The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1862-09-01

The Potomac. \ second repnIse 0, tho
army is mo:e deeply impressng Tho 4'1!
thing upon TIE people and the govern. aue
and there is cause to hope that before .al ,1Dl
similar disaster shall occur the true g.. ','u-'
tine case will be accepted, and that rre,, '' o.
day army Put on a war footing ''
= We are also learning that the mn,
the rebellion is not a contemplate one = u "
has been the policy Of good many anon L
to speak of the enemy against which !"
are fighting as contemplate and de6cion, e
strength, endurance, skin, and resource. ~ d. -
that folly has had its day. and is DOW Nv ~
ty fully played out. 1t is demonstrated 't ~
the past years experience, and by the Dreseo|
condition Of the rebel army, that the enom1
against which We are making war is trul.
formidable one, whose subjugation dcuonj,
the putting forth of the whole power Of ,bs
nation. Formerly each one asked how i,,I.
force might be used in restoring peace to ,bs
country the question now is, how much can
be used to secure the existence OF the nation
The people evidently believe that we are en-,
gagged in life and death struggle, in which
only one question remains to be settled. and
that by military force-the question wbetbp,
or not our national existence is Dow to and
But whether or not our great men at Wash,
ington or in the camp have yet awakened IA
this stat: Of the case is yet painfully uncertain
3. The years experience has taught i.
that slavery, as zoe treat 1t, is not an elemer,
OF weakness to the South, but of great and
highly available strength. No motives have
been given to the slaves by the government Or
the Union army to withdraw their allegiance
from their masters, but on the contrary the
South has been steadily assured that that wi.
nerable point in its social system should Do,
be meddied with. And so the slaves have
steadily served their masters in all quietness
and by their labors have contributed lmmepse
ly to the resources of the rebellion, az n,ucb
no doubt as the same number of whites could
have done. That all this could easily be made
quite otherwise is obvious But as vet the
powers that be seem not TO have dec ided
whether i. is best to sacrifice slavery to the
nations safety or the nation to slavery.
We arc rapidly learning the lesson Of
how a war can b. carried on without policy
For year and half the public mind has been
on the stretch to find out the Interior design
Of the government in the prosecution Of toe
war but the sphinx's riddle was nat more 10.
soluble than the question OF the policy pur.
sued. 1t is sometimes said Of certain secret
associations that the reasons why their secrets
are never divuIged is that they have none
and so some suspect that it is because tie
government has no fixed purpose, but is sim.
ply drifting upon the revolutionary current;
that nobody is able to understand what are
the tesigus Of the President and his trusted
advisers. While the war was mistaken fora
local emeute, it was enough to propose its
suppression as the object aimed at by the
military powor Of the government but more
adequate estimates of the proportions OF the
conflict demand corresponding modification,
of the policy Of the war. 1t is something
worse than FOLLY to hesitate about state rgn;,
and constitutional limitations when the ma.
tional life is in peril.
Lastly, we are very slowly beginning to
ava Ike to the suspicion that possibly the
hand OF God is in all these complications
and that repentance, sincere and active, may
be condition essential to our n'tional sap.
yatioc.-N. Y. Correspondence Western
Christian Adrocate.