Washington telegraph., 1863-02-04

benefits to accrue from success we lack q,
sustaining motives, which are required to hno,
us up under the sacrifices we must maka .b,
privations we must suffer, and the dancers W,
must incur Human nature is sadly subject tc
the influences OF the present; and nothing
but great susta lining principle. OF the hope
OF some great reward, can hold US steadily tc
any purpose, through toll. peril. and suffering.
Inc "earled traveller who has no goal turns
asiue TO every resting spot, and reaches no.
| "here But by him whose motto is Excel
slor, the rains and SHOWS are unfelt and the
| olazing fires upon the wayside hearths; the
smiles of village m aidens, and the warnings OF
timid age, are all UNDECIDED. He goes onward
and upward, bearing the banner with the
strange DEVICE" and, to follow still further
the beautiful alegory of Longfellow, when
death overtakes him in the struggle. and
friends bend over his stifened limbs; from
the pure empyrean his voice is heard clear and
triumphant, ringing still, Excelsior! 1t is
no fable. Thousands of Instance have proven
the readiness Of nobler natures to sacrifice
triumph in the sacrifice
To attain this high condition. we must OK
orcise from our breasts all petty and selfish
passions, and brush from our minds ell false
conceptions. Error is hideous Mt all times
but most terrible in its consequences in the
midst OF those great crises, when we NAV be
tempted, in an evil hour, under sense of fam
cied wrongs, to acts which not only kill the
body, {for that is a tride, but blaeken the
memory forever.
There is one such error. from which the
worst is to be feared. 1t is TOO serious to be
trifed with. Already too deep rooted to De
Wlthered away by expressions of contempt
It's poisonous leaves begin to terminate, aud
nothing less potent than the convictions of fair
and earnest reason can now avail to destroy
them From this arises our peril Throu Oh
the evil growth Of the passions which flourish
upon 1t, We can scarcely seq the grandeur and
nohiIty OF the prize for which we struggle
The error is simply this That this is war
for the protection of slave property.
If that were all, so help US God we would
lake no part in it. Thousands upon thousands
of human lives; and the yoiceless sufferincs
OF the widows and mothers who go down to the
grave with whitening lips and fading tress
es,' with the life blood pres ed from their
patient hearts, day by day, and drop by drop.
by . misery's crushing presses" were too
great a price to pay for the protection Of the
property of any one class of men. The slave
holders loathe tie thought, and are shocked at
the injustice Of the supposition. But, consid-
cred as the plice of that liberty under which
higher degree of social elevation. and do
mestic happiness is to be hoped, than has been
heretofore possible to man !; all these suffer
mgs are hallowed in the present, and embalmed
for the pride of future generations.
What has the Shareholder to gain by this
war, II his motives are mercenary? He did
not wish TO carry his slaves TO Kansas or to
Nebraska. He would have starved or frozen
there, he and they together lie lost few
slaves by the violations cf the fugitive slave
law, but he knew full ell that where ten es-
capped, before, hundred would after separa
ton. He knew for he was well forewarned-
that war would be TIE signal for attempted in
surreetions; and that powerful enemy vastly
superior in numbers, must oyerrun large por-
tons of the South, and steal away that prop
erty. He accepted the condition. He mi ght
have continued to plant, and sell cotton and
sugar. At least, in his generation. and that
OF his children, the property would have been
undisturbed at home. But he could not do so
as freeman. He would not do so, under the
vassalage of Northern commerce, and Northern
legislation, gradually pressing, not only him
self, but the whole Of the Southern people, into
the dependent condition Of provinces 1t was
not his war alone. 1t was the war q Southern
society. 1t sprarg from the instructive sense
Of injury, and the contempt for Northern char
acter and Northern influences, which pervaded
! the South ern heart the sure instinct, which
was not less true nor less powerful il the minds
| of the poor and uneducated, because they could
not define the reasons; that the old Union
bound US 10 an inferior race who were politi-
caliy the stronger; and that we must separate
ourselves from that corrupted body, or fail to
| reach the high destiny which we would achieve
for our posterity. From the cottages of the
| pine woods, and the lordly mansions of the
| river planters, the volunteers flocked side 10y
| side, and stood shoulder to shoulder, in the
ranks. tits well to look back upon the feeling
which pervaded all hearts after the first procla-
nation of Lincoln. Think, my fellow coun-
trymen, what you felt then Did you not
scorn the thought that you were the mere in
strument OF protecting your neighbours prop.
| erty Did you not then feel that you were
/ hShung for yourself, your firesides, and youl
! children, all of which were massed in the
general feeling of devotion to the South? You
were right But for that spontaneous rising
they might have come hereafter to strupel,
among writing masses of humanity. for tho
breath OF hfe, as is now beheld in ENGLAND
and France, and as fast approaches in III,
North instead of being reserved as proud
units OF what is yet to be the highest peopl,
of the globe. But We anticipate,
We pass over the thousands flor many thou
sands can be counted) Of slave holders VIII,
crowd the ranks of every regiment from ever,
State. We barely allude to the feelinp q