, 1862-09-18

Editors Chicago Tribune:
l am constant reader Of your valuable
journal, and have read with pleasure the dis
cussion 1t has rtcenily presented to the pub
lie on the question, Shall cur soldiers be al
IL Eeems to me that the whole truth lies in a
nutsh.1l, as has been indicated by your corres-
rondent in Mattoon. The organic Law is
made to regulate the ordinary working Of our
political society. No attempt is made to pro.
vide for those exceptional and abnormal con-
t'ngercics Which are always liable to arrive for
the simple reason that it is clearly not within
the province Of finite minds to forcaste all the
possible combinations which the varied inter
ests Of society may assume in period of con-
ynlslon Tits is the great and insepa1able, as
well Hs lnsupererable disadvantage under
WHICH . popular constitution has always aud
must forever labor. It must, however, be al-
ways borne in mind that as the Sabbath was
made fer man and not man for the Sabba:h, 60
50 It is with the human. As the spirit is
high.r thon the flesh, so is the animus which
calls any man into life more sacred than the
letter in which 1t seeks TO clotle itself. Hs
"ho in blind adherence to the letter would
eacrificc the spirit OF the fundamental Law
might make IN excellent slaye-he is un-
It caprot be denied that the whole spir-
It. Ct our cons tuition would be more COM
pletsly FlolR7cd-Day, de5ecra:ed-if the im-
III. nse lumber ct our citiz*ns noW in the
1icd shnu1d, under existing circumstances, be
tisfranchised than if the whole fabric of its
letter were tom into thousand sbreds aud
scattered to the winds of heaven. A clear
perception Gf t.is truth on the one side of the
Elsllsh channl and failure to perceive it on
the tther has made all the difference between
well regulated English liberty and French des-
potisnl.
Why, the wheels Of our national govern
mert had scarcely been set in motion before
that E1tat party, which has always clnng most
ttnacioukly to the letter Of the law, acEnowl-
creg]y violated it on a mere question of expa-
di.nc And there is one portion at least who
believes It to have been lie wlscst step that
party ever took.
Lcok for one moment, then, at the momen-
tons issue wrapped in this question, and the
hardest heads political ph1sisee in the State
cannot stand at the corner and demand IN ad-
distrapcbises the army
II cur volunteers hzd been {pardon the Hi
hF' .i-.fsn} ctafted n,cr-so as rot to disturb
t%c rtlstirt 6 rergtl Of conterd!ug parties
the QUESTION would be one Of little public in.
tsrest-a mere Speculative stock flt only fer
politicians to invest in.
Gut it is far otherwise. Nor can ]angu lge
eas1'y eXagEerate the importance Of the ques-
items really pending between these parties.
Striplea Of all dlkguiscs, 1t is question OF
life and dvath-lot only fur US but 1or the M
ticE- 1t needs no prophet to forcsee that
ST ould the arm OF this young giant be
par, Lied by fiction = aud should It be
wheeled into 1i1.c with the conted.racy, tic
revolution has been accompli he'd, and the
dts1ne of our political cdihco been crowned
with negro in chafns.
This is a gut stion which should admit -
vi ich can admit Of no hesitation.
]onr correspondent at Mattoon has, think
clesrl, shown that in collecting the p lit OF tas
:.ruiy no yiol. nee need he done to the letter
the Inv. But if violence be required, then tht
coward}y b md tba. would hesitate at sucl
v:olcnce would never he*itate ct the violence
needed to turn the stone from oaz Savior!
tC1nb. Nv