The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-10-23
A ROMAN CAYnGL.e vlEw.
BrOwnsOn's Quarterly on Re
bellfOl and Eaa ancipatiOn.
An Eloquent and UnanswcrabIe AR.
gument.


bellfOll and Emancipation.
An Eloquent and UnanswcrnbIe Ar
gument.
We referred some days since to an articl
in the October number of Brownson's Quar-
terly Reriew, the principal American organ
of the Roman Catholic Church, entitled Sla
very and the war" The article is lengthy
but most able, logical and eloquent. Ou1
limited space forbids the insertion of the en-
ire argument, but our readers will surely
thank us for reproducing the following pas
sages. Mr.. Brownson takes the position tina
if we value peace, honor, liberty, prosperity
all we have or hope for, we must maintair
the Union and he believes to put dow n re
bellion, and bring back pelce which shal
be lasting and honorable, as well as righteous
we must not only put down the rebellion
but also that which is sole cause Of rebellion
slavery. He then proceeds:
1--WE need not say, for the fact is well
known to our readers, that no man, accord
ing to his ability and opportunity, has, since
April 1888, more strenuously opposed the
abolition movement in the free States than
we have; not because we loved slavery, or
had any sympathy with that hateful insti.
tuition, but because we loved the Constitu.
ton OF the Union, and because we believed
that liberty at home and throughout the
world was far more interested in pres, rving
the Union of these States under the Federal
Constitution, than in abolishing slavery as it
existed in the southern section Of our com.
mon country. But we believe, and always
have believed. that liberty, the cause of free
institutions, the hopes ofphilanthropi,ts and
Christians, b. til at home and abroad, are
more intei estcd in preserving The Union and
the integrity Of the nation, than they are or
can be in maintaining negro slavery. we
have opposed abolition heretofore, because
we would preserve the Union, we must, a
tortiori, oppose slavery whenever, in our
Judgment, its continuance becomes incom-
patiblc with the maintenance of the Union.
or of our nation as a free Republican State.
Certainly VIC said in the article on 1.-THE
Great Rebellion" in our last Repiep, the
North has not taken up arms for the des.
truction Of negro slavery, but for the main.
tenancc of the Federal Government, the en-.
forcement Of the laws and the preservation
of the Union. This is true. The liberation
Of the slaves is not the purpose and end Of
the war in which we are now engaged, The
warts war against rebellion, engaged in
by the rebels for the purpose Of making this
great slaveholdins republic, in which the
labor of the country shall be performed by
slaves, either black or white; and If, to de-
feat the rebellion, the destruction of slavery
be rendered necessary and be actually effect.
ed, it will change nothing in the characte,
Of the war. 1t will have been necessitatcd
by the rebellion and the rebels will have only
themselves to thank for the destruction OF
abolition they force us to adopt in defence
Of liberty, the Union, and the authority Of
the Government
WORD TO WORKING MEN.
Look at the question as We will, we have
no alternative but to subdue the rebels or be
subjected by them. We must either iepose
that Confedcracy and enforce the authority
of the Federal Government over all tie reb.
ellious States, or it will enforce its authority
over the free States, and impose upon them
this system of slave labor fit enforces its
authority over us, there will still, perhaps,
be liberty for a class or caste, but our labor
ing classes riU no longer be .freemen- they
viii be placed on level with the negro slave
on Southern plantation. For the Christ.
ian commonwealth, founded by our fathers,
toiled for and bled for, we shall have estab.
lished Pagan Republic more hostile to the
rights of man and the rights of nations than
was ever Pagan Greece or Pagan Rome. We
put it to our Christian countrymen, il such
is the commonwealth their fathers Tough,
and suffered through the long seven years
war Of the Revolution to establish, and il
they can be cohtented to let the hopes oI
liberty in the New World set in night oi
blackness and despair.
THE WAR A SERIOUS NATTER.
1t is no time to mince our words or to
study out honied phrases we must call
things by their right names, and treat all
who are not for US as against us. We have
something more than even the Constitution
and laws to maintain the very existence Of
the nation is at stake and as no means are
scrapled to destroy it, we have the right to
use all the means which the law Of self pres.
ervation renders necessary or expedient. We
wish our readers and the public to under.
stand that we are in war, and to let it get
through their heads that the war which the
rebellion has forced upon us is no mimic war
is no child's play. and is not to be conducted
to successful issue on the principle Of treat.
ing the rebels as friends, giving than every
advantage and doing them no harm. They
are in downright earnest, and are putting
forth all their strength, and doing their best
to subjugate us and We also must be in
downright earnest, put forth all our strength
to subjugate them. Hor cannot Be conduct.
ed on peace principles, or sucosssfally con.
duetsd by persons pAo do not enter into Il
eith spirit, resolutioa and energy.