Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-12-07
American Union am san biiity.
FRAN the I0ndon TImss Nov fl1

American union an uUentbittys
[Frsm the London Times, Nov.h
The cost OF the American civil war TO one OF
the beligerents has now been stated with some
approach 70 precision. II not accuracy. The
Northern States, We are told on "otclal" author.
Ity, have actually sent into the field .276. GAG
men. But this only brings the account or TO
January last, since which time the Federal Gov.
err ment has made tho most desperate efforts TO
increase its forces. Upon the whole. We ran
hardly be far wrong In presumlng that million
and a half Of soldiers must have been raised
| from a population not exceeding that Of this
Isand--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
"appru xima,ely' stated as 81 DDS. S32 79l on the
| LIST Of last September. Our correspondent. how
ever, explains that these figures convey no ade-
quate representation Of the liabilities actually In
cured AMI tells us that the estimate Of the pub
| lie debt formed by competent judges places the
amount "betwecn twenty five hundred and three
thousand million dollars" Ia English money
this would be between f500. 600 900 and 600 00O,-
900 sterling, and the annual charge at the cur.
rent rate of interest must be considerably above
that of our National debt.
1T is natural after such revelations as these,
to ask once more what Is the object OF 50 tremen-
dous and exhausting a contest. The answer Is
perhaps. consider that this reply does really ex-
press the predominant feeling of the Northern
people. No doubt many minor motives are in
cuded, and many interests are at work more or
less perceptby under cover OF this universal cry.
but in the main instructive craving for the
"American Union" Is probably the ruling pas
sion. We think that passion natural, but we
| cannot regard il reasonably indulged. To
impartial observers II appears that whatever
might have been the character of the Union. il
became political impossbility when one third Of
its citizens deliberately refused to 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, assured by
General Butler himself, would not bring the
Union back again, nor can even the most com.
plete success on the part of the North leave
America anything but divided 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 as they imagined themselves, hut their
growth bad been so prodigiousy rapid and prom
ised 10 be so continuous, that they may be almost
excused for setting no bounds to their own "des-
TIMES" They conceived. therefore, the idea Of
a nation not only incomparably greater. but in
comparably more fortunate than any other ma
ton ever known From this ideal state they
banished all the drags and drawbacks patiently
endured by European States. The world in
which they lived-that is the New Word-was
to be absolutely their own, in undivided and in
divisbe integrity. Though they might number
a 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
ed from all the obligations of political rvalries,
all the exigences of political equilibrium, and
all wars, except wars cheerfully accepted for the
sake of conquest or supremacy. They were to
be not as we 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 fain to make for the sake of peace
aud quietness. That was the idea of Americans.
1t required whole world for its fulfllment, but
they were bent on satisfying the condition. They
talked unreservedly Of the time when all the
other States of America would gravitate TO their
oun mass and become absorbed In il like comets
in the sun, ami 10 the meantime they elevated 10
the dignity of an indefeasible doctrine" dec
laration that no European power should venture
to acquire on the Amercan continent particle
of power, privilege authority beyond its actual
possession.
This is the idea which the secession Of the
South so rudely demolished. We admit that il
was an idea worth fighting for, If fighting could
save il, but that result was impossible; and il
the statesman of the North could have looked
dispassionately into the future they must have
seen that civil war would infalliblv destroy those
very things which it gned to preserve
from destruction. The founders of the republic
foresaw much, and many persons in Americs
discern as much now. 1t may be remarked. in
deed, that scarcely any public man, however
confidently he may regard the war, pretends to
speak of the Union as a thing which. in is
old shape, will ever be seen again. They expect
to see the South subdued and the American ma
ton left without n rival. but that nation will no,
be the nation of former days. Whatever may be
the rawlings Of fanatics, il is impossible that any
reasonable citizen can either desire anticipate
the actual determination" of nine millions Of
people, The South even If it could be subdued
would always be represented by hostile and
vindictive population, and the North would sim
ply become Russia with Poland
Such war as this has been, and is likely to be
must necessarily leave memories behind il as
incompatible with national unity as territorial
partitions; nor is there any force in the argument
of the UnonisIs that the suppression of this re
bellion 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, and SCI
each group medItating secession in its turn
There a moment when the Northwestern
States were actually expected to separate the
fortunes from the States of the Northeast AND
the divergence of their interests aas been clearly
recognized. Yet if the Northwestern as well II,
the Southern States had declared for separation
where would have been the power to put force
upon their will? If two COnfederacies instead
of one had been formed in the body OF the OLE
Union, how could the remaining traction hav,
cvaded the ssuel Does anything at this minute
prevent the secession of certain States, excep
the pressure of an enormous army, and wha
may we expect If this army, rs seems not i'm
probable, should fall TO pieces from exhaustion
1t was natural enough for Americans to con-
meet the wars Of the Old World with the divis-
ions of the Old World, and to strive for indivisi
bility as the means of preventing war. Blu
when, 10 sec1re this, they went TO war. they for
feited the very prize for which they were con
contendlng. 1--WE can have none of pour Euro
pean troubles" they said; I'VE must have. OF
this continent, peace, union and economy" Blu
In contending for these privileges they have ha'
as much war, as much bloodshed aud as mucl
extravaganza of outlay as would have carries
them over century in the European fashion
Their debt, in fact, is as great ours already
SO that, on this point, they have nothing lett 4
save. Their levies OF men have exhausted tn
spirit. if not the strength, of the population. ant
they are raising such monuments of domesti
bate as generations will not suffice to remove
They hove incurred. in short. all those vista
lions which they have been fighting TO escape
and have only encountered the common lot in
precipitate and extraordinary manner.
Their ideal Union was grand conception, bu
it was based on the assumption that human natur
would not be human nature on the American
Continent, and that millions of men distributes
under a variety OF conditions and variety 0