The Placer herald. [volume] (Auburn, Placer County, Calif.) 1855-1991, 1861-09-28
Clap-trap War Cries---and what they re.
suit IN.

are now urged by the Republican war prints
for commencing and for continuing the war;
are some utterly false, and calculated BY
their teaching to incucate ideas of lasting
injury. The excitement incident to politi
cal campaign having subsidized, and there
being no longer any pretense of reason to
impute to us narrow Sc. fish reasons, for the
doctrlneswe advance, we hope to have now
fair hearing, and have our arguments
properly considered.
The military Juror was opened in the
north with the cry of "save the capi'al."-
This was five months ago, and although the
forces of the rebels have been concentrated
about twenty five miles from the White
House, for four months, the capital has in
fact never been seriously menaced until the
present mouth. II is generally believed that
the city was at the mercy of Beanregard i'm
mediate after the battle of Bull Run. No
one believes now that the enemy seriously
intended an attack on the city when the cry
Of troops there, and establishing extensive
military depos at that point, making it the
base Of offensive operations, has necessarily
drew upon it The operations Of the Confele'
rate army, and now it is indeed menaced-
Beaurecard's tens are in sight Of thu. Presi'
dents mansion So much for that f.lsehood.
Another favorite war.shout is save the
government" and many persons no; stopping
to discriminate between the words Us5on
nd Government, fancy, that because we may
lose some Of the thirty four States from
the Confederacy, we thereby lose all govern
ment. 1t is certainly great misfortune to
lose a single State from our once glorious
! Union, but it is not the deinolishnr of the
government. We formed and had a govern.
ment ont of thirteen States, and there was
very powerful party in the United States
who opposed all acquisition Of territory by
the government, Oh the ground that aolir
tiona States would weaken instea,! of
strengthen the Government. If the tifeen
slave holding States should leave us. we
would then have six more left in the Union
than we commenced with, and surely. if we
had Il government with thirteen, We can
now maintain one with nineteen. To give
strength to our government BY the Union
of States, the people of the States so united.
must he homogeneous attached to each other
in sympathy-bounl by a sense of mutual
interests; this is the true substance OF Union,
such AS will rnaiHtaia government. 1t would
not be the interest of the people remaining
in the loyal Sta es, to enclose the territory
Of those eleven that have seeded, if the
people of the same hate us in their hearts,
and 1t would he necessary to employ large
military force to keep them in subsection to
our government. This instead of strength.
ening, will but weaken our government:
certainly will not save it, if it is in danger
But with this cry, the Administration Las
excused itself, for all manner of violations of
constitution and laws.
The Republicans refused to save the Union.
when appealed to by convention of the
States, but to save a government not threat
ened, they invoke the sword Under this
species cry they imprison without cause
suspend the act of habeas corpus-muzzle
the press-and crush out that for which
government was constituted to protect
civil liberty. Murder has been done 10 the
name of religion and of liber;y-and the
civil rights OF the white man NAV vet he
overborne, under sAe .pretence Of Saving
the government"
Another most pernicious idea harped upon
by the press, and one intimately related to
the last mentioned one, is that the Federal
Government is the source of all true honor
and greatness. We can excuse this in
mere soldier Educated at West Point, he
grows to manhood with but little political
knowledge, and seeing constantly about him
the evidences of Federal power and favor,
he forgets the State whose Representa- les
took him when in his swaddling clothes
and made him their child, to be fed at the
public table, supporte by his own, as we'll
as the other States. But for an intelligent
man who has always been free citizen. to
speak OF himself and peers as the "subjects"
Of the government of the United States
snrpasses our understanding. In despotic
governments where royal aristocracy reign
by divine right, people are divided into rul'
ers and subjects, but here in the United