Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-09-05

aggressor; so this same necessity should
be the measure of the harm we do him :
and we ought to be always disposed to
reconcilement as soon as he has done us
Justice, and we have nothing further to
apprehond. ."-Burlam. The ancient
semi barbarous perversion Of natural
| Law,-'Ghc Law Of Retaliation, as it
was called, can eye for an eye, and a tooth
! for a tooth"-is reformed and superseded
by humanity, Christianity and civiiza-
ton. More earnestly does this rule, die
tatcd by them, apply to such conflict
as that which has arisen between the peo-
pie of the United States who were and
should be, politically and socially, breth
ren. Whether they can or may be restor-
ed to national harmony is not the ques
tion now in hand; but we, at least, are
prohibited from closing the door thereto,
by acts of injustice, and the contrary spirit
is enjoined BY the law, to which we our
selves appeal, by our own declarations =
by duty, and it may be aided, by our
own ultimate good and safety--to now to
estimate the guilt of q war forMot purpose,
namely: for the subjugation of the people
of the slave-holding States, or those which
are in rebellion, with the intent an for
the purpose of abolishng or extcrmina-
ting negro slavery therein. This is true
whatever may be individual opinions up
on the abstract question--of the lawful
ness of negro servitudc, as it exists in
those States The Jesuitical assumtion
that the end sanctifes or iustlies the
means, is as false in logic and true states
manship; as it is in morals; since acts Of
aggression, in that spirit and with such q
purpose as certain to be overtaken, sooner
or later, in their actors, by retributon
and punishment; in which, as well as in
the aggression, the innocent necessarily
suffer with the guilty-in the action or in
the re action The amount and extent oil
evil and human suffering which must at
tend such war, carried on for such pur-
pose, hereinbelore mentioned, would be
too appalling to be contemplated, even
in prospect.
One further observation is here in place
namely the assumption, which has been
made and heard, and that III high quar-.
tcrs, that the war may be purposely made
the occasion and the means of elIecting the
purpose, herein mentioned and referred to
and would be justified by, or because of,
the acts oftho Southern rcbelliouS leaders,
or those engaged in the seeding revolt
is not only untre in morals and principle,
but as an argument is of no value; since
if it prove anything, it recognizes the
right of one party or State to withdraw
from the common body, to violate the
Constitution, because another party OF
State has wrongfully done so while this
wrongful party is still, by the others, held
to his engagements in and to the common
body-a proposition or assumption, too,
which, if it were worth anything in le-
gal and Constitutional logic, as it is not,
would equally justify the Northern Abo-
litionists in acts of secession and disunion
because slavery exists by law in the South
and its people seek to maintain it there
In truth the assumption is made by mer
of that class or party. But too mnct
space is already occupied and the writer
must pause. "A. n.