Weekly national intelligencer., 1864-02-25

il takes hold OF much OF the Soutnorn mbo Win o sIasp
and quality Of great egosm creating an emotion OF sell
Qlorifcaon in those who foster it and breeding ideas oil
sectional and personal superiority which make them jea
GUS Of the National Government, and in certain sense u
friendly to all who look upon it as paramount power
They habtusy degrade the Union in the esteem
of their circle reduce their politics to the standard OF
narrow proyncalsm and dsquafy themselves for that
comprehensive statesmanship which embraces catholic
love of country.
We have been accustomed in past tmelong before this
sad commoon had rued the surface OF our peaceful lie
Ito smile at of the phases OF character which TINS
sentiment had impressed upon class OF country gentle
men very frequently encountered in the older States OF the
South Many man of this worshpful order, jocund and
compacent in the possession of the pariarchal dignity
and influence of hereditary bOndsmen and acres has been
pleasantly noted in those innocent days. for constltu
ona dogmatsm the question Of the supreme sovereignty
of the State and for the radiant satisfaction with which
he was wont to demonstrate the shaowness Of that pest
lent alacy which, he affirmed often misled the logic Of
Congress and mudded the brains of Webster and Clay
and even he was sorry to say of Marshall and Madison
the faacy namely of supposng that the United States
could lawfully aspire to the grandeur Of nation Cenira
lization the phantom which appeared especially to
haunt the minds of these worthy gentlemen We are
plungng into the gulf was their common
warning IT, in making this dogma clear, they were some
what ncomprehensbe tedious they were always
earnest and, in their own judgment, nfaible.
But whilst this State pride did greater harm, in our
earlier and happier era than the producing this crop of
impractcable diaectcans whose obstructive philosophy
was constantly overeaped by the general good Of the
nan and whom the country could afford to endure, and
to atter for the honesty of their opin
ions has, this later and sadder day. converted its once
nnocuous votares into sedous pottes against the COM
- c. Her. and
impacabe rebels 1t has become apparent that this
excessive pride of State has been silently for half GEN.
ury more sowing the seeds Of that dreadful strife Of
which tho present generation reaping the harvest.
All of this class of thinkers whom have sought to char
acerse by their devotion to distorted ideal
of the ascendant position of the State 10 political
tem and by their sentiment of State pride and its
coroares Of State rights, these magued by the
lens of Southern opinion ae by natural consequence and
fair deduction from their anecedens out and out seces
sonsts honestly consistent in their faith and who do not
pretend desire other justification for their partcpa
on in the present disturbance than that which they find
In their own philosophy.
There another class the counterpart to these equally
sincere in their conviction wholly opposed to this theory
of secession wholly unsrcken by this nordnate estimate
of the State who afflicted with hallucin atom
mischievous. They men who have wrought
themselves to the belief that the National Government has
already grown to be monster of such hord proportions
and propenstes TO be longer endurable by free
people that it has been perverted-to their own Ian
guage-ino ga consolidated despotsm, under the pres
of whose malignant power all liberty, civil and relg
ous doomed to be crushed OUT that the representative
system longer affords space for the expression of the
popular will defence against executive ambition; that
State longer barriers against National
and that the President aud his party
not only the absolute lords Of the ascendant but that their
power destined to be perpetual and universal Such
the spectres that have arghted the imae of
these men and moved them to the melancholy conviction
that nothing short Of bloody revolution them
and their generations from the grap Of this nexorable
tyranny Nothing, therefore, in their view, is
righteous manly and patriotic than stern appeal to the
sword redress for their wrongs In this excited tenn
per they rush the sse of revolution with the sincere
hope Of being able to regain their lost liberties 10
conederacy and sustained by the tolerant and
freedomovng nature of Southern opinion, and founded
the sacred cornerstone Of unlimited African slavery
Both Of these opposite groups of thinkers pro-
foundy in earnest in this conflict resolved to do die
and what s certainly calculated TO excite the wonder Of
unconcerned spectator quite in harmony with each
other, acting together for end apparently
conscious Of their divergence of creed, and the trouble
they might expect to fnd in the event Of success to ad
minister their mutual satisfaction the form OF govern.
ment they have unanimously adopted.
Now it s to be remarked that, whilst the master spirits
Of this furious have the value and taken advan
age Of these alternate agencies which been busy in
stirring up the people to revolt against the government
and whilst they have lost opportunity to encourage this
variety of motive and have piled every arfce Of seduc
ton force to lure, drive, drag mpetuous manhood
and credaous age less than plant youth into fatal al
lance with the crime Of treason By every argument adapt
cd to the preiudces scrupes, different temperaments
they bad to deal with they have themselves been cautious
10 every public ofcia proclamation OF their enterprise
to avoid any acknowledgment Of design Of revolution.
Whatever the intrinsic motive Of their assault has been
however violent and revolutionary their proceeding the
official attitude they have assumed is that Of States assert
ing their right to peaceful and constitutional retirement
from the National Union They proclaim right Of seces
sion as the sole basis Of their ACTION whilst ii is too
happily evident that both their design and practice re-
yolution in its boldes and rudest form Of exhibition
Their pTocsnation is intended for the world and more
especially for that European world whose sympathy they
have evoked whose aid they have expected snd whose
moral support il was deemed all important TO conciatc
They too sstute NOT TO perceive that whilst their
scheme was simply design 10 destroy the Union by a
daring and mpous act Of violence and upon ts ruins to
construct separate empire Of their owu adapted TO the
poty suggested by their personal ambition AMI the greed
Of fanced boundess wealth they would hold vantage
ground the great quarrel By keeping out # view
consideration which might infer per acknowledgement o