The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1861-04-03
~ CBy Request
Extraordinary Complacency.


Nothing is more censurable than the
glibness and complacency with which
portion of the peoplerand the press speak
and write of war--of war in it's most
horrid and atrocious degelopment-be
tween different portions of the same polit-
zeal family To hear or peruse their sen
timents, one would almost imagine that
it was q very small affair. "a mere baga-
telle, thatstatesmen and politicians should
by no means take special pains to avoid.
Rather than to make fair compromise.
and extend the olive branch of concilia-.
tion, that would not lower the pride or
injure the interest of any one, whenoit Is
considered IN its proper light they would
| fiy at once to all the perils and caiamities
| of war. They are ignorant of the lessons
Of history; they avert their eyes from the
pages which record the thirty years., in
testine strife in Germany, the Cavalier
and Roundhead contest in Great Britain,
and from the Royalist and Republican
war in. France during its revolutions of
t17S9, and from the innumerable yother
chronicles which give accounts of human
suffering and Of misfortune to society in
their worst and most terrible forms. Hav.
ing never seen IN this country-so pesces
ful fonrishing and prosperous for seventy
years anything approximating to war
carried on in our own borders, and hav-
ing but faint traditions Of our Revolui
tionary conflict, they speak of war as II
/ Il even hardly rose to the dignity of q
Hight and transient evil With blindness
and faulty that we are sure never had any
parallel in history, they contemplate, with
an equanimity that approaches the sany-
firosd. the contingency that thirty millions
of the most Intelligent people in the
world. who possess all the latest improve
ments in the arts of destruction, should
tengage in the business Of intlicting all the
possible injury they can upon each other,
fthus turning our now despite it's late
misfortunes) happy land iato . Pandemo-
nium on earth. 8 9 lsai ssi..g fhatfeq
Those men who thus speak so lightly
of the resort to force to settle the dispute,
1.-The misunderstanding which has arisen
between eur two classes Of States in ref
efencs to the position the negro shall oc-
lcupy in our Territories. are generally
those who do not expect to share in an
[active participation Of the dangers to
(which it would give RISE. Having set
millions Of honest people. who have no
quarrel or cause Of enmity with each 9TH
er. by the ears; having aroused BY incen-
diary, appeals the worst passions of the
human heart. they expect to step aside
and allow the actual sighting to be done
Iby Others, more bold and brave than
tthemselyesI But if we engage in that
kind Of strife which they invoke; If the
flames Of civil war are once lit up, they
will find that they too viii s6e scorehed, II
not consumed, in it's oppressive heat d It
viii at once assume dimensions and q
character far larger than they have any
conception of--they and alf Of as drawn
Unto It's unhappy circle. The time once
was, and is yet among nations that lay
flittie claim to civilization and enlighten.
ment, when the holding possession Of q
barren rock, which was of no earthly use
TO the possessor, wsssdeemed Of sufiiciect
tfmportance to embroil q nAtien In . san
culinary war, and arrest the wheels Of in.
dus.ry. progress aud prosperity forAhalf q
eentary. ,sBot our; boasted intelligence
lahd refinement. the humspizing spirit ol
q high state of civilization. sre,a sham and
a moekeryif these States. for any such
]. cause. for any aspect which our secsiona
1 Idificuities present rthemselyes ct the pres,
ens time, shall act upon such = suicida
and barbaronsd didealsas sai
i To avert war as 2 settlement of our DIFF
fcul.y, is the 6rst duty which the Admin
jistration owes to the conntEy, and. as !
means to that and. the removal Of every
Ithiug which wQnld be likely TO bring on
tcolIisione a Indispensable, Our trouble