Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1863-02-17


tion CT slavery, and the retention Of their neck.
outside Of hater--becau'e our arms have looca-
sionally met with royersei, many Of our peope
are inclined to give way to the most chiIdlike
demonstrations.
In the first place, this war has not been con-
tinued long, or in other words it has been prose.
cuted with, 1t least, due expedition II there i
any trouble, perhaps there !, none more grcal
than that Il has been too much hurried Poblic
sentiment and public camor rave no doubt, not
onl, hal tendency to force the Generals IN com.
uand of the army, but the Administration, in ad
vance Of their judgment.
The two greatest disasters we have met were,
and history vii SO write them, the resoi. Of pub
licopinicn and public clsmor uTyu5 he 5.lgment
Of the officers in command Of the army-the first
Bull Run, and Fredercksburgb.
Now this war is only year and a half old, and
| never expected after il was fully demonstrated
that the rebe States meant secession, that a year
and hafwoul end it. Way disguise the fac
that We have really formidable warfare on oar
hands What reason exist, for supposng it viii
be shorter than the Revolutionary war? Why
should one half Of this nation conquer and snbdue
The other IN less time than did England the Duke
Of Monmouth with a few thousand Du,cbmen
And Old Pipinau, 10 C,nadn, troubled the Eng
Iish Government almost as long as these Southern
rebels ave Us though his rebellion wa not quite
so 'oex'en'iye in its proportions, aud perhaps not so
expensive.
Expensive ah yes, there is the great point
But what do you propose to do WIN be le,,
expensive to blc. down now than to go forward ?
My opinion is that we had better g forward un-
I'll every loose dollar in the Northern State.
has been scrAped into the public treasury, than
back down. A peace on these terms would o1l,
mean war war long continued war increasingly.
And then are We, twenty millions Of people with
all our boasted resources 10 succum5 to less than
half our nnmber with inferior mean, ? VIII the
men who nave thus fac periIel their health and
lives ever want 70 walk 10 Ii. light Of dly, after
returning to their homes whipped, defeated, re-
pulsed, with these odds in our hv,r? God SPARE
US from any such shame, Although vas of tn
party who claimed and n,,,ei that the f1rml,oa
Of sectional parties would lead to waf between The
North and South, wIr disastrous and long, and
although have been ridculed for entertaining
such fears 10 days that are past, yet now those
things are upon Us and notwithstanding m,
former prfJ Iiices against Slavery were not 50
strong Us to be wiing.to peril the lives Of our cit
zsns and the interests Of our country on account
Of 1t, yet now, that We iod il 10 direct rssst nc
to the authority of our Government, hope am
not so pu'iIlauimou', cow4rdiy, or self b, as
to be willing to lay down my arms, digrlcing
myself and dissraciog Northern couag,-anI
this more especially when the Sjuth pef,i,tenll5
itiorm u, thA, aothing sh'r, o an overthrow o.
our G1ysrmea vii. now satisfy them.
As to results, lhus far, and the present s''ua-
ton, the principal disasters that we have met
wh are chlrgeable 10 clu,c' so apparen, that we
ought to profit by them, Whenever We have ex.
perieoced any great reverse, differences Of opinion
have existed in advance 10 regard to the prcpriety
or policy Of the move and am quite sure that,
in each case, the army officers and men were i'm.
pressed with doubts and msgying for the result
in advance. But the public, with no knowledge OF
tie situation OF things said fight, and fight the ar
my did and defeat was the result Did not the
public force on the battle OF Bull run while the
army officers were insisting that il was prema,urta
Did not the putl!c impemtively demand Of Burn.
side actcn at Frfdericksburgh? And did not the
public say to Mcclellan on the Peninsula through
their Cniet Magistrate, You must acl?" Bull run
was failure, Fredercasbursh has the unenyitbe
sobrquet Of" The Slaughter Pen, and Nee el-
Ian, for exercising his own Jud lmeni and oyoiiup
such eaamilies, was superseded, and poor Nc
Dowell, for bis misfortune, is called a traitor
And that is no, all, our Oldest and best General.
are constantly leaving the service, or asking to be
relieved from duty because Of the fact that North
eru sentiment only accords tc them ;he position d
passive machines.
But amid al these interierences and clami,.e;
we have made progress, and the rebe.s are in a
more crippled and dispirited condition now, than
ever before. In fact, they are hemm in on al
nd tha Il t.,kt
tighter around them. The Northern army m ~
at some points have been forced back by massins
troops in large numbers against 1t, yet there h,'
been an immediate rtcoii that has pressed hard e.
and iirmtr on the rebel lines at once aud 10 da,
We hang like heavy milestone aholt their neoSs,
and they are unable TO shake US off Aud # OIL
people will only manain the unAnimily exp' Ct
nothing but human accomplishments, ex.reis,
that patience that becomes great and erlghl,n
ed people, and reudtr the aid the G,vtmmeu
have right u expect, our ultimate success is
certain. Then our situation is as we'll as shoLl
reasonably be expected
There is no doub, that the certainty Of a shorl
job has induced those whose business it was, lt
give less tention to reuenchment and ,conml
10 this war than would have been the case uode
other circumstances in other words, the pin
has been to put down the rrbei, n, cost wha, il
would, and less attention has been given 10 thi
matter of economy than should have been l.
consequence OF this our expenditures ore pro
porlionably large.
This is a matter that shoald be a, once seen 10
We should at once commence 10 put Ourselves OF
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