The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-04-25

WISDOM IN WAR.-Those who are oppos-
ed 10 the prosecution of the war as the only
means OF reaching q peace, and who think
that ohers of compromise ought TO be
made, are in the habit of assuming that
hostillties are now being carried on under
the influence of passion or prejudice. and
not in obedience to the dictates of reason.
They call upon us to pause and wait for
cooler Judgment, and consult some safer
guides than the impulses of the blind null
titude and the fury of the hour. There
was never more unwarranted assump-
ton. The facts are exactly opposite. The
war has rested and does rest for it's sup-
port upon the sober judgment of the PEG
pie, and nowhere else. There was an ont
break at first, not indeed of passion, but OF
enthusiasm, which might perhaps be called
unreasoning. TWAS, however, a noble en-
thusiasm; and all the better that it did not
stay for thinking. 1t is poor people that
needs to consider coolly whether or not it
will give up its life to violence. But that
first impulse settled down into firm and
we'll meditated purpose. A ruddy flash of
excitement kindled the war; but clear
intelligence has since fed its fires. There
was never policy of our government from
the day of its establishment, in behalf of
which the sobriety and steady counsel Of
the nation was so Enthusiastically arrayed.
The strength of this war is not among
the unframed and passionate, the more
wild and lawless portions of our popula-
ton. Its supporters are not those that
have least to lose. They are not the men
whose condition the worst of civil troubles
might improve, but could scarcely make
worse. They are not the idle, the drunken,
the reckless. They are not those without
homes, or family connections, or reputa-
ton. War has often drawn from such sour
ces the material for its armies. But it ia
not so here. The war spirit is not haunt,
f1yy
gambling and infamy. 1t is more often
found about the farms and workshops tho
schoOl and the college and the church 1t
an1mates most powerfully the men who
have an intelligent and honorable interest
1or themselves and their children to MAIN
That ever sheltered industry or stimulated
learning. The purpose to sustain the war
will be found most firmly held by the more
solid and stable men among us. Those
who would be marked out as the appropri-
ate leaders ofOur American mind, and the
types OF whatever is best in our civilization.
1t is not with good grace that one can be
called on to leave such men as these and
search for wisdomi and sobriety in compa-
ny with Woods of New York.
II our government is forced to give up
this contest, it will be in spite of the coun-.
sci OF our most sagacious and dispaSsionate
men; and in obedienceto the will not of the
pStIci, Dut VI lHe WOTsC pOFtlOHS Oh IneSe
communities. In all the public discussions
OF this subject, of which we have had any
knowledge, it has been the very object of
the supporters of the war to secure cool
and sober judgment; and to furnish the.
materials, for it. And it fhas been and is
still everywhere felt by these persons, that
Ignorance and prejudice and passion are
not the friends but the foes Of the policy
they advocate. And their greatest fear Of
failure is in the power of these very ele-
ments of evil. IF the whole population
could be lifted up to look over all the SUBJ
ject clearly and fairly, they would think
that the danger was already past. We do
not believe that any one familiar with our
American society, and with the influences
know that we speak the truth.-Sp'Ingtseld
ReDubEcan .-.-.--.. r.-..'- ". ..r.'