resulted in the dismemberment of the Union. The best that can be said of this peace proposal is that it was well meaning but visionary and impracticable. Its advocacy resulted only in obstruction and harm. The patriotic Democrats and no one questions that there were thousands of them in Indianashould have seen that a reunion with slave States had been made impossible by the extent of the rebellion, and in the face of the impending danger to the national integrity they should have subordinated their opposition to the antislavery measures of the Administration and should have recognized that the terms of settlement and reunion could be determined only by the national will after the vindication of the national authority. The arguments and pleas and appeals by which the Democrats sustained their opposition to the measures of the Administration are interesting and suggestive, but the limits of this paper will not permit me to present them here. One appeal against Mr. Lincoln's proposal for compensated emancipation will serve for illustration. A campaign document issued by the Democratic State central committee, after showing that the proposal was, of course, unconstitutional, proceeded to demonstrate, in the second place, that the measure would pile up a debt that the country would never be able to pay. It would cost $1,200,000,000 to free the slaves, and as it was unthinkable that they should be freed and left in the country, it would cost $400,000,000 more to export them. This, added to the debt accumulating by the war, estimated at $1,400,000,000, would present an appalling sum. The annual interest on the bonded debt contracted for the slaves would be $96,000,000. "Reader, have you a conception of a million? Ninety-six millions is about the distance in miles from-the earth to the sun. A locomotive traveling from the sun to the earth at 40 miles an hour would require four generations to arrive. Our great grandchildren would not live to greet it. To haul this load of annual interest would require 2,650 two-horse wagon loads of silver, 1 ton each, and this would be the annual tax we should pay to the slaveholders of the South. A beautiful sight it would be to see each year the blood and toil and sweat of the white men of the North gathered into a wagon train 14 miles long as our tribute to the fell demon of abolition. May God, in his infinite mercy, save us from such a fate and such a sight." A voice from the "Sons of Liberty" may indicate the temper of the extreme Democratic faction-the "Copperheads` whom moderate and loyal Democrats found it necessary at times to restrain and who gave the administrations of Lincoln and Morton no small annoyance. H. H. Dodd, to whom we have previously referred, was grand commander of the "Sons of Liberty" of Indiana. In an address before a convention of the society February 16, 1864, speaking for his compatriots of this secret order, Dodd said: "The great principle now at issue is the centralization of power, or the keeping it diffused in State sovereignty, as it is by the organic laws constituting States and forming the General Government. The creation of an empire or republic, or the reconstruction of the old one by brute force is simply impossible. The liberation of 4,000,000 blacks is a scheme which can only bring its authors into shame, contempt, and confusion. No results of this enterprise will ever be realized beyond the army occupation. * * * Ours is the noble work of preserving the States from ruin and the races from intermixture. In the long campaign against the mass of error, corruption, and crime now thickly spread over and through the body politic, our views must not change with victory or defeat. We must not stand aloof from political alliances. Our political affinity is unquestionably with the Democratic party, and if that organization goes boldly to the work, standing firmly upon its twice-honored principles, it will receive the moral and physical support of this widely extended association. The great boast of the Democratic party has been that it has met and beaten back the party of centralization since the formation of the Union, and although it has never ordained any principles in regard to the status of the inferior races, it has always regarded slavery as a local matter, leaving it to the States to regulate as a domestic institution in their own way. There need be no apprehension that a war of coercion will be continued by a Democratic administration. With the experience of the present Administration, which has for three years, with the unlimited resources of 18,000,000 of people in men, money, and ships, won nothing but its own disgrace and probable downfall, it is not likely that another will repeat the experiment. Governor Seymour should be arraigned for allowing the exercise of usurping Federal authority within New York. The Democratic party of Indiana, too, is a culprit. A Senator, by the mean and contemptible action of a majority of the United States Senate, was wrongfully and maliciously expelled from his seat. The legislature plainly acquiesced in this insult to the State and the party by refusing to return him. Again, our cherished Vallandingham resides in exile, not so much by the power of Lincoln as by the demands of those who are controlling or did control the Democratic party of that State. * * This organization is bound to oppose all usurpations of power. We find our State and Federal Governments overturned. Lincoln's government is a usurpation. Morton's government is a usurpation. I am willing the ballot box shall decide who shall be the officers under the law and the Constitution, but I shall obey them only so far as they exercise their delegated powers. I will not agree to remain passive under usurped authority affecting my rights and liberties. The future to you and to me is death, confiscation of our property, starvation of our children, the forced marriage of our heirs to their new-made colored brethren-in-arms. * If these men be prolonged in power they must either consent to be content to exercise the powers delegated by the people, or, by the gods, they must prove themselves physically the stronger. This position is demanded by every true member of this fraternity. Honor, life, aye, more than life, the virtue of our wives and daughters, demand it, and if you intend to make this organization of any practical value, you will do one of two things-either take steps to work the political regeneration of the party with which we are affiliated up to this standard, or, relying upon ourselves, determine at once our line of action. Shall men be coerced to go to war for emancipation, miscegenation, and confiscation? It would be the happiest day of my life if I could stand up with any considerable portion of my fellowmen and say, Not another man, not another dollar, for this nefarious war." The worthy commander then called upon the "Sons of Liberty" to arise. "The day is rapidly approaching in the which you can make good your promise to your country. The furnace is being heated that will prove your sincerity; the hour for daring deeds is not distant. Let the watchword be 'onward.'" The Democrats carried Indiana in 1862, electing both their State ticket and the legislature. This legislature elected two Democratic United States Senators, one of them to fill out the unexpired term of Bright. The conduct of the Democratic peace legislature, the measure of its opposition to the war, its antagonism to the State administration of Governor Morton, the influence of arbitrary arrests in the State, the influence and extent of secret political societies, the arrest of Dodd and his prosecution, the treason trials, and especially the Milligan case, which was one of the most important in the Constitutional history of the country, all these themes are suggestive of valuable studies in Indiana history during the civil war. But the extent to which this paper has already been carried will not permit of their consideration in this paper. |