Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1863-12-10
The Close of the War.

| Ana we ADVISE our TeaUtfS not TO prepare
themselves for disappointment by hooking
for sudden and speedy end of the war
Those who look merely to outward appear
ances, and whose judgments are based on
their hopes and on the results of decisive
battle or two, rather than On Fundamental
principles. are liable to be deceived but
those who believe this conflict is governed
| by immutable laws, and regard the princi
4 pies which underle and control the opera.
tons Of Governments and people, are best
qualified to Judge respecting the termina-
| ton of this strife The prime obstacle to
the speedy suppression of the Rebellion from
the beginning, has been, divided North
There were men in high places all over the
/ North, in league with the Southern conspi-
rators before the first gun was fired at Sum
ter And the number Of traitors at the
North during the whole course of the war
has been very large-far larger than many
supposed In many localities they greatly
exceeded in numbers the loyal population.
And those localities were uniformly those
in which the pro-slavery Democ.a cy had
complete sway. The dislovs. people of the
North may be regarded under three classes
/. The Irish Catholics, the great body O.
whom are Intensely pro-slavery.
2. The German catholics and German
Democrats, less virulently pro-slavery, and
! therefore less tincturod with disloyalty than
/ the Irish
8. The thoroughly pro-slavery, including
the demagogues among the native born pop
ulation in the Democratic party.
All these classes are opposed to the Ad
ministration and to its war measures to sup
press the rebellion, and especially to the
Emancipation Proclamation, and thus give
aid and comfort to the rebels. Practically,
as far as they can do it without overt acts
Of treason, they oppose the Government,
and sympathze with and aid the rebellion.
Had the North, from the first, been unit
for liberty as the South is for slavery, and
upheld the Government with the earnest
ness and energy with which the South has
sought to overthrow it, the war might long
ago have been ended. at
The pro-slayery spirit of the North, too,
prevented the Government for long time
from emancipating the slaves of rebels and
invoking their aid in this contest, and in
this way has proved the most formidable
obstacle to the suppression of the rebellion.
Many Of the soldiers and officers who had
volunteered, with expectations of honor and
profit, under the belief that it would be a
brilliant war, when the question of calling
in the help Of the slaves was first sincerely
proposed, secuted the idea of fighting side
by side with black men, the officers declar-
ing they would sooner resign and go home.
And though there has been marked i'm
provement in the army, and the number OF
disloyal men at the North has greatly dinin-
ished, yet the number Of this class is still
large enough to hinder the progress of the
war and embarrass the Government
This conflict will continue till the disloyal
and pro-slayery spirit of the North is over
come-til slavery is put down at the South
and tho manhood and rights of the slaves
are recognized and protected throughout
the Union. When the North becomes a
unit for liberty, justice and free government,
foreign nations will renounce forever all in
tention OF interference, and the South will
give up all hope of success.
This war IS not the result of an accident,
or of a political blunder, nor the product
of political ambition. 1t is the natural and
inevitable result of the conflict of opposing
principles-the legitimate issue Of the vain
attempt to harmonic liberty and slavery
under one Governmental make slave la
Dor and free labor equally prosperous under
the same laws and conditions. 1t is the
just penalty enforced against wrong doors
for persistent violations of the laws of ma
ture and of God And this conflict will
continue till liberty or slavery triumph.
And every movement to preserve slavery is
in effect movement to prolong the war.
Tell US when the North is ready to blot out
slavery, and lift up the slave to the plane of
human rights, to the common level of hu-
mainly, and we will tell you when it isready
to put an end to this Rebellion. We shall
have peace just as soon as the nation is pre-
pared for it by repentance and reformation.
To those who do not believe in an over
ruling Providence our position may seem
untcnable. We cannot stop to argue with
such. There is no such thing as cheating
Eternal Justice or eyading the eternal laws.
And this is the hour of the nations judg-
ment Neither Presidents, nor Congresses,
nor people can turn it aside. We are now
drinking the cup of trembling. We may
harden our hearts, as Pharaoh, till the land
is filed with mourning, till our loins are
covered with sackloth, and not one house is
left in which there is not one dead But
when the nation is prepared to let the OPP
pressed go free, the dreadful scourge of war
will be lifted from us. And if, like Pha-
raoh, the nation seeks again to Cypress the
bond-men after they are once let go, it may
expect return of calamities.
The lesson taught by this var is, that no
nation can practice injustice with impunity
that the Most high ruleth over the ma
tons, and executeth judgment in the earth
that what we SOW we must reap. The
indications now ere that the South, when
this war has done its work, is more ready
for emancipation than the North. Mary
land and Missouri have got far in advance
Of the Lincoln Administration, and we have
had the strange spectacle of representative
delegates embodying the loyal sentiment of
the Northern Slave States beseeching the
Administration to favor liberty and not
slavery, in its appointments and polie,,r.
We look with great anxiety and hope for
the Presidents message If he should rec
ommend the entire abolition of slavery
throughout the Union the beginning of
the end of the war and Of the rebellion will
have been reached, and the foundation of
areign of perpetual peace haE1 been laid.