The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-12-06


many. Wise and just acts, when they involve
sacrifices, frequently are A wrong long tolerated
entails penalty, which is seldom
paid. Yet, even on other grounds,
We ought not, in this case, to begrudge the mo-
1ey. Who deserve better of their country than
those brave men who, in the border and other
Slave States, have chung to their loyalty through
Ill the dark hours of peril even to lifes ~
Precautions naturally suggest themselves
Against false pretences Of loyalty. It seems ex-
pedient that he who shall have proved that he
is the legal owner Of certain slaves, and also
that he has ever been loyal to the Union, should
receive certificate Of indebtedness by the Gov
not transferable, to be paid at some
fixed time subsequent to the termination Of the
var; payment being made contingent on, tho
fact that the claimant shall not, meanwhile, have
lapsed from his loyalty. g-- as 80 =.
Every such claimant, once recognised, would
feel himself to be, by his own act, the citizen OF
, free State; one of us, detached forever from
the Southern league. A Government stockhold,
the support of the Governments and the restora.
ton Of peace. '-t9
Even if the Legislatures of the Border States
should not initiate such policy, the loyal men
Of these States will accept it.
Such measure does not involve expense in
the liberated negro to other countries.
It has hitherto, indeed, been the usual policy in
slave States to discourage, as dangerous, the 70
sidence there Of free blacks; and hence an idea
that colonization should be the concomitant q
OF general emancipation, there
ID no need Whatever that il should be. Those
who take up such an idea forget that the jeal-
ousy with which slaveholders regard the presence
Of free negroes springs out Of the dread that
these may infect with desire for freedom the
slaves around them, thus rendering them insub-
ordinate. But when al are free there will be no
slaves 70 incite, nor any chsins to be broken by
resort to instruction.
It 10 no business of ours either to decide, for
the liberated negro, where he shall dwell, or to
furnish bis travelling expenses. Freemen, black
or white, should select their own dwellings and
pay their own way.
As to the fears of competition in labor sought
to be excited in the minds Of the Northern
workingmen, they have foundation only in case
Emancipation be refused, for such refusal would
food the North with fugitives. II, on the con-.
trary, Emancipation be carried out, the strong
local Attachments of the negro will induce him,
with rsrest exceptions, to remain as hiredla-
borer where be worked as slave Thus humane
masters will not lack sufficient working.hands, of
which Colonization would deprive them. And
if, notwithstanding the probable rise of Southern
staples, profits, at first, should be less, the secu
rity of the planter will be greater He will no
longer lie down at night uncertain whether the
mornings news may not be that his slaves have
risen against him.
This is the proper view of the question. But
all edicts, all proclamations, how wise and right
eous soever, are but idle announcements, now,
if We lack courage and conduct to enforce them.
Courage We have. Raw levies have behaved
like veterans The skeletons Of regiments re-
duced to one. tenth their original number, attest
the desperate valor with which they confronted
death Not With the rank and file ia the blame!
The leaders! There has been the secret Of the
failure.
With all the advantages of just cause over
our enemies, we have suffered them to Guido US
in earnestness. We lack the enthusiasm which
made irresistible the charge of CromwelPs Iron
sides We need the invincible impulse of sen.
timens. We want, above all, leaders who know
and feel what they are fighting for. This is q
war in which mercenaries avail Eo.. There
must be higher motive than the pay Of Swiss
"a boiler duty urging on, than the professional
pride or the blind obedience of soldier. By
parliamentary usage proposed measure is in
trusted, for fostering care, to its friends. So
should this war be. It's conduct should be con.
6ded to men whose hearts and souls are in it.
Again. 1t has long been one of our national
sins that we pass by, with scarcely rebuke the
gravest public offenses We utterly fail in hold.
ing to strict accountability our public men,
The result of such failure, in peace, had almost
escaped our notice. In war we have now beheld
it's effects, fragrant and terrible.
1t was not to be expected that among 90 many
thousands of officers suddenly appointed there
should not be some hundreds of incompetents
Such things must be. No one is to blame if, in
field or garden, weeds spring up. The blame
rests with who leaves them there to choke the
crop and cumber the ground
Accountability that should be the watch
word-AcCouNrABILIrY, stern, unrelenting l.
Office has its emoluments let it have its re-
sponsibilities also. Let us demand, % Napoleon
demanded, success from our leaders. The rule
may work hsrshly. War needs harsh rulea-
Actions are not to be measured in war by the
standard of peace. The sentinel, worn BY ex-
treme fatigue, who sleeps at bis post, incurs the
penalty of death. There is mercy in courts
martial-drumhead courts martial. A dozen of
ficers shot, whenever the gravity of the ofFense
demands it, may be the saving of life to tens of
thousands of brave men.
Eighteen months have passed. Eight hun
uteO uilIOnS nave Oeen spent. we nave o mil.
lion of armed men in the field. More than q
hundred thousand rest in soldiers graves. And
for all this what result Is it strange If some.
times the heart sinks and resolution fails at the
thought that, from sheer administrative in
trinity, the vast sacrifice may have been all ia
vain?
But let the pas, go! Its fatal faults difficult.
perhaps, to avoid, under an effort so sudden and
so vast) can never be recalled. Doubtless thew
had their use. 1t needed the grievous incapsci
ty we have witnessed, the singing reverses VIC
have suffered, the invasion of free States We
have lived to see commenced; il needed the
hecatonbs of dead piled up unavailingly on bat.
tie field after battle-feld-the desolate hearths,
the broken.hearted survivors-it needed all this
TO pave the way for that emancipation which is
the only harbinger Of peace.
The Future that is still ours to improve
Nor, if some clouds yet rest upon it, is it With.
out bright promise. Signs Of nascent activity,
energy, and resolution to hold accountable for
the issue the leaders of our armies, are dsily .p
parent Better than oil, the initiative in true
line Of policy has been taken. The twenty.third
Of September has bad it's effect. The path of
onc Ca, s. L.c-. -. ..