New-York daily tribune., 1862-04-12
WAR WITHOUT PURPOSE.

WAR WITHOUT FChfVSh'
OF all sad sights which the world has wit
messed. wars without decent moral purposes
have been tho saddest The student of history
knows how the great NapoleOnic contests, be-
ginning in o blind though sincere hope OF social
reformation, dwinded into the mere duels OF
national ambtion-into mere wrestle De-
tween French and Austrian absOlatism, with
no hope for humanity in any possible issue.
This is the tendency Of all war. Offensive or
defensive, it may be, in its early stages, re-
deemed by chivalrous aspirations and by gen.
erous motives; but as fortunes vary--as disaster
follows disaster, or as success is followed by
arrogance-men are apt to forget in the ar.
rangements of cnpitulation. the cause Of the
quarrel. We are rapidly approaching that
stage in our civil contest in which the
Loyal States must contend for bare
victory and barren triumph. or must dig
nify our struggle BY assigning to it definite
purpose. The Government may be moved by
the loftiest patriotism and guided BY the highest
wisdom but the hour will como when the
Cabinet will discover that war waged for
sheer abstractons oan only escape an ignomin-
ious termination by being indefinitely prolonged
That the President, with bic native good sense
and largo public experience. deeply feels this
is sufficiently evident. The Cabinet is cautious
Al it should be in such momentOus days a.
these are; but the Government policy. so Tar
AZ the Government has had q policy, has been
Ant.Slavery in its character, and in this direc-
ton all mems eyes are looking, some OF them
hopefully some Of them doubtfully, some Of
them dsspairngly, some of them desperately
1t is hard indeed, this destiny Of ours to grapplo
with an outworn and molderiug social institution;
but il III becomes us to shrink with shrek
or q whine from our predcstinate work. as II
we were the first people called to trial of
virility and steadastness. But habit is second
nature. Gentlemen editorial and gentlemen in
the oratorical line, who have all their lives
been eItenuatiDg Slavery. do not now hnd II
easy to change their tune or their tone. We
suppose that any one of half q dozen journals
We could mention. and which the reader may
name for himself, with every page of it imply
ing that it is the nations guide. philosopher,
and friend, really believes that fire, murder,
rape, bankruptcy pestence, and death.
arc all included in the one word "Aboli.
"tion." II would be dro'l. il it were not 80
dreadful-,his senile nervousness, which even
the smell OF saltpeter cannot stimulate into
stesdine.s. II is curious. Hosts advancing
against hosts-the land shaken by the
tramp of nrmies-tho hearts Of all men
beating with inexpressibIe hopes and fears-and,
oil the while, this precious newspaper con-
tinues to wag its heavy head, and to express
il. doubts whether Mr. Wendell Phillips is O
very wise person Tomorrow. perhaps, il
will be IN Il like quandary about Mr.. Sumner.
Mex, day, though the telegraph may bring it
news Of q brace Of battles, IT will find time TO
point out another unhappy wretch who is
responsible for all the trouble. This cart
before -the-LorSe style Of augmentation is bu;
moderately impressive. Slavery has made these
gentlemen what they are-th-y found Slavery
ready made to their hands. Admitting, for the
purposes of the argumant, that the public career
Of either OF them has been mischievous--it 10
Slavery that has given them their opportunities.
VIII sensitive daily scribes be lucid enough to
understand, for their private ease and delects-
ton, that the certain and speedy way to abolish
Abolition ia to abolish Slavery If they will
not understand, then such pig-headed people
should be surrendered TO the lash of the satirist
and the jibes Of the humorist-for good, whole
some logic would be thrown away upon them.
And what, after all, is this dreaded Emanci-
patton 10 it TO be plague Of frogs, of lice
and flee of boils and blans, Of lOcnsts, Of
darkness, and of the death of our frst-born
A plain man. looking squarely at The question,
with no iog Of compromises in his brain, with
no pet theory to coddle, with no small personal
animosities 10 indulge, with no guide but his
common sense--we say nothing Of his con
science-would be rejOiced to welcome Eman-
cipation a. certain remedy for present and
sure safeguard against future public trouble
at least the specific trouble which now atlcts
the aud. Grant even that both sides are Gym
ical, take awny the bone and the dogs will not
fight.
We do not say that the time viii ever
come, at least before the millennium, wheo
there will be no Slavery in the world That
is MT the question at all. The question is
whether the time will ever come when there
will be no Slavery in the United States We
give the Shem-liam-and.Japhe eXpounders the
benefit OF Scripture as they understand it;
but We seriously ask, if we poor white people
arc Herer to be liberated from this hard yoke