, 1864-04-17
Gbira4Q Urtbt{ne.
- SUNDAY. APRIL Il, 1861!



CONHISTENU UX-N0w AND THEN.
There is set Of men who ATTEMPT to yIn
dicate such utterances as tno,c Of Long, Har
ris and Wood, in the House, by tie ding tha
betore the T1r broke out there were :ra1iou,
propositions Of settlement of the diflcultie.
between the North and the South, which
looked to the division Of the nation and tha'
Mr., Greeley, and Mr.. This and Nj. that. ad
roeated such propositions. It Is thercfors
said -"By what right do you call those trait
orr, who now advocate precisely the SAINT
measures you yourself favored only thrct
years and half ago, and seek to e1pel from
Congress those who utter thems''
This question Is specious, aud has quite O
taktng look, but 1t does not bear close ex,
animation, It has In truth only the sem
bl&ncc Of Sense in It,. :.
Its trne, that before the war began it was
the wish OF Northern mea to avoid it; and
that they sought oil lawful means to do SO ):
eren to the consent, in some cases, to divide
peacefully The nation. The views and feel
; ings which moved such men were various.
Some abhorTcd the idsa of war, and cspe-
cially of civil war, iraught as It must be with
hatred between brethren, with vast expense.
wounds, sickness and suffering and slaughter.
Some thought the country to be large enough
to divide, and that such a division would be
safe on this account. Some had BECOME SO
utterly hopeless as to the virtue Of the na-
uon, from the rottenness OF two admins
trat1ons before the present, as evidenced In the
prevalent public stealing, contempt Of Justice,
eubserviency to such an Inhuman wrong Is
slavery, and the like, that they had little
icith that the nation could be rallied against
TIE lordlings Of the South; and their couvlc-
tion was, ihat the only Way to escape COM
1licitly with the wrongs which were drifting
the nation to destruction, Was to be rid Of tho
slave portion on the easiest terms possible.
Others thouEht they saW In the Indications Of
tho providence Of God divine intcntion to
make two nations here Instead Of one; and
interpreted great number Of facts in our
history as looking to THAT end.
Various views Of this kind set men to cast
ing about for some mode OF settlement; aud
these cndeayors continued up to the very
bombardmcnt of Fort SUMTER.
Various propositions were made for set
tlement according to the forms. of tie Consti-
tuition By the calling of convention, which
should agree upon terms satisfactory to: the
South. And had such convention met and
p&VSCIN@A ELL tHlCEl1CAk u FI1CEAu bcpAkA-
ton, whether 1t had carried in the North or
not, it wou1d hare been voted for by many
who believe now in fighting as long as there
Is belligercnt rebel above ground.
Good and patriotic men felt like agreeing
to almost anything rather than enter UPON 4
bloody and gigantic interuccine struggle the
result of-Whlch no man could then forsee,
and they were casting about for some escape
from the deadly hug, up to the very lombard
ment Of Eumter. Apeacefnl and respectable
citizen Will often shrink from Esticu1
with q quaueisome, iu*natnred neigh
{ bor, and submit to almost any annoy
anee or pecuniary loss rnther than fight
him. But let the agg1essor 60 to
. the extreme Of striking the citizen blow
with his fist, and you may be sure that it will
be promptly repaid, and generally. in such
cases, the svagce1ing bully gets .soundly
. thr1shed, and is better man for It the resi-.
due of his lifetime. The slaveholding bullies
struck the loyal Union people q blow full
. in the face, when they fired on the National
flag and hombardod 3 United States fort into
surrender. ::
But it must be kept in mind, thnt all those
citizens who had expressed themselves will.
ing to see the Union divided rather than
cutes upon = terrible war for It's naiuteu ,nee.
never dream ed Of making separation In auv
other way, than according to the forms pro-
= Eided by the Constitution Itself, aud that Is,
by calling national convention of delegates
elected by the whole people of the N1rth
and South, who should assemble at the Capi-
tai, and consider the naturs OF the
grievances 70 ne reafessed, and to
In1 1a.'et IL o'spute coulo
uo' NC s'a!eaoH ao'us.eo. but IN Inc
e'eut 1nA1 !. "as ioanu Impossible TO mar
1non2e' nno LEG ooutnefn states still In
sas'eo on "a1na1a"lne, tnen leave should be
Peaee1uny efan'eo, and The Union be divided
oy "usua' consent, on such line OF separn-
tion Us m'snt DC agreed upon; the action of
: 1he convention 10 De submitted to the whole
peop'e 'oF .anneanon- ints was the Con-
eeu. s..un. pian Al .es n1nos o.. eteeles and
1..a ~ e-4aua nun ~ . ee'eleinent oJ toe
R,,t t,e tr,4h 1r"a 49, rs,,a,. a,a ,,+ ,,t
.nr sett1crnent and ware dete-,n,n.a 49, ~ ,,a-s
nore Trhev wara her+ IN 1ro, s,a r. .,,a,,
would have. They wanted It far vor,ona
reasons: one. TINT without It tbe Southern
people as a whole could mot be carried into
d;sunion, The plan of Yancey j. Co. was to
p.ecipftate revolution, shed blood. md thus
rally the South to It's standard. Their reas-
oufnr vas right. No amount of caucus}ne,
couyeutioninr, speech making, or printing
could hnye couxcd or driven more than al.1ze
minority into division of the Union. Bat
the American people rally to war, when once
tneucuiated, like the whIrl of the wind.
Then the, rebels wanted to fight, The
lordliucs of the plantation had been