Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-10-03
ON THE AMERICAN WAR.
i London 1fiu,es d. july 29d saws:

sumo the appearance Of rejoicing. There is play
of the old dramatist John Ford, called the Broken
Heart, in which the heroine IS competed to go
through solemn dance, although, in the course of
it. she is told that her father is dead that her dear
est friend has committed suicide and that her lover
: is murdered. She goes through the dance, and
drops down dead at its close. Something similar to
this must have been the mental torture endured by
large portion OF the American public during the
festivals and reoicings which commemorate the 4th
of july the anniversary OF the sufficiently to-
be-praised, and hever-suficientyt beviolated De-
claration of Independence How fiat, stale, and
Improbable must have sounded the conventional
eloquence and worn out enthusiasm which ceebrat-
ed wars and quarrels the remembrance of which
ought to sleep in the graves of those who made
them How Earring the music, how pale the fire.
works how wearisome the professions to mothers
and sisters, to wives and daughters tormented with
the wel-grounded apprehension that in the bloody
swapps of Virginia were lying those most dear to
them on earth-happy indeed, if dead, but only too
probably lingering out the last remnants of exis-
tence under the chilling dcws of night, consumed
by thirst and fever in all the agonies that wait on
the wounded, abandoned by retreating and tram
pied on by pursuing army Was there no one to
ask whether the cause in which all this blood was
shed be indeed the cause of independence; whether
the North can really identify the grounds OF their
present quarrel with that which their ancestors
maintained against George III. and his ministers;
or whether the parts have not been wholly inverted,
or whether the North does not find itself playing
the part of the very King whom for eighty years 1t
has held up the execraton of Its people the vi
lest and most cruel of tyrants?
We know that the North has not succeeded, but
can it show any ground to convince us that it de-
serves success They cannot submit their cause to
be tested by their own principles Can they point
out any other under which their cause will obtain
more favor? America has been celebrated and Just
ly the first country that ever based its Constitu
ton the principles ofabstract right and Justice
A. ID =. a.
cple of the nalienabe rights ofman against proscrp-
ton and authority. Rebels in their eyes only
men revertng to the first principles of natural JUS
tice and sovereigns lost their right to reign
as they ceased contribute to the happiness of their
people. These the stereotyped doctrines of the
4th of July. To be consistent, the Northern States
ought now to denonce them and punish them as
treason.
How are the mighty faen A year ago the North
went forth to conquer confident in its numbers, in
its vast flotilla in its crushing artillery and in its
possession of capital for the moment at least, en-
tirey without limit 1t went forth to fight for empire,
and, as men do who seek to conquer and Cypress
their fellow-men, it trusted mainly in overbearng
might, and rested the merits of its cause on the
sharpness of its sword. 1t invaded on every side
territory scanty peoped supplied with little wealth,
without manufactures without large cities, cut off
from the rest of the wordb by the vast naval superb
GRITTY of its antagonist, with nothing to rely on but
dauntleSs courage and reSolute endurance. The
Southerner was Harmed, ill.clothed, lled poorly
lodged and he was encountered with the most formi-
dable of all hndrances-a slave population Of sever
al millions to whose mercies he had to leave his wife
and his child, his homestead and his plantation,
when he went forth to fight his battle of indepen-
dence Wherever they could swim the Northern
gunboats penetrated, and, so long as they were &C.
companied by this flying artillery, which also af-
forded an easy means of transport for all the wants
Of an army, the Federals proved Irresistible. The
lac hNN
to advance beyond the reach of gunboats, and then,
as in England always predicted, the Federal diff
fcUlties began. The ConfederateS withdrew from
before Washington, but the Federals could not fol-
low them, and General Beauregard disappeared from
his lines at Corinth leaving General Haeck quite
unable to pursue him. The great army Of the West
has been reduced to inactivity, but the Army of the
East has contrived by means OF marine transport
to place itself on the South east Of Richmond thus
interpOsing that Capital and the whole army of the
Confederates between itself and the remainder of
the Federal forces. AS if this was not enough, !
General Mcclellan disposed his men piece of
ground divided by three rivers, thus giving every
facility for the destruction of his army in dcail.-
The catrastophe has come, as might have been ex-
pected Almost surrounded by their enemies, the
COnfederatcS, moving shorter lines, had always
the opportunity of throwing overwhelming force
on any point which they choose to attack. An ad-
vantage once gained was vigorously improved, and
after seven days hard fighting the Federal army is
rolled up into dense mass, the destiny of which |
everybody expect to be very similar to that which
has been prematurely announced. After pouring !
forth blood like water, and fertzing the fields of
Virginia with thousands Of corpses, the North finds
itself obliged to begin all again, with credit de-
stroyed, ruined revenue deprecated currency, |
and an enormous debt Nay, if these were not |
sufficient Republic based avowedly on the nalicn-
able right of man to personal liberty, to life, and to
the pursuit OF happiness, and on the principle that
Governments formed for the purpose of cstab- |
fishing these rights begins to talk Of levyinS 30O
900 men by CONSUMPTION.
Will nothing arrest this frantic and suicidal rage
Is there no one from whom the American people |
will listen to the words of truth and sobcrness p
We know that counSels of moderation diStaste-
full in themselves, are doubly dstastcful when |
coming from us; but we can scarcely believe that |,
the infatuated multitude will remain blind to the
teaching of facts they have hitherto been deaf to
the voice of well-meant expostulation. What proof
do they yet require that they embarked a |
fatal and ruinouS cause? Their wealth is turned |
into poverty, their peace into discOrd their pros
perity into wretchedness the power in which they |
gloried is efaced; society is torn in pieces by the
hands of its own members; law is trampled under |
foot and the country is fast falling into anarchy the
only refuge from which is despotism. We do not !
scruple to say that shall rejoice if the worst
tcipation be realized-not from any i'll will to the
North, but because see in the failure of its et
forts to subjugate the Southern States the only |
prospective had almost said the only possibility |
of peace.
There is something pathetic, when compared with |
the language to which we have been accustomed, in
the extreme thankfulness with which New York |
halls the escape of the army from absolute perdton.
w e hear no more of "Stragetic movements OF bets |
that Mcclellan would be in Richmond in week. |
Truth and nature have at last found utterance and
The language of empty swagger and wil(u falsehood
is thrown aside could the army once make |
stand be permitted brief interval of rest and time
to throw up entertainments under the protection of
the gunboats on the James river all would be WELL
On Wednesday and Thursday there no fighting. |
We cannot exaggerate the Importance of this fact |
nor exult too much over it; it is the salvation of