The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-05-18

we are all OF US indulging in the hope that
TINS viii be short war 7 but il it should not
prove TO be, how long Whit pay to fghts-
what 10 our country WORTH What shall b
considered fair price for our nationality -
What sum of life and Treasure shall be stated as
the value Of our free Governments We can
make an answer to these questons when We en-
deavor to realize to ourselves how little lie
would be worth With country, nationality and
our free Government blotted out, and the ma.
tional Gag converted into dirty rag that has no
existence and no meaning outside the lids of his
tory. We can answer these questions when We
can tell how much the sir We breathe is worth
bow much home, and personal virtue, and chill.
4 drsn are worth. There are certain essential re.
quisites to desirable existence, and these, what
ever they may be, arc beyond all price They
cannot be measured by figures. or estimated BY
any standard OF currency; and among them are
our free institutions, our country, our country's
name and flag our national reputation, and our
benehcent Government. These ours-We are a
people faii OF sef,respect, chivalrs, manhood |;
these lost-our home 10 gone, and we - dis.
graced, degraded and impotent
We can live under no other Government than
this II cost our fathers long, sad years of strug-
gle, uncounted treasure, unmeasured hardship,
ana an incurable sum of precious life. Theyes
tabshed, and committed it to us as a sacred
|
this trust as we guard their ashes. The over.
throw OF the Government is equivalent to the
destruction OF oar nationality; aud to consent
to this overthrow, in any way, would be treason
to all intense and purposes. Voluntary or com
pulsory submission to any other Government
sought to be raised upon the ruins of this. or
voluntary or compulsory consent to the dsmem
berment OF tho nation, would involve such sur.
render of all that we hold sacred. az men and
1 OatFiptG that dpafh ~ r.
would be better for US to be annihiated than to
4 be dcnationalized. sss-5
So, then, when we ask "what is it worth ?" we
can only answer that the value Of that which ia
represented by the words: "our country "our
Government, ""eur nationality "our fiag," can.
not be stated. 1t is invaluable. 1t is essential
to our life, like the water we drink and the air
We breathe We cannot lose it without demon
alization-wi.hout ruin We cannot lose it
without hanging our heads every time we ac
knowledge that We are Americans. We cannot
lose 1t without drawing upon ourselves the con
tempt OF mankind. We cannot lose it without
strengthening the hands Of despotism every.
where. Ii this be so, how long will it pay to
fight? Wereply that it will pay to fight lust
1 as long as there is traitor to be hung, and pa-
trlots enough left TO hang him. If it ever should
by any possibility, come to choice between
war OF one hundred years and the overthrow of
1
be just as easy to decide rs it would be were
the century reduced by ninety-nine parts So
ong as national destruction is worse than civil
war, so long twill pay to fight for the preserva-
ton OF the Government. 1t is better to be
| solder than a slave. Honorable war is better
than dishonorable peace. The preservation of
the Government cannot cost too much, because
when it is lost, we shall have nothing left to US
but disgrace
/ . sst 6a ~
the friends of the Government to day. If they
cannot hang treason, they will strive it. IF they
cannot destroy the rebels, they will tire them
out The musket has been taken up with the
| calm and firm determination of men who feel
that they shall have nothing left to live for if
! their country shall be overthrow, and who will
fight till death comes to them, before they will
reinqush their purpose. Behind these men,
rank after rank, stand million other men, rea-
dy to take their place, and behind them stand
the holders of the nations wealth, ready to ex-
pend their all to support the country's defend.
ers. All history may be challenged to show
such another spectacle as the North presents to-
day. A whole people, united to a man, simply
asking where they shall stand, and what they
shall do to maintain their country, and their
country's flag. Twenty millions of people against
eight millions, declare that America shall not be
cut in two, and that the Government shall not
be overthrow. God pity the poor fools who not
only fight against their country, but against dcs-
tiny.
1t has come to be question simply OF nation
al existence, and it must be decided in only one
way. Whatever shall be the demand upon h,-
man life, whatever shall be the tax upon resour
ces, whatever shall be the cost of effort and
hardship, treason against the American Govern
ment must be crushed, and the national power
TO preserve itself be vindicated. 1t is worth all
that it will cost, because it is essential and i,
is worth Just as much to the mistaken men who
are trying to destroy the Government as to
those who oppose them. The time will come
when grateful Southern people will thank us
for relieving them from tn, reign of desperate
| politicians, and preserving to them country
and home. We shall do it for ourselves and
for them.-[springfeld Republican.
| THE PsoDUcrs WAR.-Whatever may be
our abstract notions concerning the morality Of
War, there can be 10 doubt that when people
| spring to arms urged by a simultaneous and
patriotic impulse to defend the honor of their
country, the effect upon society must be salu-
tary and ecvating one. Bloodshed, however to
be deplored when considered simply as an isola-
ted evil, is regarded by the patriotic with lofty
satisfaction when he contempates its relative
effect upon the character and progress of his
country. nation may be sanctifed as it is
| piSSSiNSu OuSu cmCaCy vi Iuc DIObu Oh
| its martyrs Public men-speakers writer's
the opponents of the masses of population,
are not only purer in Il moral point of view, but
greater in all intellectual one, during the season
which Immediately succeeds "A great political
CONFUSION. The steady contemplation of pa
triotic motives inducing perception Of their
beauty, 10 less than that of their strict necessi-
ty as condition OF healthful national existence,
must always make men wiser and better. Such
nnt, r..r. IL. L
RIGA directly after the Revolution would scarce
ly have appeared to enlighten and to bless their
countrymen, but for the bloodshed which made
them free. The statesmen, the writers, the mer
chants of those first few decades after the De-
claration of Independence, were strictly the pro-
duet of a patriotic struggle whose happy result
made them what they we're. No observer Of
history can fail to perceive how rapidly nation
degenerates when it becomes essentially non-
military, and when its energies are exclusively
devoted to the pursuit of gain. The glorious
aspirations. The heroic resolves the self sac,i-
fcings which the essence of everything most
noble and god-like in mans nature, appear in
their most exalted forms when the sword is
drawn to do battle in righteous cause. And
just in proportion to the number Of wears which
elapse between such occasions do we trace the
marks of anations generalization and decay -
We complain that we have fewer great repre-
and more populous. We forget that we have
lacked the great events which bring with them
the stuff that heroes are made of. The most
significant evidence of moral decadence is found
in the argument of class of persons who OBJ
ject to present war for the reason Of the
money IL wiA cost. Here is the root Of the evil.
Money has become the principal, nay, the only
good. We must not therefore fight either for
homer, for freedom, for the rights Of humanity,
not for Con himself, if in so doing, We must
empty our pockets. Is this argument worthy
the SONS of those who fought at Bunker's HIP
Did the patriots who laid down their lives that
those who came after them might be free and
} independent calculate the cost in either blood
or treasure! And do VIC not, also, owe some
thing to posterity? Most truly, yes the glo-
, rious obligation we have incurred is, to pay to
our children what we received from our fathers.
, Let us have no more talk about money, then-a
, paltry consideration to any great people, but
2 despicable when we remember That even two
A hundred millions IS but ten dollars apiece tc