Year: 1879

them in his letter to that gentleman To
something that had been said concerning him
he wrote he was entitled to an audience of
readers OF the Tribune having in the winter of
1850 warned the people against secession, and
told them war would come-an unequal, fierce,
vindictivc and desolating war. Many of the
free soilers said if the South desired to secedo
it could do in peace. The people of the
South did not secedc. Because of hostility to
the constitution they pledged themselves to
form new one on tho model of the old. Tho
South seeded because war was made on it's
constitutional rights by the extremists of the
North to destroy its prosperity, and because
the Northern people, through their Republican
leaders, said that secession should be accom-
plished in peace. Greeley said they wanted no
Union pinned together with bayonets. There
were hundreds of thousands of persons who be-
lieved the only way to avoid war was to sccedc.
If they had believed war would result they never
would have seeded. The Georgia convention
sent him (HilD to the provisional Congress.
Tho people believed war could be averted.
Virginia had not then gone out of the Union.
and she issued Il proclamation for a federal
conference. His heart warmed, and he hoped
for success. Seven States had then gone out,
and therefore they could not participate in
such a convention, yet they watched every
movement with interest. These very men who
made charges of intidelity against the Southern
people went to Washington to repeat the pur-
poses of Virginia. In this connection Senator
Hill Tread the following letter:


WASHINGTON, Feb. II, 186l-My dear Govern
or: Governor Bingham and myself tele-
graphed you Saturday at request of Massa-
peace compromise congress. They admit we
are right, and they were wrong, and that no
Republican state should have sent delegates,
bnt that they are here and cannot get away.
Ohio, Indiana and Rhode Island are coming
in, and there is danger Of Illinois, and now
hoo fD, 40 o1> ~, T.. Al.:.
rescue and save the Republican party from
rupture. l hope they will send stiff-backed
men or none. The whole thing was got up
against my Judgment, and will end in their
smoke. l hope, as matter of courtesy to
some of our erring brethren, that you will send
delegates. (signed) Truly your friend,


To his Excellency Austin Blair.


To this letter a postscript was added, saying:
Northern people think fight would be
awful, but without a little blood letting this
Union will not, in my estimation, be worth a
rush."


The representatives of the South must be
trusted. The South tried to avert war, while
the North tried to bring it on. Senator Hill
knew the Republicans claim to have saved the
Union, but if there had been no Republican
party the Union would not have been in peril
and there would have been no secession, no re-
turning boards and electoral commission.


The people want purity and intelligence in
the Jury box, to keep troops sway from the
polls, and they wanted to say to the States you
are able to control your elections, and because
the representatives of tho South stood here as
a bulWark against those who could destroy the
constitution by destroying the States, if you
must have war they would maintain their rights
in the Union. But he trusted there would be
no war. The men of the South would go with
the stars and stripes, the flag Of their country.
The people would take charge Of the question.
He assured those who heard him that the North
need not be alarmed on account of the South,
but they had cause to be alarmed by such
threats as have been made by leading Repub-
licans. The Democrats would take position to
promote the glory of the Union and perpetuate
It's honor. They were going to the people in
favor of the constitution which Madison
framed and Webster expounded-in favor of
freedom at the polls, intelligence in the jury
box, and independence of the States in the
management of elections hereafter. The peo-
pie would answer, North and South.


So far from decreasing the Democratic ma
jority in this body, these measures would in
crease it. AS to another war, the men who
lost all III the late war would not risk it again.
We owe nothing to tho Republicans, said Hill.
1t was through the worry agency of the authority
and sovereignty Of the State which you thought
to-day, not through intimidation and fraud.
1t is not true VIC are solid against the North.
We arc solid against the Republican party.
Why should We not be? Can you wonder? l
will not speak Of the past. Do you think we
are going to love you for the speeches you have
eliminating and slandering us in every form?
You may not know it, but we
arc men. Every vile story of fraud, no mat
ter how unworthy of belief, is paraded against
the Southern people, but matter how good
the testimony of good men we bring to recon-
.10 c,l, L..
cried down. We regard the Republican party
as merely sectional. We join the Democrats
of the North because we admire their course
during the war. We had a terrible ordeal, but
they had one perhaps worse. The fidelity to
the Union they believed in led them to fight
against us, but after the war they met us as
men, and that is why we go with them. If the
South were solid against the constitution, it
would be reprchensible, but they were not.
We arc solid for preserving the constitution
and its principles. 1t is not VIC, but Northern
me men wi, who seek strife, and are :, AGAINST i,:
tho Union. 1t WAS not the Kcpubll-
cans, but Northern Democrats who
saved the Union, and they will preserve it. We
could not help them to save it, but we are here
to help them preserve it. Mr.. Hill said he was
born stakeholder, but never bought a slave
except one, who asked him to do so and he was
not ashamed of that. He would never willingly
deprive human being of any of his rights.
Born and reared amidst the traditions Of slav
cry, he yet wished when secession was proposed
| that slavery should perish rather than stand in
the way of the maintenance of The Union. In
disunion he saw anarchy, horror, the destruc-
tion of States and only despotism. Disunion
| in any form was nothing but bloody waste, a
ruin to all races and conditions of men.


Senator Chandler said this was the third
| time since 1861 allusion has been made to the
letter written by him to the Governor of
Michigan. 1t first appeared in a Detroit news
paper. The letter was private, and no copy
was retained by him. Senator Powell brought
a copy Of the newspaper to him, and asked if
the letter printed was correct. Mr.. Chand-
Ter told him he did not know, having kept no
copy. Senator Powell then said if it was a
correct copy he wished to make use of it; if
not he did not wish to use it. Chandler told
him he would adopt it and allow him to make
any use of it that he pleased. So to-day the
letter, if not originally Chandler's, is his by
adoption. Senator Chandler then described
tho circumstances under which the letter was
written. He had been in the Senate four years
listening to reasonable utterances. The daily
and hourly threat was, do this Or we will


destroy the Union" There treason in the
white house, in the cabinet, Senate and House
bold, outspoken and rampant. The threat


was made on the floor of the Senate in his


presence by Senator from Texas, ''You may
give us a blank sheet of paper and let us fill i


up as we please. and then we will not live with


YOU Treason was applauded in the Senate


galleries, talked on the Streets discussed IL


private circles. There was treason in the de


partments, treason in the white house, trea


son in the galleries, treason every where Th'


flame of the rebellion had been raised; th


Union was already dissolved; the rebe


government of Alabama was established


Upon what basis could negotiations have beel


made or peace convention called witt


rampant rebellion staring us i'll the face9 I


was no time to negotiate. The time for tina


had passed. We had offered everything in tn
way of negotiation and compromise, and ever.
proffer had been Indignantly refused. Thi