Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-08-14
THuRsDAT, AUcUsT II, 1909.


man ,vh, enlisted in one of the MASSACHUSETTS,
regiments in August last, letter written
under unusual depression OF spirits IN view OF
the results of his first year of service. he
was person of much intelligence and more
than ordinary elevation of character; and
grounded his Judgment, not upon the impress
sions of the hour while he was writing, but
upon careful observation of events in the i'm
portant department to which he belonged.
With many others he had hoped that, when
he .joined the half million who then went into
the field, one year would see the hard work of
the war completed, and the country placed.
beyond peril. He had been disappointed.
Promises had been made to him which had
not been fulfilled. Labors had been imposed
upon him which impaired his usefulness and
wounded his pride. Hardships had been en-
dured, and delays, which to brave man are
worse than any hardships, and yet the grand
object was very far from being accom-
plished, and the army of which he had been
so proud to be part, had been deprived Of
the coveted honor of victory.
Such a sense of disappointment was no
doubt prevalent to a considerable extent after
the excitement of those seven fearful days on
the peninsula. 1t would have been surprising
if it were not. Those who could get access to
facts, and who knew how far that cam
paign had fallen short Of the high promise
with which it begun, could not held being sad
dened to their hearts depths. 1t was not sat
.l,o4 ~,
more than ourselves. 1t afforded no cause
for exultation that his dead soldiers were
stretched in windows over those sanguinary
battle-felds. While day after day left our
diminishing ranks farther from the object of
their pursuit, what practical matter was it
how much or how little rebel blood ceased to
perform its functions! The effect was de-
pressing Traitors, and half traitors, alone
took courage, and became SO bold, that the
government itself mistook their DISCUSSES and
was struck with kind of temporary paralysis.
They alone were cheerful They anticipated
still further reverses to the federal cause
the loss OF the Shenandoah valley and the
destruction of the slender army which
held 1.-THE disgrace of another re-
treat upon Washington, and of another
long period Of rest and waste in the
entertainments around the capitol-and finally
disgraceful surrender, and compromise on
the basis Iof the 'Union as it was False
prophets, to be sure, every one of them but
they succeeded for a while in shaking the con-
fdence of the government in the people, and
the faith Of the people, in the safety of their
cause.
The shadows OF this fatal skepticism are
passing away. Two grand, inspiring causes
are working together to restore the confidence
of the country and ensure the speedy fulfil
ment of its hopes. One is the readiness and
alacrity with which reinforcements are being
provided for the army, and the other, the
growing concentration of public opinion in
favor of the policy of FREEDoM-the only
policy which can be trusted under all circum-
stances to do effective service for the Union.
The smart occasioned by past errors in coun-
Gil and plumbers in the field is nearly over,
and those who committed them have been
easily forgiven. The people have entered
ened by bitter experience, will not be again
patiently misled or betrayed. The pres
ident's requisitiOn for the first three hundred
thousand men will be nearly answered before
the present week closes. If few states fall
behind, others will have made progress on the
new to more than compensate for the loss.
Both acquisitions, constituting an army which
year and half ago would have been pro-
nounced impossible, it is now reasonably GER
tain will be placed at the disposal Of the gov
eminent with as great rapidity as they can be
properly cared for, or fitted for usefal SER
vice-and that, too, without a general draft.
This great and almost unexampled enterprise
means more than appears upon its surface.
1t contains the elements of power sufficient
Tor all the exigencies it can encounter 1t
will not suffer its strength to be again squan-
dered through cowardice or incompetency. 1t
must be given work to do or it will find it.
With such reinforcements at its disposal the
government will have no right to tolerate de-
lay, or to conduct the war with an outlook for
future conditions Of peace. No state whether
on the gulf or the border, no special inter-
ests, no favorite policies, can for an hour
stand in the way of such an army. What
folly it will be, what unspeakable humiliation
1t, after the experience OF the past eighteen
months, we continue to wage war according
to the dictation of states like Kentucky, which
have stood from the beginning with one foot
in the grave of secession! These brave men
will commit no such folly. The government
may wait while longer. But they will never
be guilty ofleaving in the hands of conquer
ed enemy the weapons with which he made
his cause SO dangerous and so terrible. The
master-builders of the rebellion attempted for
many years to make slavery the corner stone
of the republic which they controlled, but
failed. They attempted TO make it the corner
stone of new confederacy robbed from the
old That, too, must fail, and the stone
which the builders rejected must become the
head Of the corner.
NORTH CARoLNA.--An exciting political
contest has been going forward in North
Carolina, in anticipation of the state election.
which took place on the 7th inst. The demo.
cratic party, which constitutes the mass of
the secession element, refrained from running