Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-11-20

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belief is rapidly spreading that, unless the
present condition of things is speedily changed,
/ our cause will be lost An immediate, bold
and aggressive movement upon the enemy
following up every blow struck and gathering
the fruits of every victory gained-is what is
required for our deiverance, To the accom-
| plshment of this single object the thoughts,
the efforts and the prayers of the whole coun-
try should be directed. If those who are in
the front will not go forward, the public safety
will demand that they be assigned positions in
the rear. What are sensibiities, what the
reputation, or what the cherished schemes of
any general in the field, as compared with the
life of such government and country as ours?
II, 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 2 If Lee,
jackson and Longstreet can move with promp-
titude and dashing CELEBRITY in the cause of
treason and barbaric vandalism, why cannot
our chlettains move as promptly and as fast in
the cause of honor and loyalty2 How much
longer will the nation endure that all its sacri-
fees be fruitless Its conviction that it pos
sesses, twice told, Tic power y; :. supdue this re-
beilloh is not more complete than, in my
Judgment, will be its detern nation that Meth
er the iollles nor the crir ,es of men shall rem
der that power unavr LING EE
ona lne r. .esident, with all the dignities
Int litie belonging to his position, is
,ra , P''o = on the national ship for a single
o m"''' of the night. Who will be so insane
y. to aid however indirectly, in scuttling the
ship, merely because he has quarrel with the
! pilot from whose hands the helm is so soon to
be wrested? Who is willing that savage
shout, as of victory, shall go mp from that ar
my of ferocious rebels whose hands are doubly
| dyed in the blood of our people2 Who Is
willing that a thrill of Joy shall run through
out the entire South, and that bonfres and il
luminations shall be kindled in the city of
| Richmond, over the triumph of the opposition
in the great Empire Stated If such there be,
| let him vote a party ticket. The occasion
| demands the development of the subhmest
| phases of human character If with the duties
| to our land and to our race that are pressing
| upon us, we cannot rise above a miserable
scramble for party spols and power, then the
sooner we creep into our graves the better.
|
My faith in all this matter is simply 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 uncondl-
tionaly as am for protecting my own body,
at every cost and hazard, from the knife of the
assassin. No human institution, no earthly
interest, shall ever by me be weighed in the
scales against the life of my country. Least
of all will approach with unsandalled feet,
or permit to be thus weighed, an institution,
| the feeding fountain of whose being--the AT
rican slave trade-the laws of my country
have for more than forty years denounced as a
crime wvi thy Of duatli--a crinle not against
any particular code, or any particular form Of
civilization, but crime against the very race
to which we belong. HOSTS hunaonj geaeris
Is the designation which the Christian egisla-
ton of the United States has given to the Af-
i rican slave trader. ~
4 yield to no man in generation for the Con-
sttution, 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 en-
ter in and enjoy them.
These institutions and their every interest
| are Ill lflolf wv III anu Cdu NC SdNeu uOi
only from ruin, but from the slightest injury
by the utterance of a single word-a word Of
duty and Of honor But, if in their passion
ate pursuit of separate 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-
tion--be 1t so, The world will Judge Alright
and history will record its Judgment. But
is it not childish prattletso say that the South
can claim to be at the same moment the prote-
ge and the destroyer of the Constitution p
Does>it not require an audaeity absolutely sa-
tanic, to insist that the beneGcent provisions O
that hallowed instrument shall be secured t
States and people who are hourly spurnine
and splitting upon its authority, and who arr
leading forward vast armies to overwhelm it
and with it the homes and hopes of all who ar,
rallying in its defence?
!. War-certanly one like this, in selfdetenc,
--is clearly constitutional but. if such a wa
has its restraints, it has also its rights and du
ties; prominent among which is the right anC
duty of weakening the enemy by all possible
means, and thus abridging the sanguinary con
fict. Never until now has it entered into thu
| litdSlDdllOLS VI HtIl W CUllC6lNt tildt
these duties is that of seeing that the enemy i
clothed and fed and armed before he is struck
In prosecuting the war, while exercising GU
right to weaken the enemy, we may destro,
not only ships upon the sea, fortresses and cit
les upon the land, but human life upon the bat
tie field. But what institution, what Inateria
interest is more hallowed than human life, anC
what material interest is there belonging to tn,
enemy that we are obliged to spare, ever
though by so doing we perish ourselves? TIL,
Constitution is charter of national life, anC
not of national death. All movements which
seek or tend to the dissolution of the Govern
ment created by it, and of which it is the soul
are in conflict with its spirit and with the scoop,
and end of its enactments, and may be resisted
to the death by its express or implied authori
ty. Neither the keenest vision nor the mos
delicate ear can detect in auy line or letter 0
. that glorious charter the faintest throb of sym
patty with treason or traitors.
* Pardon these hurried words which are spo
- a