanity TO
| prevent threatened revolution. The quick
| response of the loyal millions who took I'D
| arms to defend the flag and maintain the
| integrity of the Union and perpetuate the
| Republic was revelation of strength and
| patriotic devotion that made the European
| powers hesitate to give recognition TO tire
| so-called Southern Confederacy. Prudence
! suggested it best not to offend the Repub-
/ = how 1fer1f a
| disintegration and destruction. And again
| the purposes of the belligerents being to
establish government to perpetuate the
| curse or human bondage, were at war with
! the moral sense and Christianity of the
| age and would meet with the condemnation
lied world.
So the powers waited for a time when the
| depleted ranks of our armies during the
! long and bitter contest would not be filled
| and our defeat would seem certain, and
then England, who had secretly aided the
Confederacy in munitions of and in
| fitting out cruisers to prey on our com
merce, would no doubt have recognized
| and perhaps openly espoused the cause OF
! the belligerents. Those of who were
| active participants in the civil war and.
were all the time cognizant of existing
| conditions had grave reasons TO fear sucn
a time might come. The pubic debt was
| increasing at the rate of more than 81 DO1 =
600 each day. The value of The currency
was rapidly and constantly depreoiatiag
The business of the country was democrat
L
| future as well as by the constant fluctua-
| lions in the value Of our money Sorrow
| and bereavement had come to countless
| homes. The conditions were such AS 70 fiji
| the bravest heart with doubt and despon-
| dency.
| STRONG MEN NEEDED
Every intelligent and loyal American in
| those darker days was watching every line
OF action. was noting the efficiency Of every
| department of the government. tf.en
| seriously impressed II there should be at
any time failure at any point all would
| be lost. While the very abIest ma ne cement
| Of our foreign relations in the State De-
| partment and so in the war. navy and
| treasury was Of the utmost consequence
yet not less than all of these was the i'm
portance of wise. energetic and PROMPT
support of the executives of the several
| States
Fortunately for the Nation all the Ioval
| states had at this critical period strong men
J at the head OF their state governments
! But for this | doubt not but the Union
| pride and glory OF Indiana that Oliver p
| Morton was without a peer st that period
| as a war Governor. Long before the con-
clusiou of the war that fact was universal
| ly conceded. He was the model state exeeu-
| tive OF the civil and the main sun
port OF the administration during that
| crisis. No Governor had more embarra S.
! ing environments. The people of KenruclS,y
were about equally divided in their support
| or the Union and the COnfederacv Their
| Governor favored disunion and bitterly on
| nos irasnr NFafs .r.Is,