Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1864-06-17
3 ErHE .a.cRnEI. MN.

pecially civil war, war between those who have
been living together under the. same govern
ment The var now raging "a this country is
not behind any prssious wars the world has
known in dreadfulness. No opponent of the
war or the Administration of the Government
can possibly appreciate the cruelty of the war
more sensibly than others do. But does it fol-
low that we should abandon the prosecution of
the war for the Union, and acqlfeBee in secess-
ion because war is a dreadful thing? 1t is
terrible thing to shoot down fellow man. But
last year citizen of Toledo did shoot down
man who was stealthily entering his house in the
night. Ought he to have allowed a manifest
assassin to enter his dwelling without opposi-
ton? Who condemns man for taking life in
such circumstances So then the taking of life
is not the worst thing in the world. Neither is
war the greatest calamity possible. Crime is
worse than suffering. The success of astupen-
duous iniquity is greater evil to any people
than the suffering necessary to defeat that mi
guilty. The execution of a murderer on the
gallows is dreadful thing, revolving to think
of. But it is not SO bad as lawlessness is. 1t
is better todo il, than to leave the murdererat
large, and make everybody g life Unsafe "a
penitentary considered by ITSELF is cruel thing.
Think of it. Hundreds of men confined there,
taken from society, shut up at night in solitary
cells, kept under constant surveillance. An
evil thing most certainly Bptit is not 50 great
an evil as it would be to refrain from Furnishing
criminals. Society must protect ITSELF and in
| doing so, must often be severe against those who
violate the healthful laws Ofsocial organization.
It is often in the power of evil disposed par
ties to endanger the persons or the lives Of. the
law-abfding and peaceable. Am officer Of JUS
tice often encounters danger in attempting the
arrest of criminal. Must he neglect to make
| the arrest because it would be dreadful for him
| to kill him if he should resist2 Must bad
| man be left at large simply because he istlan-
gerous2 Must success be granted to a stnpen-
dous wrong merely because it is powerful, and
able to make dreadful resistance to the right?
And have we nothing to think of but the suf-
fering caused by that resistance? Dreadful as
the war is, it is noeso dreadfulfa the eoase-
quences would have been, had the country &C.
| ouiesced in secession, and let the South go off
without rebuke. Contemplate the spectacle if
| YOU dare. Think of the Southern half of our
land occupied by a Republic based upon the ac-
cursed system of Slavery ,--proud, insoleht,
dictatorial, domineering,S S-t'ld eUsn scornfsdly
reproaching for our pasiuaninaity in alo,oing
them to 90 of,-a people devoted to Slavery,
and determined to extend il, "a people ruled by
an oligarchy, and despising the fundamental
| principles of all true democracy. There can be
no doubt whatever that the war is the price OF
liberty to the North Men havertalked about
compromise and reconstruction, and. all to con-
| ciliate the rebels and keep them with US That
would have been to bow cur necks to Southern
| slavery The war is not so dreadful as the sue
cess Of the rebellion would have been. And
| even If the rebellion should now succeed the
North would get an adequate compensation for
| all she has suffered in the war. We should
stand before the world as heroes, and our prow-
es would command respect. We should re-
| spect ourselves. We should save our own lib
critics at least But the rebellion will not sue
ceed. We shall conquer it. And if so, then
no human mind can compute the value of the
| results we shall work out. We shall have blot
ted out Slavery. We shall have delivered our
| Country from the political domination of that
accursed gang of aristocrats in the South who
have ruled us so much, who despise labor and
spit upon the working man. We shall have de-
stroyed the great market that has kept the At
rican slave-trade alive. We shall have demon
strated to the nations of the earth that our prn-
4 ciples of government have in them life and
power, and can maintain themselves We shall
have shown Europe that a>people can govern
themselves without the incumbrance of satitled
mobility to lord it over them. We shall have
shown that our system has vitality and yigor
to throw off even most powerful disease which
was preying upon its life. ~ a x
| And all these results will be worth all that we
| have suffered, all that we shall suffer. Our
| treasure could not be put to better use than
the accomplishments of these ends. The lives
sacrificed in the war could hardly, accomplish
results more sacred and lnomentous in any
other way. Indeed, any single private soldier
who has breathed out his life ON the battlefield
for the salvation of his country, has done more
for human liberty and progress than ten thou
sand bowling miscreants who do nothing but
stay-at home and bemoan the dreadfulness of
| the war. 1t may be the best use man can put
his life to- to devote it to his country. can
| conceive of no worse use man can make of his
life than to spend it in efforts to embarrass the
government, and hinder the efficiency of the
armies in the field. The longer a life 50 spent
is continued the worse it is, the more wretched-
ly thrown away. The greater the number Of
such lives there are the worse is the country off
If, as people, we deserve to be at all, and our
nationality is thing to which we have any
right; if our peculiar principles are fit to be
held, and capable of breathing life into po-
litical system at ALL then they are tcorth sacri-
fees, and we must make the sacrifices necessa-
ry with heroic spirit. The nation will be the
better for the spirit, of sacrifice Away, then,
with this cry of thess'cruel war; - uttered in the
spirit of concession to the rebellion! 1t is
dreadful indeed. But not SO dreadful as ma
tional cowardice and suicide B.
HIS OWN FAULT.
Last weeks Journal told us of an accident
| Il. H. IL.