Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-02-12

# France, to the Revue Rationale of Paris we
make an extract, showing one of the ma
ny reasons "why the North cannot consent to
disunion," as viewed by a disinterested foreign
writer.
But,6rst, the writer adverts to the claim that
America il confederation, not . nation, on
which the South bases its right Of secession,
and says:
What, then, is the South, and what
is the right of separation SO loudly vaunted
Is it conquered people retaining its indie
pendence as Lombardy has done? Is it a
distinct race, refusing to continue in an OPP
pressive alliance? No; they are colonists es-
.ablished on the territory Of the Union by
American hands, who revolt without any other
reason than their own ambition. IF we except
Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia, which
are old English colonies, all the rest of the
South is established upon territory purchased
and paid for by the Union, which is equivalent
to saying that the North supported the great
est part Of the expense.
In a few words, taking in all the rich re-
gions that border the Mississippi and Missou-
ri, from their sources to their mouths, there is
not an inch of ground that has not been paid
for by the Union and does not belong to it.
1t was the Union that drove away or bought
off the Indians 1t was the Union that built
forts, constructed navy yards, lighthouses and
harbors; and it was the Union that gave value
to these deserts and rendered colonization pos
sible. The men of the North as we'll as the
men Of the South cleared and planted those re-
SiV.-' - r.-a. as~.-l;no States of sterile
soltudes. In old Europe, where, ou all siass,
unity has arisen from conquest, show US as sa-
cred q title to property, or country that is
more the common work of whole people.
But it is not merely political reason, which
stands in the way Of separation, he says the
geography oblges the United States to form
but one nation.
"The West cannot live without the Missig-
sippi to possess the mouth of that river is for
the farmers of the West question of life and
| death.
The States which are to-day called Louis
| lana. Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota.
| Kansas. and Oregon, the territories of Nebras-
ka. Dacotah, Jefferson, and Washington, which
| will soon be States, have been founded upon
| the vast domain coded by Napoleon to the
| Union. Without counting the slaveholding
population that desires to break the Union,
| there are ten million citizens between Pitts
| burg and Fort Union who claim the course
and mouths of the Mississippi as having been
! ceded to them by France. 1t is from us that
| thew hold their title and their right of posses
sion. They have on their side the claims of
sixty years, claims consecrated by labor and
| cultivation, claims which they have received
! AZ rights from solemn contract, and better
still, from nature and from God. 1t is for de-
| tending this that they are reproached; they
are usurpers and tyrants because they will not
mt themselves at the mercy of an ambitious
| minority. What should We say it, tomorrow,
| Normandy, in rsvot, should pretend to hold
far herself exclusively, Rouen and Havre I?
/ And vet. what is the course of the Seine COM
narad to that of the Mississippi, which runs
along $3.50 miles, and receives all the waters
! Of the West To possess New Orleans is to
| command valley that includes two-thirds of
tho Tinted States. The river shall be made
neutraln we are told. We know what such
: -~~onises are worth. II has been seen how
Z. --.naged the mouths of the Danube !;
why it cost the !. - ha " aeuu at ~ oei-
| MANY the free enoymen, oi 'iei sleal river. :, =.
We now see what :. - think Of the
pretended tyranny of the North, and W.. 'nei
| it is true that it wishes to Cypress and subju-
gate the South On the contrary the North
does nothing but defend itself In maintain
ing the Union, it is its rights and its life which
it is seeking to save.
But the extract to which we wished partic-
ularly to invite attention, is the following,
showing what would be the cost of dis
union peace to US, to posterity, to the world.
1t is but one of the items of such .scost,n yet
reflect upon this one, and then say if the avert
ing of the result indicated is not worth the
struggle; whether the cost Of years of war,
if need be is not small, compared with this
inevitable cost of a disunion peace which
would be no peace.
We have room only for the following por-
ion of what this dlsinerested locker on says
tupon this point:
The United States are Republic, the freest,
and at the same time the mildest and the hap
piest that the earth has ever seen. In what
does this prosperity of the Americans find its
support In the fact that they are alone on
an immense territory they have never been
! obliged to concentrate power and weaken lib
erty for the purpose Of resisting the ambition
| or the jealousy OF their neghbors. In the
| United States, there was no permanent army,
no military marine; the enormous sums that
we might spend in order to ward off or to sus-
tain wars, the Americans have employed in
opening schools and in giving to all their citl-
zens, poor or rlch that education, that instruc-
ton, which forms the moral grandeur and the
/ real wealth of nations.
Now, suppose that the separation should be
accomplished and that the new Confederation
should comprise all the Slave States, the
North would lose, in one day, its power and
its institutions. The Republic would be
stabbed to the heart. There would be in
America two nations face to face; two peoples,
rivals, and ever on the eve of quarrelling with
each other Peace, in fne, will not eradicate
hatreds; you cannot eface the recollection of
| greatness passed away, of the Union des-
troyed the South victorious would undoubt-
/ edly be none the less the friend of slavery,
nor less in love of domination What vii the
Confederation o. the South be to the North ?
A foreign power established in America, with
frontier OF fifteen hundred miles, frontier
open on all sides, and consequently always
menacing and menaced Thus,
the remnant of the Union would have to be
ever IN readiness to defend itself against its ri
walls. Questions of custom houses and from
tiers, ryaiiles, jealouses all the annoyances
OF Europe would oyerwhelm America together.
IL would be necessary TO establish custom