Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-10-15

SUCCESSFUL issue on the principle of treating I
reDels as friends, giving them every advantal
ahd uolng them no harm They are in dow
right earnest, and aresputting forth all thi
strength, and doing their best to suhiugate u
and we also must be in downright earnest, p
forth all our strength aud do our hest to subj
gate them. War cannot be conducted on pea
principles, or successfully conducted by me
VINO DO not enter into it with spirit, resoluti,
anu energy We have no disposition to eensu
lhe civil or military authorities Of our country
lhey have labored under great embarrassment
and have had no ordinary difficulties to eoater
| wlthi but we must be excused, If we say that
yet they have given us little evidence of the
oeing III earnest or of their believing in the r
allty ana important character of the war.
TO the disaster of Bull Run, military operation
seem 10 have been conducted in subordiaatit
10 the projects Of politicians and the espeoi
benefit of contractors. The war was apparent
treated as secondary Affair." mere bagaiell
or a Toy for children to amuse themselves with
'n scarcely an instance was il treated as gray
illaif' demanding for its prosecution the whol
strehgth and energy of the country. Som
1ouhtei if the South would really fight and
seemed to many that oil we needed to rout thei
armies, suppress rebellion, and re establish owe
me seeded States the authority of the Fedora
government was large number of regiment
haVlng no existence except on paper or in th
iui"sl loallon OF those who wished TO sport thu
epAuiettcs of colonel. This delusion hal
passed away. But still, ut the time we ar,
writing, it has hardly got through our head
mat We are really engaged in war, and war in-
volvlng the very life or death of the nation.-
lhe mass OF those who really believe we are ia
war still think the war is one that may he car
riPn on VT u NJ Huy scIious detrlment to oul
orhlhhry avocalions or pleasures, and one no
liholy 10 come home to our own b0soms and bu =
slhess. Feey few of us see that everything we
hold dear in this world IS at stake, aud that We
have to struggle not only to defeat q foreign
enemy, hut to defend our own fresides and al
tars, our own wives and children, and our own
personal liberty. Country gone, all is gone; and
unless we become mor5 in earnest than we have
hitherto been, and put forth civil and military
force and energy which We have not vet dis
played, nor judged it necessary to display, our
country cannot be preserved
We cheerfully eonccdo that much allowance is
to be made for the Administration, in the novel
ana unexpected position in which it has been
placed. with no preparation to meet o rebel
llon on formidable scale, with doubts as to
how far the patriotism Of the loyal States could
be relied on, with the army aud navy filled with
traitors, or with officers nj best indifferent to the
cause of the Union, surrounded by weak, timd
anu corrupt politicians, and the important
though subaltern officers Of the various depart
ments of the civil government filled with men de-
string success to the Rebels, aud ready to use
oil the opportunities afforded by their position
TO secure that success, the Administration may
he excused for having hestaied. before feeling
the public pulse, to adopt the bold, energetic,
and decisive measures the crisis demanded. 1t
was embarrassed by the legacy left ii by its pre-
decessor, and also by the fears timidties, hopes
anu advice of the Union men in the Border
States, who begged it not to be precipitate, lest
1t should plunge those States also into open Sc
cession, This fear of driving the Border States
into Secession has been from the first the bug
bear oil tho Administration, aud its chief embar-
rassmeht. 1t prevented it from taking, at the
outset, those bold and decisive measures which
wonld have forestallei the Rebels, and confined
the rebellion to South Carolina, Georgia, and the
Gulf States. Its efforts since to organize and
strengthen Union purity in Western Virginia
and Eastern Tennessee have iinpeded rather thnn
AIDED its military operations, aud lost it o cam
paign, without gaining it any real additional
strength.
There is only one way of dealing with rebels;
il Is for the government to he prompt, to strike
quick, and to strike hard. If It hesitates, il it
emporizes, if it seeks to conciliate. or shows
hat it fears to strike lest the blow recoil upon
is own head, it is only by miracle that it can
pc saved. Its policy will be set down either to
conscious weakness Or to conscious wrong, and
hc rebels not Ouly gain time but what is even
more important to them, they gain confidence 10
heir own cause, which more than doubles their
orces, while the friends of tho Government are
rendered timd, if not alenated.
a bold, energetic man at the head of the Gov
one year ago, would have crushed out
ebellion before it could really have come to
read even in South Carolina. man able to
ifeatc public opinion, not merely to follow it, at
he head of the Government last March, would
lave confined the rebellion within the limits it
hen bad, and, long before this, would have re-
iuced Florida and Louisiana to their allegiance,
md thus have broken the back bone of rebellion,
Ind prepared the way for its speedy and utter
humiliation. Hesitation and delay is dealing
with rebellion, is the worst policy possible.
That its dilatory and timid policy was on the
,art Of the Government, u mistake, blunder,
10 one can reasonably doubt. But it would be
mistake, blunder no less fatal, for the friends
If the Union to blnzon it forth so as to weaken
he confidence of the people in the Administra-
ion, and diminish its power for good. The Pre-
lident is worthy OF all confidence for his honesty
integrity, aud patriotism; and if he will rid
himself of the embarrassment Of political jobbers
md trickstcrs, dismiss and visit with adequate
punishment all Secessonisis, traitors, or luke
warm patriots in the employment OF the Govern
nent, and put honest and capable men in their
places, men who know their duty, and have the
courage to perform il, who love their country,
and arc ready, if need be, to sacrifice themselves
for it, he may retrieve the past, recover all the
ground that has been lost, conduct the war to
successful issue, and, if NOT precisely the man
best fitted to the crisis, yet stand in American
history second only to Washington, if indeed
second even to Washington himself Never had
President Of the United States so glorious an
opportunity to prove himself man, statesman,
true civil hero. lie has, we are sure, the dis
POSITION, let him prove that he hns the courage
nd ability not merely to follow public opinion,
ot merely to follow the people, but to go before
hem, and by kindling up resistlels enthusiasm
II them, lead them on to victory
The American people, especially of the North,
re susceptible people, and can feel and re-
pond to the force of genius as readily and as
earlily us any other people on the face of the
lobe. No people in the world are susceptible
i n deeper or more abiding enthusiasm no
e0ple better appreciate the value Of good
attle-cry aud it has been mistake on the part
f the Administration not to have better appre-
lated their real character. 1t has failed to give
hem that battle-cry. 1t has been too cold, too
rossaic, nnd has pronounced no spirit-stirring
loru' instead OF Ending up the enthusiasm
+ tho people, it has looked to the people to quc-
en its own. Instead Of inspiring them, it has
'aitcd for them to inspire it. This has been a
rave mistake. Men placed at the head Of af-
airs are placed there 10 lead, not to follow to
i've an impulse to the people, not to receive it
rom the people II the Administration has life
md energy, il it has ability and genius, let it
10 longer hesitate 10 use them, but put them
oith in that free, bold, and energetic manner
which viii carry the people with them, and COM
npnd victory.
We insist the more earnestly on this, because
he mass Of our people have so long been accus.
omed to sympathizc with Rebels, to aid and en-
courage reyolutionists abroad, and to visit with
heir severest denuuciations the acts of the legi-
innate government to suppress nsurreotion, to
put down revolutionists and vndicate its au-
hority, that they cannot be rallied with much
under the simple banner of Law and
Order Their first emotion is To svmpntlize with