The Great North Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details
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I. Windslow Ayer >> The Great North Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details
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_Resolved_, That this Board has heard with mingled sentiments of grief and
horror of the foul assassination, by accursed traitors, of Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States.
_Resolved_, That we mourn in the deepest sorrow his loss as a national
calamity. His persevering and devoted patriotism through the dark days of
the Republic; his wisdom alike in the hour of trial and triumph, have
embalmed his memory in the hearts of his countrymen, and encircled his
fame with a glory which time can never tarnish.
_Resolved_, That in this infernal act we see but another instance of the
demoniac hate of the slave power, arrested by the strong arm of the
government, under the heaven inspired leadership of Abraham Lincoln, in
its career of treason, murder and despotism; and we are admonished anew to
insist upon no compromise with the infamy, and upon the condign punishment
by the mailed hand of power, and the strong arm of the law, of treason and
its abettors, wherever found.
_Resolved_, That in our capacity of business men and citizens, we vow
eternal hate to the treachery and treason of the rebellion, which, in
addition to its before unnumbered crimes, has added the cowardly
assassination of Abraham Lincoln in the vain hope of destroying this
Republic.
_Resolved_, That in deep humiliation, we bow before the God of battles and
of Nations, and, in this hour of our grand triumph and overwhelming
sorrow, we reverently consign to His all-guiding wisdom the destiny of
this Republic, and pray Him still to have it in His holy keeping.
_Resolved_, That the members of this Board, who have, from the war's
beginning, felt it their duty, as it has been their privilege and their
pride, to stand by the nation and its President and all its constituted
leaders, loyally aiding and encouraging, as they could, the Cabinet and
the Army in the gigantic struggle of the past four years, do now solemnly,
unitedly, in the presence of Almighty God, and in humble reliance on the
Divine help, pledge our full, unreserved, and trusting support to the
Government of these United States, and to the men who now constitutionally
succeed to the authority and powers, now laid down by the great and good
man, who has fallen a precious and holy sacrifice on the altar of his
country. And the members of this Board, in making this solemn pledge, do
the same, not for themselves only, but in behalf of the loyal and
patriotic people of the North-west, who have freely offered their
first-born, and best beloved for their country's existence, security and
honor.
_Resolved_, That the members of this Board express their profound and
respectful sympathy with the bereaved family of the deceased, and with the
associates of the departed in the Cabinet, as well as all the members of
the national councils, in the tragic and deplorable events in which they
share so largely.
CHAP. XVIII.
HYPOCRISY OF COPPERHEAD NEWSPAPERS--COMPLICITY WITH ASSASSINATION--THE
LEADERS AND THEIR VICTIMS.
During the month of February, by Executive clemency, a number of
Copperheads were released from confinement in Washington, where they had
been placed as a measure of public safety. The _Times_ published, and
other Copperhead papers echoed the following. That paper now, in a very
pious spirit, piteously urges, and the prints of like character also echo
it, that "there should be no more party strife," "no more rancor," that it
has not stabbed the President since he was shot, and the office is now
draped with deep mourning. Aminadab Sleek is going to them as a comforter,
and as tears mitigate woe, he bears with him an onion. The _Times_ says:
"We submit that this fact should damn this Administration, not only for
all time, but, if there be justice hereafter, to all eternity. There is
not a single civilized government in existence to-day, against which can
be charged a similar display of tyranny. With the title of being the
freest government of modern ages, we have shown ourselves to be one whose
disregard of right and whose outrageous assumptions of power are only
paralleled in the reign of despots.
The liberty of fifty men may seem a small affair; but the matter has not
so much reference to the magnitude of the offence as it has to the
principle which underlies it. The moment Mr. Lincoln, or Mr. Seward, or
any other man, dares to deprive one person of his liberty without due
process of law, that moment has the government been changed from one of
the people to an autocracy--a tyranny. If any man to-day is free in this
country, it is not because he is a good citizen, surrounded by the
protection of the laws, but simply because Seward or Lincoln has not
chosen to order his incarceration.
The epitaph of posterity upon this people is easily anticipated. It will
be--died 24,000,000 of whites, who lost their liberties and lives in an
attempt to give a fictitious freedom to 4,000,000 negroes."
_"Sic semper tyrannis!"_ exclaims Booth, who has read the above article,
and the mission of the _Times_ is accomplished, and it now wants "no more
party rancor."
"Out of my sight thou serpent! That name best
Befits thee with him leagu'd, thyself as false!"
The palpable HYPOCRISY of rebel sympathizers, can now only excite
contempt. Who that read the evidence of Clement L. Vallandigham, before
the military commission in Cincinnati, gave him credit for sincerity when
he said substantially had he supposed there was a plot against the
Government, he would have been the first to oppose or expose it. Have the
people forgotten Mr. Vallandigham's record? Have his Dayton neighbors
forgotten his cry of "Ocoon," the cry of distress of the Order to which he
belonged, and which was to summon Sons of Liberty to his rescue, when
arrested by the Government? Have they forgotten Vallandigham's visit to
Fulton county, Illinois, during the autumn of 1864, and its consequences?
This county was the stamping ground of the leaders of the treasonable
organization, which has been dissected, and whose head and heart are now
in a state of decomposition. In that county Assistant Provost Marshal
Phelps was shot, there too enrolling officer Criss was shot; in that
county is Lewiston, where resides S. Corning Judd, Esq., the Grand
Commander of the Sons of Liberty in the State of Illinois. C.L.
Vallandigham was the Supreme Commander of the Order in the United States.
This Order inaugurated the new warfare at the instance of the Southern
rebel leaders--inaugurated assassination. This order began with Provost
Marshals and enrolling officers, and ended--if indeed the loyal people
_will_ it to have ended--with the assassination of the best, the wisest,
the most deeply loved President since the immortal Washington. It is the
education of Copperhead prints, and Copperhead secret societies that has
fitted the instruments of death, and our indulgence which has fostered
them.
Vallandigham's party had been defeated, his greatness had departed, and to
wheel into line and "keep step to the music of the Union," was not for
him, and as Milton's creation once exclaimed, so might he have uttered:
"And in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell;
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
But wherefore let me then our faithful friends,
The associates and co-partners of our loss,
Lie thus astonished on the oblivion pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy mansion; or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regained in heaven, or what more lost in hell."
And so Clement L. Vallandigham became Supreme Commander of the Sons of
Liberty.
Who is S. Corning Judd, who testifies before the Commission that _"the
organization_ (Sons of Liberty) _was being used in Indiana and Missouri
for improper purposes"?_ Who is he that says the organization in Chicago
"was looked upon by many of the leaders with great distrust; many of those
connected with the order in Chicago were radical, extreme men, and
understood to be men of little standing or character"? that one of the
delegates from Missouri stated his belief that the order in that State was
in favor of "giving aid and comfort to the Confederates"? When Judd made
these statements upon the stand, all loyal papers, with one accord,
declared that the evidence fully warranted the arrests, in the manner and
at the time they were made. No fair-minded man _then_ could come to any
other conclusion. Who, we ask, is S. Corning Judd? Stump-speakers, last
fall, would have said that he was the "Democratic" candidate for
Lieutenant Governor--and so he was. The Gubernatorial ticket bore the name
of James C. Robinson for Governor, and S. Corning Judd for Lieutenant
Governor--the former a man who, in Congress, voted against "fighting,
crushing, and destroying" the rebellion. Both Robinson and Judd were Sons
of Liberty, and to them Copperheads fondly turned, and had they carried
the State, anarchy and bloodshed would have been the consequence; and,
indeed, in the expressed opinion of Judge Morris, "had they carried the
State, he cared not who might be President, for they would possess the
reins of the General Government." S. Corning Judd sought to serve his own
ends by controlling the Sons of Liberty, and failing in this, he gave the
cold-shoulder to his Brig.-General (Walsh), when, in consequence of
executing the edicts of the order, he found himself a close prisoner for
the horrid doctrine of secession; _he_ must be tried and convicted, but
the Grand Commander, S. Corning Judd, and the Supreme Commander, C.L.
Vallandigham, and the Past Grand Commander, or Major-General, Amos Green,
each, severally appear upon the stand against him, and they permitted to
go scott free. O, cursed doctrine of secession!
"So stretch'd out huge in length the arch-fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning lake; nor ever thence
Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will
And high permission of All-ruling Heaven
Left him at large to his own dark designs;
That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
Evil to others."
If Vallandigham, if Judd, if Green, if Barrett, and if the many equally
guilty persons released from custody go unpunished, then "Justice, thou
art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason." Not that we
would contradict Judd in the least in aught that he has said against the
Chicago temple, but we would tell him that we know the Chicago temple, so
far from taking the lead in radicalism, was behind the order in Peoria, in
Bloomington, in Dubuque, in St. Louis, Louisville, and many other places.
Give the devil his due. In some places the boldness of Copperheadism
induced prominent members of the Sons of Liberty to approach members of
Congress, with their base proposals to enter the order.
CHAP. XIX.
EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY--NO CONCILIATION WITH TRAITORS--DOWN WITH
COPPERHEADS AT HOME.
In a publication of this character, it will not be expected we should
review either the causes which led to the great rebellion, with its hydra
heads and its sad consequences; but in closing, and especially in view of
the terrible tragedy which has plunged a nation in deepest grief, we
cannot refrain from saying, that the last most diabolical deed was not the
act of individual madness, of personal hate and passion, it was the
culmination of the hatred by the slave power of the principle of liberty,
and the champion of freedom. It was not because the assassin felt in his
heart a hatred of Abraham Lincoln, but because he, and the people at whose
instigation he acted, hated the apostle of liberty, and the instrument in
the hand of God for the accomplishment of a great and mighty work.
Although it was the purpose of this band of murderers to assassinate the
President and the whole Cabinet, it was not from personal malice against
them as men, but the enemy sought by the destruction of the exponents of a
free government, to give new life to the expiring representation of the
slave power. So antagonistic was freedom to slavery that it was impossible
to permanently embody the representatives of these principles with a
republican government, which should be perfect in its formation, wise and
just in its action, the hope of the liberty loving people throughout the
world, and the pride and glory of American citizens. Every year since the
adoption of the old Constitution, have discordant elements cropped out,
and incidents transpired, which demonstrated to every rational mind, that
as time rolled on, the accumulation of combustible elements would
ultimately explode, and shake the civilized world to its center.
The facts that Northern teachers, Northern clergymen, Northern mercantile
agents, Northern men upon business or pleasure, travelling at the South,
and unwilling to stultify themselves, or become passive approvers and
admirers of the "peculiar institution," were treated with all possible
indignities, and might count themselves fortunate if they escaped with
their lives. So complete was the universal devotion to slavery in all
sections of the South, and so baneful its effects upon the people, that
all other considerations were made subservient to this. For slavery,
friends were alienated, hatred established, so bitter in its extent that
only death could appease it. It demoralized the entire people; it found
its way with all its horrid moral deformities, into the very capitol; it
caused the murderous assault of Brooks upon Charles Sumner in the Senate,
and the many altercations and bitter harangues which have from time to
time disgraced our National Congress; it was its cropping out that caused
the fearless and noble President Andy Johnson, to threaten to hang Jeff.
Davis--and which he may yet be called upon to perform;--it was slavery
that devised the doctrine of secession; that has led to the deadly
conflict upon hundreds of battle fields, and has spilled the best blood of
our nation, and caused mourning and gloom all over the face of our once
happy land. What wonder then, that the noble Lincoln, who, in the
sincerity of his heart, and in the dictates of superior wisdom, who,
seeing and appreciating the encroachments and horrors of slavery, not only
to the people in bondage, but to the citizens of our country in every
section--who wonders that Lincoln, whose name is immortal, especially for
his extirpation of this curse, should be singled out by the demon of
slavery, and assigned by Davis, his prophet, for a violent death. Thank
God, the cancer is extirpated so thoroughly, that its fibres of death can
never again form to threaten destruction to our land. True, the operation
has been most painful, and no anesthetic agent has been employed; the
suffering has been fearful, and the country has, to its extremities,
trembled with anguish; but it is over now.
The assassination of the President was the will of Jeff. Davis, whispered
in the temples of the Sons of Liberty or American Knights, into the ears
of those of the members of the Orders, who had made the most proficiency
in their teachings, and these beings, true to their _oaths_, went forth
upon their mission of blood.
The following "gems," from the debates in the Democratic National
Convention, will be read with interest now and in future time:
S.S. Cox, said:
"He had attempted in his own city, a few weeks since, to show, in a very
quiet way, that ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAD DELUGED THE COUNTRY WITH BLOOD,
created a debt of four thousand million of dollars, sacrificed two
millions of human lives, and filled the land with grief and mourning."
A pious man, who had listened attentively to his remarks, sang out "G----d
d----n him."
"For less offenses than Mr. Lincoln had been guilty of, the English people
had chopped off the head of the first Charles. IN HIS OPINION, LINCOLN AND
DAVIS OUGHT TO BE BROUGHT TO THE SAME BLOCK TOGETHER."
C. Chauncey Burr, editor of several Copperhead New York journals, said:
"And it was a wonder that they had a Cabinet and men who carried out the
infamous orders of the gorilla tyrant that usurped the Presidential
chair."
Capt. Koontz, of Pittsburg, an ardent McClellan leader, said:
"If Democrats catch Lincoln's bloody spies among them, they must cut their
d----d throats, that's all. [Applause.] It is the duty of every American
to vote for a peace candidate."
Baker, of Michigan, said:
"Let us hurl that usurper from power. Never till that day comes when the
usurper and his victim meet at the judgment seat, can he be punished for
his wrongs, for his conspiracy against American liberty."
Benjamin Allen, of New York, said:
"The people will soon rise, AND IF THEY CANNOT PUT LINCOLN OUT OF POWER BY
THE BALLOT THEY WILL BY THE BULLET." [Loud cheers.] Mr. Stambaugh, a
delegate from Ohio, said:
"That, if he was called upon to elect between the freedom of the nigger
and disunion and separation, he should choose the latter." (Cheers.)
"They might search hell over and they could not find a worse President
than Abraham Lincoln."
Hon. Mr. Trainor, of Ohio, said:
"He would urge the people to be freemen, and HURL ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS
MINIONS FROM POWER."
Henry Clay Dean, said:
"In the presence of the face of Camp Douglas and all the satraps of
Lincoln, that the American people were ruled by felons. Lincoln had never
turned a dishonest man out of office, or kept an honest man in. [A
voice--'What have you to say of Jeff. Davis?] I have nothing to say about
him. LINCOLN IS ENGAGED IN A CONTROVERSY WITH HIM, AND I NEVER INTERFERE
BETWEEN BLACK DOGS."
"He blushed that such a felon should occupy the highest place in the gift
of the people. PERJURY AND LARCENY WERE WRITTEN OVER HIM AS OFTEN AS WAS
'ONE DOLLAR' ON THE ONE DOLLAR BILLS OF THE BANK OF THE STATE OF INDIANA.
(Cries of the 'old villain.') The Democracy were for peace."
W.W. O'Brien, of Peoria, also threatened "to try him as Charles the first
was tried, as a tyrant and a traitor, and if they found him guilty to hang
him."
The essential unity of Copperheadism with assassination, appears in the
following remarks of Koontz, of Pennsylvania:
"Shall more wives be made widows, and more children fatherless, and
greater hate be stirred up between children of the same glorious
constitution? IF NOT WE MUST PUT OUR FOOT UPON THE TYRANT'S NECK, and
destroy it, The Democratic government must be raised to power, and Lincoln
with his Cabinet of rogues, thieves and spies, be driven to destruction.
What shall we do with him? [A voice--"Send him here, and I'll make a
coffin for him, d----n him."]"
As we review the events which have transpired during this war, we are
strikingly impressed with the magnanimity, the forbearance, the humanity
of the loyal States in their relations to the rebels in arms, and we are
also impressed with the great lack of the exhibition of these
qualities--the most ennobling in national character--on the part of the
so-called Southern Confederacy. From the hour of firing upon Fort Sumter
to the present moment, the war has not been waged by the rebels as if in
defense of the great principles of truth and justice, but with the
malignity, the cruelty and barbarity which would, in many instances, put
to blush the savages upon our western borders. In our dealing with them,
the honor, integrity, fidelity and dignity of the nation have never been
forgotten; and the policy of the noble President, laid low by the hand of
the assassin, was never to give blows when words would answer,--never to
exact by force what might be attained by reasoning,--and never, under any
circumstances, to forget those qualities which make a nation truly great,
the first and chief of which is charity. How has our enemy failed to
appreciate this? The manner in which the warfare has been waged by the
South will be mentioned by historians as cruel, dishonorable and
disgraceful to people of a Christian nation. Failing of success upon the
field, we find the Davis Government countenancing guerrilla warfare,
burning bridges, murdering unarmed citizens, and desolating the homes of
unoffending people, and committing piracy upon the high seas. Still
failing of success and losing ground daily, but driven to desperation by
the apparent hopelessness of their cause, they sink to the depth of infamy
by establishing among us secret orders, the aim of which is to educate men
of base passions to deeds of dark dishonor and unmeasured infamy; men who
receiving such instruction will concoct schemes for the burning of cities,
for the liberation of their prisoners; and, lastly, they have sunk so low
in the mire of dishonor, impelled by savage ferocity and hate, that it
would appear folly, if not downright criminality to longer deal with them
on the principles of liberality and gentleness, which has marked our
conduct hitherto. It was our generosity, our mildness, our spirit of
conciliation that moved the hand of the demon who slew the country's
truest friend. Let it be so no longer! Let rebels feel that we are
terribly in earnest. Let heavy blows be struck, and struck without delay,
and let there be no exhibition of concession or conciliation, till the
enemy sue for peace upon the terms the country proclaims. As well make
Copperheads Christians or honest men, as to attempt by gentleness longer
to subdue rebels, whose weapons are firebrands and assassins' daggers. It
is futile; try it no longer. Said the great French advocate of justice,
when he was charged with being sanguinary, because he so frequently
punished murder with death, "You tell me that it is bloody work, and
sinful in the sight of Heaven to execute men; so it is, and I am disposed
to desist, and I will, the moment men stop the crime of murder." So will
we show clemency, when our enemy has laid down his arms, and not before.
Another measure by our people would be attended with salutary results--the
extermination of Copperheadism at home. Who helped to form secret
societies of Sons of Liberty and kindred organizations, so industriously
and so efficiently as editors of Copperhead publications. It is in these
orders that assassins are trained, and prepared for their fiendish
mission. Henceforth let the people--the loyal people of the most glorious
country on which the sun shines--swear by the memory of our much loved and
deeply lamented President, that henceforth no paper shall print, no man
shall utter sentiments of treason, under the penalty of incurring that
summary punishment, the righteous indignation of a sorrowing, long
suffering people may inflict. If the people resolve to endure the curse of
home treason no longer, and let Copperheads know that they can no longer
co-operate with Jeff. Davis in any part of our land, we shall never again
be called upon to aid in suppressing or exposing a North-Western
Conspiracy, or any plot against our country, in any section of our land.
CHAP. XX.
TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO CONSPIRATORS--THE WITNESSES AND THE TESTIMONY.
When our troops entered Richmond, among other rebel documents found was a
bill, offered in secret session of the rebel House of Representatives,
January 30th, 1865, establishing a Secret Service Bureau, for the
employment of secret agents, "either in the Confederate States, or within
the enemy's lines, or in any foreign country," and authorizing the chief
officer "to organize such a system _for the application of new means of
warfare approved_, and of secret service agencies, as may tend best to
secure the objects of the establishment of the bureau."
The trial, conviction, sentence, and execution of Capt. Beall, for piracy
on the lakes, and of Kennedy, for incendiarism in New York, are still
fresh in the recollection of our readers. That these men were acting under
instructions from the bureau of secret service of Jeff. Davis, no rational
person can doubt. These acts were but incidents in the grand conspiracy at
the North; the guilty parties, who suffered death, were but the
instruments of others, and the members of the secret organizations, who
were cognizant of these acts and purposes, though yet unwhipped of
justice, are more guilty, in the sight of Heaven, than the wretches who
undertook the execution of the hellish design, and for which they suffered
ignominious death.
After the discovery of the purposes and acts of the leaders of the Sons of
Liberty in Illinois, in co-operation with rebels, and the arrests detailed
in a former chapter, a Military Commission was convened in Cincinnati for
the trial of the prisoners, Morris, Walsh, Grenfell, Anderson, Daniels,
Cantril, Marmaduke and Semmes, upon a charge of conspiring to sack and
burn Chicago, and to liberate the prisoners in Camp Douglas.
The Commission consisted of the following named officers:
C.D. Murray, Colonel 89th Indiana Volunteers, President Commission. Ben.
Spooner, Colonel 83d Indiana Volunteers. N.C. Macrae, Major United States
Army. P. Vous Radowitz, Lieutenant-Colonel United States Army. S.P. Lee,
Major 6th Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps. M.N. Wiswell, Colonel Veteran
Reserve Corps. B.P. DeHart, Colonel 128th Indiana Volunteers. S.H.
Lathrop, Lieutenant-Colonel, A.I.G. Albert Heath, Lieutenant-Colonel 100th
Regiment Indiana Volunteers.
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