Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1861-09-21


and all pursuits have been animated by
the same lofty and unqucnchable en-
thus,asm. While. however. l would
make no invidious distinctions, where
all lave SO nobly done their duty. can
not refrain from remarking how con-
>Ilcuous the hard handed tiIlers Of the
North and West have made themselves
in swelling the ranks of our army. We
honor commerce with its busy marts,
md the workshop with its patient toll
and cAraustiess Ingenuity, but still we
would he unfaithiul To the truth of his
tory. did we not confess that the most
heroic champions of human freedom
AND the mos; illustrious apostles OF its
principles have come from the broad
field of agriculture.
There sccins to be something in the
scenes of nature, in her wild and beau
tiful landscapes, in her cascades, and
cateracts, and woodlands, and cXhilera-
ting airs of her hills and mountains,
that embraces the fctters which man
would rivet upon the spirit Of his fel-
low man. 1t was at the handles of the
plow and amid the breathing odors of
newly opened turrows that the charac-
ter of Cincinnatus was formed, expand.
cd and maturca. 1t was not in the
city full, but in the deep gorges and
upon the snow-clad SUBMITS of the
Alps, amid the eagles and the thunders,
that William Tell laid the foundation
of those affairs to human liberty against
which the gurging tides of European
dcspotsm have beaten for centuries,
but, thank God, have beaten in vain.
1t was amid the primcval forests and
mountains, the lakes and lcaping
springs of our own land; amid fields
and waving grain; amid the songs of
the reaper and the tinkling of the shop
herds bell that were nurtured those
rare virtues which clustered star-like in
the character of Washington, and lifted
him in moral stature head and shoul-
ders above the demigods of ancient
story.
There is one most striking and dis
tingnshing feature of your mission
that never should be lost 81 ght of. You
are not about to invade the territory Of
Il foreign enemy, nor is your purpose
that of conquest or spoilation. Should
You occupy the South, YOU will do as
friends and protectors, and your aim
will be not to subjugatc that betrayed
and distracted country, but to deliver
it from tho rcmorsclcss military despot-
ism by which it is trodden down.
Union men, who are your brethren,
throng in those States, and will listen
for the coming footsteps of your army
as the Scottish maiden of Lucknow
listened for the airs of her native land.
1t is true that amid the terrors and
darkness that prevail there they arc ST.
lcnccd, and are now unseen, but be as
sured that by the light of the stars you
carry upon your banner you will find
them all. 1t has been constantly as-
serted by the conspirators throughout
the South that this is war of subjuga-
ton on the part Of the Government Of
the United States, wagcd for the exter-
mination of Southern institutions, and
by vandals and miscrcants who, in the
fury of their passions, spare neither age
nor sex, nor property. Even one Of
the confederate Generals has so far
stepped himself in infamy as to pub
lish. in choice billingsgate, this calum-
ny through an official proclamation.
In view of what Congress has re-
Gently SO solemnly resolved, and in view
of the continuous and consistent action
Of the Administration upon the subject,
those who, through the press or in pub
lie speeches, persist in repeating the
wreichcd slandcr, are giving uttcrance
To what everybody. themselves includ-
ed. know to be absolutely and infa-
mously false. 1t will bc the first aud
the highest duty Of the American army,
as it advances South. by its moderation
and humanity, BY its exemption from
every excess and irregulaity, and BY
its scrupulons observance Of the rights
of all, to show how toully both Il and
the Government it represents have
been traduced. When. therefore, you
enter the South, press lightly upon her
gardens aud fields; guard sacredly her
homes; protect, If need 10, at the point
OF your bayoncts, her institutions and
her Constitutional rights, for you will
thereby not only respond fully to the
spirit and objects Of the war, but you
will exert over alike the oppressed and
the infatuated portion of her people, .
power to which the most brilliant Of
yonr military successes might not at-
tain.
But whom you meet In hsttle array
those atrocious conspirators, who, at