The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1861-07-13
From the Atlantic Monthly for July.l
THE ORDEAL BY BATTLE.
BY t. W. HIGGINsoN.

|
Virginia, which began by volunteering
as peacemaker in our civil troubles, seems
likely to end by being their battle ground
as Mr.. Pickwick, interior ing between the bel
| lIgerent rival editors, only brought upon
his own head the united concussion of their
carpet-bags. And as Dickens declares that
the warriors engaged far more eagerly in
that mimic strife, on discovering that all
blows were to be received by deputy. so
there is evidently an increased willingness
to deal hard knocks on both sides, in the
present case, SO long as it is clear that only
Virginia will take them. Maryland, under
protection of our army, adroitly contrives
10 shift the scene of action farther South
The Gulf States. with profuse courtesies for
the Old Dominion, consent to shift it far
Their North. The Southern Confederacy has
talked about paying Richmond the ''com-
pliment" of selecting it for the seat of gov
eminent ;-as if bully, about to be lynched
in his own house by the crowd should com
pliment his nextd door neighbor by climbing
in at his window. 1t is very pleasant to
have hosptable friend but it is counting
on his hospitality rather too strongly, when
you make choice of his apartments to be
tarred and featheTed in.
Thus fades the fancy of an independent
neutrality for the Old Dominion. 1t ought
to fade-for neutrality is crime, when
ones mothers life is at stake and the Bor-
der theory of independence only reminds one
of Pitts definition of an independent states.
man, ''a statesman not to be depended on''
How sad has been the decline of Virginia
| How strange, that in 1890, of the ten Amer
lean post offices yielding more than a thou
sand dollars annually, that stately old COM
monwealth held five Now "a poverty
stricken State" by confession of her own
newspapers-be leaguered-bloc kaded-with
no imports but hungry and moneyless SOL
diers, AID no exports save fugitives of all COL
crs-what las she to hope from the present
warfare? ElseM here riches have wings in
Virginia they are yet more transitory, hav-
ing legs. Two hundred million dollars worth
of her property has become unstable, IT not
worthless, within two months. She has but
two great staples: tobacco to send North,
and slaves to send South. The slaves at
present go only to the wrong point of the
compass, at rates remunerative to them
selves alone; and the tobacco trade, for
this season, will not even end in smoke
But that which is now the condition of
Virginia must ultimately be the condition
of the-other seeding States. The tide of
Secession has already turned. and such tides
never turn twice. The conspirators in Ma
ryland and Missouri had but one opportu-
nity, and il was lost; with it also went the
whole cause of the Secessionists For one
week the North shuddered, knowing the
defenseless condition OF Washington. Now
no Northern man shudders. except those
whose Southern female cousins have not yet
! xyith ho hnl Of
the eminent Senator from Texas.
The man who ever doubted that the first
gun fired by the insurgents would instantly
unite the nation against them, knew as little
Of the American people as if he were editor
of the London Times. There is no chemical
solvent like gunpowder. Even the Mexican
War, utterly opposed to the moral convic-
tons Of the majority of Northern men,
swept them away in such current that the
very party who opposed it could find no path
to the Presidency but for its chief hero
Had the present outbreak occurred fan
less favorably than it has, had the discre-
ton of President Lincoln been much less
=, or that of Mr.. Davis much greater. still the
unanimity would have been merely ques
ton of time, aud the danger of Washington
would have reconcied all minor feuds
The Democratic party would inevitably
have embraced the war, when once declared
Douglas would have made speeches for it
Buchanan subscribed money for it, anc
Butler Joined in it Bennett would still have
fioaied triumphant on the tide of zeal, anC
Caleb Gushing still have offered to the Gov
eminent his cavalry company of one. 1t ii
a grace not given to any American party
J. to stand out long against the enthusiasm o
war.
No doubt the Secession leaders hav,
r treated us very handsomely. as to amour
of provocation. 1t is rare that any grea
: contest begins by blow so unequivocal a
the bombardment of Fort Sumter and TAR
= in recent days for any set of belligerents Il
risk the ignominy of privateering. But
after all it is the startling social theorie
announced by the new ." government,
" which form the chief strength of its enc
st mics. Either slavery is essential to a com
munity, or it must be fatal to it-there
no middle ground and the Secessionist
have taken one horn of the dilemma with s
delightful frankness as to leave US no pos
sible escape from taking the other. Never
! in modern days, has there been a confiiC
in which the contending principles were $
n clearly antagonistic. The most bigote
royal house in Europe never dreamed c
throwing down the gauntlet for the actu;
ownership of man by man. Even Russi
never fought for serfdom, and Austria ha
Of only enslaved nations. not individuals l
a. civil wars. especially, all historic diverg
ances have been trivial compared to ours
lie so far as concerned the avowed principle
of strife. In the French wars of the Frond,
the only available motto for anybody wa
the 1out arriUe en- france, 'Anythin ma
happen in France which gayly recognize
the absurd chaos of the conflict. In til
English civil wars, the coutending faction
e. first disagreed upon a shade more or les
Of royal prerogative, and il took years
stereotype the hostility into the solid form
with which we now associate it. Even
q the end OF that contest. no one had venture
to claim such freedom as our DeclaraGo
of Independence asserts, on the one side
in nor to recognize the possibility of such
Id barbarism as Jefferson Davis glorifes,, G
y; the other The more strongly the Secession
or lists state their cause, the more glaripgly
IS seen TO differ from any cause for whiC
p any sane person has taken up arms sin