Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-07-24
"The Union OF anY Price %

Il trIom ffurpcrs Weekly1
For year we have been saying that W,
wanted to save the Union at any cost. w,
are now called upon to show that we NEAR
Wnat we say. We have perhaps thought
that half million of armed men would
sufnce, that il was not necessary to emplo,
any other means. But as pareuts ask chill.
dren How much do you love me? A dol
lars worthl Twenty dollars? An applet
so we have now to ask ourselves how
nuch 10 we love our Government and tn,
cause cause OF civil liberty and human freedom.
Ihe question Is perfectly simple. II we
can say truly that we love our country So
strongly that we hold nothing dearer, except
yusuce ana honorr then we are safe. II
not, we are already lost, and every one Of
our soldiers whom we henccforth allow to
iall we murder Let us see, then, how
much we DO love 1t, and at what cost we arc
willing to save It.
Mr.. Ten Eyck, a Republican Senator
from New Jersey, says that he doubts
whether his fellow. citizens would fight for
, Their country side by side with colored men.
mat Is to say, their prejudice against the
c4lored race Is dearer to them than the
Union. -
| Another Senator says that conGscatnp
the property Of the rebels in arms is not to
be thought of. A man may be slaughtering
our brothers, sons, and fathers, but we must
respect his property. Men who take this
view are more unwilling to confscate by
proceedings III rem, than they are to see the
country divided and lost.
Another party says that it is fiightful To
think of General Hunters regiment of
colored men. If you ask them whether
they would not save the Union upop the ycry
principle of Union, namely, the libertv OF
innocent men, they shake their heals
They would rather the Government should
be ruined aud the nation lost than
that those who have been en,laye} in
defiance of every human instinct and divine
law, should be liberated.
Those represent classes that have been
hitherto very large in the country. But
they are classes that diminish every dav Il
Is gradually becoming plain to the blindest
eyes that this country can be saved only by
the heroic effort Of all her children. The
authorities are willing, but the people are
the Government The authorities must be
stimulated and supported by public opinion,
and every man must help to make that. Ii
the world sees that we are trying with one
hand to put down rebellion and with the
other to save rebels, it is idle to expect its
assent to the continuance of war in which
It has 80 much at stake. If on the other
.haud, 1t sees that we have learned what we
are not to be reproached for not having
earlier admitted, that the EXTREMIST and
most radical measures are not to be SHARED.
IN the suppression of this insurrection, the
world will pause, for it will see purpose
too dangerous and Sincere to be trifled with.
&he moral is radiantly clear. If we value
the Union more than the claims of the re :.
bells 70 their, slaves and their property. we
shall save it. If not. it is already lost. IfI
we do not believe that we can constitution.
ally take any step short of dishonor, which
is necessary for national self. preservation,
then our salvation is constitutionally inlpos,
sble.