Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-08-24

WORK of Two Years-The Couu-
fry.
For almost eighty years the States of this
Union lived together in peace. Advancing in
population and increasing in number with grand
and rapid movement. the United States extended
the privileges of freedom and its attendants. Cd
ucation, self respect and virtue, to individuals
and races before bowed down by ages Of priv
legged oppression, bestowing upon all its citizens
the blessings Of a rule so mild and beneficial rs
hardly to be felt. and yet a~ffordibg a protection
such as no despotism ever gave 20 its citizens at
home and abroad. United America thus offer ed
to the world the sub.imes. aspect Of civilized
humanity that mortal eyes have ever beheld.
As years rolled on, and the generation of brave
and good men which secured and settled the basis
of all this prosperity and happiness, passed to
their hoDored graves. their children gioried in
their heritage vaunted il with even too great self.
satisfaction before the world, and never doubted
but they should hand it down, beautiied and per
fected by their own labors, TO a ~posterity as hap
py as prosperous and as peaceful as themselves.
All that grandeur, all that happiness, all that
glory, two brief years have seen to sink "in dim
eclipse" under an ocean Of blood. Where once
in fertile fields the pillow prepared the land for
peaceful harvests, shot and shrieking shell tear
open the bosom Of the earth in horrible burrows.
The groves once vocal with the voice of birds,
adjoining the hill tops with their verdure, and
blessing the meadow and the valley with their
shade. have vanished and left their place a des-
ert. Homesteads and humble Gotta ges, but late
ly the ahodes OF peace and sweet domestic JOY,
lie d~esolate, ~roofless. or burned TO ashes. with
but their nah ed chimnies to mark the spot. and
their happy inmates scattered, ruined, dead of
starvation, disease or grief, or perhaps Of wounds
inflicted by ~fraternal hands-all this, not in iso-
lated spots, but over areas that stretch for
leagues and leagues, are now to be beheld in a
b Dad belt of ruin from the shores of the Allan
tic to the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Mar
shalled over the scene of desolation, mounding
the land with Notifications that will bear witness
of this time to remotest generations. OF grap-
ping in Titanic strife, and covering the earth
and fili.,g the soil with their bodies and blood, a
million and a half of the fathers, brothers. hus-
bands, sops, of the happy people we have pictured
as but now living in peace and plenty, are each
day making wider and more hopelessly desolate
the desert that surrounded them.
Tn every CITY, village AM hamlet-almost in
every household o. this broad land from the prai-
ries of Texas to the lakes of Maine, the wall of
desolation is heard. and robes Of mourning testi-
fy to the bereasements the horrible strife mas
wrought What made it? Why are American
brothers. one in blood, one in faith, one in nation
al traditions and well earned glory. thus offering
each other in multiplying hecatombs on affairs
raised in the midst oi a Christian country to the
heather god Of WARP
It is because certain men, from selfish mo
tives-not foreseeing, we must believe, where
their teachings would lead-have been for years
preaching to this people, a people by far the most
homogeneous of any great nation on the globe,
that an irrepressible conflict existed between the
institutions of those of them living north and
those living south of a certain geographical line.
Nv cEfllful aDnpalc IN nacclon f0 moral fpplinU
to the spirit of Independence and State pride. to
the mean passion of envy, to spiritual pride and
self righteousness. these deceivers have cast a
glamour over the land and made the people of it
to believe a lie
1t is hard to disentancle oneself from the in
terests. the passions and the excitements OF a
time like this. and TO rise to point of mental ele-
walton whence this question can be calmly viewed
But arrived at such a pOint-and we hope there
are but few who are absolutely incapable of
reaching it-uothing can be palmer than the
falsehood contained in the assertion Of any essen
tial conflict between the Northern and Southern
sections of The Union. On the contrary, such ia
the essential unity both of territory and people.
that no man can draw 4 lire which could posi-.
bly he II permanent boundary between two na
tons, or which the absolute necessities Of he
people would not compel them to ignore in every
daily pursuit. Ii Is ssfe>to say that the
permanent utNlSiOu OI tli> CouuCTy Is lDpOSsl-
Bile.
This being the case, and strife being vain
for any other end than that of mutual de
struction. is it not time for all, on both
sides to throw off the authority and re-
nounce the leadership Of those self seeking
intriguers who have kneaded their bread
with the blood of a deluded people? We
who are fighting for union-can We ever
have II uniou with those whom we hate and
who hate nsf Must we not renounce all bitter
feelings, and, maintaining onr iealty un-
shaken to the national unity, extend To the mis-
guided people of the South an honest hand of
brotherhood, saying to them. Lay down your
arms. abandon your leaders who have brought
such misery upon YOUR land. and return to the
Union? We will guarantee to ,on and your
States every right which is yours under our com
mon bond. every right which we assume for our
selves" This offer cannot be made through the
General Government fallen. rs il is. 10 the con-
dition Of a mere organ OF the plrty which elected
il. but il NY be mssie by the people in the State
and local ~eleclious A Democratic majority at.
tanned nv peaceahle votes. will speak in, tones
that will not TAIL to reach the South and reinvig
crate there the old love Of the Union, upon which
alone we can count fnr any snccess other than of
bloody military conquest. which would yoke the
South To US. not in bonds of peaceful amity. but
only as u corpse chained to our side i Boston
Courier.