Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-01-23
DIR. BRECKENRIDGE ON THE WAR.

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eminently patriotic Kentuckian. We most
heartily commend the views here presented
to the consideration Of every citizen. What he
says of the character of the rebellion, is in
strong contrast TO the sentiments of such per-
sons in the North, as have sought to pallate
and excuse the conduct of those in arms a.
gainst the Government:
THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THE REBEL
This rebellion begins in an outrage upon
many of the clearest obligations of Natural
Religion loyalty, love OF country, fidelity to
public trusts, gratitude for honors bestowed,
truth and manhood in the discharge of obi
cations voluntarily assumed, nay, eagerly
sought; how many of the leaders OF this re-
bellion are tree from the stain on their per-
sonal honor, of deliberately transgressing
some, or all of those natural obligations which
no contingency under heavens can Justify
any one in violating We speak not of the
mere fact of treason, as defined by human
laws. What we speak of is the perady, in
every revolving form, which has marked this
treason in its birth, in its growth, and in its
present frantic struggle. Men seeking to o.
verthrow monuments, cemented by the blood
of their immediate ancestors Men dishon-
oring names, illustrious through many gene
rations Men betraying their friends, their
neighbors, their kindred. Men seducing chill
dren to take up arms against their parents
and then banding them with savages to DESC
late their own homes with fire and sword
1t is a Madness fearful madness. No
madness can be greater, except the madness
that could induce this great nation TO suppose
that God allows ii to let this 90 unpublished.
NO NEW TRUTHS TO BE DISCLOSED.
The service we are doing is not so much
to disclose new truths as to make a clear
statement of the grounds of common and
fixed conviction, which the public mind has
widely and instinchvely adopted. 1t is a
convection Just in itself, and noble both in its
origin and impulses. We will not agree to
the ruin OF our glorious country and so we
are not grieved to see that we cannot do it
with any hope of peace thereby. We will not
allow the Constitution to be subverted, the
Union to be destroyed, and the nation to be
divided; and so we are glad that in the or
der of Gods Providence, the alternative to
which the nation is shut UPS victory. If
the people in the States who have taken up
| arms against oar National life, will rise up in
their might, recover their liberty, and put an
end to the traitorous domination OF the cruel
and perhdious class minority, which is degra-
ding and expressing them, the nation has no
further cause of war with them. If they will
not do this, or if they cannot do it in their
present miserable condition, it must be done
for them-and it will be. The American
people have not sought this war, they were
led to the brink not only of ruin, but of in
fanny, in the attempt to avoid it. The Amer
lean people lave neither approved nor par
ticipated IN the injuries or the insults inflicted
on any portion of the nation by any other
portion of it; on the contrary their whole
national history attests that whatever factions
or sections may have done or attempted, the
nation has been faithful in its lot and true to
| its sublime mission. And now, in this great
crisis, if God will own our efforts, we will re-
trieve our destiny-and teach mankind a
lesson which after ages will be slow to forget
FINAL ISSUE.
1t is more certain now than it was at first
that the conspirators have reason to dread,
and that loyal persons may confidently rely
on the resolute purpose of the American peo-
pie to uphold the Union, the Constitution and
the laws so that the assurance of unavoida-
bic failure to the one, and of speedy and
Of speedy and complete deliverance TO the
other, becomes day by day the nourishment
OF the reaction which is inevitable in its set
time, That which is thus unavoidable in the
nature of the case as it exists, cannot be
called in question by any one who believes
that there are such human endowments as
patriotism and common sense bv any one
who confides in the capacity OF mankind for
self-government, by any one who knows that
to deceive people and then betray them,
| and then Cypress them, and then impOverish
them, are crimes which no people ever for
give; by any one who understands that the
Indignation oil mankind is relentless, ia pro-
portion as the sacrifices have been costly and
bitter, which the folly Of corrupt rulers forced
them to make, to no end but ruin and igno-
miny by any one who accepts the assurance
of God that civil society is an ordinance from
heaven, and is incompatible with the perma-
nent reign of anarchy. Nor do the iDnumer-
able facts, which, in a thousand ways, reach
Us from the whole area covered by the usurp-
ed power Of the Confederate Government,
fail to confirm, in the public mind, the con-
viction already stated, On the one hand,
, there comes u a gubdued but iucessant wall
t of loyal people grooming for deliverance; on
the other, fierce cry for blood and plumber
mixed with a wild cry about cordial unanim-
g ity. The nation pities and heeds the wall Of
our brethren, and by Gods help, will make
il audible throughout the earth, IS a lesson to
all conspirators. And SO far is it from being
credible that their deliverance cannot be &C.
y complished except by the slaughter Of vast
V populations-nor maintained afterwards ex-
q cept by immense standing armies; all tht
facts of this sad case show that what has har
> pened in all ages and countries will happier
3 again here, aud the mass Of the people speed
Il lily and ioyfully return to their allegiance, a
n soon as the military force of the rebels i
y broken, and society is allowed to return t
y its ordinary condition. These are terribl
rs episodes in the history of nations. No pee
n. pie has escaped them ; it is the feeble onl
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