A Northern View of an armistice.
At
Indianapolis, on the 29th ultimo, there was a grand reception of several returning regiments.--
Governor Morton made an address to the soldiers, in the course of which he discussed the question of an armistice as follows:
‘
"It requires two parties to make an armistice; and
Jeff. Davis has already declared that he demands the withdrawal of our armies from the
South as a necessary preliminary to any negotiation.
Who shall ask for an armistice.
Shall our Government sue for terms at the feet of the
South?
Will this audience of soldiers agree to that?
[Cries of "No!
No!"] But what does an armistice mean?
It means to cease operations in front of
Atlanta; it means to loose the hold on
Richmond; it means to stop
Farragut at
Mobile.
"As every one knows, diplomacy takes a great deal of time, and probably, at last, would fail.
Can we spare enough of the weather now left us for military operations to be frittered away in armistice, and then find ourselves carried into the winter, when our campaign must necessarily close?
Can we afford that now?
But who believes the rebels will voluntarily come back into the
Union, and give up those very ideas for which they have suffered the horrors of a long and bloody war, especially if we are to acknowledge, by asking an armistice, that we are unable to conquer them?
"Can we coax them back!
If we try that, we shall have to agree to pay their war debt; to give a pension to their widows and orphans and maimed soldiers; we shall have to pay the damage that has been done to the
Southern States during the war; and, more than all, we will have to engraft into our Constitution the doctrine of secession.
Suppose we succeed.
When we come to voting money to pay the war debt of the
South, or to pension their soldiers, or to reimburse them for damages, abolition
Massachusetts, abolition
Ohio, abolition
Wisconsin, will tell us, "We did not want an armistice, we wanted to fight this war out; but, as you have acknowledged secession in your Constitution; we will quietly walk out." In this way the
Union would go to pieces, and the country we tried to save be broken up by the very compromise that was intended to preserve it. We can make no compromise but what will break up the
Government.
The only way to get out of the war is to fight it out. (Applause.)
"But these peace men say the
North is exhausted.
Are we exhausted?
The cost of this war is not one-half of the profits of the country.
We have never been as wealthy as now, and there are three millions of men in the
North who have not yet shouldered a musket in this war. Are we exhausted?
General Grant has the rebellion by the throat in front of
Richmond, and the
General has told a
United States senator that he would not let go his hold even if New York,
Philadelphia and
Washington should be burned.
Sherman is all right at
Atlanta, and we will crush this rebellion if we are not pulled off by the traitors of the
North."
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