The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1862-12-06


). then the sooner We creep into our grave
the better.
Another danger which is threatened from
the inaetion Of our armies comes from abroad
This rebellion Is rs ubiquitous in the curses
u it scstters As it is foolish in its spirit. The
l. conflict, from our commercial and Other
0 relations. concerns the happiness Of the
. civilized world. Foreign nations. with q
c forbearance that cannot be too much com
7 mended, have without interference waited
e patiently and given US every opportunity
to subdue the rebellion. But unless some
decisive military demonstration soon takes
place, and the South is occupied BY our
forces, these nations will conclude that we
lack either the will or the power to re estab.
, lish the Union.
Already a member of the English cabinet
Mr.. Gladstonel has openly declared that
Davis has made nation of the South !"
and such an announcement, from such .
source, cannot but be accepted as having a
startling significance. If the vast army in
whose presence. as it were, a half beaten
enemy is leisurely destroying one of the
most important railroads of the loyal states,
does not do its work speedily. European
governments must ere long yield to the
cIamor of their impoverished and starving
populations, and there will come interven-
ton ''with all its woes" Upon this will
follow at once intimate entanghng alliances
with the South. to be succeeded by hostli
ties with US, and. in all human probability.
by the permanent establishment of the rebel
Confederacy. What fate might befall our
own institutions, amid the bankruptcy and
decentralization and brokenness of spirit
consequent on such dismemberment. /
will not trust myself to inquire. We cannot
hope to escape from this train Of events by
any exploits Of our navy. however brilliant.
/ occupying the southern coast and cities
upon the sea shore. This. though well and
very well, will be but scratching the ex-
tremites of the giant. instead of dealing
blows at his heart. That heart palpitates
de6sntly in the armies of Lee and jackson
which have SO recently ravaged Mary land.
and still from the banks of the Potomac
threaten the capital.
Ny faith in all this matter is simple and
briefly stated. 1t is this: For all things
that are for thu Union-agaiust all things
that are against it. l am for The Union as
unconditionaily as l am for protecting my
own body, at every cost and hazard. from
the knife of the assassin. No human ins,i-
tuition. no earthly interest, shall ever by me
be weighed in the scales against the life of
my country Least of all will approach with
unssndaled feet. permit 10 be thus
weighed, an institution. the feeding fountain
of whose bcing-the African slave trade
the laws of my country have for more than
forty years denounced as a crime worthy Of
death--a crime not against any particular
code, or any particular form OF civilization,
but a crime against the very race to which
We belong. Hosts humani geneyis is the
designation which tie Christian legislation
of the United States has given to the Afri-
can slave trader.
l yield to no man in veneration for the
constitution, or in determination that its
blessings shall be extended to those who
respect aud obey it. The door to all these
blessings is widely open to the southern
people, and they are earnestly invoked by
the President 20 enter in and enjoy them.
These institutions and their every inter
est are in their own hands. and can be saved
not only from ruin, but from the slightest
injury, by the utterance of single word
word of duty ard of honor. But, il in
their passionate pursuit of separate empire,
and in their blind resentments against breth-
rem who have never wronged them, they
refuse to speak that word, and prefer to
perish themselves, rather than that the loyal
states shall escape destruction-be i, SO.
The world will Judge Alright. and history
will record its judgment But. is it net child
ish prattle TO say that the South can claim
to be at the same moment the protege and
destroyer of the Constitution? Does it not
require an audacity absolutely satanic. to
insist Il at the ocne 6cent provisions OF that
hallowed instrument shalt b.. secured to
states and people who are hourly spurning
and splitting upon It's authority, and who
are leading forward vast armies to over
whem it. and with it the homes and hopes
Of all who rallying in is d'-ience?-
War certainly one like this, ia sel!-defence
is Clearly constitutional; bu', such a
war has its restraints. ii has also its rights
and duties. prpmineIt among which is the
right and duty OF weakening the enemy by
all possible means. and thus abridging the
sangunary conflict. Never until now has
it entered into the imaginat;ons of men 10
conceive that among these duties is that of !
seeing tha, the enemy is clothed and fed and
armed before he is struck. In prosecuting !
the wal, while exercising our right to
weaken the enemy, we may destroy not |
only ships upon the sea, and forira sses and |
cities upon the land, but human life upon |
the battlefield. But what ins titution, what
material interest is more halIowed than
human life. and what material interest is |
there belonging to the enemy that We are !
obliged to spare. even though by SO doing
We perish ourselvese The constitution is . /
charter of national life, and not of national ,
death. All movements which seek or tend /
to the dissolution of the government created I
By it, and OF which it is the soul. are in !
conflict with its spirit and with the scope /
and end OF its enactments, and may be re- [
sisted TO the death by its express or implied I
authority. Neither the keenest vision nor
the most delicate ear can detect in any line /
or letter Of that glorious charter the iAintest /
throb OF sympathy with treason or traitors.
Pardon these hurried words which are
apoken in elimination Of none but in grief /
llone There is abundant cause for sorrow. 1
but none for despair. No man more sin.
rsre.y desire. the establishment of the
Union than does the President himself
Let il be our trust that while an October +
sun is yet shining, the mind on which all 4
depends will devise ways and means to over