Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1864-06-09
from the Phila. sunday Mercury
After the War--What Then

There has been the widest enthusiasm
among the people, or certain portion OF
them, over the recent news from the army
of the Potomac. Admitting that the news
is all true, what is there in it to rejoice at i?
This is the question which few ask them
selves, and which the mob could not answer
if they were asked to give reason for their
mad hurrahs. One unthinking fellow in
crowd raises a shout, and the whole con-
gregation echo him, without really know
ing what rational cause they have for ex-
ultation.
Let Us probe the matter little. Suppose
the Confederate armies are defeated deci-
sively everywhere; that the rebels lay down
their arms Internationally and that peace,
so fur as active hostilities are concerned, is |
once more restored. What then? VIII we
be where we We're before the strife began ?
VIII the old Union and the old Constitution
be re-established ? These are problems
whose solution must follow Immediately on
the close Of the conflict in the field, and
which promise to be a source of more seri-
Gus social and political disqriet, to use
mild term, than even the war itself
If Grant ovcrcomes Lee, what will the
nation have gained? \ cessation OF blood
she'd perhaps, but what beyond? The army
we have cannot be disbanded for great
while, if ever, if the people in the rebellious
States are to be treated as a conquered peo
! pie, inadmissable to equal political right:
with us, and therefore to he held perpetu
ally in subjugation. And if the army mus
be maintained for such a purpose, the enor-
nous cost of it must 60 on from year to year.
Besides, of what value, practically, would a
reunion with the people Of the South be to
the people of the North, if that union is to
be merely an enforced connection Of COM
munites between whom the very nature Of
their association must breed mutual hatred
and repulsion. Surely all the immense ex-
pense of the war in blood and treasure would
be poorly repaid by an alliance that must
cost millions Of dollars annually to sustain
it, while it could be productive of no posi-
bic social happiness and prosperity, and no
national strength. We throw out these
suggestions cnly in view of the probable et-
fort of the radical element of the Admins
tration party to regard the seeded States
as totally annihilated by the war, and to
deal with the territory and its inhabitants
according to the barbarian law of conquest.
On such conditions there could be no peace,
no union, no relations of any kind with the
Southern people that would be worth hay
ing or preserving, much less struggling for
as our armies have striven in the last three
years
But leaving out Of view for the present
! all speculations as to what terms the Gov
ernment may make with the Southern peo-
pie, should they be etfectually subiugated
let US inquire what we of the ,loyal, State;
will have to boast Of if the political view:
and principles of the radical anti-slavery
party of this section shall control the Gov
ernmnt and alter it fundamentally to suit
themselves? This is much more impor.
tant question than that which merely effects
the future status of the rebel States. When
the war ends, shall we be ressored to the
! civil liberties we enjoyed before the present
Administration took them away on the pre-
tence of military necessity? Shall we get
back again, in their original strength and
completeness, the privilege of the writ oi
hdbeaS corpus, the right of trial by jury,
the right of every citizen to be secure IL
his house and person and property agalns
illegal searches and seizures, the right o
being exempt from imprisonment, eXcep
after due conviction of crime by n compe
tent tribunal and all the other great an,
vital prerogatives of the citizen of a tre
Commonwealth The war may put an en-,
to the Rebellion But when the war close
will the people of the loyal States be re
leved from a military despotism That
the question which we are concerned about
much more even than we are concerned
about the doubtful fortunes of the presen
struggle between the forces of Grant ant
Lee.
1t will be very well to maintain the flag,
if we shall thereby secure all that the fla!
once represented 1t will be well to crusl
the Southern conspiracy againt the Gov
ernment, if after the crushing, the Govern
ment, as instituted by our Revolutionar,
fathers, remains to US intact. But if j
should turn out, through the blind enthu
siasm of the people, that we have only pu
down one rebellion against the Constitu
tional liberties of the people, to enthrone il
perpetual rule over us another set OF trait
ors to the Constitution, who have takel
away all our legal rights and liberties, in or
der to secure them to. the negro, We ma!
well ask what we shall have gained by tn,
war when it is ended, and what reason w
have TO shout the hosannas to Mr.. Lincoln
Before We throw up our hats tor mlli
tary victory, and make our throats sore witt
insane Rawlings for it, let us see what thu
victory, so called, really means, What i
it in fact Whether it is not victory, atte
all, over ourselves, over our own clylrlght
and freedom and sovereignty, instead OF |
, triumph Of superior numbers on our sid,
over a people really struggling for all tina
we value, and for which we suppose we hay'
been and are yet expending our. lives AM
. - .>...ua Tba so1ut;np of this ouastio,