St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-07-11

money Tor II, ana Butter joined IN 1t
Bennett would still have noated tri.
umphant on the tide OF zeal, and Caleb
Cushing still have offered to the Gov
ernment his cavalry company of one.
1t is grace not given to any Amcri-
can party, to stand ont long against
the enthusiasm of n war.
Nodoubt the Secession leaders have
treated us very handsomely, as to
amount of provocation. 1t is rare
that any great contest begins by a
blow SO uncquivocal as the bomLard-
mcnt of Fort Sumptcr and rare in
recent days for any set of bclligercnts
to risk the iynominy of privatccring
But, after all, it is the startling social
theories announced by the new "gov-
crnment" which form the chief
strength of its enemies. Either slav-
cry is essential to a community, or it
must be fatal to it,-there is no mid
die ground and the Seccssionists
have taken one horn of the dilem-
ma with SO delightful a frankness as
to leave us no possible escape from
taking the other. Never, in modern
days, has there been a conflict in
which the contending principles were
SO clearly antagonistic. The most
bigotcd royal house in Europe never
dreamed of throwing down the gaunt-
let for the actual ownership of man
by man. Even Russia never fought
for scrfdom, and Austria has only en-
shaved nations, not individuals. In
civil wars, especially, all historic d.
vcrgences have been trivial compared
to ours, SO far as concerned the avow-
ed principles Of strife. In the French
wars of the Fronde, the only availa-
bic motto for anybody was the Tout
arrire en- France, Anything may hap
pen in France" which gayly rccog.
uizcd the absurd chaos OF the conflict.
In the English civil wars, the contend
ing factions first disagreed upon a
shade more or less Of royal preroga-
tive, and it took years to stereotype
the hostility into the solid forms with
which we now associate it. Even at
the end Of that contest, no one had
vcnturcd to claim such freedom as our
Declaration of independence asserts,
on the one side,-nor to recognize
the possibility of such q barbarism
as jefferson Davis glorifics, on the
other. The more strongly the Scces-
lists state their cause, the more glar-
ingly it is seen to differ from any
cause for which any same person has
taken up arms since the roman servile
wars. Their leaders may be exhibit
ing very sublime qualities all we
can say is, as Richardson said of Field
ing's heroes, that their virtues are the
vices of decent man.
We arc now going through not
merely the scyerest, but the only dan
ger which has ever seriously clouded
our horizon. The pcrils which harass
other nations are mostly traditional
for us. Apart from slavery, demo
cratic government is long since un
fail accOmpli, fixed fact, and the An
glo-A American race can no more revcr.
in the direction Of monarchy imam o.
the Saurian epoch. Cur geographic
al position frees us from foreign dis
turbancc, and there is no really for.
midablc internal trouble, slavery alone
excepted. Let us come ont of this
conflict victorious in the field, escap-
ing also the more serious danger of
conquering ourselves by compromise,
and the case Of free government is
settled past cavil. History may put
up her spy-glass, like Wellington at
Waterloo, saying, "The field is won.
Let the whole line advance
There has been foolish suspicion
that the North was strong in diploma
cy and weak in war. The contrary
is the case. We are proving our
selves formidable enough in war to
cover our short comings in diploma
cy. How narrow y we escaped de.
moralizing ourselves, at the last mo.
ment before Congress adjourned, by
some concession that would have de.
stroycd our consistency without
Strengthening our position If we
could even now bind our generals to
initiate our Cabinet in its admirable
and novel policy of silence--to es-
chew pen and ink as carefully as il
they were in training for the Presidcn.
cy! The country is safe SO long as
they shut their mouths and open thcil
batteries.
The ordeal by battle is a stern test
Of the solid power of the nation
There must always be some great
quality to produce great military su-
periority,--skill, or daring, or cndu-
rance, or numbers, or wealth, or all
all together. Except the first two,
neither of these special qualifications
has been even claimed by the Seces-
sionists f; and these two have been ta-
kenfor granted with such supcrlluous
boastfulness as to yield strong inter.
nal evidence against the claim. Ger.
tainIy their general strategy, up to
this moment, has yielded not sin.
gle evidence Of far-sightcd Judgment
or conscious power, while it has
shown decided glimpses Of weakness
and indecision. Indeed, how can an
army like theirs be strong? Its
members mostly unaccustomcd tc
steady exertion or precise organiza.
ton without mechanic skill or inven
ton; without cash or credit fctter.
ed in their movements by the limited
rolling stock of their scanty railways
tethered to their own homes by the
fear of insurrection what element
of solid strength have they, to set
against these things? In the present
state Of the world, strong in peace is
strong in war. In modern times an
army Of heroes is useless without ia,
cilities for arming, transporting, and
feeding it, to say nothing of the more
ignoble circumstance of pay. Con
siderations of simple political econo.
my render it almost impossible for a
slaveholding army to bc strong col
lectively, nor do the habits of South
ern life usually fit its members to be
strong singly.