Washington telegraph., 1863-07-22

agricultural and planting pursuits in the South.
ern provinces Of America, united with the de.
scendants of the fanatical Roundheads from
}. the lower classes of England. The latter were
mostly men who, on account of their own big
otry and turbulence at home, could not be
tolerated there, and had sought refuge in the
more Northern provinces of America. where
! tney hao 1or more than century signalized
themselves by acts of cruelty and oppression
towards the natives of the land, and all others
VINO dlsallowed their fanatical tenets. All
'hese united In grand design, consecrated,
as the Southern men believed. by religion and
humanity. 1t was in the sacred cause of free
dom, and enforced upon them by the most
generous impulses of brotherhood. Ala,, #
was selfish bond with the more ignoble party,
VINO saw In it the protection of their trade in
terests alone. They saw only absolution from
stamp acts and trade restrictions, which were
small matters to the people of the South. Thew
saw only the unrestricted liberty of per,ecut-
ing Catholics and Heather, and Quaker. and
U Unitarians, without interference from K;n -
Parliament. They prostituted the name of
liberty to selfish purposes, and the more ex-
alted nature of the South worshining her
truly and unselfshly, and ''thinking no evil"
accorded them heartily sym pathy, and threw
INTO the contest its wealth of treasure aud of
blood. Then really wa. formed the American
Union, although not cons ummated for years
under the constitution. That day the fatal
| step was taken, which bound together, and
| thought to harmonic, elements so incongru-
Gus. That day was uttered in honest sincerity
huge lie to all the universe, tina ''all men
| are born free and equal" That day was at
tempted the grand impossibiliry of reconcilinr
the lrreconcilable, harmonizing the grovellinc
money-seekers, and half-crazed heartless
witch burners, with the descendants of the
purest chivalry of England and of France.
Elghty-seven years after that, before ears
which heard the cannon's peal proclaim This
declaration, were closed to earthly sounds:
upon the 18th of July, 1868, these di scordant
races met in battle within sound of the hall
where This solemn deed was enacted. There
IN fierce conflict Of blood, such as the world
has seen but rarely, the Southerner re paid the
lngrautude Of the Northern man with \ fer
rioie punishment, and the same day brought,
his own chastisement and its lesson. For =
thousand miles away upon the banks of that
mighty river which his own muuifcence and
craftsmanship had added to the country Lo ,r,s
repulsed at Helena by the Northern man in
vading his soil, in the insoence of .uncrio,
numbers; and far away to the South. near tha
land of the fig and the orange. he behcld the
flag which symbolized this Union. raised ovor
his head in the triumph of victory by those
whom he had called by the name of brother.
The crash of the falling Union is startling
the nations of the world. Beneath its tumb
ling fragments hundreds of thousands are
crushed out OF existence The light of the
heaven. is darkoned with pail over eyerv
household in the land, and a weight of sorrow
falls over the hearts of the widows and father
less. Rachel weeps flor her first born, and
will not be comforted because lie is not.
1t is Gods curse upon falsehood-.he old
warning against linking hing. unfit, in more
terrible tones than in the still, calm teachings
of Him who spake words OF .uperhuman wis
dom. We have built upon falsehood, and
our house is in ruins. We have put new wine
in old bottles, and the bottles are burst We
have sOwn new cloth upon old garments, and
the garments are rent. We have gone to
thorns for grapes, and thistes for figs, and
have gathered the fruits of bitterness
A dim sense of this-an underlined forebOd-
ing has prevailed throughout tie South and
been noticeable for years. We have long since
ceased to celebrate the 4th of July. In our
silent reverence for the old Union we have not
reasoned with ourselves of the cause We
begin now to confess it to our hearts, and give
articulation to the vague suggestions of our
thoughts. We have felt that the work of the
4th of July, 1776, was not perfect, that some
how or other, it embodi ed grand error That
our rejoicings upon it we're premature. That
the experiment would fail, and terribly 1t
has happened.
We have no less reverence for the heroes Of
the South, who in the old times sacrificed thus
" tuc HOiy HdHe vi IHelT are
hallowed to us by the purity of their inten-
tions, an6 the exaltation Of their motives We
love them none the less that they were mis-
taken. We ardently hope that their mantles
have fallen upon their children of this third
generation. With the light Of experiences
which never were afforded them, We may then.
in the exercise Of their heroic virtue. and
spirit of self sacrifice, reach the grand result.
at which they aimed, and the seeds which
they ,owed in their brilliant examples will
bear fruit Unexpectedly in far different ways
from those they thought they could forcsee.
| The good that men do lives after them, and
| reaches throughout the future. The evil cul-
inmates, explodes and perishes.
We could wish that the deeds of the 4th of
| July, 1776, had never been done. The South
ern provinces were growing in wealth and
strength. The spirit of freedom, which they
had imbibed from the old Saxon constitutions,
elevated and defined by the philosophy of later
days, grew with them Also The time would
soon have come, long ere this when the sepa-
ration of the Southern colonies from the moth er
| country would have presented itself to Eng
land as an inevitable necessity, or else been
! forced upon her BY the colonies themselves.
| We should not have needed the unfortunate