The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-07-24
tFrom the 81. Louis Evening News.l
What Ais Us.

.fEFsa@fE ~ uuehe kAu1S w. a.ff etg
Messrs Editors As intimated in my for
mer article, wish now. through your col,
umns, to pursue with my fellow citizens the
inquiry What is the matter with us
This Nation, and especially this City and
State, is now reading very expensive lesson.
Would to God that its cost may impress it
indelibly on orr minds unto all generations !;
so that should we survive the present evils,
and their cause should occur again in period
however remote, the Nation may recognize
at once its former curse and plague, and
rush to whatever section Of our country may
present it, to quench it at once. in. it's incipi-
ency, as we would the beginning of con-
fagration in the house we dwell in; that its
living instinct may rally against it, as the vi
tai forces of the body, to expel from the
system deadly poison. The question pro
posed is one the commonwealth, and espe-
cialiy this community, should ask of itself
this hour Let us look at our maledy till
we understand it and Its cause, and be able
ever to recognize and guard against it in the
future. Il
What then is the matter with us ? Why
this utter stagnation, prostration, may say
ruin, of business this paralysis of its forces
of capital, enterprise, industry I? Why this
distress and bankruptcy ofmerchant, manu-
facturer and carriers this destitution, men
delaney and almost starvation, of the laborer?
Why this embarrassment and failure of in
terests and schemes hitherto so prosperous 2
and this universal and manifold suffering |?
Why are all the processes Of improvement
and trade arrested our houses for rent
our workshops sient-our schools broken up
our benevolent and religious institutions
embarrassed ? Why are our mining works
abandoned vast treasure house of ores
unwraught--our machinery notionless, and
our magnificent feet of steamers lying idle
at our levee, or along the silent banks ofour
fnll-howing river !? While gangs of haggard
and despairing men sit by looking wistful,
wrathful and wretched, without work or
credit or bread ? Why is society rent and
stung and poisoned by mean, bloody. sense
less feuds, severing between friends of many
years and who were yesterday relied on for
life What has broken up the amenities,
charities and even proprieties of life What
has caused those that few weeks ago loved
each other as trusted and tried brothers, now
to avoid each other in suspicion or even to
glare at each other in hate What has chan
ged the milk of gentle natures to gall, and
taught even the lips of women words OF
cursing and murdere In short, what has
brought this cloud of care and sorrow and
fear and hate over our community, short
time since, the happiest and most prosperous
on earth Has God sent on US some strange
plague of earth or food OF. sky Pestilence?
Famine Earthquake None Of these. On
the contrary, neverw were the forces of the ele.
ments more benefcent, the air more genial
or the earth more generous, or the outer
world richer or more beautiful OF more kindly
to all life. Has Ged then permitted some
blight, some epidemic phrenzy to fall on the
soul of fmen |? So it would seem. But wha,
is its form. occasion, and working? Is it q
universal madness seizi6g their entire mind
or monomania confined to one theme I,
seems to be the latter; for drawn away awhile
from one topic, men seem t. reasan and fec
as formerly.
The plague is certainly in the politica
world; but in what special cause or fac
found "It is the war;" says one "It is tn,
embargo" says another. "Itis Republican
ism, Black Republicanism," clamors third
But none of these reach the primal fountain
of the evil. The embargo But what bro'
the embargo ? The war But what necess:
tated the war Republicanism Did it be
gin it Did it provoke it Did it invite it
No. Its origin and forcefll iHsqlent, persist
ent Inception was in region and with
party far removed from Republicanism Blu
did not the overshadowing power and mena
cling temper Of that party make the war mes
essary, in order to self defence? Mott had on
only Of the three departments of Government
and was powerless for tyranny, if it had tn
will and its term Of power was precarious
temporary, and amenable to the ballot box
Certainly there was no necessity for war from
its rise to power. If that rise had been &C
cepted as the temporary ascendancy of othe
political parties had been, as for the time bein
3 constitutional fact, and the ordinance Of
constitutional majority. to be submitted to
till another election, there surely was no nee
essity for arms. m
: What, ttep, brought the WARP "Why, tn
Proclamation of LiKcoLNs A persistent, un
scrupulous, rapacious assault on the constitu
tional sovereignty and the legitimate Gov
ernment of the Nation, terminating in mos
insolent and insulting and deadly outrage
on, I say, not its honor and dignity, but il
very life. That Proclamation was only Il,
assertion Of the right and duty-GoD-give
e to all govcrnments--of self defence Tn
Government had yielded until the next ste
further was to national suicide and anarchy
But whence this persistent assault, an
. this ultimating outrage 1t pas tho pestaes
: heresy Of %eession, attempting to assert itse
: in the destruction Of our Nation Secessio
: composing and conspiring the death Of
$ great and free people. Yes, friends. We Al
"