USA > Mississippi > History of the Seventh Indiana cavalry volunteers, and the expeditions, campaigns, raids, marches, and battles of the armies with which it was connected. with biographical sketches of Brevet Major General John P. C. Shanks, and of Brever Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Browne, and other officers of the regiment; with an account of the burning of the steamer Sultana on the Mississippi river, and of the capture, trial conviction and execution fo Dick Davis, the Guerrilla > Part 3
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it demanded "expansion." When the North faltered, King Cotton's statesmen thundered out their treason in the halls of the Capitol; and doughfaces tremblingly and submissively granted their most extravagant demands. Texas must be an- nexed-slavery extended and the Union weakened. That was done and another State joined the conspiracy.
When it was sought to pass the Wilmot proviso, excluding slavery from the territory to be acquired under a treaty with Mexico, it was only necessary to threaten dissolution and the Wilmot Proviso went down forever. California, with a free constitution of the people's choice, asked to be admitted into the Union as a State, but its admission could not be secured until the country was saved by a compromise, containing some fea- tures that will ever disgrace the Republic.
This self-same conspiracy against the government demanded the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and deluded many hon- est and patriotic men into a support of the measure. It was done, but not precisely to its hiking. It was soon discovered that Popular Sovereignty, honesty and faithfully entorred, might prove the death koel . Celavery expansion, and required the administration of Bo habah to fetter, and manacle freedom until slavery old friend: roots deep and wide in the evil of Kansas, The government dal its bidding, and the conflict was as dep lorable as it was terri'de.
Although numeri dly the lesser power in the government. it controlled its offices and i Promise. Having less than a third of the population, it he- ever had two-thirds of the Federal offices. This should have sier ved at; but the labor States were increasing too rapidly in population and wealth, the scepter was dop ating-and dissol utes was immediately, but in strict ac- cord me with alez moogrel poen, adopted as the remedy. To billy pro tre thes athorn mat tor the "consumination so devontiy to be wi-led." Southern politicians thought it hee- egy to break the het the that found them to the government. The way d meat thanh con. The Democratic party was de- ¡tebe lutated. The disruption of the parts was a Hed they are its defeat, that the defeat might bien I to meet the Sathern heart. Lincoln's elec- Male wartest for dissolution. Noch- ing Was hay ward they are the touch of the conspirators. Evitarthat to the warddel to their purpose, they have destrovel. 'Tos the most boring, have been ruthlessly broken,
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MORRISTOWN SPEECH.
and oaths, the most sacred, have been violated without remorse. Southern statesmen thought :
"To reign was worth ambition, tho' in Hell. Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven."
I have sail that this stupendons treason has long been con- templated. The proof of the fact is abundant and overwhelm- ing. No observer of events for the past few years can for a moment doubt it. Why has every recent attempt to increase our naval force, or standing army, been so stiennously resisted ? Why has so large a number of the arms of the government and munitions of war been transferred, in times of profound peace, from Northern arsenals and navy yards to those States that were first to engage in the rebellion ? Why was it, let me ask, that our ships of war were sent thousands of miles from our shores on cruises of almost indefinite duration ! Why was our finances crippled without cause, and our treasury robbed ? But one answer can be given; it was to weaken the government, and strengthen the hands of the rebels.
Our officers in the army and navy had been tampered with ; when treason first showed its head, they precipitately abandon- .. their posts of duty, and disgraced the Hag of their country. Federal officers unblushingly committed the double crime of treason and perjury.
The President to whom was confided the destinies of a free government, freighted with the hopes of millions of free people, retained in its councils men, who were plotting the downfall of the Republic.
Patriots in the Cabinet, unwilling to be longer identified with the destrovers of their country, resigned their positions. The President, while not a conspirator himself, was either utterly in- capable of comprehending the treachery of his advisers, or else he was too indifferent to make any attempt to avert the impend- inle danger. Too long he permitted his confidence to be betray- ed by those who were engaged in betraying the nation To strak plainly. the administration of James Buchanan, while professing to ex ente the laws and constitution, contributed constantly and Ingely to strengthen the hands of the rebels. It gave them the very sinews of war. It put arios and ammuni- tion into their hands, and abandoned our forts, arsenals, and havy vards to their merey. It refused to strike when with a How the rebellion could have been annihilated-it refused to -trille and the government may be lost forever.
The people were loth to believe that the South was in earnest;
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that the destruction of a government so beneficent as ours, was seriously meditated. It had existed so long, grown so great and glorious that they were wont to believe that it was necessarily eternal.
When South Carolina resolvel herself ont of the Union by the action of her convention, it was regarded as but an ebulition of passion. When batteries were being built and forts invested, and the rebellion became a reality, the public was startle i. The people were divided as to the means to be employed to avert the impending danger. While we quarrelled and delayed and recriminated, the work of investment went on. We played effectually into the hands of the traitors. We abandoned Major Anderson and his gallant little band to their fate. We allowed them to be shut up in Sumpter-a wall of batteries to be built around them, without making an effort to succor or relieve them. No attempt was made to re-enforce our own forts, tor fear that such an attempt would endanger the Union. How short-sighted and cowardly we were! United States ordnance were pointel threateningly towards Unitel States forts and upon the National flag -our unarmed chips were fred into, and were hiven trosa our ports, and we had not the courage to recent the muligits. The war was thrust upon the government ; no alternative was left the administration but to call the people to arms in defense of their institutions, vet there are persons whose jitring-m is above suspicion, who are constantly asking what is this war bring prosecuted for? Have they heard that the integroy of the government was in iminent peril? Heard they the lon-mouthed cannon as they belched forth ball and sheil aron the government forts in Charleston harbor? Do these person. know that our capital is threatened by an army of rebei? Know they all these things, and do they feel an li ant d adt a . to the purposes of the government ? No man weel hosp'e De ofect of this war. It is to suppress the rebellion, arant un the I'mion, vindicate the Federal anthor- : the Constitution and laws of the I'mtel :' 303. to the people of the Confederacy. match traitors. It is a contest for the unity not the m bitoi y of the nation. It is a war to preserve !... and preserve inviolate the I is waged to save Repub- la mentation, and a me - vernment for the untold genera- We are engaged in detending
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MORRISTOWN SPEECH.
the honor and the liberty of the people. For these objects only, has the government taken up arms, Are you an American citizen, and can you say in your heart, that in such a contest von do not sympathize with your country ? When such inter- ests are involved, can you refuse to give your warmest and full- est support to the nation ? That these are the objects of the administration, in resorting to the terrible arbitrament of battle, no one need doubt or question. In every proclamation. mes- sage or order issuing from the department at Washington, the object is stated fully. Every act of the government since this struggle commenced, without a single exception, has been en- tirely consistent with this policy. It is charged that this is an abolition war. The Johnsons and Holts aud Crittendens do not think so. They are identified with the institution of slavery, and they make no such charge upon the administration. But the question is asked, what will be done with the institution of slavery! I answer, it will not be touched if it does not inter- fere with the government. If slaves are employed against us, they must be treated as contraband of war. This course is dictated by the great law of self defence. If this war bis a tendency to weaken the tenure of slavery, it is the fault of the rebellion-not of the government in re-asserting itssupremacy in the seceeded States. Neither slave nor master must stand in the way of the Union. This rebellion formidable as it has grown to be, must be suppressed and such means must be em- ployed to secure this result, as the future contingencies of the contest may demand. I have confidence in the integrity and patriotism of the government, and I will not suspect or assail its motives, until by its conduct, I have reason to believe that it is abusing the trust contilol to it by a brave and magnanimous people.
Our country however, is infested with a hoard of miserable grumblers, who appear determined to find fault with ;everything the government may find it necessary to do. It our einigen- soldiery are callel to defend our capital when it is menaced by rebels, they say it is unconstitutional! If the Habeas Corpus is suspended within a district where the civil authorities are in sying t- thy with the rebellion, these men ery out "it is unconstitutional.' I would not abride the liberty of speech, it is one of the sat - guards of public liberty. To the fullest extent consistent with publi good this right of free speech; is guaranteed to the people. and while it is their right is critictre freely the acts of their
.
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MORRISTOWN SPEECH
public servants, there are times when such criticisms should not rankle with the bitterness of partisan animosities. This is not the government of a party but of all parties-and patriotism and the safety of the people forbid that it should be abandoned to the controle or support of one party. All parties are protected by it- broad shield. and all should cheertully unite in its detense. Our criticisms should be honorable and just. and with the single view of strengthening and mpholding the cans of the government against its enemies. Whatever divides and distracts, weakens us and strengthens the enemies of the Union . and believe me, in this contest, we have less to fear from their strength than our weakness. Let discussion be free, but let it at the same time be just. Do not, for party purposes, magnity little things. Let our mantle of charity be board. Be not hasty to condemn. Regard the spirit of the act, and from that judge the at itself. Do not resort to the trickery and cumming of the demagogue to excite the people against the administra- tion, if it evinces an honest desire to defend the constitution, and preserve the liberties of the people. It may not adopt just such measures for the public good as you would suggest, but diferences of opinion must be expected. There is a period in the history of almost every people, when for a time, there must exist a higher law than the written constitution for the wallets of a people is always the supreme law of the land." Swear your public servant- not merely mpin constitutions and statutes. but swear them by the memories of the past-by the blood of patriots, and all that is sacred and holy in our nations history to preserve the Republic. Let every thought and her be for the preservation of the Union : bond every cherry toward the ac- complishment of this glorious result, and when peace is estab- lished-when the country is safe from the infamous hands of the traitor- who would destroy it, we can return again to our party allegiance. Certainly for a time we can forget that up are partisans, and elevate country above party platforms greater mistake can possibly exist, than that when a political party in the conatry saoread- in obtaining supremacy, that for the time bring, the government homes simply that of will party. Admet the Forge those of the theory, and Government is practically destroyed. Band one party or the other mas the assendeney. neither absolves the citizen from his allegiance to the government, nor it, from it . duty to protect the citiem in every legal right. This is the people's government ; they made
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MORRISTOWN SPEECH.
it-gave its rulers power, and can in the way provided by law, deprive them of it. They are the supreme power in the land ; the President and cabinet are bat their agents executing dele- gtted powers. If the government is destroyed it is not the few officials merely who will suffer but the whole people. Let trea- son triumph, and it does not simply destroy the Republican par- ty or the Democratic party, but the constitution and the govern- ment of the country, and all parties sink together into a com- mion grave to rise no more forever.
Nothing is to be gained by wanton attacks upon the adminis. tration. You may cripple its energies, you may paralyze the am of the patriot-you may encourage and embolden the trai- for you may possibly succeed in pulling down the pillars of our Temple of Liberty, but be assured you must perish also in the rnins. Yon many protract this struggle-von may increase the number of the wounded an Ishiin upon the field of battle, but von will live to bear the terrible rebuke of the widow's sigh and the orphan's tear, you can earn the reproach which will cling to your garments through all coming time -- that you aided in the westmetion of your country.
Fellow-citizens, do not miderstand me as attacking any political party; nothing could be further from my purpose. On the 18th day of April, when the carm not the rebels opened spon Fort Sumpter, when the thundering of that fearful cannon- ading swept over the land, the last party tie was broken. Party names and party distinctions were buried, and Republican. Domaverat and American rallied alike under the bright toll- of wir countiv's fing. None Lavo shown a more noble devotion to Because of the Union, than that great puty which was defeated in the late exciting Presidential contest. It has furnished it: : il proportion of brave and noble men to fight the battles of. the constitution. Its Statesmen have, in the main, finaly and earnestly stood by the administration and strengthened its hands :: the-conflict. Democratie fathers and mothers have freely Even up their sons to the country-have sent them to the fiehl i battle to maintain the honor of the old day of stars and 'rajes, it need be, with their lite blood. The leader of that joniy. the great statesman who longht its battles so ably, and .. valiantly, both in the Senate anl on the pump, although now ": inhabitant of the "city of the dead," to getting all the ex i- He past, came promptly and chantilly, with his whole heart and soul, to the support of the country. I had the pleasure of
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MORRISTOWN SPEECH.
hearing the next to the last public speech he ever made, an shall never forget how eagerly the people gathered around him, and how patiently they stood in the midst of a drenching rai? to catch the words. big with patriotism as they fell from his lip -. I confess from that time I loved STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. I tel: that he was one of the pillars of the confederacy. But it pleased the Almighty to call hin from the councils of the country, and at a time when his loss is truly a national calamity. His dyin_ admonition was full of devotion to the Union. He sent his sons, with lips almost inarticulate, the request that they "suppor' the laws and constitution of the United States." Noble senti- ment: He will live longer in that Aving utterance, than in th. marble monuments that may be erected to his memory.
What will be the result of this war? Can the government suppress this insurrection? He whose eve alone can pierce the future of our history, com answer this question. If we are . united people -- if we stand shoulder to shoulder, we have noth- ing to fear. Those who ate lepressal at our losses will soon i.' cheered up. Brave men are rushing to the rescue by the thousand, and to doubt our trintaph, is to reproach the jus providence of Go.l.
It is however saiI that Cotton is King, that England and France must have it in ded in e of the blockade; that one of our important measures of defense .nay involve us in a war with os or both of those formada notons. It is true, that the Gaili States furnish seventy.one per cent. of the cotton heretofore used, and it is equally true that the closing of their ports will seriously embarrass the men det tre of cotton fabrics. But the embarrassment mit te tatar. rary in the nature of things Europe has already fand its attention toward India for the important staple, and was soon be under no necessity of open- ing the American pre- to growme a supply of that artic. In leed, millions ofa res, aby bol by both soif and climate to th production of cotton, matt suit te converted into cotton fields.
1. upon the Confederate Stat. .. ! Procent. she had already been
rthe calivation of cotton ! the crean: . tom 0. .
the Imolie -.
The presen
will give vigor and activit.
to this entert
: www. King Cotton will tin.
a competir, .n.t .. : . of the world more formidable, thay any that his The. The genius of the age w!
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MORRISTOWN SPEECH.
The world could do without it. From the almost endless man- t.ties of wool, flax, jnte, and hemp now produced, fabrics of al- most every conceivable kind, can be made both durable and . heap. Necessity will stimulate inventive genius, until soon a Prostitute will supply its place. It will lose more-infinitely thore than it will make by this rebellion. Thereismoreinvolved in this contest than the mere loss of cotton bales. England and France cannot afford to involve themselves in the present con- 'est, even if every loom. supplied with material by the Gulf States, had to stand idle. To break our blockade, would be to !. Jare war against us; and to prosecute that war would cost " hom more, by odds, than torapport at the government expense, "very person thrown out of employment for want of cotton. It aid be exceedingly bad economy for these governments to pou-ne a belligerent policy toward us.
Then the sympathies of the masses of the people are with the North, and if their government esponse the cause of the rebels, they may have trouble with their own refractory subjects.
Europe has other interests to foster, this side of the Atlantic, Man that of her trade in cottor. The North exports and im- is largely-she teals five millions of French and British .objects. War would ent off'this trade between them and ns. Northern ports would be closed to their imports. The products : our abundant harvests would no longer seek a market in Trench or British ports. Cotton might be procuredl; but it will be at a loss of bread. The United States, broken and . fracted as they are, have still some power left that Europe :acht feel. Insurrections and rebellions ought not to be in good pate in a monarchy that has already felt the heavy stroke of e guillotine beheading its kings and queens, and saturating its with the best blood of its nobihty. France should remein- Lor 1793 and 1848.
England ought to know the precarious tenure of its union. Robert Emmets and Horne Tookes are not all dead yet. > of its possessions have shown symptoms of disloyalty. Hola may become infected with the secession mania, and En- .i should remember that the United States bound it on the
h. t the result be what it may, whether we are reunited or ma disevered people; whether our nation be one of this- Cor States, or of twenty-thive States, we must still continue : ffer of importance among the nations of the world. Every
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NORRISTOWN SPEECH.
year will increase our wealth and our population, and in a quarter of a century we will have attained an addition to our numbers that will more than supply the loss incurred by the secession of the rebel States. The people of the old world know this, and they know, too, that they cannot afford to incur our displeasure upon tritling pretexts.
Come what will, we must now fight this battle to the end ; until we can conclude it upon terms of honorable, perpetual and en during peace.
Let this war eventuate as it may-whether the nation be de- stroyed or its supremacy vindicated, the man who has been known in the loyal States to sympathize with this crime against the Union, and Constitution, will receive the merited execration of his countrymen through all coming time.
Those who advocate secession-peaccable secession as a rem- edy for existing evils, know very little of the temper of the country. It is no time to cry peace ; we must buckle on the armor of the warrior, and fight -- fight until traitors lay down their arms and sue for peace.
No patriot should despond. Our government has not fully performed its mission. The Ahnighty will preserve it and guide it safely through the storms that threaten it. The great future has much in store for us yet. For one, I will not believe that this experiment of a Republican government is so soon to prove a failure. The temple of our liberty was reared by our fathers upon foundation- too solid to be tottering to their fall in the brief period of three-quarters of a century.
With the great Webster I can devoutly pray, that "when my eves shall be turned, to behold for the last time, the sun in Heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dissevered fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States dissevered, dis- cordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched it may be, in fraternal blood. Let their last feeble and linger- ing glance, rather behold the georgsons ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still tull high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lus- tre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured - bearing for its taotto no such maierable interrogatory as. What as all this worth? nor those other words of delusion and fully. Liberty first and Unom afterwards : but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its amole folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, in every wind
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GENERAL THOMAS H. BROWNE.
under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart-Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseperable !"
This noble effort was listened to by a large concourse of patri- otic people. It punctured the bubble of secession. and laid bare the long contemplated treason of the rebels. It is not surpris- ing that such masterly efforts should batter down party distinc- tions, and unite the people on an elevated platform of patriotism.
Early in the year 1862, General Browne entered the United States service as an Aid-de-camp. on the staff of General Thomas J. Wood, and served with that General 'till after the battle of Shilo, and during a part of the time of the seige of Corinth. While before Corinth, he was stricken down by disease, and for months his life trembled in the balance. He was taken to his home and finally recovered his usual health.
At the October election, in 1862, he was elected to represent Randolph county in the Senate of the Legislature of Indiana.
The ensuing session of that body convened at Indianapolis, on the 8th day of January, 1863 The Senate was called to order by Thomas M. Browne, its principal Secretary of the previous session.
On the same day he presented his credentials as Senator-Elect from Randolph county, and was sworn into office. Although one of the youngest Senators, yet he became the acknowledge leader of the Republicans in the Senate. A ready and eloquent debater, thoroughly versed in the political history of the coun- try, and an able lawyer, he was eminently qualified for that responsible position.
The Democrats had a majority in the Legislature of 1863, and they assumed an undisguised attitude of hostility to the admin - istration of President Lincoln, and of Governor Morton. They were opposed to the suppression of the rebellion by force of arts, and wanted to maintain slavery, the Union, and the Constitu- tion as they were. They denounced the Emancipation Procli- mation of President Lincoln as executive usurpation. They Were extremely hostile to the action of the President in sup-
3
34
GENERAL THOMAS M. BROWNE.
pressing, in certain disloyal districts, the writ of Habeas Corpus.
The Legislature convened on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans. About the first thing Senator Browne did was to remind the Democratic members of their inconsistency. Af- ter organizing in the morning, the Senate adjonrned until two o'clock in the afternoon. The roll-call in the afternoon, disclo-e.l the fact, that there was not a quorum present. Senator Browne arose and said, he hoped the further call of the roll would be suspended and the absent members exensel, because it being the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, the absent Republicans were celebrating the occasion, because it was the anniversary of the day on which General Jackson whipped the British; and the absent Democratic members were celebrating it, because it was the anniversary of the suspension. by General Jackson at New Orleans, of the writ of Habeas Corpus. The point will be un- derstood when it is remembered, that with Democrats, Jackson wasauthority not to be questioned, and at that time, the Democrats were complaining loudly of President Lincoln, for suspen ling the writ, a proceeding all wrong when done by Lincoln, but all right when done by Jack-on.
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