The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-08-16

Hess, Wucice all the venem0uS reptlleS o.
this rebellion were hatched /! 1t makes oul
cheeks tingle with shame. Disasters before
Richmond, where we trusted our war ere
this should have closed in glorious victory
instead of almost total destruction. This
disastrous insecurity Of States fought ovel
and thought on only as safe and loyal.
Serpents at the North-only scorched no
killed by the indignation of patriotic peo
pie -rousing to coil together in noxious, sli
my venemous reptile parties in scarcely Co
vert aid of treason. An army everywhere
greatly reduced by disease, wounds, deaths
on the field and the debility occasioned BY
fatigue in an inhospitable climate An army
it needs to be said in order to full under.
standing of our peril--an army sick, disgust
ed, out of all heart, and wanting to go home
because they are patrols over negroes. They
think they are capable of more dignified bu.
siness--herdsmen of rebel focks and cattle
they would rather tend their own wasting
fortunes protection of rebel resources,
abettors, aidors, most direct and substantial
comforters of treason. They came here will
ling to endure the sane hardships in nurs-
ing it-in furnishing to traitors security and
sustenance. Nowonder patriotic and think
ing men get sick of such work and long to
get away from it. Of almost all the COM
plants and dissatisfaction heard in this or
any camp, here is the pestilent root. 1t will
not take long for it to grow up into demor-
allied and worthless army.
| saic this seemed black time. Well,
darkness is thickest just before dawn -
Didn't ray of light stream in upon you the
other night on dress parade, when our com
mander's good order was published? "Pro-
lection henceforth only to such as claim cit
izenship Under our laws, abjuring every 9TH
er allegiance-freedom to come and 90 thro'
our lines to the slave of rebel-considera-
ton, at least greater than that due to his
rebel master" Growers began to stop
growing then, think. What now with a
law for the coniscation of rebel property,
and the emancipation of rebel slaves, and
the imprisonment Of rebel persons2 What
now that the enslaved laborers on the plan
tations of rebel soldiers may leave their toll
and come to dig trenches and bear burdens
for men in loyal armies, to act as guides,
bearers Of information, witnesses concerning
loyalty or treason--to take even stray gun
and shoot a foe9 What now that the enc.
my's country is really to suffer, and troubled
homes to call for all absent traitors to return
from the ranks, give up their tr eason, and
receive the offered amnesty for their heinous
crime
These recent disasters, these fresh out
breakings of the hidden fires of rebellion in
States supposed secure, have filed the very
air with the thrill ofa new purpose As by
instinct We catch it. Under the influence of
it, our new army Of three hundred thousand
men will spring from the ground, armed,
like the harvest from the dragons teeth
Congress has sanctioned the instinct, and
now it is a law. The President, it is said,
is just ready to proclaim the old policy dead ;
the new universal and supreme. The sense
and judgment of all loyal men are solid in
its support. So disaster turns to triumph.
God has to grind men and nations like ap-
Piles before he gets the virtue out of them
He has been grinding and pressing us till
we are ready for the great crisis in which we
stand. Under the old plan of clemency and
play war, new armies could not have been
raised except by levies. Under the new law
of war, real war, the heart of the nation will
beat high and strong. The SOC, 900 men will
hasten to the lines with tramp that shall
be glorious in the ears of all true men, which
shall be the tramp of doom to treason.
Now charge you be strong and Of good
courage. Put away every complaint. Ifyou
are sick make haste to be we'll. There's great
work to do-and you will have your hand
in it. The States behind us must be recon-
quered and treason once for all crushed out,
Traitor States are yet behind us. Treason
everywhere-not rooted out of a single com.
munity in which it ever throve.
But now with a principle of var, which
means war, every advance will signify so
much of loyal ground Treason dead in il
forever and ever. Let them give us as they
seem ready to do, this law. See to it, that
behind You is no traitor--no subsistence,
but for staunch loyal men-no estate belong
ing to any traitor-no covering for the head
of any traitor! In thirty days there need
be do rebel State of Mississippi. She can
be made to sue for peace and re-admission.
When we get in earnest and carry with us
amnesty for the quickly penitent. ruin swift,
dire, without remedy for all others, dreadful
strife will end--tll then, never, never!
We must grasp now the dire, sweeping
desolating brand. The slaves ofrebels must
be freed the crops of rebels destroyed tn.
houses of rebels wrapped in flames Every
thing which can be appropriated to the sus.
tenance and comfort Of our troops so used.
Everything destructible must be destroyed ;
all real estate possessed In fee eimple by the
United States government; all able-bodied
male rebels sent to Northern military pri-
sons, or set to work on loyal labor. No ves-
tige ofany rebel thing ought to be left In our
track. The agony will be sharp but short.
We have waited, and borne, and hoped long.
Merciful war is always cruelest.
Another cry burdens the air. Treason's