The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1861-09-17
Influence Of the War on the Character of the
Nation.
We elip the following from the Nethodist ::


are now passing, as merely q barbarous and
unnatural necessity. Even these who take the
strongest ground for the var, and call it holy
on the part Of the Union, employ a tone
which seems to imply that only the cause is
holy, not the war itself. That certain sacred
instincts and interests of the race and the ma.
tion, have seized certain necessary but dia-
boica weapons with which TO right them
selves; that the weapons, and The wounds
inflicted by Jhell, even in the hands Of JUS
ticc, are still wicked.
In accordance with this view it is held, that
the only benefit which can possibly result from
the war is the tinkering up again Of the I'm
ion, and the re-establisbment Of the authority
of its Constitution and laws over the whole
country and that our population will be de-
moraliz and the progress OF civilization re-
tardcd if not turned back, hundred years.
Thus talk not only the designing peace men,
but many Of the earnest supporters OF the
| Government.
To this view we object without reserve or
qualification. A just and necessary ,car is
no sin at all. It's weapons, its ships its for
| tifcations, are not more sinful than the plough
and the pruniDg.hook. Peace is not always
holier than war. Either may be right, either
may be wrong. Peace may sacrifice vital
principle that only war could have saved, and
legitimate and safe peace may only be pos
sible after an honorable and just war.
Is civil government an evil |? is it even a
necessary evil Does it become such even
when it inficts its Well.meritcl pnnishments
on offenders Is it not good thing wheu
the wicked are punished good for the hon
est members Of tie community ? good f0r the
support of law and order Nay, the very
act Of punishment is good, that is, il is right
But as between the nations Of the earth do
the great principles Of morality cease to oz-
ist when they cease to be regarded? Shall
punishment which is morally right when in
ticted by national authority upon individu,
ais, become Suddenly wrong when inflicted
for the same offences on communities? Right
full war is an international judiciary, where,
as in other cases, the court may sometimes
be circumvented, or even overturned by vio-
lence, but where, if the decision is right, all
the power at command must be used to en-
force it.
Men do not convince us that war is evil BY
pointing to desolated homes and smoking
cities or to commerce and manutac-
lures standing stock-still while the grass
grows on the vharves and the ships rot in
the docks. Suppose it is 50. Such pictures
of ruin address themselves mainly to our
pockets, and are OF course, the saddest things
on earth to the genius OF material progress
They are to be avoided by every rational and
lawful means but at the same time material
ruin may have a side of grandeur watch, when
time has worn away the smart, and history
has cleared the eye, may outshlne the most
PROSPEROUS commerce and the most prolific
tilage The sacrifices OF commerce and hus-
bandry are nobler than lis achievements. 1t
required only avarice and enterprise to build
up fortune, it calls for conviction, and
right-heartedness 10 sacrifice it on the altar
of the country. The deserted cottage Of d
| true Union man in East Tennessee, who has
saved bis conscience at the expense of his
property, would touch and move you more
more than tho most prosperous homestead.-
Desoations and losses and sutferings in the
cause of ones country arc evidences of the
highest and truest prosperity, of the noblest
progress and seen in this light they blossom
as the rose. This is prosperity of the national
conscience and the national character, the
growth of moral wealth.
We have no sympathy with the fear so fire.
ouently expressed, and still more frequently
Implied in the exhoItations Of honest people,
that this war will injure either the religion or
the morality Of the nation. Far from it
This struggle is pervaded by great impulse
of justice, right and humanity which thrills
the hearts of all loyal people; it shakes them
to the very sources Of life. 1t WHITES the
good and pure afrcsh, turns common virtue in
to heroism, and reaches down into the very
lowest, or almost the lowest classes of the
population where justice and humanity have
but glimmering and shadowy existence,
proves the possibility of virtue even there, and
gives them a fresh, an appreciable lift toward
the sublimest truths.
1t is precisely because the nation is still
morally and religiously alive that she is bold
enough, self-sacri6cing enough to prefer war
to an unprincipled peace, to put down the re-
bellion at the expense of her peace, OF her
treasures, of the blood of her children. If
she had been less upright, she had still been
united and outwardly prosperous. And shall
great moral and national conviction rising