Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1862-11-29
Joseph Holt Oh the War-The--suas e

from the pen CT don' JOSEPH HOLT, OF
Kentucky, that true Border State Unionist.
1t was written to Collector BARNEY, of
New York, in reply to an invitation 70
address a meeting in that city, and bears
date Oct. 25th. We annex some of the
more striking passages, and commend
them to our readers:
THE ToRPoR OF OUR ARMY-NEw GENER.
AIS MUST BE HAD IF OLD ONES WILL
NOT MOVE.
There will doubtless be present with
you on the occasion referred to those ca
pable by their eloquence of effecting all
the good that popular addresses can now
accomplish. | must be frank, however,
and say that to me it seems that what is
| at this moment needed is not words, how
ever glowing, but heroic deeds. The
tongue of an archangel could scarcely
comfort and animate the popular spirit in
| the presence of the inaction of our armies.
After an unparalleled expenditure of treas
ure, and the marsEalng of such armies as
/ the world has never seen, and after sacri-
fees which are clothing the land in mourn
ing, at the expiration of eighteen months
from the commencement of the re beilion,
we find it more defiant and determined,
and more successful in its invasions and
| spoliatlons, than at any moment since the
| struggle began. This is from DO lack Of
devotion On the part of the people, who
have poured out their blood and treasure
like water, nor yet from any lack of cour-
| age on the part of our brave volunteers.
Our soldiers have been everywhere pant
ing for sight of the enemy, while the
great heart of the country, in its solemn
and earnest solicjtudes. is like a ground
swell of the ocean. pressing on our forces
toward the battle field. A saddened be-
lief is rapidly spreading that, unless the
| present condition of things is speedily
changed, our cause will be lost An i'm
| mediate, bold and aggressive movement
upon the enemy-following up every blow
| struck, and gathering the fruits of every
victory ganed-is what is required for
IT deliverarce. To the Accomplishment
OF this single object the thoughts, efforts
| and the prayers Of the whole country
should be directed. # those oho are IN
the front aoilI not go foroard, the public
safety wiU demand that they be assigned
positions IN the rear. What are the sensi-
bilitles, what the reputation. or what the
cherished schemes OF any General in the
| field, as compared with the lite of such
Government and country as ours? If,
with the cloudless skies, and bracing airs,
and fine roads of the Autumn, our vast
and completely appointed army cannot do
its work, when will it be able to do so? If
Lee, jackson and LoDgstreet can move with
promptitude and dashing celebrity in the
Of h, I,l;
why cannot our chieftans move as prompt
ly and as fast in the cause of honor and of
loyalty? How much longer will the ma
tion endure that all its sacrifices be fruit
less? Its conviction that it possesses, twice
told, the power to subdue this rebellion,
is not more complete than, in my judg
ment, will be its determination that Meth
er the foilies nor the crimes of men shall
render that power unavailing.
1t is tt is torpCr Of our armies-this
hope deferred for the hundredth time
which has unfurled that party banner,
whose shadow is now resting on so many
of the loyal States. 1t is not disloyalty
which has prompted the deplorable move
ment, but WEAKNESS and discouragemert
consequent upon the losses, humiiations
and delays we have suffered yet it is the
most alarming sign of the times, and can
only be arrested by decided military sue
cesses. 1t is the law OF the very existence
OF such political organizations to seek
strength by assaults upon the Administra
ton in whose hands, for veal or woe, is
the direction of those movements upon
which necessarily depend the preservation
of the Union. These assaults will grow
in vigor and bitterness as they progress,
and while thus Indirectly affording aid and
comfort to the rebellion, will make contin-
uously, albeit unconscious approaches to-
ward an open utilization with it.
If the vast army in
whose presence, as it were, half beaten
enemy is lesurely destroying one of the
most important railroads of the United
States, does rot do its work speedily, Eu-
ropean Governments must ere long Weld
to the clamor OF their impoverished and
starving populations, and then will come
intervention, with all its wees"
NO INSTITUTION WORTH MORE THAN THE
UNION.
Ny faith in all this matter is simple and
briefly stated. 1t is this: For all things
that are for the Union-against all things
that are against it. | am for The Union as
Internationally as | am for protecting my
own body, at every cost and hazard, from
the knife Of the assassin. No human in
stitution, DO earthly interest, shall ever by
me be weighed in the scales against the
life of my country. Least of all will ap.
proach with unsandalled feet, Or pc cmit to
be thus weighed, an institution, the tou7o-
tain Of Dhose being the african Stare.
trade-th laos Of my country haze for
more than forty gears denounced as crime
aoOrthy Of death-a crime not against any
particular code, or any particular form of
civilization, but crime against the very
race to which we belong. Kostis hunaani
generis, is the designation which the Chris
tan legislation has given to the African
slave-trader.
yield to no man in veneration for the
Constitution, or in determination that its
blessings shall be extended to those who
respect and obey it. The door to all these
blessings Is widely open to the Southern
people, and they are earnestly invoked by
the President to enter it and enjoy them.
These institutions and their every inte-
rest are In their own hands, and can be
saved not only from ruin, but from the
slightest injury, by the utterance of sin
gle word-a word of duty and of honor.
But, II In their passionate pursuit of sepa-
rate empire, and in their blind resentments
against brethren who have never wronged
them, they refuse to speak that word, and
prefer to perish themselves rather than
that the loyal States shall escape destruc-
! tlOn-be it So. The world will ;,duo