Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-29
From the Jack on Mis-issippsan. April 81.
Onr N rnnUs

From the Jack on Ms-issippian, April Sd.
Our " rongs.
We sometimes recount them in passion. But
then we fail TO realize, or describe them ade-
ouately.
We had kept true faith with the people now
intent on our destruction. We fought their bat
ties more than ours. in the colonial war with the
mother country. We espoused because Of right
more than the cause OF interest in that Iemarka-
BILE revolution. We inherited institutions be-
q~neaihed to us by old England and New Eng
land. They brought the African-they imported
him-they recognized his stGtuS-they guaran-
teed the security of such prOperty-they pro6ted
by that species OF lab0r-they manufactured the
cott0n-they transported the sugar and rice
they grew rich upon the products of our labor
they built cities. and constructed navies. and ex-
tended railways. and erected palaces, and became
merchant ~princes.-they established schools and
endowed colleges, and created a literature. and
boasted a civilization all as the result OF our
political. commercial and economic relations TO
them, and all based upon the laws os climate,
soil. aud the character of our sys TEN of labor.
We we're useful TO them. We did them no
harm. We inveighed against no institution of
theirs We i~nfringed nc right of theirs. We
observed our solemn compacts. and maintained
the faith and comfy OF nations with them. We
bought their wares: employed their ~artizans: pur-
chaSeu Their DOOhS, hred tnelr teachers. fed their
operatives; supported their paupers; freighted
their ships; defended their rights: fought their
battles in war; conserved their safety in peace:
and maintained the Government.
In return, they DETAINED US in their liturature:
slandered and misrepresented US in civilized Eu
rope; insulted US on the floor of the Federal Con-
gress; mathematical Us from the pulpit: taught
their children to hate US. in the Sunday school
room; provoked Us to anger; robbed US Of our
property; taught their people, as a lesson in NOR
ais. that no faith was to be kept with us. preacbed
incendiarism from the platform and the pulp:t.
threatened our dwellings with FIRE. and our wom-
en- and children with rapine and violence: sent
their apostle, John Brown, TO begin the GOOD
cork, and have now only followed up his lead,
and are proceeding to complete his work, and
execute the purposes of his commission.
In the progress of their labor. they have never
ceased TO employ damnable falseboOd: il is part
OF their system: il is one of their weapons; thew
are enacting a LIE: and the father of lies is their
counsellor and ally. They ca!l great, organic,
political changes a rebellion-an Instruction.
Had we a King2 They call a war. maintained
for years by many hundreds of thousands of
trained soldiers. n temporary ~insurgent resistance
to the laws. They call the enlightened. self
governed people of their late CO States. a Rebel
mob. They marshal an army of six hundred
thousand men to cut down a handful of Rebels.
in States where the Union sentiment is very
strong. They seek, Ostensibly. 10 preserve the
Union of free, sovereign States, cemented br
friendly ties and voluntary association, and pro-
ceeded to accomplish this by cutting our threats
burning our hOuses-deSOlating our fields
numbering our womeni They declare a He-a
%damning lie; they never meant to preserve the
union of the States The original object Of the
party in power was to destroy the South The
chosen purposes OF the war are blood, plumber,
and the utter humiliation Of the South, her in
stitutions. and civilization.
But for motives OF policy. our men, held as
prisoners. would have been murdered. after the
manner of savages. When the Yankee army,
confident of victory, marched first ubon Man
asses, they carried a large supply Of handouts.
We have seer and examined specimens. These
were for the limbs Of the traitors. Since. they
have been afraid 10 murder our men, held as
prisoners of war, Directly, they have done the
same thing indirectly. by subjecting them to con-
tagious diseases, and erOwding them into loath-
some prison cells One hundred and thirty
Southern soldiers died, in ore prison, in a few
days. denied the use of medicines or physicians,
or the attendance of a minister, OF priest, in their
last moments, under the orders of Gen. Halleck.
But the facts of our sufferings will never be re-
corded elsewhere than in the memory Of God.
No human mind will conceive them-no men
will record them.
All the oppression and fendish hate comes, not
for the cause, but upon the occasion of the
Southern States acting upon the cardinal fOunda-
ton principle of all free representative govern
ment. Whenever a Government ceases 70 an
swer the end of its creation, it is the right of a
free people TO alter, abolish, or change the same
at their pleasure. All free government rests for
its foundation upon the consent of the governed
On these principles was founded free government
in America In order 10 conceal somewhat OF
the hellish d%eformity Of this iOul and mOnstrous
ebulition from the cauldron Of moral ~putrefac-
ton, the cunning leaders have stihed, or bribed,
or violently crushed the press Of the country. with
but rare exceptions. The Louisville Journal, the
ST. Louis Republican and the New York Herald
accustomed to exert extended influence, are the
purchase of thirty pieces OF silver" and are
blackened with innocent blood
Our wrongs mount up to Heaven. The wild
ow'S wail-the orphans cry-the fathers groans
the moan of the bereaved-'Rachel weeping for
her children. and will not be cOmfOrted because
they are nOti' These sounds Of woe have reached
the ear of the Eternal, We NAV have deserved
all we have suffered; but our foe is not the less
guilty of objectionable crimes. Their day is
coming-the day of retribution. The Friend of
the fatherless and the widow must be heard. and
ether Redeemer Is mightyl"