Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-09-27
THE NATIONS SETTLED PUR-
POSE


The great body of the people OF the Union
have accepted the issue Of war in a spirit
sngularly calm as well as determined, and
enter on the great duties it imposes with a
cool spirit Of calculation which amply con-
siders the worst as well as the best fortune
that may attend 1t to the end. There was
never a spectacle seen Of such philosophical
thoughttulneSs, such paSSonless prosecution
of duty as this which animates the whole Of
the loyal twenty-five millions, from the
President down to the humbleSt soldier.
Citizens Of every pursuit submit with stoical
cOOlncss TO whatever the situation brings
them, whether it be losses outright, such as
are ordinarily counted ruinous, or the para
lysis Of business which entails loss of re-
sources finally as great as those accruing
from the conhscation of debts months ago by
order OF some confederate State. Business
is moulding itself to the present state of af-
fairs with extraordinary facility. 1t is not
killed by being cut of at one market by any
means, and the same energy and skill which
have given us the command Of the southern
States trade will open new lines, domestic
or foreign IN which northern capital and
labor Will be FULLY and prodtablv occupied.
The war also Is buriness with MS hence
forth, until it is ended as 1t should be- The
machinery for its prosecution will be pre-
pared on the most comprehensive scale, and
the men to work this machinery volunteer
in the same spirit. 1t is clearly wholesale
business, an operation requiring the highest
degree of talent, and the most thorough and
systematic set of appliances, We can fur
nish them. The work is quite within the
power Of the twenty millions of the loyal
States, and division of opinion exists no
longer as to our duty to do the work, or as
to the mode of doing it. These things being
settled, the confederate States may as well
look carefully at what they have under
taken, and measure their means by the side
of their task. Even they must admit that
in war, as deliberate business, we have ten
fold their capacity to accomplish results.
The comparison Is really the same as be
tween their cities and ours, their railroads,
their ships at sea and their developments in
every respect. They cannot extempOrize
resources or make passion strength. Their
people are divided and under terrorism
ours are perfectly at their usual ease.
As we have said, the parallel does not ex-
ist IN history to the spirit in which these
States have put two hundred and fifty thou
sand men In arms, and are adding to this
force five thousand men daily. Whatever
the extent of the demand, the supply will go
on in the same spirit, and the loans and
taxes necessary 10 maintain them will be
paid with equal promptness and cheerfulness.
The duty OF entering on great war for the
preservation OF the nation was painful at
first; but now we have all become soldiers
in certain sense, and all are ready for our
turn OF picket duty whenever it comes. The
soldiers spirit accepts anything that falls to
him, good fortune or i'll fortune, with un-
rufled equanimity. Life itself is far less
with him than his cause and his duty. and
| that Which the soldier in arms accepts as
his rule, whole people may accept if they
have the proper feeling We undertake to
say that the loyal people OF the nation as a
whole are now one vast body of enrolled SOL
diers in the discharge of the great duty
which has fallen to them, able and willing
70 do ANYTHING that exigencv nav deyolye