Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-25

and BY an irresistible pressure render the
idea OF the party that shall prevail universal.
40 the majority Of our fellow. citizens are
not yet ready TO consider the question of
division, we win examine only the alterna-
iivC-tbe conversion of one section TO the
opinions of the other by force Of arms.
1t is good deal of an undertaking. An
idea has seldom been eradicated, but by the
eradication of the people by whom it was en-
teriained. Men do not love to yield their
opinions to forcible persuasion; and hundreds
of thousands have suffered martyrdom for
dogmss no more true, and of infinitely less
Importance, than the question of the right
of a State to secede.
The history OF all ages proves that con-
quest does not change the political character
of people. The South, suppressed, must
be holden in state of permanent subjec.
ton; for, as no people can, at will, lay
down one character and take up another its
first free manifestations win be precisely
like the old ones.
The people Of the North do not hold to
their political principles any more firmly
than the people of the South do to theirs.
Let us make the case our own: Is it proba-
bic, il the South should succeed in this war
and overrun and subdue the North, that
Southern political doctrines, notions or prin-
ciples, would, therefore, with the people, be
accepted and take the place of those which
they now entertain2 Would the North
meekly bow its mind and soul because its
body wss brought under-clear out its mems
ory on demand of its cherished conviction,
and accept those of its conquerors-like an
impossible Ethiopian, change its moral skin
with the change 10 its circumstances-lay
down its character because it had been tenn
porarily divested of the power to make it
practical in institutional The North would
scorn to be suspected of so craven a spirit.
What reason, then, have we to suppose
that the South will be any more free than
the North to lay down doctrines and princi-
pies which are the natural outgrowth of its
character?
We do not intend by these remarks that it
shall be understood that we look upon the
war that is now being carried on by the
Government against the rebels of the South
as illegitimate. On the contrary, we consider
it perfectly legitimate. Indeed the Govern
ment has no choice between war and the
certainty of being overrun and subverted.
The Capitol was not only threatened, but it
was actually in danger before a movement
was made by the President to call troops into
the field. Nothing but the utmost celebrity
in hurrying forward the hastily. enlisted
soldiers saved Washington from the invasion
with which it was threatened. These
menaces are not yet all silenced. The rebels
sometimes call their proceedings war for
defense; but they carry them on as war Of
invasion. They have not done Boosting Of
their determination to quarter their troops
in the White House, and turn the splendid
edifces of the Capital City into heaps Of
ruins.
They need to be beaten, and there can be
no hope of permanent peace to the country
until they are fully informed, by practical
illustration, of the ability of the Government
and the North to protect themselves, and
punish all who, with arms in their hands
and threats of conquest array themselve:
against them.