Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-02-13
NO 8.

religious hnatcism has now assumed the form of
civil polity, and this civil poty is antrepublcan
and despotc; and this despotism has committed
overt treason against the Government of the
United States. The authority of every Federal
officer is denied, reign of terror instituted over
all their acts War is proclaimed in fact Forces
are levied and trained for action. Slaughter is
threatened. Our troops are dehed, our courts
closed, our officers insulted; the savages melted to
pllinder and ravage. Peaceful citizens, with their
wives and little ones pursuing the path Of emigra-
tion, are surprised and murdered in scores, with
not stragger left to tell The tale, their mangled
corpses or white skeletons, bleaching in the sun,
disclosing the horrid tragedy. If anything Is 10
be done not moment should be lost. Every day
strengthens its forces and compacts It's power.
Its agencies are hurrying home as last as steam
and money can speed them.
know some think we should let them alone,
and that the system must soon fall to pieces.
But how long has Mohammedanizm lasted How
much less reliable is the fanatcism of to-day than
that OF ten centuries ago. What element Of this
structure gives signs of impotence or decay2
What limb of this hale giant is already smitten
with moral paralysis, and gives tokens that its
energies are spent, or even weariedf Sir, VIC have
let them alone; and from contemplate handful,
they have grown into nationl The citizens of
Illinois and Missouri could eject them without aid;
bat now they stand behind wall of ten thousand
bayonets, and dare you to the encounter. The
unorganized fanatcism ~ the world gravitates to
Utah, and there it is nodded into armies. Eight
tenths at least of these elements are foreign, un-
educated by and unaccustomed to our Institutions,
with no love for democracy, and no reverence for
national law restless Masses impatient of re-
straint, and fratezing only on the lust of license
and the hope Of power.
If it might not be deemed too fanciful, would
suggest historical parallel in that of the fanat-
tnal Vaxtr n~ aIAnn1 H.
and brought Titus Vespasian to raze his city and
temple, and level with the dust every vestige Of
his power, and every monument Of his ancestral
glory-a rebellion in which the fanaticism of the
religious and military sentiments were equally
brought into combination. Sir, this is not re-
ligious war; persecution for conscience sake,
any more than was that. As well may the Thugs
of India protest their religious principles in usti
fication Of assassination! Suppose the devotees
in Utah adopt treason as item of their religious
creed; will such baptism give them immunity
for conscience sake? By no means.
But gentlemen fear tire great cost OF this war
They look round upon an empty Treasury and an
accumulatng debt; upon S6,000,00O unpaid for
the Oregon war upon unknown sums for the Cal
ifornia campaign, to be ascertained and adjustedl
They look upon commerce PROSTATE, manufaetur-
ing industry paralyzed, and the avenues OF busi-
ness closed by symptoms Of arrangement and
distrust; our sources of national income dunn
ishcd by decreasing imports, and by limited sales
of the public lands. They see system of waste
full expenditure organized in every governmental
department; they discover that 800 100000 per
annum will be needed to keep US from bankruptcy;
and they are appalled, at the prospect Of running
the State into financial ruin by an expensive in
testne warl
admit the truthfulness Of the picture, in all its
aggravations But some matters are above money;
there crises in the life of nation, when, what
ever her financial burdens she must incur heavier;
when her integrity and honor, her prestige, her
existence, are all at stake; when to calculate is
folly, to hesitate is to perish. Did General Wash
iRgton hesitate and temporize and count the cost,
when a part of Pennsylvania rebelled on the
whisky tax? No, sir; he sent fifteen thousand
men into the field, and this promptitude, energy,
maniness, itself quelled the storm, without she'd
ding drop Of bloodf The Saints Of Utah may
be as wise as the whisky dealers of the land OF
Penn, If they find the Government are equally in
earnest. Ii they choose to risk battle trust It
will be such battle as has not been seen on this
continent-overwhelmin decisive, complete;
such as our brave Army viii fight, even II ianati-
cism provokes TO feats Of superhuman valor.
Let those who must bear the responsibility Of
the war determine mainly how it shall be waged,
and what shall be the amsunt and character of
its NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the additional force
shall be that Of volunteers, TO which opinion L
incline, or an increase of the regular Army
whether it shall' approach from the cast or the
west-whether IL shall employ horse or foot.
But let them not have TO say 10 the nation that
a formidable rebellion has ipened, and is rotng
unchecked among us, and we refuse the agencies
TO countcract or destroy it. hope this may not
become party question: shuttlecock for polit-
ical partisanship TO hurl to and fro. Let us deal
with it as IL we felt common danger, and were
only anxious TO cope with and overthrow it.
While leave myself free to vote as shall deem
best upon all details, stand committed, for one,
TO give my voice and vote 10 stay the march OF
this prairie fire. to fight it out at once, before It
involves our homes and ourselves in the ruin OF
its spreading confagration.