USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > First Annual Report of the Ohio Valley Historical Association comprising the proceedings of the central Ohio Valley History Conference held at Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 29 and 30, 1907 > Part 6
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to the practice of the law at Centerville, which had now become the seat of justice of Wayne county, and at the bar as well as in the debating society of the village, he became a leader.
Morton had been raised in the faith of the Democratic party. He was opposed to all anti-slavery agitation. The Missouri compromise had. defined the boundaries between slavery and freedom, and it should be maintained inviolate." The Wilmot proviso and all other sources of irri- tation between the North and the South were unwise. Clay's compromise measures of 1850 were to be a "finality." It was not until the Democracy had committed itself to the Kansas-Nebraska bill, overthrowing all these compacts in the interest of the slave power, that Morton broke the bonds. which education and custom had, imposed, and joined the new party of liberty. He attended as a delegate the convention at Pittsburg. He was a leader among the Republicans of his state and in 1856 they nominated him for Governor in opposition to Ashbel P. Willard. The rival can- didates took the stump together in debate. The contest was close, but Morton was defeated. Willard became Governor and Buchanan Presi- dent.
During the next four years the pro-slavery element won the su- premacy, but the Dred Scott decision and the Lecompton Constitution aroused the anti-slavery sentiment of the North and added to the strength of the Republican party, while the breach between Douglas and the administration Democrats, resulting finally in two separate conven- tions, offered a bright promise of victory to their opponents. To. strengthen the Republicans in Indiana it was determined to nominate for Governor, Henry S. Lane, who had been a Whig, and for Lieutenant Governor. Morton, who had been a Democrat. If the new party should control the legislature. Lane would go to the Senate and Morton would become Governor. And so it was. The Republicans elected both the state officers and the legislature, and in November Lincoln was chosen President.
The new administration was confronted with the problem of seces- sion. South Carolina had already taken steps to withdraw from the Union. Other states were preparing to follow. What was to be done? Politicians were all at sea. Even prominent Republicans cried out, "Let our erring sisters depart in peace, let the Union slide." Morton's voice was perhaps the first to set forth the necessity of preserving the nation by force of arms. At the court house in Indianapolis, on the 22nd of November, 1860, he spoke these memorable words: "What is coercion but the enforcement of the law? Is anything else intended or required? Secession or nullification can only be regarded by the general government as individual action upon individual responsibility. In this matter the President has no discretion. He has taken a solemn oath to enforce the laws and preserve order, and to this end he has been made commander-in-chief of the army and navy. *
* Seven years is but a day in the life-time of a nation, and I would rather come out
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of a struggle at the end of that time defeated in arms and conceding independence to successful revolution than to purchase present peace by the concession of principles that must inevitably explode this nation into small and dishonored fragments."
In the midst of the tumult of great events by which this speech was followed and surrounded it has been almost forgotten by the world. But to those who fell under the spell of its unanswerable logic its in- Auence was lasting and unbounded. It outlined the purposes and set forth the convictions of the Union party during the four years of the war. When the legislature met in January, Lane was chosen Senator and Mor- ton became Governor of Indiana. We must pass rapidly over the stirring events that crowded his administration. State after state seceded. Sumter fell and the North became one blaze of indignant patriotism. Before the news came of Lincoln's call for troops Morton had offered 10,000 men; 4,600 only was the number assigned to Indiana. The quota was filled to overflowing. Morton tendered six regiments more. The gov- ernment would not take them. He knew that they would soon be needed, so he organized them as state troops, and turned them over to the federal authorities as soon as he could get them accepted. He called the legis- lature together. He dispatched agents everywhere for the purchase of arms. The three months regiments were sent to the field. The disaster at Bull Run awakened the North to the gravity of the crisis. New regi- ments were enlisted for three years. Call after call for troops were answered by the patriotic people and by the unparalleled energy of the great war Governor, until the grand total furnished by Indiana rose to the enormous sum of 208,000 men. The speed with which he raised troops in emergencies were phenomenal. On the occasion of the invasion of Kirby Smith and the subsequent raid by General Morgan regiments would spring up as if by magic in a single day.
But Morton's efforts were not confined to raising troops. He took it upon himself to see that they were properly equipped, and did not suffer for lack of clothing, food, nor attention. It made no difference to him that this duty belonged to the Federal government; these troops had gone to the field in response to his call, and he did not intend that they should suffer. His book of telegraphie correspondence is filled with mes- sages following up supplies of food and clothing which had not reached their destination, and with protests against the negligence of incompetent quartermasters and commissaries. He called upon the women of Indiana to furnish provisions necessary for the comfort and health of the men in the field. He organized a system of state agents. Wherever there was an Indiana regiment there was some one from home to look after the welfare of the men. It was upon his instance that additional surgeons were appointed in each regiment. He established a Soldiers' Home in Indianapolis. He created the Indiana Sanitary Commission, and when a great battle was fought, as at Fort Don. Ison and Shiloh, he collected
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physicians and nurses, chartered steamboats and went to the field himself to see that the wounded were provided for.
In the early days of the war there was a lack of proper ammunition and no means to procure it. Morton, on his own responsibility, estab- lished the arsenal and so well was it managed that a profit of over $70,000 was afterwards turned over to the state. Morton possessed, in a strong degree, the military instinct, and at one. time desired a command, but he was needed at home. Dissatisfaction and conspiracy were already beginning to show themselves in his own state, and there was no one to take his place, so his ambition had to be relinquished. When Sumter fell all voices of sympathy with the South had been stifled in the universal burst of patriotic enthusiasm. But later on this sympathy first began to show itself in complaints and criticisms of those in power and after- wards more boldly and defiantly, while denunciations were showered upon those who plunged us into the struggle.
As time wore on and reverses came this disaffection increased. In the Democratic convention of January 8, 1862, Mr. Hendricks declared : "If the failure and folly and wickedness of the party in power should render a restoration of the Union impossible then the mighty northwest must take care of herself and her own interests." In the state election of that year the Democratic party was successful and at the beginning of 1863 the "Peace Legislature" convened. Morton had prepared his mes- sage for delivery, but the House of Representatives declined to receive it, but in lieu thereof passed a resolution thanking Governor Seymour of New York, for the patriotic defense of the constitution contained in his message to the legislature of that state. The General Assembly pro- ceeded to a consideration of the war. Hundreds of pages of resolutions were tossed into the cauldron of turbulent discussion-proposals, or an armistice, for a withdrawal of the emancipation proclamation, for peace conventions to consider impossible compromises-dismal wailings at the calamities of war, at the "overthrow of sacred rights and liberties by tyrants and usurpers," incoherent ravings against the President and Gov- ernor, the Abolitionists, the negroes, the tariff laws, the Massachusetts Yankees-threats of "not another man and not another dollar," mutual criminations and charges of treason and mendacity-a great tumult of words-interminable debates meaning nothing and coming to nothing- much would-be Demosthenic eloquence, loud-mouthed, dissonant and un- grammatical. Meanwhile reports of all this wordy tumult reached the army, and the answer was a series of resolutions addressed to the Gen- eral Assembly. Those adopted by the regiments at Stone river are a sample: "We tender to Governor Morton the thanks of his grateful friends in the army for his extraordinary efforts in their behalf, and assure him that neither time nor the corrupting influences of party spirit shall ever estrange the soldiers from the soldier's friend."
Other similar resolutions followed, but the wrangling went on. It
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might have continued until the end of the session had it not been for a really dangerous scheme for taking the military power of the state out of Morton's control and putting it into the hands of a board composed of men who were opposed to the war, and the majority of whom were afterwards discovered to be members of the secret order of the Sons of Liberty. Bayless W. Hanna introduced the bill. It was adopted in caucus and had passed its second reading. If it became a law the sup- port of Indiana could no longer be counted on in the prosecution of the war. The Republican members, with Morton's concurrence, determined to break up the quorum in the House of Representatives, and the session came to an untimely end.
The Legislature had made no appropriations, and it was believed that Morton would be forced to call a special session to carry on the State government; he did nothing of the kind. He established on his own responsibility a bureau of finance, with Mr. Terrell as financial sec- retary. He applied to counties, corporations and individuals for money to carry on the government. They came forward and contributed large sums. The men who gave their money knew that Morton could not repay them. They simply relied upon his word, supported as they believed it would be, by the ultimate patriotism of the people of Indiana. The interest upon the State bonds became due, and the State officers refused to pay it. Morton applied to Winslow, Lanier & Co., bankers in New York, Mr. Lanier was an Indiana man, and this patriotic firm advanced more than half a million to redeem the credit of the state. Morton also applied to the general government for help. Lincoln could see no way to furnish him with funds. He went to Stanton. Stanton declared, 'By God, I will find a law.' He found one and money was advanced for the military expenses of the State. When the next Legislature met Morton saw to it that all these sums were returned.
Meanwhile the tumult and dissatisfaction continued. Morgan in- vaded the State, and in less than three days all Indiana seemed to be under 'arms. Lincoln and Stanton felt that they had no stronger sup- porter than the man who thus carried upon his own shoulders the whole burden of his State. The political campaign of '64 came on. Morten had no competitor for the Republican nomination. McDonald became candidate for the Democracy. There were joint debates between them in every district, and never was Morton's power as 'a speaker more strongly shown. Able and popular as McDonald was, he could do nothing to stem the tide of sentiment which was now fully aroused in favor of the prosecution of the war, and Indiana, at the close of the campaign, returned the largest Republican majority that was ever given. This was the precursor of Lincoln's election in November.
In addition to Morton's herculean efforts in raising, equipping and supplying troops and caring for the men in the field, in addition to the daily excitement of the campaign, his energies were required to expose and crush the dangerous conspiracy nourished by the secret societies.
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the Knights of the Golden Circle, afterwards the Order of American Knights, and then the Sons of Liberty, which plotted an armed in- surrection in the state, the release of the confederate prisoners at Camp Morton and the assassination of the Governor himself. Morton's agents penetrated the most secret council of the conspirators. From day to day he received information of their designs and took such efficient steps to thwart them that finally this widespread conspiracy became a play- thing in his hands, and by arousing the indignation of the people against it he coerced it into his own services and the service of his country. There is no time here to go into the details. The "Northwestern Con- spiracy" collapsed. Some of its leaders became fugitives from justice, others were arrested, tried. convicted and held prisoners until after the termination of the war.
The new Legislature of 1865 was thoroughly loyal. It made pro- visions for the repayment of the vast sums borrowed by Morton and ratified the thirteenth amendment, which gave freedom to the slaves. The war was now at an end. The flag floated everywhere. As each regiment returned Morton was there to bid it welcome. But soon he was stricken by the hand of disease. The form that was so full of strength and physicial vigor could scarcely be dragged along with cane and crutch. In the hope of cure he took a brief respite from his labors . and went abroad. It was in vain. The disease had fixed its hand upon him and was incurable. He could not remain long away from the scene of his activities. He returned to Indiana and found his party in con- fusion. He rallied them in the memorable philippic at Masonic Hall, and the hopes of their adversaries withered and perished. The new Legislature sent him to the Senate where he became one of the fore- most advocates of the policy of Congress against that of President Johnson. His great reconstruction speech set forth the logic. of this policy as it had never been set forth before, and led to the constitutional amendments which accompanied readmission of the States. To his efforts more than to any other man is it due that the fifteenth amend- ment was ratified by the three-fourths of the States which the con- stitution requires.
As early as 1869 he introduced a measure for the resumption of specie payments, substantially the same as that which was adopted seven years later. He became the special champion of the loyal men of the South, and wrought into legislation all that could be done for their pro- tection. He was the bulwark of Grant's administration. He advocated measures leading to the acquisition of San Domingo. In 1876 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President at the Cin- cinnati convention. Hayes was chosen and there was no one more active and powerful than Morton in his behalf. When the Electoral Com- mission was devised Morton opposed it. But when the bill passed and he was appointed a member he became one of its leading spirits. But these great labors at last overcame him. He was again stricken with
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paralysis while upon a journey to the Pacific, and after months of suf- fering he passed from the struggles of life. While he did not realize the highest aim of his personal ambition in an election to the presidency, he saw the accomplishment of the great purposes of his political life and he died in harness full of honors and crowned with victory. '
POEM -THE FOUNDERS. WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE.
I.
O not unsung, not unrenowned, Ere brave Saint Clair to his reward had gone, Or yet from yond the ample bound Of green Ohio's hunting ground Tecumseh faced the Anglo-Saxon dawn, My City Beautiful was throned and crowned ; Then all Hesperia confest, With jubilant acclaim, Her sovereign and inviolable name, Queen of the West !
II.
Upon the proud young bosom she was nursed, Of the Republic, in the wild
· Security of God's primeval wood : Illustrious Child ! By Liberty begotten, first Of all that august civic sisterhood
Born since the grand Ordain of Eighty-Seven Promulged its mandatory plevin, Which fain had reconciled Human decretals and the voice of Heaven.
III.
Baptismal sponsors gave Her virtuous patronymical and brave,
. From hoary chronicle and legend caught, And blazon of that laureled son of Mars, Whose purple heraldry of scars, (From fields of valorous duty brought,) Enriched patrician Rome with dower
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Of ancient honorable power. The half-tradition old Of Cincinnatus told, Who cast aside the victor's brand and took
In peaceful grasp the whetted pruning-hook,
And drave the plowshare through the furrowed mold, Was golden legend unto Washington And his compeers in patriotic arms, Who flung the sword and musket down, (Their martial fields of glory won,) Shouldered the ax and spade, To wage a conquering crusade Against brute forces and insensate foes : Beseiged the stubborn shade, Subdued their savage farms, Builded the busy town, And bade the desert blossom as the rose.
IV.
Upgrew a fair Emporium beside Ohio's amber flood, as by the yellow tide Of storied Tiber sprung, of yore, On lowland and acropolis, The elder world's metropolis, Along the imperial shore !
V.
Yet not of Latin swarm were they Who hived the early honey of the West; They boasted Borean sires of strenuous clay ; Long-striding men of soldierly broad breast, Of dauntless brain and all-achieving hands, Fetched out of British and Teutonic lands, Schooled for command by knowing to obey, Inured to fight and disciplined to pray, Columbian leaders of potential sway, Survivors of the European Best !
VI.
With brand desire and purpose vast, To purge from dross the metal true, And pour the seven-times-molten Past In perfect patterns of the New, They led the migratory van;
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And every hero carried in his heart The constitution and politic chart, The code, the creed, the high-imagined plan Of that Ideal State whereunto wend The hopeful dreams of universal man, And whither all the ages tend.
VII.
Such the stock adventure brought Over Allegheny ranges, By the Revolution taught War and Fortune's bitter changes :
They hewed the forest jungle, broke The wild, reluctant plain ; With rhythmic sinews, stroke on stroke, They cradled in the grain;
The masted barge on gliding keel Rich bales of traffic bore ; The laden steamer's cataract wheel Befoamed the River shore;
Anon, as rolls the thunder-peal, As glares the lightning flame,
O'er trammeled miles of outspun steel The Locomotive came !- Electron's viewless messengers, more fleet Than herald Mercury of winged feet, Far-flashing, multiplied the thrilling word,
Freedom ! and Freedom !- Freedom, evermore !- Which all the Appalachian echoes heard And broad Atlantic's rumorous billows bore Persuasive to his utmost peopled shore,
Tempting shrewd Mammon, and with louder voice Bidding courageous Poverty rejoice :
Then Westward ho! the Movers found their goal, Ohio, thine auspicious Metropole !- Nor landmark-trees blazed by his hatchet blade, Nor scanty bounds by Filson's chain surveyed. Might longer then suffice as border-line; Not Eastern Row nor Western, could confine Emption of homestead, or sequestered hold
Salubrious Mohawk's northward-spreading wold : A century's growth, down crashed the 'builder Oak.' The quarry from Silurian slumber woke,
The town, advancing, saw the farms retreat,
The turnpike rumbled, now a paven street :-
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With bold and eager Emulation rode Young Enterprise ; keen Industry and Wealth Sought new employ and prosperous abode With blithe Success and robust Hope and Health, In verdant vale where through Dameta flowed, Or high upon the crofts and bowery hills, Above the gardens and the rural mills · Of Mahketewa's brook and affluent rills : Their palaces adorned each rampart green, Their cottages in every dell were seen, O'er which the well-beloved Queen Holds chartered reign And eminent domain !
VIII.
Today wouldst thou behold What ensigns of magnificence and might Her spacious realms of urban grandeur show ? Choose for thy belvedere some foreland bold, Auburn, or Echo, or aerial height Of Sun-clad Eden's blossomy plateau :-
There bid thy wildered gaze Explore the checquered maze,
Unending street, innumerable square,
Park, courtyard, terrace, fountain, esplanade, Gay boulevard and thronging thoroughfare, Far villas peering out from boskv shade, Cliff-clambering roads and shimmering waterways: Lo, Architecture here and Sculpture vie With rival works of carven wonder shown In sumptuous granite and marmorean stone ; Behold stupendous where proud citadels Of legionary Trade aspire the sky, And where Religion's sanctuaries raise Their domed and steepled votive splendors high: (Upon the hush of Sabbath morning swells How sweet their chime of tolerant bells !)
IX.
Seen dimly over many a roofy mile, Where hills obscure environ vales remote, Rise colonnaded stacks of chimney pile, Above whose dusky summits float Pennons of smoke, like signal flags unfurled
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Atop their truce-proclaiming towers,
By the allied triumphal powers Of Science, Labor and mechanic Skill, Subduing nature to man's godlike will; Forth yonder myriad factories are whirled, By steam and lightning's aid,
Invention's yield perpetual, conveyed
Beyond strange seas to buy the bartered world !- Hark, the hoarse whistle, and dull, distant roar Of rumbling freight-trains, ponderous and slow, Monsters of iron joint, which come and go Obedient to the watchful semaphore
That curbs their guided course along the shore. Edged by the margin of the southern River : Now golden gleam, now silvern flash and quiver The molten mirrors of its burnished tide Whereover costly argosies of Commerce ride!
X.
Thrice-happy City, dearest to my heart, Who, showering benizon upon her own, Endows her opulent material mart With lavish purchase from each ransacked zone, Yet ne'er forgot exchange of rarer kind,
By trade-winds from all ports of Wisdom blown- Imperishable merchandise of Mind: Man may not live by bread alone,
But every word of God shall be made known !- Thy voyagers of Argonaut, Enriched with dazzling ransom of their toil In ravaged Colchis, costlier guerdon brought As trophy home than prize of golden spoil : Gems from the trove of Truth, for ages sought, Precious beyond appraise in sordid fee ; Audit of Culture, treasury of Art : Whate'er the Daughters of Mnemosyne In templed grove of Academe impart : Heroic Song, Philosophy divine, Precept oracular, Narration old, Or aught by sage Antiquity extolled, Or murmured at Apollo's lucent shrine.
Here Education rounds a cosmic plan, Enough omnipotent aye to create From nebulous childhood, ordered worlds of man, Evolving Scholar, Citizen, and State.
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Each liberal science, every craft austere, All sedulous joys of book and pen are here, Delights that charm the reason or engage Imagination's quickened eye or ear :- Pencil of limner, sculptor's cunning steel, And whirling marvel of Palissy's wheel ;- Drama. in pomp of gorgeous equipage, Ostends upon the applauded stage Phantasmagoria of the living Age; And, by celestial votaries attended, Impassioned Music, from the spheres descended, Abiding here in the tutelar control, Commands orchestral diapasons pour
Exalted figure and symphony along Resounding aisle and bannered corridor ; Or, while the organ's mellow thunders roll, She bids enraptured voices thrill the soul With heaven-born harmony of choral song !
XI.
O Cincinnati! whom the Pioneers,
How many weary lustrums long ago, With orisons and dedicated tears.
Blest. kneeling when the pure December snow Melted, for pity, into drops of Spring, My heart renews their throbbing fervor now, Their toil. their love, their hope, remembering, I breathe their patriotic ardor and their vow, Their exultation and prophetic faith I sing !- For they were Freedom's vanguard, and they bore Her starry flag and led her empire West, Ere yet the wounds of sacrificial war Had healed upon thy Mother-Country's breast ; Courageous they and loyal! evermore Bold for The people! valorous and strong Against embattled Myrmidons of Wrong : Forever honorable, true, and just ! Historial years above their crumbling dust, On wings of peace and wings of war have flown. Returning AAprils green and grateful sod
There where with hands that knew the ax to wield They pledged a log-hewn temple unto God
Or ere they thrice had husked the ripened field Or promised harvest o'er the tilth had sown : Seers. Legislators, Politicians, these,
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