USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 8
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In his inaugural address, in 1861, Governor Curtin said : " No part of the people, no State nor combination of States, can volun- tarily secede from the Union, nor absolve themselves from their obligations to it. To permit a State to withdraw at pleasure from the Union, without the consent of the rest, is to confess that our Government is a failure. Pennsylvania can never acquiesce in such a conspiracy, nor assent to a doctrine which involves the destruction of the Government. If the Government is to exist, all the requirements of the Constitution must be obeyed; and it must have power adequate to the enforcement of the supreme law of the land in every State. It is the first duty of the National authorities to stay the progress of anarchy, and enforce the laws, and Pennsylvania, with a united people, will give them an honest, faithful, and active support. The people mean to preserve the integrity of the National Union at every hazard."
Finally, the Legislature of the State passed the following reso- lutions early in the session of 1861, upon the subject of secession, then being actively pushed in the Southern States, which were a fair index to the temper of the people, and which gave no uncer- tain sound as to the course which the State would pursue in the impending crisis : "Resolved, That if the people of any State in this Union are not in the full enjoyment of all the benefits to be secured to them by the said Constitution, if their rights under it are disregarded, their tranquillity disturbed, their prosperity retarded, or their liberties imperilled by the people of any other State, full and adequate redress can and ought to be provided for such grievances through the action of Congress, and other proper departments of the National Government. That we adopt the
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sentiment and language of President Andrew Jackson, expressed in his message to Congress, on the 16th of January, 1833, 'that the right of a people of a single State to absolve themselves at will and without the consent of the other States from their most solemn obligations, and hazard the liberties and happiness of mil- lions composing this Union, cannot be acknowledged, and that such authority is utterly repugnant, both to the principles upon which the General Government is constituted, and the objects which it was expressly formed to attain.' That the Constitution of the United States of America contains all the powers necessary to the maintenance of its authority, and it is the solemn and most imperative duty of the Government to adopt and carry into effect whatever measures are necessary to that end; and the faith and power of Pennsylvania are hereby pledged to the support of such measures, in any manner and to any extent that may be required of her by the constituted authorities of the United States. That all plots, conspiracies, and warlike demonstrations against the United States, in any section of the country, are treasonable in character, and whatever power of the Government is necessary to their suppression should be applied to that purpose without hesi- tation or delay."
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CHAPTER IV.
ATTEMPTS AT PACIFICATION-THE PRESIDENT-ELECT IN PENNSYLVANIA.
S the time approached for Mr. Lincoln to be inaugu- rated, and his advisers to be selected, great solici- tude was felt to know the temper of the new administration and the policy it would pursue. The Congress which met in December, 1860, was busy with schemes of pacification. South Carolina had two weeks before passed an ordinance of Se- cession, and other States were preparing to follow its example. The special committee of thirteen, on the part of the Senate, and thirty-three of the House, to which was referred the all-engrossing subject, the state of the country, presented plans of settlement, chief of which was that prepared and warmly advocated by Mr. Crittenden. But his scheme was alike distasteful to the advocates of extreme views on both sides, and it came to nothing.
As a last resort, a convention of delegates of all the States was called to devise a plan for healing dissensions and preserving the Union. The idea was first suggested by the Legislature of Vir- ginia, which passed a resolution on the 19th of January, 1861, recommending that such a convention be called for the 4th of February, to sit in the city of Washington. The President grasped at this last hope of adjustment, and made the Virginia resolve the subject of a message to Congress. The delegates assembled as was proposed, men eminent for wisdom and justice. James Pollock, William HI. Meredith, David Wilmot, A. W. Loomis, Thomas E. Franklin, William McKennan and Thomas White represented Pennsylvania. Their action resulted in recommending certain amendments to the Constitution, which
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Engley G.E. Perine.
limoncameron
HON. SIMON CAMERON SENATOR FROM FRESYLVANIA
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were presented to the House and Senate, but were rejected by those bodies, as was every other device that was offered.
The party which had adopted principles deemed to be just, and had triumphed on that platform in the late election, was unwilling to yield everything that had been contended for. The leaders of the opposing party at the South, having long meditated a dissolu- tion of the Union, did not now desire to listen to any terms of pacification. Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia, a former representative in Congress, who had been sent to Charleston, South Carolina, in company with an aged citizen, Edmund Ruffin, who made him- self notorious two days after by firing the first gun at Fort Sum- ter, on being serenaded and while surrounded by a great crowd, said : " Gentlemen, I thank you, especially, that you have at last annihilated this accursed Union, reeking with corruption, and insolent with excess of tyranny. Thank God! it is at last blasted and riven by the lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. Not only is it gone, but gone forever. In the expressive language of Scripture, it is water spilled upon the ground, and cannot be gathered up. Like Lucifer, son of the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again. For my part, gentlemen, if Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to-morrow were to abdicate their offices, and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the condition of re-annexation to the defunct Union, I would scorn- fully spurn the overture. .. . I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a personal appeal-personal so far as it tends to our assistance in Virginia-I do invoke you, in your demonstrations of popular opinion, in your exhibitions of official intent, to give no countenance to this idea of reconstruction. In Virginia they all say, if reduced to the dread dilemma of this memorable alternative, they will espouse the cause of the South as against the interest of the Northern Confederacy. But they whisper of reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the Union with the idea of reconstructing the Union which you have annihilated. I pray you, gentlemen, to rob them of that idea. Proclaim to the world that upon no condition, and under no circumstances, will South Caro- lina ever again enter into political association with the Abolition- ists of New England. Do not distrust Virginia. As sure as to-morrow's sun will rise upon us, just as sure will Virginia be a
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member of the Southern Confederacy. And I will tell you, gen- tlemen, what will put her in the Southern Confederation in less than an hour by the Shrewsbury clock,-Strike a blow ! The very moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her sisters of the South. It is impossible that she should do otherwise."
On the 11th of February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln bade adieu to his home and his neighbors at Springfield, Illinois, and commenced his journey towards the Capital, to assume the duties of Chief Magistrate of the country. As he was about to turn away, he addressed a few words to the people, who had come out to bid him a regretful farewell, so full of pathos and Christian tender- ness as to subdue every heart and soften every emotion. After expressing his sadness, he said : "Here I have lived from my youth, until now I am an old man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were assumed. Here all my children were born; and here one of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All the strange, checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon Washington. Unless the great God, who assisted him, shall be with and aid me, I must fail; but if the same omniscient mind and Almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail-I shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now. To Him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that, with equal sincerity and faith, you will invoke His wisdom and guidance for me."
The religious sentiment seemed always present in Mr. Lincoln's mind, and to find utterance at the proper moment and in the most delicate and affecting manner. His words were from the heart, and they touched the heart the nation over. This was the foun- dation of that confidence and trust which was felt for him as for no other man. It is related that as the train halted at Green- castle, Indiana, an aged and decrepit man, the Rev. Mr. Blair, was assisted into the car, and, approaching with tottering step, shielding his eyes with one trembling hand while he extended the other in greeting to the man whom he had made his weary pil- grimage to meet, he said : " I shake hands with the President of
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the United States for the last time. May the Lord Almighty bless and guard you; may He sustain you through the trials be- fore you, and bring you to His Heavenly Kingdom at last." The touching solemnity of the scene, language fails to depict. Tears filled the eyes of Mr. Lincoln and of those who stood by, as the old patriarch tottered back, and descending from the car journeyed towards his home. It was from such simple occurrences as these, that the millions of Americans came to know the worth of Abra- ham Lincoln.
As the multitudes flocked to meet him at every town and sta- tion on the way, he endeavored to gratify their curiosity by briefly addressing them. As his words were flashed over the whole North, and were scattered broadcast by the press, there was intense eager- ness to catch the slightest intimation of his purposes. In his speech at Indianapolis he made this pertinent inquiry : "But if the United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and other property, and collect the duties on foreign importations, or even withhold the mails from places where they were habitually violated, would any or all these things be invasion or coercion ? . . . Upon what rightful principle may a State, being no more than one-fiftieth part of the nation in soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a proportionably larger subdivision of itself in the most arbitrary way ?"
Mr. Lincoln touched Pennsylvania soil on the afternoon of the 14th, and arrived in Pittsburg at eight that evening, in the midst of a drenching rain, which prevented a demonstration of welcome of such proportions as would have otherwise been accorded him. A great concourse, however, hovered about him, to whom, after reaching the hotel, he addressed a few words. He said he would not give them a speech, as he thought it more rare, if not more wise, for a public man.
Until eight o'clock on the following morning the rain continued to descend, when it cleared away; and a half hour later he was waited on by the Mayor and Councils, who formally addressed him. In response, Mr. Lincoln said : " Mayor Wilson and citizens of Pennsylvania, I most cordially thank his Honor, the Mayor, and citizens of Pittsburg generally, for their flattering reception. I am the more grateful because I know that it is not given to me
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alone, but to the cause I represent, which clearly proves to me their good will, and that sincere feeling is at the bottom of it. And here I may remark, that in every short address I have made to the people, in every crowd through which I have passed of late, some allusion has been made to the present distracted condition of the country. It is natural to expect that I should say some- thing on this subject; but to touch upon it at all would involve a great many questions and circumstances, requiring more time than I can at present command, and would perhaps unnecessarily commit me upon matters which have not yet fully developed themselves. The condition of the country is an extraordinary one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. It is my intention to give this subject all the consideration I possibly can before specially defining in regard to it, so that when I do speak it .may be as nearly right as possible. When I do speak I hope I may say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which will prove inimi- cal to the liberties of the people, or to the peace of the whole country. And furthermore, when the time arrives for me to speak upon this great subject, I hope I may say nothing to disappoint the people generally throughout the country, especially if the ex- pectation has been based upon anything which I have heretofore said. Notwithstanding the trouble across the river [pointing south- ward across the Monongahela], there is no crisis but an artificial one. What is there now to warrant the condition of affairs presented by our friends over the river ? Take even their own views of the ques- tions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis excepting such a one as may be gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by design- ing politicians. My advice to them, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If the great American people only keep their tem- per both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country be settled, just as surely as all other difficulties of a like character, which have originated in this Government have been adjusted. Let the peo- ple on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds. have cleared away in due time, so will this great nation continue to prosper as heretofore.
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THE PRESIDENT-ELECT IN PENNSYLVANIA.
" Fellow Citizens, as this is the first opportunity I have had to address a Pennsylvania assemblage, it seems a fitting time to indulge in a few remarks upon the important question of the tariff, a subject of great magnitude and attended with many difficulties, owing to the great variety of interests involved. So long as direct taxation for the support of the Government is not resorted to, a tariff is unnecessary. A tariff is to the Government what meat is to the family ; but this admitted, it still becomes necessary to modify and change its operations, according to new interests and new circumstances. So far, there is little or no difference of opin- ion among politicians, but the question as to how far imposts may be adjusted for the protection of home industry, gives rise to nu- merous views and objections.
" I must confess I do not understand the subject in all its multi- form bearings; but I promise you I will give it my closest atten- tion, and endeavor to comprehend it fully. And here I may re- mark that the Chicago platform contains a plank upon this sub- ject which I think should be regarded as law for the incoming administration. In fact, this question, as well as all other sub- jects embodied in that platform, should not be varied from what we gave the people to understand would be our policy when we obtained their votes." Mr. Nicolay, Mr. Lincoln's private Secre- tary, read : "That while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts, as will encourage the de- velopment of the industrial interest of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence."
Mr. Lincoln continued : "Now, I must confess that there are shades of difference in construing even this platform; but I am not now intending to discuss these differences, but merely to give you some general idea of the subject. I have long thought that if there be any article of necessity, which can be produced at home with as little or nearly the same labor as abroad, it would be better to protect that article. Labor is the true standard of
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value. If a bar of iron got out of the mines in England, and a bar of iron taken from the mines of Pennsylvania, be produced at the same cost, it follows that if the English bar be shipped from Manchester to Pittsburg, and the American bar from Pittsburg to Manchester, the cost of carriage is appreciably lost. If we had no iron here, then we should encourage shipments from a foreign country, but not when we can make it as cheaply in our own country. This brings us back to the first proposition, that if any article can be produced at home with nearly the same cost as from abroad, the carriage is lost labor."
In every speech which he delivered he gave new proof of the honesty of purpose with which he was actuated, and challenged anew the confidence of the people. When he uttered the sen- tence, "This question, as well as all other subjects embodied in that platform, should not be varied from what we gave the people to understand would be our policy when we obtained their votes," he showed that he remembered after election, and was determined to act upon what had been promised before, and gave a stinging rebuke to certain administrations which had preceded him. His exposition of protection to American industry is so clear and simple that the dullest mind cannot fail to understand and feel its force. The special correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing to that journal an account of the progress of this journey, moved by the universal enthusiasm, exclaimed : "Peace hath her victories, and the conqueror of hearts receives an ovation more brilliant than he who leads armies. If feeble words could convey to those who do not see the spectacle, anything like an accurately vivid picture of the scenes now accompanying the progress of Abraham Lincoln, the world of readers would say, with unani- mous voice, that more appropriate honors to a worthy man have rarely been paid than those hourly showered upon the President elect of the United States."
From Pittsburg, Mr. Lincoln proceeded to Cleveland, and thence to New York ria Buffalo and Albany, being everywhere received with the most unbounded enthusiasm, his progress being heralded and attended like the triumphal march of a conqueror. It had been so arranged that he should spend the 22d of February, the birthday of Washington, in Pennsylvania. He arrived at Phila-
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THE PRESIDENT-ELECT IN PENNSYLVANIA.
delphia on the evening of the previous day, and on being wel- comed by the Mayor, made a brief address, in which occurred this, in the light of subsequent developments, remarkable passage : " It were useless for me to speak of details of plans now ; I shall speak officially next Monday week, if ever. If I should not speak then, it were useless for me to do so now. If I do speak then, it is useless for me to do so now. When I do speak, I shall take such ground as I deem best calculated to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the country, and tend to the perpetuity of the nation and the liberty of these States and these people." Had he some presentiment of the peril to his life, which was impending-for, as yet, no intimation had been con- veyed to him of the meditated plans of the conspirators-and was this the unconscious expression of it ?
Arrangements had been made for the ceremony of raising a flag over Independence Hall on the 22d, in which Mr. Lincoln was to assist. A great concourse had assembled. The memories of the day, and the associations of the place, impressed all, and pervaded every heart. He arrived upon the ground at eleven o'clock, and was received by Theodore Cuyler, who warmly wel- comed him to the venerable walls, in an hour of national peril and distress, when the great work achieved by the wisdom and patriotism of the fathers seemed threatened with ruin.
Mr. Lincoln spoke as follows: " I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, and devotion to principle from which sprung the institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated and were given to the world from this Hall. I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that inde-
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pendence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land, but that sentiment in the Declaration which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis ? If it can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than sur- render it. Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of: bloodshed or war; no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, that there will be no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the Government. Then it will be compelled to act in self-defence. My friends, this is wholly an unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called upon to say one word when I came here. I supposed I was merely to do something towards raising the flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. [No! no!] I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by."
Was ever a heart more apparently sincere ? Was ever one whose utterances were more transparent ? When he had said, " Then it will be compelled to act in self-defence," checking him- self, and half conscious that he had in some sort revealed his in- tentions, as if deprecating his words, he exclaimed, "I may have said something indiscreet." But when, upon consideration, and in response to the plaudits of the crowd, he concluded with the words, "I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by," every heart beat responsive to that sentiment, and through the length and breadth of the country, every inhabitant who was moved by a feeling of patriotism, was ready to respond, Amen.
He had, the night before, been made aware by messages from the highest officer in the army and one eminent in the civil Gov-
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ernment, that a plot had been formed to assassinate him as he passed through Baltimore. The utterance in the speech, " I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it," apparently inadvertent, discloses the conviction which that intelligence had fixed; that, conscious of rectitude in his intentions towards his country, he could, with more than Roman courage,
" Smile At the drawn dagger and defy its point."
After the delivery of his address within the Hall he was con- ducted to the platform in front. His appearance was the signal for shouts of gladness and welcome from the sea of upturned faces that was spread out before him. Mr. Benton of the Select Council made a brief address, and invited Mr. Lincoln to raise the flag. In response, he said that it would afford him pleasure to comply with this request. He referred to the old flag with but thirteen stars. The number had increased, as time rolled on, and we had become a happy, powerful people, each star adding to our pros- perity. The future was in the hands of the people. It was on such an occasion that we could reason together and reaffirm our devotion to the country and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. "Let us," he exclaimed, "make up our minds that whenever we do put a new star upon our banner, it shall be a fixed one, never to be dimmed by the horrors of war, but bright- ened by contentment, prosperity, and peace."
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