The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-11-28

Union: We must give back, too, the help
less coiored population, thousands of whom
are periling their lives in the ranks of our
armies, to bondage rendered tenfold
m more s, bitter, BY the momentary enjoyment
vi freedom. Finally, we must surrender
or black, who has moved finger or spo-
4 Ken word for the restoration of the Union.
W reign OF terror as remorseless as that
OF hoDespierre, which has been the chief
instrument by which the rebellion has
peen organized and sustained, and has al
ready hlied the prisons of the South with
noD!e men, whose only crime is that they
are not traitors. The South is full of such
men. do not believe there has been a day
slnce the election of President Lincoln.
Mnen, II an ordinance of Secession could
10 Deen fairly submitted to the mass of
.ne people, IN any single Southern State. a
;naJorsty OF ballots would have been given
~ :; i.s iavor. No, not in South Carolina
~ Is not possible that the majority of the
people, even of that State. If permitted
Wlthout fear or favor, to give a ballot on
the question, would have abandoned .
leader like Petigru, and all the memories
OF the Gadsdens, the Rutledges and tho
Cotesworth Pinckneys of the revolutionary
ana constltutlonal age, to follow the agi
-
Nor must we be deferred from tho v;oor-
Gus prosecution of the war, by the sugees-
ZION, continually thrown out by the rebels
ana those who sympathize with them. that
however it might have been at an earlier
stage, there has been engendered by the
operations of the war, a state of exaspera-
ton and bitterness, which, independent of
an reference to the original nature of the
matters In controversy, will forever pre-
vent the restoration of the Union, and the
return OF harmony between the two great
sectlons OF the country. This opinion I
take to be entirely without foundation.
NO man can deplore more than do the
mlserles of every kind, unavoidably incl
dent to the war. Who could stand on this
spot ana call to mind the scenes of the 1-3
OF July with any other feeling? A sad
foreboding Of what would ensue, if war
should break out between North and South,
mas haunted me through life, and led me
perhaps too long to tread the path of hope
less compromise, in the fond endeavor to
conclllate those who were Predetermined
not to be conciliated. But it is not true, as
Is pretended by the rebels and their SYM
pathlzers, that the war has been carried
on by the United States without entire re-
gard to those temperaments which are en-
joined by the law of nations, by our mod
ern civilization, and by the spirit of Chris
tianity. It would be quite easy to point
out, in the recent military history Of the
leading European powers. acts of violence
and cruelty, in the prosecution of their
among us. In fact, when we consider the
peculiar bitterness with which civil wars
are almost invariably waged, we may just
~ boast of the manner in which the Unit
ed States have carried on the contest, It
is, of course, impossible to prevent the law
less acts OF stragglers and deserters, or the
occasional unwarrantable proceedings, of
subordlnates on distant stations but do
not believe there is, in all history, the re-
cord OF a civil war Of such gigantic dimen-
sions, where so little has been done in the
spirit OF vlndictiyeness, as in this war, by
the Government and commanders of the
United States; and this Notwithstanding
the provocation given by the rebel Govern
ment by assuming the responsibility of
wretches like Quantrell, refusing quarters
10 colored troops, and scourging and SELL
ing into Slavery free colored men from the
North who tall into their hands, covering
the sea with pirates, and starving prison-
ers Of war. s..
In the next place, if there are any pres
ent who believe that, in addition to the eff
feet OF the military operations of the war,
the cOnflscatlOn acts, and emancipation
proclamations have embittered the rebels
beyond the possibility of reconciliation, I
would request them to reflect, that the tone
Of the rebel leaders and rebel press was
just as bitter in the first months Of the war.
nay, before a gun was fired, as it is now.
There were speeches made in Congress in
the very last session before the rebellion,
so ferocious, as to show that their authors
were under the influence of real frenzy
At the present day, if there is any discrim-
ination made by the Confederate press in
the affected scorn, hatred, and contumely
ylyh Chn Nf1 Nsy,s1
sentiment in the loyal States is treated,
the bitterest contempt is bestowed upon
those at the North who still speak the
language of compromise, and who con-
denim those measures of the Administra-
ton which are alleged to have rendered
the return of peace hopeless. ..*
No, my friends, that generous Providence
which Overrules all things for the best,
from seeming evil still educing good, has
so constituted our natures, that the violent
excitement OF the passions in one direction
is generally followed by reaction in an
opposite direction, and the sooner for the
violence. If it were not so, if anger pro-
duced abiding anger, if hatred caused un-
dying hatred, if injuries inflicted and retail
lated, of necessity led to new retaliations,
with forever accommodating compound in
terest of revenge, then the world, thou
sands of years ago, would have been turn
ed into an earthly hell, and the nations of
the earth would have been resolved into
clans of furies and demons, each forever
warning on his neighbor. But it is not so
all history teaches different lesson. The
wers of the Roses, in England, lasted an
entire generation, from the battle of st. AL
bans in 1445, to that of Bosworth Field in
1885. Speaking of the former, Hume says:
"This was the first blood split in that fatal
quarrel, which was not finished in less
than a course of thirty years; which was
signalized by twelve pitched battles, which
opened scene of extraordinary ferceness
and cruelty, is computed to have cost the
lives of eighty princes of the blood; and
almost entirely annihilated the ancient no.
bility of England. The strong attachments
which, at that time, men of the same kind
red bore to each other, and the vindictive
spirit which was considered point of hon
or, rendered the great families implacable
in their resentments, and widened every
the breach between the parties"
Such was the state of things in England,
under which an entire generation grew up;
but when Henry VII, in whom the titles
of the two houses were united, went up to
London after the battle of Bosworth Field,
to mount the throne, he was everywhere
received with joyous acclamations, ''as one
and sent from Heaven to put an |