The dollar weekly bulletin., 1862-12-18

hard to persuade the Abolition Administra-
ton that it was not polite to put to death
as traitors, the prisoners of war taken from
the South; it was harder still to procure an
exchange of prisoners, and it has been hither-
to impossible to convince this same admin
istration that the principles Of war recognized
among all civilized and christion nations,
should be observed in the contest with the
/ Southern Statesi principles which were only
designed to am neliorate the horrors Of war,
| and prevent useless cruelty, and til e recogni-
ton of which would have saved the people
| of the North and West from the shame and
. humiliation which they must ever expert
ence. when the names of Butler, 1.-The beast"
of Turchn. "the brute," of Pope, the en-
courager Of rapine and theft, of NJ McNeil, the
murderer. and of others of less note, are
mentioned in their presence. The South
can, and shall be conquered. said the Aboli-
tion Administration and to effect this end,
it assumed. and still holds, double, and
m ost ridiculous attitude before the nations
Of the world. 1t cloims. at one and the same
time, all of the rights which appertain to
nation engaged in war with foreign nation.
and all. and more than all, the rights, within
the seceding States, of a governm ent over its
own subjects. According to Mr.. Lincoln,
the Confederate States constitute a nation
the exchange Of prisoners of war. while the
people of these States are subjects of the
Federal Government, and therefore liable to
have their property confscated, and their
slaves liberated by law. A great absurdity
than which, can not we'll be imagined, or
one less likely to be tolerated by foreign ma
tions, as we shall soon discover when these
conf letting claims are to be discussed When
Fremont was invested with "Proconsular
pooers," q quote from himself,) in Missouri
he undertook to confscate property and
liberate slaves by proclamation, but every
one capable Of reasoning on the subject, at
tributed his conduct to the insane folly of
party Gespot, whose head had been turned
by his advancement to position for which
nature had never designed him. Since then
the Government has fallen with deliberation
into the same error, into which its "procon
sui" madly rushed. The war has been
prosecuted for nearly twenty months, and
the South is not yet conquered, nor does
that event seem nearer than it did twenty
months ago. 1t is not an easy task to sub
jugate brave, united and determined peo-
pie, even with overwhelming numbers,
backed by long purse. vast resources, and
stimulated by hatred. Men will not give
up tn cir lives, their honors. their country,
without struggle, not until they have
hurled every rock. which lies buried in the
soil, at the person Of their invaders. The
Southern people have been accustomed to
freedom and they love it! Mr.. Lincoln and
his Cabinet should have thought Of this be-
fore they commenced the war and drove
them to united resistance. If, however,
the South had been, or shall hereafter be,
conquered, how will it affect us? Will the
Union, the old Union, be restored? L an
swer not is i'm possible! The idea is vain
er than sick mans dream. The lion n ay,
in the millennium lie down with the lamb
but the master and the slave can never be
equals. In that event, no voice from the
seeding States will ever again be heard in
the old halls of Congress, dem anding an
equality of rights, for its tones minglng with
the rat.ling of chains. and the clanking of
fetters would sound broken and unnatural
Republican government in the North
Despotism in the South! How long would
such a Union last? Which would yield
first to the demand for unity in governments,
the Republic or the Despotism? 1t be-
hooves our people to consider these things.
The effect of the war thus far. has been the
dissolution of the Union, three hundred,
men slain in battle, as many more
wounded and broken down with disease, at
least fifteen hundred millions of debt, much
territory laid waste and property destroyed.
eternal enmity kindled between the North
and the South, much shame brought upon
us by the Trent affair. and by the bad coz
duct of some of our Generals, and our own
liberties taken away, under the false plea of
a war necessity. You, Mr.. Editor know
me we'll enough to know that l loved the
old Union, and would have given much to
preserve, or even now to restore it, but al
ways knew, as our fathers told us, that this
could not be done by war, and so predicted
through the columns cf your paper lorg ago.
Yours truly, A CITIZEN.