East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-02-03
where are We--nnd Where Drift
ing.

From the Albany Evening Journal, Jan, H.
| In 1850, when only distant mutter'
ings of rebellion were heard, we were
among the few who recognized, in those
threats, the certainty, of war, and who,
in a measure, comprehended both its
magnitude andits horrors. 1t is always
an offense, in an individual, to foresee
evils, and especially so TO attempt to
avert, or even be prepared for then.--
Fer an article then written, asking the
President, Congress, and our readers,
to raise their eyes and thoughts above.
the horizon of party, and. contemplate
crisis which would tax the energies Of
the people, and, test the strength Of our
government, we incurred the denuncia-
lions of many, and the friendly censure-
of most of the Republican journals, 4
Subsequently, when rebellion was
rampant in the extreme Southern
States, question whether North Car
DINA and Tennessee should remain in the
Union or 90 out of it, arose. We all
remember the +" border, State PROPOSE
ton" upon the adoption of which, by
Congress, rebellion, from the Missis-
sippi to the Atlantic, would have been
bounded by the southern line of Tones
see and North Carolina. With modiii,
cation which the border State repre-
sentatives offered to accept, we advoca-
ted that "compromise" And for this,
also, We were severely denounced. In
the {" Peace Congress-" where the Leg
islature honored us with scat which
we resigned in favor of q distinguished
citizen, the border State proposition"
was again rejected, and consequently
two States, majority of whose citizens
yearned to remain in the Union, were
lost. With North Carolina and Ten.
nessee in the Union, Virginia could not
have gone out of it. We should, there.
fore, instead of sacrificing hundreds, of
millions of treasure in North Carolina,
Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, have
reserved those troops and that treasure
to crush out rebellion in the cotton
States.
The rebellion--as wapton and wicked
as any that stains the pages OF history
thus embracing more States than was
necessary, has been nearly two years in
progress, with what measure Of success
and with what promise OF termination
we can Judge, one as well as another
| Its lessons teach us that it requires all
the strength or Unitod North to pre-.
serve the Union and uphold the goy-
ernment. We had at the commence'
ment of the war, a united North. The
elimination of treason, in its attack on
Fort Sumter, kindled blaze OF indlg-
nant patriotism over the whole North,
East, and West. All merely partisan
feeling was merged in higher and nobler
impulses. All good and true men, in
imitation of their ancestors at Concord
aud Lexington, in l776, rushed to arms,
or contributed money. Then we were,
IN the language Of Mr.. Jefferson, call
Republcans--all Federalists,' or, in
other language, "all Republicans-all
Democrats For the first year tho
war had, with a few exceptions, the
hearty support of both and all political
parties 1t was prosecuted earnestly,
| but with indifferent success--with more
heart than head-more zeal than knowl-
edge. We had gallant troops com.
manded by incapable Generals, made
SO, probably by newspaper and other
interference. AT any rate the i'll success
ofour armies caused popularimpatlenco,
OF which those whose ultra antslavery
views enabled the, secession leaders to
mass the sentiment of the cotton States,
awaited themselves to impart an abolition
character to the war. iIi un'-.aru io
. The evidence before us--in the rivers
Of bloodshed and the millions of treas
ure expendei--that the preservation of
our Union and government demand the
best aud united energies and efforts of
the whole people, is valueless. What
all united have so far failed to accom-
plish, thcIabolition chiefs and Journals
insist upon undertaking as a party
They demand that the war shall be
prosecuted under their auspices and for
their purposes. Mems opinions on the
slavery question must be heightened or
shortened in accordance with Precrus.
team example,. ,A uoie4tl od! .a ..
These impracticable one.idea lecturers
| anu lOuINtiiSIS, dIioo ny euS uhloi SupoeO
I"On to Richmond" military disasters,
have already withdrawn New York,
New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,
from the political support of the admin.
istration Too many of the democratic
leaders in these States--especially in
| Ohio and Indiana--are of the Valan-
digham school. Thisfalse, disloyal man,
with shame be it confessed, found sym.
pathizing friends to welcome and feast
him at a secession hotel in the city OF
New York; Still tho masses of the
Democracy, and most of their prominent
men are truly devoted to the Union, and
remain willing to contribute IT, cir money
and peril their lives to sustain the gov.
.ernment. But in this there is no merit,
unless they adopt the anti'slavery plat.
form and accept the dogmas of the New
York Tri6une. .hB sa ie lw.ta, ~
| aWill those of our old whig friends
now so impatient with, and differing SC
widely from us, turn their minds few
years backwards and remember what
they then Thought of abolition; and wha,
its aattroa 4. al a.t,<x,, xroao INaS ~ m N,