Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-09-11

IOpplCcclOu bCCho W CAtCn0
Law with its needful restraints fails h
rule in its dominions, and the powers o
force are employed where persuasion
fails. Mighty, indeed, is the confic
carried on between the powers OF godt
and evil. 1t is indeed. a time Of dec
concern. II is our national emergene,
in which our Government is strivi1!
for existence, and the perpetuation .
the institutions we have loved. As |
people, we have been proud of ou
country. We have prided ourselves !;
the thought that we were capable 3
self Government, and were demonstFa
ting that important problem to u
world, and there should be no tyranf
chains forged for us, or sceptered des.
pot exercising iron heeled oppression
over foot of the soil sprinkled with
the blood Of our fathers. and thus con-
secrated to freedom. We have loved to
behold our country in the bonds oI
peace, without discord or civil war to
mar our quiet. or disgrace our Union
We have loved to term it the land oI
the free and the home of the brave, and
behold with delight the star of empire
in its westward course, gradually ex-
panding the area Of freedom until
checked alone by the limits of the
Ocean.
In the midst of our prosperity and
happiness, when all was teeming With
hope and brightness for the future Of
our nation, what a change has been
brought? Who would have thought
that where all had their rights under =
common Constitution, and were free il
the exercise of those rights, that cause
could have been found for the promo
tion Of discord, and the most direful
civil war the world has ever seen?-
Who could for a moment have harbored
such thought, that such soil and
such sunshine would generate such
treason! But the thunder tones Of
deadly missiles hurled defantly at de-
voted Sumter, and the fierce conflicts Of
many ensangined fields proclaim to
the world this mighty treason. Trea-
son against what? The best Of Gov
ernments-wbich took away no rights
from those who would destroy it, nay,
not even the right to tread their fellow
beings in the dust beneath their un-
hallowed feet. Treason against the
rights of man, of human liberty, JUS
tice, and all that is dear to humanity
Treason against God and truth. Trea-
son in league with oppression. Alas,
how are the mighty fsllenl How basx
( ly havO thosS in whom the country
trusted its all for direction and for safe
ty, perjured themselves, and proved
recreant to every principle Of honor and
true craftsmanship!
There could have been no true pa
triotism existing in sHch leaders. II
once there might have been, it has
been consumed by the burning of mad
dened ambition. Like dead bodies
thrown into stream, at first they sink
and are not discovered, but advancing
in corruption they rise to the surface,
and send out their pestilential stencil
until the wisest and most powerful na-
ton on Gods footstool, sickens and
reels under its deadly influence. How
sad is the contemplation What a
night Of darkness enshrouds us in its
gloom. But is there no star of hope to
light US over the heaving swell of rev.
olution! 1t may assure US that those
corrupt bodies may pass away, and
those waters may be agitated until
they are pure once more. and we may
as nation, one and undivided, breathe
the pure untainted air Of freedom, and
enjoy untrameled, the glorious fruits oI
civil and religious liberty. To the
calm rejecting mind which is not ex'
cited and agitated by vain and idle ru,
NOR, this great commotion in our land
may seem under the providence oI
God, mighty effort to be pure. The
present is, indeed, gloomy enough, but
who shall say, in view Of all the cir
cumstances, that there is brighter and
more glorious future before US?
1t is not time Of despair. Hope
still enlivens the heart. The fires oI
patriotism are glowing under the mighty
caldron, while the elements in wild con-
fict within, are rolling and foaming
and secting and boiling. The impuri'
ties of maddened ambition and politica
corruption, will in all probability bt
rejected and thrown of, and we shal
enjoy the very essence of civil and re-
ligious liberty in all its purity. Calm
determination and firm resolve on par
of freedoms sons, will bear them safely
through the great emergency, and il
accomplishing the glorious work, they
shall have incribed, their names on th'
banner of immortal honor. The pa
triot's blood, is indeed the seed Of free
dom's tree. That blood was sprinkleC
, in the days of the revolution, on many
plain and hilltop. The tree hai
! fiourished until treason has poisoned thu
air whence it drew its vitality. A
} fresh baptism of blood will import to j
} Erenewed vigor. and it shall flourish
, again in beauty and grandeur. wher
, treason and rebellion shall be laid low
and its fruits shall be for the heeling o
the nations.
In times of emergency like the pres
ent, the spiritual interests of the people
can be but deeply affected. No charac
ter can be more deeply concerned o.