Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-05-01

uLu Just uON everything Is vi COluuOlOu
on account of the news of the sailing of war
sells from \ ew FORK. People are looking for
tight daily and YOU may imagine the state of ex-
citement which exists. The intensity of feeling
can not well describe. Nothing comes up 70 il
except the assertion of a very intelligent and
moderate gentleman, who said to me in conver
satOn, Sir, there il not a man in the South,
young or old, who will not shoulder a musket
and fight for his country on the battlefield rather
than see Northern aggression gain one ncll> of
foOthold on our soil" This feeling is not con
fined, as Lincoln men and Republican newspapers
would have the Northern people believe, to politi-
clans and bar-room loungers. 1t pervades the
very heart of the people, and have yet to find
dissentent voice in the seeded States. Right or
wrong-and you and your readers are free to de-
eide for yourselves on that point-the feeling is
among the masses-in the household and by the
home freside, where it is rapidly growing TO an
animosity which is to be ineradicabe. Under
such circumstances, the idea of a reconstruction
of the Union is simply puerile. The seeded
States will never go back. Under the same cir
cumstances, coercion is pure folly. The men of
the of the South will fight to extremites These
are facts which the most stubborn must aeknowl-
edge the moment they become acquainted with
the real sentiment of the South, and people
may draw their own deductions therefrom.
You may depend upon it that Mr.. Lincoln has
task before him, the moment he attempts CO
man might shrink from. 1T the former, he lights
the fires of volcano, and if the latter, he at
tacks a mountain which mole might as easily
demOsh. Thus rules the sentiment at the pres
ent time. What it will be some years hence,
events must decide Of their entire ability to
sustain government in its fullest sense, no
Southern man entertains doubt. The assertion
that they can not support the expenses excltes a
smile, and | am constrained to say with some
reasOn, as matters now stand, for there are men
of every grade and position who are throwing
themselves and their fortunes into the breach to
meet the exigencies of the case. For present use
they have the revenues of the custom house and
the SIS, 900 900 loan of which So 900 900 have
been taken, although the limitation for bids does
not expire for some weeks vet. This loan is Sc
cured by the export duty cotton, which amounts
to II per cent. per pound, and is to be paid in ten
years The South exports about 1000, 900 bales
of cotton yearly, which will yield a revenue of
over S2OOO,O 600 as sinking fund with which to
redeem the bonds When the money obtained by
this loan is used up. they expect to be in a con
dtion to enjoy the benefits of regular revenue
sufficient TO meet all the expenses of government.
These variously estimated at from Sl2, ,OO0,-
600 to S20, 900 900 per annum.
An intelligent person can easily divine, with
the aid of a few days observation, the moving
cause of all these troubles. Misunderstanding
and Misrepresentation have ruled the day, and
have been guilty 1t would be difficult to say
which excels in misunderstanding the true posi-
ton of their Opp0nents-the South towards the
North. or the North towards the South. Ii is
the universal belief here that the whole Northern
country is arrayed in arms, and swarminG with
bayonets, which are to be dyed in blood, at the
call of Abraham Lincoln. People look at me
with astonisbment when | tell them the note of
preparation is vet to be sounded which is to call
into the field the armed legions of the North to
march southwark and deSoate their homes. They
believe that the volunteer militia in our section
is in active service-that the roll of the drum and
the shrill notes of the fife are familiar sounds,
and that war is inevitable from the aggressive
spirit of the Republican party. You will readily
see how the fanatic sentiment of the dominant
party may be mistaken for the pervading sent-
ment-how the rawlings of such men as Greeley,
Garrison, Giddings, and others, who, like demons
of dscord, hover close to the seat of power, and
promulgate their heresies unchecked, may be
misconstrued into the voice of the people. and
result in the wholesale condemnation of innocent
and guilty 1t is believed that the whole Worth
is one vast sea of abolitonism, seeking no end
but the downfall of slavery, desiring no happier
boon than to wade in the blood of their Southern
brethren in defence of the dogma which has
parted them forever. That a Northern man is
enabled to go among them and boldly combat
this idea, is an anomaly which grows out Of kin
allude presently.
have been so fortunate as to find powerful
| ally in my Southern crusade in favor of Northern
| principles and opinions. This is nobody more
nor less than the COmmissary General of the
| Confederate States Colonel Eckols of Montgom-
cry, who, unknown to any body, has been for
three months at the North engaged in buying pro
| visions for the Southern army. He spent weeks
at st. Louis, Chicago Detroit and Cincinnati, and
has just returned with half a million dollars
worth of provisions, for which he paid our farm
ers and produce merchants in hard cash. lie is a
gentleman of shrewdness and intelligence, and
has caught the spirit of our Northern sentiment to
nicely You may believe that | was surprised
at finding him, on the occasion of our first meet
ing on an Alabama river steamer, the center of a
| listening circle, to whom he was declamng in
/ glowing terms of the warmth of sympathy which
! he had found among Northern men, and the alb
sence of hostility, of military preparation, or OF
any cOerciOnary measures whatever. Entirely
unknown except from his unmistakable bearing
a Southernor. he has been taken by the hand
treated as gentleman is always treated, and con.
| WINGED beyond cavil that abolitionism and fanati
| cism have not vet swept away brotherly feeling
or deluged with their waves the good sense and
| judgment of an eminently sensible people. On
this basis you may be sure that we established an
excellent understanding.
Northern men are as much in the dark on an
equally important point, viz: the feeling of South
ern men in regard to them and theirs. The opin.
ion is very prevalent among you that Northern
man risks life and limb by coming into this coun-
try and using Northern arguments, than which a
greater mistake never was made. a man may
talk what he chooses so long he talks a
| gentleman, with proper respect for himself and
/ his listeners | have yet 10 encounter the first
word of incivility or rudeness, or even of contra
dction, although have never made secret OF
my Northern extraction, nor confined myself Il
the discussion of neutral subjects. They dis Gus:
the question with you cOolly and candidly, ant
almost invariably devote themselves to disprovine
in pleasant way the misrepresentation which
are made relative TO their peculiar institution o.
I African slavery. In regard to the latter, shall
not undertake thankless championship, but viii
venture to assert, in unqualified terms, that, i
our legion of hot phianthropists saw more will
their own eyes and look less upon hearSay, ther,
would be a revolution which would swamp popu
lar opinions and inaugurate new order of politi
cal theories revolution which would prOduct
army of turn-coats more powerful in number
than the united force of the twin republics cal
call into the field for hostile purposes
| There is but one feeling here in regard to ex
isting difficulties, and that is resistance to tn
last have met with every sort of expression
the point. An educated man said TO me, 9Th
men of the nation will be cut to pieces inch b.
inch before they will submit" A refined an,
intelligent lady said. with a flushed face. "whei
they talk of coercion / feel though | cOul'
9 have the strength of ten thousand men in m
own feeble arm;" and a young fellow who wOr
his pantaloOns inside his boots vowed that he fel
Ike the man who lost the end board of his wagol
and saw his apples all rolling down hill-'wante
E to hire somebody to for him" The vii
for resistance is therefore ample. The mean
consist of 81 900 troops who are now in the feel
and ready for active service, and 81 900 NOR
' who have Just been called for-making an arm
: Of $1,000 men, who are of the flower of tn
E country. To raise soldiers here is merely to 81
the word, and they rise like magic Nothn
4 can equal it, and few would believe it withot
seeing it. | think you will find this commune:
ton sufficiently long without further enlargement
. The theme is productive one, and columns NJ
on columns might be written. L.
, TIE Defence OF AsHINGTON.-The grelte'
= activity prevails throughout the city, in armorie
arsenals and drill rooms. in recruiting and prepa
}. Ing troops for Washington. The Seventh reg
: iment left Yesterday afternoon. The Sixtl