The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-08-28


the power arrayed against the United States
is terribly in earnest. Those who lead the
southern rebellion --who give to il spirit,
force and direction ARE in earnest, because
they have, personally, everything at stake
in its success If ,hey are not strong in their
cause, they are strong in thcirreasons for de-
string its triumph Each man, from JEFF
Davis down to the humblest officer who has
deserted from the American army, and the
humblest office holder in the confederate
government, feels that his political existence
and even his social position, throughout all
his life, depends upon the sue .ess of the re-
volt in which he is engaged. The South is
deciding whether it is effecting glorious
revolution or an infamous rebellion and the
leaders know that the results OF their efforts
will give them power and decent place in
history, or consign them to death or OBSCURE
ty, and the records Of infamy. Men in this
position have no compromise IN them. They
are not to be treated with They have ris-
ked everything they desire; and if they fail
in their aim, they lose all. It is with des.
pcrate men that the nation is called to deal
with men who will stick at nothng-not
even at cruelty and cxtortion upon their
own people. They force armies into the
field and keep them there though thep starve
them. They send out pirates to infest the
seas. They prescribe loyal men, confiscate
their property, and imprison and whip wo-
men. They institute and maintain a reign
of terror throughout all their territory, that
is little short of Internal.
The question arises whether we, at the
North, have anything to meet and match this
terrible earnestness. Our army was beaten
back at Bull Run; and at the late fight in
Missouri, five or six thousand of our men
were met by enormous odds Of twenty three
thousand men. Have we yet risen up to
the comprehension ofthe great task we have
in hand, or are we to be outnumbered and
beaten until our earnestness is reached by
feeling the grip Of the slave power upon our
threats Have we not felt so strong in our
cause, in the sympathy of the world, in the
power of wealth, in the force of numbers, in
the prestige of nationality, that we have fail
ed to appreciate the power of our foe, and
failed to rise to the exigency of the time p
Congress has voted great deal Of money
The people have enlisted in immense mum.
bers for the war; but how do we feel al
home? Have we all, in our Utmost hearts,
determined that this war shall not end until
its objects shall have been accomplished
until the old flag shall float undisputcd over
every inch of the territory Of the United
Statess Are we all ready with eager a1acrity
to make the sacrifices of blood and treasure
necessary to secure the end which our gov.
eminent is seeking?
We are better than we were before the bat.
tie Of Bull Run but even now we are not SC
earnest but that traitorous newspapers dare
to breath their malignities in our communi.
ties At Concord and Portland, secession
sheets have been mobbed but if the right
state of feeling haG existed in ard around
those places, those papers would never have
dared to do anything to provoke mob =
The reason why reasonable papers live in
Connecticut and New York is, that the con.
ductors of those papers have not high
opinion of the earnestness of the people
around them. They know perfectly well
that if there were great intensity Of ear.
nest feeling around them, enlisted in the
Union cause, they would find it convenient
to keep silent The liberation which has
been extended to treason, everywhere in the
free states, shows conclusively that our ma.
ton earncstness is not of that stern AMI un
compromising character which makes it al
all match for that which is opposed to it.
We speak Of treason as the foulcst and
blackest Of crimes; yet the government has
in its hands to-day numbers of those who
have been plotting against it, and hcsitatcs
to hang one ofthem. Wehave laws against
piracy; and we pronounce jeff Davis's pri
vateers to be pirates. We call in a small
voice for justice. We make feeble demands
that the pirates now in the hands Of the
government shall be executed yet we doubt
very much whether the northern heart is ur
to approving their hanging. Nay, if JEFF
DAVIS and his government were in the pris
ons of Washington to-day, with all the woes
of this rebellion on their heads and con
sciences-responsible as they are for thu
destruction of our industry, the disgrace o
our nation, the expenditure of our treasure
the blood of our brothers and sons, and thu
grief Of ten thousand homes-we do MOI
doubt that petition that their lives might bt
spared could be procured from hundred
thousand Northern men in three days. Is
not this true Is it not true that, trusting
in our great resources, we fail to measure
correctly the cxigency Of the hour, and pow.
er Of our adversariesl Is it not true tina,
we arc to- day growing apathetic? Isit no,
true that politicians are laying plans and de.
vising schemes for the shame of the repub
lie, which they would never dream of doing
but for the lack Of earnestness and deter.
mination which they believe exists.
We do not deny the sincerity of the North
but sincerity and earncstncss are two very
different things. We have not given our.
selves unreservcdly to this work. We think