Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-12-03

approach 20 precision, IL not accuracy. The
Northern States. we are tod on "otticial" author
ity. have actually sent INTO the field .276.246
men. But this only brings the account up TO
January last, since which time the Federal Gov
eminent has made the most desperate efforts to
increase its forces. Upon the whole, we can
hardy be far wrong 10 presnuang that = million
and halt of soldiers must have been raised
from population not exceeding that OF this
Isiand-a proportion never attained, we believe,
in any European contest on record As regards
money, the facts are more difficult To ascertain.
but the debt incurred BY the Northern States was
approximately" stated as 81 .225, go, I9I on the
lst of last September Our correspondent how
ever. plains that these figures convey no ade-
quate representations of the liabilities actually in
CURED, ahi tells US that the estimate OF the pub
lie debt formed by competent judges places the
amount between twenty Eve hundred and three
thousand million dollars" In English money
this would be between f5OO, 06O 900 and 60 0D0,
OoO sterling, and the annual charge at the cur
rent rate of interest must be considerably above
that of our National debt. lft ~
1t is natural after such revelations these,
TO ask once more what is the object OF go tremen
dous and exhausting a contest. The answer is
gwen in single word, "Union, and we may
perhaps, consider that this reply does really ex-
press the predominant feeling Of the Northern
pcopie w uOuOt IDluOr fuOtiNcs are III
cluded, and many interests are at work more or
less perceptibly under cover of this universal cry
but in the main an instructive craving for the
American Union" is probably the ruling pas
sion. We think that passion natural, but we
cannot regard it as reasonably INDUCED. To
impartial observers ii appears that whatever
might have been the character of the Union. it
became political impossibility when one-third of
its citizens deliberately refused 20 continue it any
longer. That resolution might have been both
destructive and suicidal, but il could not, to any
good purpose, he overruled Even if the Union
lists could crush the seceders Which seems utterly
improbable the result, as we are assured by
General Butler himself, would not bring the
Union back again, nor can even the most COM
plete success the part of the North leave
America anything but dvidsi and distracted
country.
The Americans OF the old Union were bent
upon escaping the common political lot of man
kind They were not in reality quite such a
people rs they imagined themselves, but their
growth had been so prodigiously ia pid and prom
Used to he so continuous, that they may be almost
excused for setting no bounds to their own "des-
tinies." They conceived. therefore. the idea Of
a nation not only incomparaby greater. but in
cOmparably more fortunate than any other ma
ton known. From this ideal state they
banished all the drags and drawbacks patiently
endured by European States The world in
which they lived-lhat is. the New World-was
to be absolutely then own, in undivided and in
Invisible integrity Though they might number
hundred millions of men, these were all To
form one people under one President with one
common country The great American CONT
nent must have but one State, and to be exempt
ell from all the obligations of political rivalries.
all the exigences of political equilibrium. and
all wars, except wars cheerfully accepted for the
sake OF conquest or supremacy Thew we're to
be not are in this "rotton" Old World and
their happy exemption from the common burdens
of national life would relieve them from debt,
taxes, standing armies and all those innumerable
adjustments and sacrifices which the States of
Europe are ialn to make for the sake of peace
and quietness. That was the idea of Americans.
1t required whole world for its fulilment but
they were bent on satisfying the condition. They
talked uureservediy of the time when all the
other States of America would gravitate TO their
own mass and become absorbed in it like comets
in the sun, AMI in the meantime they elevated to
the dignity of an ndefeasible doctrine" "A dec
laration that no European power should venture
to acquire on the American continent "a particle
ofpower, privilege or authority beyond its actual
possession. = 50 = 80 -
This is the idea which the secession of the
South so rudely demolished We admit that it
was idea worth lighting for. if fighting could
save it, but that result impossible; and If
the statesman of the North could have looked
dispassionately into the future they must have
seen that civil war would inialliblv DESTROY those
very things which il was desis ned TO preserve
from destruction. The founders of the republic
fOresaw rs much, and MANY persons in America
discern as much now. 1t NAV be remarked. in
deed, that scarcely any public man, however
confidently he may regard the war, .pretends to
~ =. Il = -.
old shape. will ever be seen again. They expect
to see the South subdued and the American ma
ton left without a rival, but that nation will not
be the nation of former days. Whteyer may be
the rawlings of fanatics, it is impossible that any
reasonable citizen can either desire or anticipate
the actual determination Of nine millions Of
people The South even if il could be subdued
would always be represented by hostile and
vindctlve population, and the Worth would sim
plv become RUSSIA with Poland 4-
Such n as this has been, and is likely to be
must necessarily leave memories behind it as
Incompatible with national unity territorial
partitiOus nor is there any force in the argument
of the Cnionists that the suppression Of this re-
f.. beion will prevent any secession in future On
the contrary, this war has already brought out
and disclosed the strongest incompatibilities be
tween the various States OF the Union, aud set
each group medltating secession in its turn.
There was moment when the y Northwestern
States were actually expected 10 separate their
fortunes from the States of the Northeast and
the divergence of their interests has been clearly
recognized Yet, if the Northwestern Ms well as
the Southern States had declared for separation
where would have been the power 10 pu, force
upon their wily If two Contederaces instead
of one had been formed in the body of the old
Union. how could the remaining traction have
cvaded the issue. Does anything at this minute
prevent the accession OF certain States except
the pressure OF an enormous aSmy, and What
may We expect il this army, as seems not i'm
probable should fall TO pieces from exhaustion?
Ii was natural enough for Americans TO con-
meet the wars of the OId World with the divis-
ions of the Old World. and to strive for ndivi>i-
blity the means of preventing war But
when. to secure this, they wen, to war. thew for
feitei the rerv prize for which they were con
contendIng. We can have none of pour Euro
pean troubles. they said I'VE must have. on
this continent, peace, union and economy But
IN contendius tor thee privileges ;hey have had
as much war, as much bloodShel and A. much
extravaganza of outlay would have carried
them over a century in the European fashion.
Their debt in fact. is As great ~ ours already.
so that, on this point, they have nothing lett To
save Their levies OF men have exhausted the
spirit. II not the strength, of the population and
they are raising such monuments OF domestic
hate As generations will not suffice to remove
They hove Incurred. in short. all those vista
tons which they have been hghtiug TO escape.
and have only encountered the common lot in a
preciDitate and extraordinary manner