The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-09-18

tian and patrioticlove 1t is war OF duty
because, under the light of our Christian civ
ilzation, no nation can commit suicide with
out the preparation of cowardly and afro
cious crime, and that nation does commit
suicide which surrenders its life up to an
enemy from which manhood, and courage
could save it. (Applause.] 1t is wsr Of
duty, because we have no right to bear our
fathers names, and insult and degrade their
memories, by giving up the institutions won
by their blood to be trodden under the feet
of traitors. 1t ia war Of duty, because we
have no right to bestow our names upon our
children stripped Of that grand inheritance
which rightly belongs to them, and for the
transmission ofwhich we are but the appoint
ed agents Of those illustrious men who won
it by the sword and with their lives. Zap
plause It is war of duty, because devoted,
as we profess to be, to. law andorder, and all
the highest interests Of civilization, there
presses upon us an earnest obligation to re-
buke and chastize this enormous crime
which is being committed--because it is a
rebellion not only against us, but against the
very race to which we belqng 1t is finally
war of duty, because we have assumed to
ourselves as people the special champion
ship not only of the right, but of the capaci
ty of the race for self government ; and that
assumption has been accepted by the lovers
of freedom everywhere and now, with the
nations of the world looking down upon us,
as from the seats of some vast amphtheatre,
we have no right to suffer this sacred and
sublime cause to be stricken down, and
crushed upon the battle-felds of the South,
and to perish there, amid the SCOTS and
jeers of kings and despots. [Applause. ).
How anxiously and confidently have they
predicted this day How they longed for
its coming. In the essential antagonism Of
their institutions to ours, and in the abhor-
renee which they feel to that system Of gov
ernment which gives the honors and fortunes
Of the earth to the toiling millions who are
the architects of both, how gladly would
each of them this day build monument to
the skies, if he could only inscribe upon it
these words 'In memory of the great Re-
public of the United States, founded by
Washington destroyed by Toombs, Twiggs
and Floyd" What a record for humanity
that would be
Fellow citizens, do but utter truth
which is painfully present to all minds, that
the disloyalty which is found in our midst,
especially at Washington, and in the border
States, has been fruitful source of disaster
and ofsdiscouragement from the very begin
ming of this unfortunate struggle. This evil
has assumed proportions of such magnitude
that its correction has become paramount
dnty upon the part of those charged with
the administration of Government. Its pre-
yalence has been marked by all those treach-
cries and excuses which have been its un-
falling characteristics in other lands and in
other times.
Next to the worship of the Father of our
spirits, the grandest and the strongest senti-
mcnt Of which our nation is susceptible, is
the love Of our country. When that senti-
ment has been corrupted, like an arch from
which the keystone has been displaced, the
whole moral character seems to tumble In
ruins. The public and the private proAigacy
of traitors and spies, both male and female
has been vouched for by all history, and in
deed it has grown into proverb that ''the
man who will betray his country will betray
his God" GGreat applause.l He will betray
his friends, his kindred, and if need be, the
very wife Of his bosom and children of his
loins. Suppose that you lived in one Of those
cities where there is steam fire engine and
paid company to operate it; and suppose
that your house was on fire, and this com
pary and this engine had been summoned
to the spot and were vigorously engaged ir
distinguishing it; and suppose that you dis
ccrn, from time to time, men creeping ou
from the crowd and sticking their knives
into the hose, from which the water is seer
to spout forth in all directions upon the street
How long do you think the presence of sucl
miscreants would be endured But suprosi
that, looking more closely into the faces o
these men, you discover that they are mem
Ibers of this fire company, receiving the sala
/ ry to which you have yourself contributed
In the first burst Of your indignation, woul'
you not feel that their punishment woul'
not be too great il they were thrown into tn
flames which they were thus indirectly feed
ling? And yet this has been precisely tn
i condition Of the Government Of the Unite
4 States. IA voice "That's . fact,"l Tba
has been, from tho commencement of thi
struggle, its precise condition. Iknow ther
are those who look with more liberation upo
, these offenscs which prevail among us tina
}, can possibly do. Perhaps am too harsh
1 bit / must say this, that the men who j
our own midst, give aid and comfort to Ii
{ enemy, either by furnishing them secret il
formation, or BY advertising their cause. Z
q by striving to SOW dissensions among on
Q selves, or by insiduodsiy dissauding 10y
t men from entering the military service, al
i more vitality the foes Of our country than
I they were id thc army Of the Codedsfa'