The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1862-06-20
Boston c,ivirfsstton
From the Cincinnati ENQUIRER. l9ib

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to make the war against slavery.
Like the other peripatetic retailers Of
+" Boston notions Mr.. Wendell Phil
lips. Mr.. Hosea Bigelow, Mr.. Orestos A
Brownson, and the like--Mr. Emerson is
Convinced that the prosecution of the wa,
upon its present basis is useless and alb
surd--a certain loss without hope Of
compensation.
again, If we conquer the enemy
what thenf We shall still have to keer
him under and it will cost as much tc
hold him down "a TO put him down.
I Then comes the summer, and the fevel
will drive our soldiers home; next win.
ter we must begin at the beginning, and
conquer him over again. What use, then
to take a fort or a privateer, or get pos
session of an inlet, or capture q regiment
of rebels?"
Mr.. Emerson then goes on to describe
the Boston plan Of conquest: one which,
In his view, will create the instruments
it requiers and moro than make good
any petty and injurious profit which it will
disturb"
Congress can by edict, as a part of
the military defense which it is the duty
Of Congress to provide, abolish slavery
and pay for such slaves as we ought to
pay for. Then the slaves near our ar
mics will come to us those in the interi-
or will know what their rights are and
will, when opportunity offers, prepare to
take them. Instantly the armies that
now confront you must run home TO pro.
tect their estates, and must stay there,
and your enemies will disappear"
And what are the estates which the ar.
mics that run home will go to protect?
what bat their houses from conflagration,
their fathers, mothers and children from
murder, and their wives and daughters
from those delicate attentions which q
harsher system of morality than that
which prevails at Boston is wont to call
rsvishnent, by these latter.day sons of
liberty, in the first tumultuous Joy of
their newborn freedom; the frstlings of
their recovered rights-the earnest of
that civilization and refinement which
the edict Of Congress will inaugrrate p
This is what is meant, although the del.
icate gentleman does not say it. With
out this the scheme would be useless
the charm would not work. Pictures of
dwellings in flames, Of loved and delicate
women in the loathsome embraces of
savages, of babes borne about upon pixies
and bayonets, of aged and venerable faith
ers and mothers tortured and massacred,
might appal the stoutest hearts and
drive the bravest men FROM the field, to
defend their hearthstones or to punish
those who made them desolate.
But is this civilized war! Is it even
civilized punishment, or civilized ven.
geancef What we are used to call hui
mainly Of modern times has been wont
to condemn the practices 10 which barba-
rious nations have sometimes resorted-
the poisoning Of springs and streams of
water, the Staying Of women, children and
non.combatants, and the promotion of
secret incendiarism. A ridiculous sto-
ry circulated through the North some
months ago, that the rebels had devised
plans and organized means to destroy our
aqueducts and burn our cities-and read
lily accepted as the truth by all who
want to believe it-aroused the moral
sense cfthe North to the highest pitch of
indignation. The press and the pulpit
We'd with each other in searching out the
bit!erest words of the language to de-
scribe the enormous wickedness of those
who were so lost to every precept of hui
mainly as to engage in such transactions.
And yet in what is this proposal to invite
the assassin, encourage the inceadiary,
and pay a premium to the ravisher in
the South, better than drugging a we'll or
applying torch to Northern city p
Under the circumstances it is worse-a
thousand times worse. The South, if it
encouraged such plans, had at least the
decency to keep them secret from the
world; but in the North they are recon-
mended by devoted diyines, enlightened
philosophers and able jouralists-entered
into<srsncns and public lectures, and JUS
tiled and recommended in the name of
progress, civilization and Christianity.
II the Government OF the United States
opens tho food gates. it will be response
bic in the eyes of God and man, in the
eyes OF other nations and of an imnar.
tial future, for all the ravages which the
torrent may commit. Ifitputs the torch
in the hands of the incendiary, the dag
ger insthe grasp Of the assassin, or points
the way of the ravisher to his victim, the
blood will not be SO much in the skirts of
its unreasoning instrument as in its own.
II will make no difference under what
pretense the thing Is done, or by what
name it is called. There are always pos
tive titles enough TO give, in the eyes Of
the perpetrHtor, an excuse for any crime.
The man who is about to kill bis neigh
Dor does not place q mirror before his
faee. aud call himself . murderer. The
ASSASSIN is, in his own eeteom, the execu-
toner Of law higher than that which is
icnfcvcsd by courts Of Justice. The rob-
bar he's his theory thst there Is great
wrong IN the unequal distribution of
property, which II q his duty to remedy.
Tho highest orinas which tho world has
ever witneAsed have been committed in
the names Of humanity, liberty, religion
and civilizations. Let ~ mob Ieok 81 the
name, but ct the thing. ana snswer: arr
we prepared to try the experiment?