The weekly pioneer and Democrat., 1864-09-23
Ibe Lessons Of the War.

The Chicago Post, after showing the
Importance OF the great victory at Allan
ia, and the other great successes in the
field heretofore gained by our gallant ar
mics, makes the following sensible COM
ments:
Under other policies than those that
now embitter and intensity the strife, the
tremendous blow which the Rebellion has
received at Atlanta would be fatal, a
finishing one. 1t is blow from which
it is impossible that the military power of
the Rebellion can ever rally, for, whether
Hoods army has escaped or not, the cen
tral commanding position they can never
again hold. No one can know, no one can
feel, the importance of this fact more
deeply than those whom it so deeply af-
fects. All precedent, all history, and all
reason must dictate and do dictate to them
the wisdom of giving up the struggle while
yet there is something that can be saved
from the demolition Of war "Would it
be strange" exclaims an administration
journal, :" if they were to turn in utter
disappointment from the hollow fabric of
the Confederacy, and endeavor to escape
the destruction which must follow in the
wake Of an irresistible invading army. bv
making the best possible terms of peace?"
Ought it not, rather, to be strange that
they do not thus turn ? Oaght not our
wonder to be that, defeated as they are,
without the power or the basis OF hope
to retrieve their lost fortunes they should
not seek an opportunity to end the hope
less struggle by other means than war?
But they will not DO SO. They will not
give up the contest. They will fight on
and struggle Oh, without hope and against
despair. We shall soon hear their iour
mails proclaiming that the loss Of Atlanta
was no great matter. We shall soon hear
them pouring forth new Boosting to keep
alive the sinking spirits of the South. We
shall soon hear that Hood army las taken
up new position, from which, it will be
swellingly asserted, it can never be driven
by all the Northern g ''minioHs " that ever
marched to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
We shall soon hear that another campaign
must begin, and that still another &c finish
ing blow ~ must he struck against the enc
my in Georgia. Instead Of acknowledge
ment OF failure and the willingness to com
promise which failure should bring, we
shall be defiantly told that "the very idea
of renewed association with their devil
inspired enemies is more revolving to Con-
federates than marriage with the DEVIL"
And for all this, for all our disappointment
that the rebels are not defeated when they
are whipped-that the war is not over
when the enemy is overthrown--we shall
have to thank Abraham Lincoln, under
whose fatal "war policies" the fruits
that belong to victory have been snatched
from us.
The victories we have won hare not
been disproportioned to the magnitude of
our efforts. We have driven back the
enemy from the Ohio to the gulf and from
the Mississippi to the borders of Mexico.
We have swept his gunboats from the
rivers and his ships from the face of the
deep. We have reduced stronghold after
stronghold and captured fort after fort, till
only two or three yet remain in bis possess
sion. We have driven out his power from
State after State and successfully restored
the old flag over territory larger than
France, England and Spain. We have
reduced his boasted confederacy to the
narrow parallelogram on the eastern slope
of the Alleganies. We have destroyed
his armies, annihilated his exchecquer,
taken away his resources and defeated his
military power. Yet the rebellion still
lives. Our victories, which have carried
the national arms and restored the ma
tional flag over more than four-fifths OF the
territory in revolt, have been as the Dead
Seas fruits, fair to the sight, but to the
touch, ashes. We cannot utilize them.
We have defeated, but not conquered; we
have overthrown, but not subdued. Our
enemy, who by all the rules of precedent
and of reason should have surrendered. ia
as hostile and as defiant as ever.
What shall we do?
What the nation wants and must have
is head to tie government that knows
how to use as we'll as to win victory.
Every victory gained is blow for neace
yet without the head that can utilize the
blow, peace is brought no nearer. With
out such head, peace upon the basis Of
the Federal Union we shall never see We
shall capture Richmond, we shall oive the
finishing blow to their armies in the
field, we shall defeat the rebellion-in
truth, we have defeated it already-but
we shall subjugate the rebels, never. Thev
are like ourselves, Americans.