Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1862-08-14

cent respect for the war they are waging So far
it is intended to crafty their malice. they doing
the express work OF the evil one So far they cher
ish lingering hope that the chances of continued
war may develop some new unknown means of accom-
pshing their early design, they seeking result,
which, tty themselves have branded infamous The
editor OF the New York Tribune said n the begin
ming that he (Greey) could believe that clear
joFy OF the Southern people desired separate govern
ment be would not object, because in that they
would be entitled to 1t, under the great principle oil
selEgovernment-not believing that there such
majority but the contrary, he favored the They
now admit however, that there is not merely nojora
ty, but that it may be considered unnimg still Gree
ley advocates the war; waged avowedy to subugate an
unwilling people and deprive them of seltgoverDment.
Some excuse this tyrannical design by the plee that
they are lighting TO preserve the nation as they call
it, They speak if from TIE beginning, the different
populations Of the late United States people,
and formed one political community. They pretend to
forget that in tie beginning they entirely distinct
and Independent of each other the colonies having no
other bond of connection than the dependencies of
common kingdom. A common oppression after gards
drove them into limited association under the engage
mens of what were called the Articles of Confedera-
ton. Becoming dissatisfied with this they dissolved it.
renting the States thereby to their separate existence
again. New articles of union were indeed proposed,
in the form Of the late Federal Constitution But
there not the least pretence that any State was
bound by it, unless, and until it should by its own free
act become party to it. If Virginia had not acce-
ded to it, its authority would never have extended here
In point Of fact North Carolina and Rhode Island held
ao0t for year two, and there not the slightest
idea entertained that they not meanwhile, sepa-
rate and ndepen dent States bound in way to the
other States, and at liberty to remain 80.
But Lincoln, and one OF his clerical speechmakers in
Philadelphia, the other day. sagely tell Us that the Union
existed before the Constitution, and that the Constu
ton was made for the Union d.
This assertion absurd as it is forms their only de-
fence for the war they are wagng. They confess that
they disregard the Constitution but they declare that
it necessary 10 do this in order to preserve the nal
ton" They shut their eyes to the fact that the Con
stuon is what brought the States together and al
that held them together and that to destroy it was to
remit them all to their original separate Independence
and thus break up and destroy Union what, ii
. the old Federal dialect, they call " the nation"
TIE Constitution being confessedy set aside, the
Of the Northern States upon the Southern is precise
in character and design what it would have been if wa
ged before the Constitution was adopted. 1t is wa
for dominion. 1t is attempt to form nation " il
which they shall be supreme, by violently eXnguishinI
a great many smaller nationaIities The confession
that the Constitution is not equal to their Purposes
that they Lave to discard it, is confession that
Union such as the Constitution formed, is not wha
they seek, but nation Of despotc powers, and the
y the despots. AS for attempting to esablis
such government by conquest and to force their yok
upon people who, by their own admission, spurn
with extraordinary unanmity and astonishing zes
and energy, they pat up the pretence that such
t1on 0tways existed here-exiSted before the Const
tuticn-and that they only fighting 10 preserUe 1t
Let it be remembered that this mis- rable disgracelu
absurdy false pretence IS their only decent attempt
. justification OF their atrocous des gus concerning
Of their late proceedings it is Impossible to frame Il
y least paliation. Barbarous cruel, unwise calculate
to defeat their own avoWed wishes, they but eXprC
the malice due to despair aud to the promptngs OF I
. bottomless pit.