The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1861-09-06
The Final Result Of the War.

The Final Result OF the War.
The Louisville Courier has we'll written
article in reference to the results Of the
war, from which we quote Alter discus
sing that it is of no consequence what
may be the real designs of the Federal
government, and the possibility, in which
the writer does not believe, that the
South can be conquered, the article con-
tinues: fe '..r
'Judging, therefore, by the uniform
lessons of all past events, and drawing our
conclusions from what all men recognize
as the essential principles Of human ma
ture, we conclude that the frat effect of
the success of the Northern arms will be
the permanent establishment over the
Northern States themselves of that fear
iul despotism to which they now submit
as Temporary necessity. At the present
moment the once free disizens Of the
North hold their lives, their liberty and
property subject to the arbitrary will of a
military subaltern, or the caprice of a fe-
rocious mob. The people will soon be
forced by dire necessity TO make their
choice between these two despots. They
Will OF course choose the military dicta-
tor as less to be dreaded than the "many
headed monster Then they will awake
from their aelusions to find that while
they were raving against the Sotith their
own liberties had been spirited away
With the writ of haJeas corpus eternally
suspended the trial by jury, and indeed
trial OF any kind, taken away, and all the
former safeguards of life and liberty ut
terly broken down, there will remain for
them nothing but absolute submission in
thought and word, us well as action, to
the ruling powers, or else the letter de ca
chct and hopeless dungeons of the Bastile.
The second effect of the Northern tri-
umph must be the complete subjugation
of the South. A subjugation more desc
lating and awful than any ever recorded
by the pen Of history.
From the scene presented to the minds
eye by the word sUBJUGATIoN. we turn a.
way with unspeakable horror, and the
heart sickens with unutterable loathing.
If the great Arbiter of the destinies of
men and nations has resolved to give the
South up to such fearful destruction, she
may well implore Him to commute their
deluge that swept away the old world, or
the fiery tempest which overwhelmed So
dom. Fire and food could only destroy
their mortal bodies; the iron of the
Northern despot would enter their very
souls.
When we consider the characteristics
of the supposed victors in contrast with
those of their victims-when we think of
the causes which, for forty years, have
been working to bring on this war, and
when we look at the subject matter of
this great controversy, we recoil with hor-
ror and amazement from the contempla-
k,D, r. . h., I. r. Al
Long ere this fearful consummation can
be reached, more than q million of brave
Southern men will sleep in bloody graves
| matrons will have been ravished by bru-
tai soldery. Smouldering heaps of ashe es
alone will mark the spots where number
less fair and flourishing towns and cities
stood, and the whole face of the country
will be blasted as by the breath of Azrael.
Then will the remnant of the fighting
men retreat to the swamps and noun.
tain Businesses. whence they will sally
forth as occasion serves to take vengeance
on the authors of their ruin-the spoilers
of their peaceful homes. In the mean
time, score of Jeffreys will repeat the
drama of the "Bloody Assizes," and ju
diciai murder will decimate those whom
the sword has spared.
And what of the four millions Of slaves!
They are now, while the conflict is rag
ing, more docile and dutiful than they
have ever been before; but when the Sub
jugation is effected, there will doubtles.
be a change. Great numbers of them viii
doubtless be a charge. Great numbers o
them will have shared the fate of thei
masters and side by side with them will
sleep the last sleep of the stricken war
rior. Many of them. of the viler sort
deceived and bounded on. will set tn,
torch to their masters dwelling ant
plunge the dagger into the hearts of hi
fair wife and gentle daughter, but tn
great majority of them, covering an,
helpless, will fall an unresisting prey in
to the hands of the conquerors. Wha
vii! they do with them? To leave then
to themselves would only be to leave then
to perish, and very soon the victors woult
find themselves forced by the imperativ,
necessities of the case. to give them iiev
masters from the ranks Of the conquer
ing host. The result therefore, of tn,
conquest of the South, so for as slavery i
concerned, will be merely the substitu
ton of one set of shareholders for ano
ther.