Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-05-15
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Ignorance Of the BIasses-WhRt Keeps
the Secession movement Alive-Duty
Of the Government.
.. WARRINGTON, May o. 1861,
Private letters from the South show that
the people in that region have the strangest
ideas imaginable in regard to the condition
of things here and further north. IL seems
TO be supposed that martial law reigns north
of the Potomac as completely as mob law
Teigns south oft, and il is taken for granted
that every letter sent hither from the South
is opened and read, in order TO find out the
schemes of the rebels and their friends and
sympsthizers in this city. AS a case in point,
| received letter from lady in North Car
olihs to. day, inclosing one for her sister.
The precaution was taken to omit the direc-
tion, least it should be opened and the hus-
band OF the lady be subjected to summary
execution, or confscation of goods. II was
supposed that my Republican affinities would
prevent suspicion among the Postoffiee spies,
and thus secure the safe delivery of the let
ter, 1t is scarcely necessary TO say that there
is not a shadow of foundation for these idle
suspicious, unless the systematic fisehoods
of Southern newspapers and demagogues be
allowed to warrant them. The truth is the
Southern mails have been about as regular
as usual, and | happen to know that the
Southern families here are in receipt of an
unwouted amount letters from their friends
in the South at the present time, aud that
they come through with perfect regularity.
1t is ignorance of the true state of things,
produced by energetic lying, which keeps up
H. vitality in the Secession movement in the
South. Could the people there know how
universal is the determination of the North
TO preserve the Union, how calm and reso-
lutte is the Administrator, and how weak
ard poor are the Secessionists, the bubble
would collapse at once. There is reason to
apprehend that nothing short of battle or
an overwhelming demonstratiOn'of military
power will convince them of their egregious
error, and open their eyes TO the true charac-
ter Of their deceivers.
No proposition would seem to be clearer
than that the more Overwhelming the dis
play of force on the part of Government the
less the danger of bloody or protracted
war. The Government has unlimited credit,
and twenty millions of freemen to back it.
The rebels, have neither credit nor money,
with less than half the number of men,
while they are embarrassed by four millions
of slaves painting for liberty. With ten
times the wealth, the Government has the
whole machinery Of revenue from customs
to sustain it; while the rebels are completely
blocBaded, and can only rely upon direct
taxes for the means of sustaining the war.
1t is therefore the obvious policy of the
Government TO make a tremendous display
of power and thus cause the rebels to
exhaust themselves during the first campaign
by a corresponding exertion. 1t is impossi-
BILE that they can long endure the burdens
to which they will thus be subjected, and
the conspiracy will break down of its own
weight, almost without bloodshed.
lathe call for twenty-five thousand regu-
lars, which raises the standing army to forty
thousand, and for forty odd thousand volun-
teers, for three years, will doubtless be re-
sponded TO promptly and 1t should be imme-
djately followed up by another call for sixty
thousand of each of these classes. We should
thus have an army of two hundred thou
sand men, and that simple fact would be the
best argument against Secession which has
ever yet been pronounced.
The recent resurrection of patriotism DEM
onstrates the truth of the saying, that this is
strongest Government in the world be-
cause it has its foundation in the hearts OF
the people. But the fact must not he lost
sight of that this strength is latent, and
cen only exert itself through the iustru-
meDtalities of armies and navies Though
every heart in the land should beat in SYM
pathy, the nation would still be powerless to
confront danger without armies.
Volunteers for three months can only
suffice for sudden emergency to defend the
Government, and their enlistment can only
be justified by the necessity of the case AS
the instruments of vigorous war they have
ever been found unreliable, from want of ex-
peIience and discipline, as well as from the
shortness of the time they can be kept in the
field. The present three months men were
only called out to stay the current of rebel
lion and anarchy until Congress can assem-
BILE, and authorize the formation of great
armies.
The President may call out the militia to
aid in suppressing rebellion or repelling in-
vasion, but he has no right to muster men
into the regular service for terms longer
than the the militia laws authorize. The
call for the regulars and three. years vol
unteers was merely initiatory proceeding,
which can not be consummated until ap-
proved by Congress.
We are, therefore, bound to conclude that
the call for seventy five thousand men for
three months was a temporary expedient,
and that the Administration will, at no dis
tant day, make another call for soldiers for
the war; in numbers so formidable as to
carry dismay into the ranks of the rebels.
While urging these thorough and vigor-
GUS preparations for war, have never been
among those who rate the power of the Sc
cessionists highly. AS general rule, it is
safe to divide their figures by ten, in order
to arrive at the actual facts; and from long
study of the mendacity of the presses aud
demagogues who have stirred up the rebel
lion, | can give the above as a correct
formula for the reduction of their statements
to the limits of probability. They lie with
out the fear of contradiction, and, there
fore, without stint.