BIOGRAPHY OF OLIVER PERRY MORTON. [War Governor of Indiana].

BY COLONEL HOLLOWAY, his Private Secretary.

In the little village of Saulsbury, Wayne County, Indiana, on the 4th day of August, 1823, Oliver Perry Morton was born. He was of English descent, his grandfather having emigrated from England about the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and settled in New Jersey. His mother died when he was quite young. After the death of his mother the most of his boyhood days were spent with his grandparents in Ohio and with his widowed aunts in Centreville, Ind. His opportunities for education were rather limited, and at the age of 15 he was put to learn the hatter's trade with his half-brother, William T. Morton. At this occupation he worked for years, employing all his spare time in study. Early in 1843 he entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. He remained there two years in hard study. While there he was counted the best debater in the university, and displayed the powers of presenting an argument that afterwards made him famous.

He

On leaving college he entered the office of Hon. John S. Newman, at Centreville, and began the study of law. was then nearly 22 years of age. On the 15th of May, 1845, he married Miss Lucinda M. Burbank, daughter of Isaac Burbank of that place. This marriage proved a most happy one, his chosen companion holding and exercising over him, from their marriage until his death, an influence that did much to advance his fame.

Mr. Morton was a Democrat in politics in his earlier years, and always took a deep interest in political affairs. In 1854, when the Missouri Compromise was repealed, Mr. Morton was one of the vast army who left the Democratic party and united to stem the tide of slavery aggression, and he became the leader of the new party in his section of the

State. He attended the Pittsburg Convention in 1856, and actively participated in its discussions. On the 1st of May of that year the new party met at Indianapolis to nominate a State ticket. Mr. Morton was elected unanimously to the head of the ticket. His opponent was Hon. A. P. Willard, the idol of his party, and who was regarded as the ablest stump speaker in the State. A joint canvass was arranged, and the champion of the new party soon proved himself more than a match for his opponent in debate. His strong logical arguments utterly drove his antagonist from all his defenses. The election resulted in favor of the Democrats, and Mr. Morton thought his political career was ended. The Republican party grew very rapidly between 1856 and 1860. In the latter year he accepted the second place on the ticket with Hon. Henry S. Lane at its head. He threw himself, heart and soul, into the canvass, and was everywhere recognized as the most powerful debater in either party.. This time his party was successful.

The anticipated election of Mr. Lincoln as President had brought about threats of secession, and his success was no sooner heralded than South Carolina made haste to take herself, as she thought, out of the Union. It was a critical time. All hearts feared the Union was gone. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be that there was no remedy for secession. The Democrats held that there was no power to coerce a State, and the leading Republicans were advocating that the "wayward sister" should be permitted to depart in peace. There were stormy forebodings on all sides. The idea of civil war was abhorrent, yet the loyal people did not like the idea of having the Union dismembered. In the midst of this general gloom, there came a lightning flash which electrified the North and startled the South. On the 22d of November a monster meeting was held in Indianapolis to ratify the election. The newlyelected Governor Lane and others spoke. Their speeches were of a conciliatory nature. At length Lieutenant Governor Morton arose, and in his very first words the vast

There

audience saw that the man had come with the hour. He announced at the very

was no uncertainty with him. outset that if the issue was to be disunion and war, he was for war. It was a momentous occasion, and he felt that he was speaking for the Republican party, and not alone for it, but for the whole loyal element of the country, and his measured words fell upon the air like the notes of a bugle calling men to action. He discussed the right of secession, and the right to coerce, and gave to the acts of South Carolina an interpretation none before had been clear-sighted enough to see. In concluding, he struck the keynote of the whole situation in declaring and emphasizing that we are a nation and not a combination of States. Upon this point he said:

We must then cling to the idea that we are a nation, one and indivisible, and that, although subdivided by State lines for local and domestic purposes, we are but one people, the citizens of a common country, having like institutions and manners, and possessing a common interest in that inheritance of glory so richly provided by our fathers. We must, therefore, do no act, we must tolerate no act, we must concede no idea or theory that looks to or involves the dismemberment of the nation. * * * Seven years is but a day in the life of a nation, and I would rather come out 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 a principle that must inevitably explode this nation into small and dishonored fragments. * The whole question is summed up in this proposition: "Are we one nation, one people, or thirty-three nations, or thirty-three independent and petty States?" The statement of the proposition furnishes the answer. If we are one nation, then no State has a right to secede. Secession can only be the result of successful revolution. I answer the question for you, and I know that my answer will find a true response in every true American heart, that we are one people, one nation, undivided and indivisible.

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This was the first time that resistance on the part of the North had been advocated. It touched the popular chord everywhere. From that time on there was no hesitancy upon the part of the loyal masses. Mr. Lincoln, when he read it, said "it covers the whole ground, and declares the