Winchester journal. [volume] (Winchester, Indiana) 1862-1863, 1863-04-17

the depths of our souls, that the Rebellion
shall go down, even though Constitution
and Union and country 60 down with il.
But some of you will tell me, that you
wish to save the Constitution. the Union
and the country. So do | wish TO save
them. There is, however, only one way
to save them; and that way is TO forget
them-to forget them in the one engross-
ing purpose to crush the Rebellion.
Now does all this, which / have just
been saving, seem eItravagant2 Never
theless it IS only in the spirit Of all this
that the Rebellion can be overcome. 1t
is this out-of season talk for the Consti
tuition and the Union all the way through
the War, that has so confused the nation,
and prevented the concentration OF its
interest and energies at the point which
claims all its interest and energies; and
that has done more than any and all
things else to demOraliZe, debase, and
destroy the nation. If the Democrats,
Republicans and Abolitionists, would
come into a mutal stipulation not to
sneak for ninety days of the Constitution.
the Union, or Slavery, there would with
in that time grow up such an earnestness
and unanimity in the work of annihilat-
ing the Rebellion, that it would be an
initiated.
"TLe Constitution as IL is and the
Union as IL ,cas"-this, all the way
I through the War, has bean the great
motto, not of the Democrats only but of
most of the Republicans also. do not
saw that it was bad motto with which to
face the discontents, murmurs, and
threats that preceded the War. do not
saw that il was unwise in Mr.. Lincoln and
our i ,tesmen generally to continue to
recognize il, in those early stages of the
war, which nearly all of us hoped would
not result in actual and proper war. But
neither consistency nor any other con-
sideration required them to recognize it
anv longer. It's effect any longer could
be but 10 deceive and destroy. And vet,
even now, when the strife has taken on
the dimensions of the widest war, and the
character Of the most horrid war, this
motto is still current. Alas, what mis-
conceptions OF the hour have they who, in
this life and death struggle. would inspire
Us with any paramount anxiety, or in
deed with any anxiety, for the Coh-titu
ton and the Union. And. alas. how un-
fitted for part in this struggle are all
they who WELD themselves up to this un-
timely and comparatively low inspiration !!
say not that it will be improper to re-
vivc this motto after the Rebels are con
ouered. But I do say that until then i
should be buried and forgotten. For un-
Ill then we have nothing to think of but
, the Rebellion, anb nothing to do but to
put it down.
A mobocratic spirit against the present
charter and present boundaries of City
is beginning to show itself. The loyal
citizens do well to meet this spirit with a
motto, and to cry: "The charter and the
b9nndariest" But would not such a
motto be madness after the mobocrats had
already applied the torch and were al
ready at work to reduce the City to ash
es7 Ii would be-and as emphatic mad
, ness is this prating about the Constitu-
tion and the Union in this fearful hour,
when the mightiest Rebellion the world
ever saw has raised the question-no.
what will become of Paper and of poll
tjcs-but what will become Of our wives
and children. Death 10 the mObocTGts''
could be the only suitable motto in the
one case, as " Death 70 the rebels" is the
only suitable one in the other.
r Oh no. this is not, as it is still claimed
to be by the designing and the deluded,
"a War 10 MAINTAIN the Constitution and
restore the Union" In its beginning il
, may have been proper to call that the is
. sue But it is no longer so, now that the
Rebellion has reached its present proper
tions, and is so full Of peril to the very
life of the nation.
In this connection would rebuke the
frequent question-whether We mean 70
subiugate the Southern States. Until
the REBELLION j. subdued we mean to do
nothing but subdue it. After that will
be soon enough to decide what to 90 af.
> ter that. To decide II now would be but
to einbarrass US. and TO get up another
issue on which to divide US. For the pre-.
sent we are TO see to it, that the South Dc
not suragateus.
9th. This clanor for carrying on n,
War in only Constitutional ,eay shoulo
ceoss-for It springs neither from gOoG
sense nor from an enlightened and enlarg
I'd patriotism. and It is fraHgit ruth peril
= II not indeed pith ruin 10 our cause.
Il Is not true that We are bound to car
~ on tic war Constitutionally at all haz
ards. know that the Rebels, who hay,
kicked aside the Constitution, say thai
we are. This was the burden Of Breckin
ridges speeches in the Senate just befor,
he left i, TO join the Rebel army But t,
say that We are 70 receive the advice o.
the Rebels with caution, is not TO trsa