Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-07-11
The Ordeal by Battle.
[From the Atlantic Monthly, for July.l

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Virginia, which began by volunteering as
peacemaker in our civil troubles, seems like
ly to end BY being their battle-ground as
MIR. Pickwick, interfering between the bellig-
erent rival editors, only brought upon his
own head the united conclusion Of their car
pct-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 to shift the
scene of action farther South. The Gulf
States, with profuse courtesies for the Old
Dominion, consent to shift it farther North.
The Southern Confederacy has talked about
paying Richmond the compliment of Sc
lecting it for the seat Of government las if
a bully, about to belynched in his own house
by the crowd, should compliment his next
door neighbor by climbing in at his window
1t is very pleasant to have hospitable
friend but it is counting on his hospitality
rather too strongly, when you make choice
Of his apartments to be tarred and feathered
in. a45
Thus fades the fancy of an Independent
neutrality for the Old Dominion. 1t ought
to fade for neutrality is crime, where
ones mothers life is at stake and the Bor-
der theory Of independence only reminds one
Of Pitts definition ofan independent states-
man, "a statesman not to be depended on 4"
How sad has been the decline of Virginia
How strange, that in 1890, of the ten Amer
lean post-ofices yielding more than thous-
and dollars annually, that stately old COM
monwealth held fve Now "a poverty
stricken State" by confession of her own
newspapers, ,--beleaguered, blockaded, with
no imports but hungry and moneyless sol
diers, and no exports save fugitives of all
colors, s,--what has she to hope from the pres
ent warfare? Elsewhere riches have wings
in Virginia they are yetmore transitory hav-
ing legs. Two hundred million dollars worth
Of her property has become unstable, if net
worthless, within two months. She has
but two great staples: tobacco to send North,
and slaves to send South. The slaves at
present 60 only to the wrong point of the
compass, at rates remunerative to themselves
alone and the tobacco-tradc, 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 Sc
cession has already turned, and such tides
never turn twice. The conspirators in Mary
land and Missouri had but one opportunity,
and it was lost; with it also went the whole
cause Of the Secessionists. For one week
the North shuddered, knowing the defence
less condition of Washington. Now no
Northern man shudders, except those whose
Southern female cousins have not yet found
a refuge with the household gods of the emf
nent 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 chem
ical solvent like gunpowder. Even the
Mexican War, utterly opposed to the moral
convictions Of the majority of Northern men,
swept them away in such current that the
very party which opposed it could find no
path to the Presidency but for its chief hero.
Had the present outbreak occurred far less
favorably than it has, had the discretion of
President Lincoln been much less, or that OF
Mr.. Davis much greater, still the unanimity
would have been merely.a question of time,
and the danger of Washington would have
reconciled all minor feuds The Democratic
party would inevitably have embraced the
war, when once declared; Douglas would
have made speeches for it; Buchanan sub
scribed money for itand Butler Joined in it
Bennett would still have foated triumphant
on the tide of zeal, and Caleb Gushing still
have offered to the Government his cavalry
company of one. 1t is grace not given tC
any American party, to stand out long against
the enthusiasm ofa war.
| No doubt the Secession leaders have treat
ed us very handsomely, us to amount o.
provocation. 1t is rare that any great con
test begins by blow so unequivocal as the
bombardment of Fort Sumter; and rare il
recent days for any set of belligerents to risl
the ignominy of privateering But, afte
all, it is the startling social theories an
nounced by the new government which
form the chief strength of its enemies.-
Either slavery is essential to a community
or it must be fatal to it,-there is no mid
die ground and the Secessionists have takel
one horn Of the dilemma with so delight
ful frankness as to leave us no possible es
cape from taking the other. Never, il
modern. days, has there been conflict il
which the contendinng principles were SO clear
ly antagonistic. The most bigoted roya
house in Europe never dreamed of throwin
uOWu tuo BduuticI lOT tfe ACTUAL OWNERSHIP
of man by man. Even Russia never tough
for serfdom, and Austria has only enslave
nations, not individuals. In civil wars, es
pecially, all historic divergences have bee
trivial compared to ours, SO far as concern
ed the avowed principles of strife. In tn
French wars of the Fronde, the only avails
bic motto for anybody wasthe Tout arriiue e
France, Anything may happen in France,
) which gayly recognized the absurd chaos !,
the conflict. In the English civil wars, th
contending factions first disagreed upon
shade more orless ofroyal prerogative, and
took years to stereotype the hostility int
\ the solid forms with which we now associai
it. Even at the end of that contest, no OF
had ventured to claim such freedom
our Declaration of Independence asserts, 9
the one side,-nor to recognize the DO
sibility Of such barbarism as Jefferson d
Wis glorifes, on theo other. The more stron
ly the SecessiOnists state their cause, Il
more glaripgly it is seen to differ from al
: cause for which any sane person has tax,
lup arms since the Roman servile wars.
Theirl leaders may be exhibiting very su
10 lime qualities all we can say is, as Ric
I lardson said Of Fielding's heroes, that the
virtues are the vices of o decent man.
4 p We are now going through not mere
the severest, but the only danger which h
ever seriously clouded our horizon II
perils which harass other nations are most