Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1862-05-10
Rivers of Blood.

We hope and trust, says the Allentown
Democrat, that the radicalists (of the Pos
stiUeIy stamp) which we're so distressed be-
cause Mcclellan occupied Manassas with.
out "wading through rivers Of blood have
had their CORY appetites sated by the two
battles at Pittsburg Landing. There was
blood enough shed on those occasions to
suffice, in our opinion, for q whole cam
paign, and we trust that the most exacting
of grumbliRg Abolition radicals will agree
with us. The contemplation of such a
massacre makes the heart turn sick and
the blood run cold but of course it was
unavoidable, and, like all other inevitable
Affections we must submit to it with the
best grace we can muster. Law and Or
der must be maintained, and legitimate
government must be supported, at all haz-
ards, or else we have nothing left but an.
archy and revolution. This horrible sac.
rifce of human life is the penalty we must
P"J Aol Jul hdutoudi lHulsCTctlou. ue
Union is being re-baptlzed in the blood
of its martyrs. May that baptism secure
it what it seeks-an Immortality!
But, leaving Gen. Mcclellan to his ul-
innate triumph over these Abolition vipers
let US return to the consideration of that
lust for bloodshed which seems to charae.
terise the latter. We entertain an intense
disgust for all such sanguinary towards,
and so must every man who regards civ.
il war in its proper light In meeting a
foe upon foreign soil, or in struggling with
the invaders of our native land, the spirit
of wholesale slaughter may possibly have
something to justify it, in the face Of hu.
manity, for the wauton destruction of hu-
man life. In warning with erring broth
ers, at home we have no such justification
for an inconsiderate massacre either of
our gallant volunteers or of the ranks of
enemy. 1t is a species of barbarity to up
hold, at any time, the ferocious idea of
'wading through rivers of blood to over
throw an opponent who may be subjuga gated
by means less destructive, but it is peculi-
arly reprehcnsible in the eyes of civiliza.
ton when that opponent is of our own
kith and kin; when, however wicked his
attitude of rebellion, it is our duty to win ,
as we'll as coerce him to his allegiance, by
mingling wise forbearancc with overwhel-
ming force, discreet magnanimity with a
rigid respect for justice. And this is the
doctrine of every citizen who's patriotism is
in soul instead of in his pocket; who loves
his own country more than he does THO,
pia; who is quite as earnest in his SYM
pathy for the heroes of our battlefield as
for the "contrabandS' they liberate, and
no more wishes to see the soldiers of the
Union butchered for glory than he is will
ling to see the negro iIl-treated for pas
time. 1t is the only abject towards, who
dare not fight at all, who are so anxious
to witness the march of others through the
gore of their fellow creatures. 1t is only
he whose selfish heart is as bloodless as
as his face, who Sloats oyer the heaped up
eorpses and bleaching bones of those who
battle for him as his substitutes. It is
only he who has no relative living with
spirit enough in him to shoulder a musket
in defence of the liberty be abuses, who SO
yearps to hear the wall of widow and
orphan over brave men literally murdered
to suit his savage notions of civil warfare
In short, it is the only quivering Tipped
turbulence which asGassinated a MulligaI
at q Lexington, that now deuopaecs Gem
eral Mcclellan for not having submitted
himself and the Union army to a similar
victimisation at Manassas-apd for the
same reason, .. e., to accommodate the diff.
tident ambition of Greeley and a Fre-
mont.
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bo EI,.,;o Il. IL