Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1862-02-21
Tho Character OF the War, aud a"" ~
Should DO Conducted.

QfSk aUSCIeC luHl LutTe "nc
they boosted hat they had more than 8 half d
million of men under arms! They presumed
not only to call our sailors. whom they hs's
taken prisoners, pirates, but to threaten them
With a pirate's punishment. OF the prisoners
taken on land, they attempted TO exact oath:
Of allegiance, aud Tor II long time refused d
decent exchange.
OF these pretensions they nre nov preltJ
we'll cured They have been forced into juste,
ideas, and bet.or behavior-we need cot STOP
to tell how. But they base yet other things
to learn.
They call US rebels" and they affect +
sor. Of moral superiority over Us. Then
epithets excite only our contempt; but the pro-
tensions they involve, sre ye: to be chastissd
out Of them by the discipline Of war.
Conceding for the moment, that heresy o.
tbs North which vas the political sup
port Of the usurpations and abuses that de,
s.royed the late Cnion--cunceding, We say,
that the Union was q fraud upon its very
name, and that the United States wore but g
unit State-stlll the professions of the North
stretch beyond their ~ premises, Vstte]
says:
"Uss sppropristes the term Of Owl War 70
every war between the members OF one and
and the same political society. If it be be~
tween part of the citizens on one side, and the
sovereign with those who continue in obed!s
snce to him on the other; it is sufficient that
the malcontents haze some reasons for taxing
arms, to give this disturbance the name OF ciciI
.oar and not that of rebellion This last term
H.app!isd only to such an instruction against
lawful authority as is cold u all appearance 81
justice. The sovereign, indeed, never fails to
term rebels, all subjects openly resisting him !;
but when these become Of strength sufficient
70 oppose him, 30 that he finds himself CON-
PEELED to make war regularly upon them, be
must be contented with the term ofOlVil War.
The North has been compelled, in support
Of its unjust prstensions, to make war not only
regularly" but on q most gigantic SCALE
They have therefore no right to speak of our
resistance IS c rebellion, unless it is 'Void Of
all appearance Of Justice" If We "haos some
REGIONS for taking arms" they srs bound $50
b. contentsd with tie term Of civil war;" in
stead of rebellion, in chsrsctsrizing the hos
Titles.
Ha7s w not ''ems Ysus0Ns' for taking
armsS Have we not some appearance OF Jus.
tee r In lieu Of the long array Of facts aod
grievances which we miga. prcsea, in sp.
swer to these questions, We will CAL Il witness;
not from our own citi1ensaip--npt oYea :rom
impartial strangers-but from the ranks OF cur
enemies themselves: 8 citizen, toe. Of no mean
reputation.
In July, 1855, when the k.puLlicAb patty
we're struggling for that sec:ionsl.s supremacy
which they attained in 1880, Willard Fillmore,
Ex. Ptes;dent Of the United States, who had
just returned from a tour abroad, with that
enlargement Of view which travel always pro-
ducss in intelligent minds, testified against
their course and its consequences in the fol
lowing words, addressed TO the citizens of Als
bsny, New York:
We ses & political party present.
ing caldidates for the Presidency and Vice
Presidency, selected, for the first time, from
the free States alone, with the avoTed purpose
Of electing these candidates by s~ufrages of
one part Of the Union only, 10 rule over the
whole United Statesl Gan it be possible that
theae who are engaged in such a measure can
havE seriously reflected upon tho eonseqgsnees
pbtoh must inevitably GElu, in case OF sue
cessf Gan they have tbs madness or tho folly
to believe that our Southern brethren tooad
submit to b. g~oSernsd BY such a Chief Aagis-
sSGxf Suppose that the South,
having o majority Of the electoral votes, should
declare that they would only have shareholders
for President and Vice President and should
elect such, BY their exclusive sufffages, to
rule over us at the North. Do you think zee
soula submit to it! No, not for a moment!
And dn you believe that your Southern breth-
rem are less sensitive on this subject than you
are, and less jealous Of their rights If you
90, let mo tell you that you are misMaen =
And, therefore, you must see that if this sec.
tionsi party succeeds, 1t hads Inevitably to
The destruction OF this beautiful fabric reared
By our fathers, eemented by their blood, and
bequssthed to Us as a priceless inheritance.
Il tell you, my friends, that I feel deeply,
and, therefore, | speak earnestly on the sub.
ject, (cries Of you're rightr1 for feel that
you are In danger. | am determined to make
a clean 5ress. OF il. l will wash my hands Of
the consequences whatever they may be-"
We could add msny more testimonies from
the sEemy's country, to the justice Of OUT cause.
Bat II is useless. Fillmore certainly comedies
that ws have "soms reasons, y for ouc course,
and sens appearance o: justicu'-Thicn 10
all that ne have 20 establish. But he says
. great deal more. He said in substance thst il
the sectional rule'should DO imposed upon US,
and We should fail to resist,~ would prove our>
selves poor wretches; that We would accept a
disgrace which the peopls CT Inc North would
not submit 10, no, not for a iboment!"; that
the dissolution Of the Union - ":nerita5lu"
certain, if the South cared for their rights, and
that it was madness and folly to suppose any.
thing elsel Fillmore said these things and
the listening crowd Of New Workers answered
him back that he wss right
Yet this war ia called BY tnsse same peo>
pie a rebellion! And We are called rs6els!-
We listen to these epithets as we listen to tie
Chinese when they call the rest Of the world
"barbariaps-" We would wonder, if we had
not cessed to wonder at anything North, how
Fillmore and many other witnesses for truth
md justice, can now s.oop So loa as to discred.
it the proofs which they have lstt ou record
of their COMMON sense and wisdom, aud ioiu
in heaping upon US epithet> ,or the very
course which they said We would DC dise,acsd
if We did not pursued Nay, how they can 80
beyond even this, and join or lead the bands
Of cut.throats sept to murder our people and
ra7agc cur iandsl But these things they do.
Il is evident, then, from The doctrines std
iscls quoted, that even according to the North
ern theory Of the late United Ststas ,CaDstitu-