Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-22

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How can answer, Ilow-citisent, your
anxious faces, appealing eyes and throbbinR
hearts so earnestly calling: Watchman,
what fthe night2 The eve that sleeps not
alone sees how soon all ''stiIl small voices"
may be drowned amid the strong wind, and
earthquake, and FIRE Of civil war; therefore
Will thank God for this quiet morning
hour, and in il utter the burden of my heart.
sights and sounds, strange and sad, fill the
air. Some manly forms and noble Young
faces we miss in our assembly; alas, how
much more are they missed at your fire.
sides, ard in the hearts which clunR TO
theml Yes, our hearts have followed them;
the arms alone we're untwined, the hands
unolasped of families, lovers, friends-our
hearts can not be chained back from follow.
ing our brave men, who have left all 10 de-
fend the imperiled honor and liberty of
their country On their heads, o God Of
Justice, we invoke thy benedictionE NAV
thy kind arm eDcircle those from whom the
arms OF mothers and wives are withdrawn;
close to thy heart may they be folded and
may they speedily return crowned with that
victory which must come as surely as that
Thou art the God of Right as over Wrong,
Of Freedom as over Slavery
My friends, you know that believe in
peace. That principle ] have been preach.
ing since was in my teens, and | certainly
do not mean to throw It away now when the
hrst real test and trial Of it comes. But the
cause of peace is not the cause of cowardice.
II is not the cause which would give up
honor for ease, or weigh life with principle.
The true friend of peace is he who would
seek first the Kingdom Of God and His
Righteousness" and remembers that "the
wisdom that eometh from above is first pure,
then peaeeable." Though he may dispense
with the weapons of others, he will not
shrink from sharing their dangers. Peace
has her victories as well as war, and her
weapons though not carnal, have ever
proved mighty toward the pulling down Of
the stroDgholds of evil. But do not mean
to discuss any abstract views to day: when
the emergency which tries every soul is
upon US, each one must fly to the post that
calls for him. That which now seems to
any one best, let him OF her stand up to il;
il it is to fight, let them fight; if it be to suf-
fer, then suffer. None will say that Florence
Nightingale was less heroic than the soldier
whose woundsshe bound up. For each and
all there is q supreme guide within; and the
highest duty to ones own heart will always
be proved the highest duty and service to
ones country, to humanity aud to God.
Be ye angry and sin not There Is, then,
sinless anger. Blind fury is not more ig-
noble than a sacred indignation against
wrong is noble. That sacred wrath of an
insulted nation has beat its loud reveillsz in
our midst, and every heart has responded.
If the love of justice and the faith in liberty
were nearly buried under the advancing
wealth and prosperity Of the land, the first
note of war has proved the archangers
trump, at which they have come forth from
their graves, and, with hand and foot un-
bound, rise to the tolls of the day of trial
that is on us. For in my heart believe that
this anger Of our nation is true aud holy. l
have no faith in that old motto, "Our coun-
try, right or wrong" as popularity under
stood, believing that when our country is
wrong we should love her still,
and seek to redeem her from
the wong. / yet hold that the
first allegiance of man is to the Law of
God, and that all true men should stand for
the right, whether his country stands for it
or not. So Daniel withstood the laws of The
Medes and Persians when they were wrong;
so Washington confronted Englaud-his
couDtry-wben she was an oppressor. AS we
came under the flag at our door, into our
church, this morning, remembered what
Napoleon said to his Syrian troops
| pointing to his flag, he said; "Sol-
diers, the world has come to know
that wherever that banner is seen,
great cause is before it aud powerful ma.
tion behind it |" That it is, and that alone,
| that can make a flag noble. When that
star spangled banner once led on war to
| Cypress weaker nation and despoiled her
| OF territory to give to slavery, it was not
| noble banner; though ''all its hues were
born in Heaven" they trailed in the dust
| And since then, when 1t waved only for
slavery, and those red and white symbols of
humanity's day streaks came TO mean to the
world only stripes on the crouching slave,
1 1t was not noble. But now, when out of the
dust it rises, now when it is ready to purge
the stains wherewith traitors have stained
| it; now it has great cause before
| it, and powerful-nay, an inviucible
nation behind it, and the hearts of
the brave and free round the world will
cry: Long may it wavel Aye, though torn
10 shreds by the gales Of rebellion, long,
long may it wavel And long it shall wave; I;
TO conquer it now, is about as easy as to
| prostrate the throne Of God. A wiser JEFF
| 1eTson than he who leads the men of cotton
foresaw the conflict that is now upon us, and
| said I'm such contest, when it arrives,
! there is not one attribute of the Almighty
which can take sides with the enslaYers of
men,"
But is this fair and straight conflict be-
tween right and wrong, justice and injustice 2
Has the North, has the Administrator, done
the right, honest and noble part2 Is any of
the blood that has been or shall be split on the
head of our Government In my opinion, not
one drop. AS you know l was one of, those
who yearned for a peaceful settlement of this
trouble; again and again, while imploring
| you to resist compromising hsirsbreadth to
| slavery, l have urged in this pulpit that the
| people should unite to enable their President
| to recognize the division of this Union, The
| Nation was gradually coming to that point /;
most of the pulpits and presses were ia
| favor oft; Congress had adjourned and was
consulting constituencies as to whether IL
were not best that slavery and freedom
should part company, each to work out the
! social theory it had espoused.
Let it be remembered that the President
could not, without perjury and treason, have
| DIVIDED the country until the people, by
their representatives, had instructed him SO
! to do. The course of the President was as
clear as sunbeam. Here is his oath: "I
1 do solemnly swear that will faithfully ex-
| ecute the Office of President of the United
States, and WILL to the best of my ability,
| preserve, protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States.n In that Constitution
it was written that he, the President, "shall
take care that the laws be faithfully ex.
ecuted.n It would therefore have been fat
perjury for Mr.. Lincoln to have given up
any of the property of the United
States intrusted to him by the peo.
pie who elected him; and it would
| really seem that any but traitors hearl
would have respected the solemn appeal he
made TO the Southerners to remember thai
i they had sworn no oath TO break up this
Government, but that he had the most sol.
emn oath registered in Heaven to protect
and defend it. t
Meanwhile how did the President ana
Congress treat those who were in open re.
bellion7 With ealmness, dignity, and gen,
erosity; going to the very verge of theil
authority TO bear with secession. No armed
invasion Of their States, no threatening
Why did he not recommend that the SOuti
should be eonstitutionally amputated2 Sim
I-ply because neither he nor the nation could
be sure that they would not be cutting OF
from this country more loyal than disioya
men. The haste with which secession
| projects were consummated; the steady re