Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1861-09-05
that pride by fresh achieveuents and
accumulated glories."

accumulated giories.
i Yet these Prussians. thus coursge
Gus, enduring, self-sacri6cing. and per
severing, had not a thousandth part %
the materials of prosperous happiness
Of civil power and privilege. Of true
dignity and manhood at stake. that the
people Of the United States have in The
present struggle. The Prussians never
felt, even for a moment, that which
constitutes the atmosphere, the sunlight
the life blood of an American freeman
and these are all imperilled in the
wicked, fendish war into which the
Southern insurgents have plunged The
people Of the United States A-e we
Iready to give or sell those vitalities o.
citizenship? Can that man be fit to
live who is willing to surrender any
portion of her citizenship for an inglo.
rious, a pitiable. despicable peace?-
What is that life worth that is not pass
ed iu honorable and useful pursuits?-
There is horror in war; there may be
ruin in peace. What ravages Of war
could Spain have inflicted upon France
more ruinous than the peace which
Charles VIII Of France made with
Ferdinand and Isabella? II the orgies
of war warn us from Cbarybdis, let us
be careful that the syren Of peace does
not lure us to wreck on Scylla. The
work before us is the work of men; let
us come up to it in the full glow Of man.
hood, in the full power Of the spirit
that is unblenched in the face of dan
ger, in the sagacity that finds the right
and pursues it regardless Of the conse.
quences. If the evils Of which we
have spoken were cheerfully borne by
men who had no ties to the Govern
ment but such as spring from heredi-
t ary claims, what ought we to be able
to endure for ours, in which each man
is the equal politically Of any other?-
What sacrifices are too great for us to
make for Government, whose perma-
nent blessings tend to the many instead
Of being confined to the few; where
the laws deal equally with all men;
where every mans chance Of advance
ment in public affairs and in individual
influence is determined by real worth,
by the possession Of means Of advancing
the general welfare, without regard to
his poverty or obscurity, where, in
deed, all men in service are directly
amenable to the people? If we have
fa lat
member that we have spontaneous
courage, backed by resolution to stand
by our institutions. There is not an
element of our freedom that has not
been aesaiIed by the Southaxp. .Ahels-
The cord that bound us together as one
people was the strongest ever devised
by human wisdom; filament after fla
ment has been cut, and it is our duty,
our highest responsibility to see that
our own hands are not used to cut the
remaining threads Of this cord Of unity.
Let the light of the example Of the
Fathers of American freedom flame
along the paths Of our minds and
hearts, and conduct us to peace, a real
peace that shall secure the people their
Constitution, their laws, their Union
In the dark hours of the adversities of
the American Revolution, there were
cries for peace; for peace on any terms.
The fears of the people were invoked
in the midst OF the calamities Of the
war. The emissaries OF the great
enemy Of American freedom piled this
shuttle actively in the roaring loom o
events. Many honest. well-meaning
men were caught in this cunning net
and Joined in the clamor for peace
Lord North came forward as Prime
Minister of Great Britain, two year:
after the Declaration of Independence
with schemes of Cancellation. for con
quering the colonies by peace, wher
he had not succeeded by all the horrors
of war. In the very midst Of Ameri
can disasters, while the people were
reeling and staggering under the &C.
cumulated horrors and miseries of war
Lord North proposed in Parliament tt
surrender entirely the British claims
that had caused the war, and author
lied the appointment of FIVE commits
, sioners, with ample powers TO treat fol
+ the re-establishment Of the royal au
! thority. In the terrible condition o.
r the Colonies, the scheme was specious
; the prize was glittering. 1t was ar
, offer to save drowning men on the
verge of sinking. The losses ant
S miseries inflicted by the war were
e severe upon the Colonies. New Eng
land was dependent, almost for th'
] necessaries of life. on the New Found
e land fisheries, and the trade with th'
West Indies. These were destroyed
: Nine hundred vessels had been takeI
q by the British and those that remained
were useless. The coasting trade wa
b, annibilated; this created an appallin!
s scarcity of breadstuffs in New England
o and the colonies increased this by in
s ternal embargoes among themselve
= for self-preservation. Public debt
r were rapidly and disastrously accumu
r lating, and doubt, fear, and positiv
d losses dwelt amidst depreciating cur
o rency. The drafts for militia had seri
+ ously injured agriculture and manufac
e lures. There was frightful scarcit.
= of arms and of the munitions of war;
e The war debt of the Continental Con
e gress, in 1778, was over forty million
b Of dollars, while each of the colonie
: had debts of its own, amounting in al
n .o,r Soc n;ll;ons of dollars. tn