Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-12-04


We take the liberty Of copying the fol
lowing from private letter from Z. T.
EEmocG ofBoscobe, formerly a printer
in this office aud a gentleman in whom we
have great confidence as to moral worth
and sound judgment. lie is good wri-
ter, as will be, seen:
CAMP TILLINGHAsT, yA.,}
November -, 1861.
Nh. j. C. CovER;-Dear SIR Your
very welcome brace of letters were duly
received, and | owe YOU an apology for
needing TO be reminded of my obligation.
The languor aud weakness which followed
my tnana illness male exertion Of any
kind so difficult that haze somewhat neg
lected the claims Of my correspondents, Of
whom, By the way, have very few.
Well, / have had IS you remark, "some-
schooling in the only institution for saving
The country" and perhaps ought to be able
to .judge what will be the end Of all this"
but opportunities for forming intelligent
and fair Judgments are in fact scarcer to us
who are in the midst Of the conflict, than
they are to you who quietly read the "tel
egraph' column, twelve hundred miles
away.
| Some ideas have, Of course, been forced
upon my attention, but they can hardly
aspire to the dignity Of beng styled "opin-
ions or Judgments" They are impress
sions merely which the future is quite rs
Hide. ~ f,I,;f, ae ~ varif,
One of the most prominent Of tbes3 is
the conviction Of the utter inadequacy OF
the militia or volunteer system as means
of national defence. In spite Of all the
ev ls-many of them real no doubt-which
the sage founders of our government saw
in standing army. I nope the wisdom
Of the present generation will leave to its
successors a permanent force of not less
than two hundred thousand welI-trained,
and thoroughly equipped troops. If you
could 90 through and survey the mass Of
citizens gathered within ten miles of this
place, and see the ilI-trained, worse organ
lied and abominaby differed host which
we pompously style our "Grand Army
! | think you would 90 away under the same
impression" however absurd you may
think it now. The simple fact that re-
bellion has grown to such enormous dimen-
sions, under the very eyes of the govern
Inent, after being Matched in its Capitol, is
almost demonstration Of this point.
Another impression Of mine is that
the present struggle is going to be long
one lido not look for my discharge I'M
til the 18th Of June, 1864. The measures
Of the administration are sIow-it seems to
me unaccountably so. Here we have been
nearly six months within sound OF the en-
emy's guns, and most Of the time even
within hearing of his drums, and no move
ment has been made save one upconscion-
able b0ndeT, and now there is no hope of
an advance movement this fall, and we
must retire to our barracks and play the
dandy soldier for six months to come, I'M
less, indeed they transport us southwark in
the track Of the fleet, which is not proba-
1 Die. In the meantime, what are the enc
my doing9 Growing weakerl Not at all
however it may be in the future, the
great rebellion has not yet become self
consuming. | suppose our leaders know
their business, but il is evident that they
believe in the testina cente policy. There
is only one thing that can shorten this con-
fiict to six or twelve months campaign,
and that is the concession of points by the
government, which the people ofthe North
would never ratify.
In regard TO emancipation either BY CON
| fiseatiop or otherwise, there must Of course
be diversity of opinion. All sensible
men will admit that the removal of the one
great stumbling-block in the way Of our
national progress is an end most deyoutly
to be desired, but the practicabiIity Of set
ting It aside in the way talked Of by the
radicals Of The North, is a point not quite
SO clear. Great social changes are not gen
orally lest effected by revolution The
rebels might very reasonably obj@ctto com
ing under the dominion of new constitu-
ton, while they are very clearly in the
wrong, IN resisting the authority of the
one they helped to make. However, no
one would be better pleased than myself
Ilf the abolition Of slavery should be one of
the results Of this war, but my impression
is that at the best that result will be re-
mote and not immediate. ] am not of a
very sanguine temperament you know.
Nature did not fashion me for radical
In short think that the administration is
right aud Fremont wrong. But then, as |
sad at the start, this is only a sort of pref
udice, and il events prove that uncondtion-
al emancipation at the present time is good
policy, ! should be very happy to see that
jprejndice confounded Still | would not
try it if | were President. We don't want
to buy any elephants just now. Would
not the question Of the disposal Of the ne
groes after their emancipation be rather
difficult? For many reasons they could
mot be armed against their masters, as you
lsoem to be in favor of DONG. They would
eventually become COVE rnment parpers
and we have quite enough of them now in
Governors chairs, Government Offices, and
not few Of them wearing sLoulder-straps
and riding Government horses and loyal
soldiers. No, no, Mr.. Cover, let us have
bnt one Gordian Knot at time. If you