Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-08-18
THURSDAY, AUGUST IS, 1864.
THE RETURN OF REASON.


all parts Of the country who, walking in maze,
have poured forth from their hearts the imploring
cry of Pesce, peace" after the manner of the
good Lord Falkland amid the dissensions and car
mage Of the civil feud which convulsed England
in the days of the Great Rebellion Standing
at the very threshold of the protracted contest
between the adherents of the King and the Par
lament, the noble royalist exclaimed, al am
weary of the times and foresee much misery to my
country but believe shall be out of it ere night"
Such were the words he spoke on the morning of
the 10th of September, l643. That day he fell
in the battle of Newbury. And there are many,
especially among those of ripper years, who
have been content to close their eyes in death
on the CHASTITY spectacle of brothers engaged in
fratricidal strife, and who, they have gathered
up their feet in their beds, have rel Diced in the
thought, if they have not uttered the words, of
the dying Hooker, when he consoled himself with
the prospect of the opening grave, refuge
from the calamites Of life, by the reflection that lie
was going from ga world where all was confusion
to world where all is order"
In the phrenzy of the times there some who
have been so sodden with the passions of war that
they have sedulously put from their own sight and
sought to keep from the sight of others the simple
truth that all wars are wagcd only with view to
peace Cicero, with sense of moral obligation
inspired only by the ethics of paganism, was
Eghtened enough to perceive, as in his { fices',
he has taught, that wars to be undertaken only
for this cause" that we may live in peace with
out wrong" and he added, with special reference
to the civil contentious of the times in which he
lived, that in his opinion "it was always duty TO
consult for peace which would bring with it Sc
curity, and that, if Difference in this respect was
paid to his judgment, the Roman people might
have, if not the best, at least some sort of Re-
public, whereas then they had none"
If the moral code of an enlightened pagan, liv-
ing amid the fierce struggles of Pompey and Caesar,
as they srove for the supremacy over the ruins of the
Roman commonwealth, could Keep his perceptions
clear from the corrosioDs Of faction and passion,
what is not the greater height 10 which the sensi
bility of a Christian people should attain in the
ethical view they are called TO take Of the great
contest into which this nation has been plunged by
the madness of party eliminating in the violence of
civil war If Cicero thought it was always duty,
even in time of war; to consult for peace, the duty
any les, incumbent to consult for peace at the
present day, when to the sanctions Of moral obiga
tion are added the inunetions of Christianity, bid
ding us, as far as possible to live peaceaby With
oil men 7" If Cicero thought that it was wise to
treat for peace, because in that event the people
of Rome, even if they had by their mad folly
forever forfeited the best form of government,
might still secure for themselves the quiet enjoy
ment of some kind Of republican rule, whereas
under the reign of military license they had no
republican government at all, is it meet that the
morasts and statesmen of our time and land
should be insensbo to the impulses of nature
or the dictates of political prudence2 The nation
that delights in war for its own sake is nation
resting under the Divine maediction.
In the beginning of our sad contest there men
at the North and at the South who with equal ffivol-
ity welcomed the carnival of blood The great mass
of the people throughout the country recoiled from
its horrors We know it was SO in the Loyal States,
and the war when accepted by them accepted sim
ply as stern necessity created by the violence of
volt, which left the people, as they believed, to
choose only between revolutionary anarchy or The
defence of Legitimate authority. AS men are, it
cannot be doubted that somewhat of personal and
sectional passion mingled with this patriotic re-
solve, but in theory the Government was armed
simply with the sword of impersonal Justice
shifting down the offenders against the peace
and dignity Of the State, in no spirit OF re-
venge, but in respect for the majesty of law.
We all know how this policy was changed for
the crusade of hatred and determination" so
justly portrayed by the New York Times in the
article we cited from its columns few days ago
ft0m that time the cause of the Union, the Con-
stitu ion, and the Laws has been lost from view
10 what our Republican contemporary SO fclcit-
5usly called "tho blind race of radicaism and
bar arism."
Wo are glad to observe on all sides the indica-
on hat it is every who're felt to be high time to
,rSs 4 halt in tho blind race" Men are inquir-
ding whereunto this course is leading the country
spa opinions long cherished and for time vebe-
itmentiy affirmed are being revised by the light of
Z returning reason. In evidence of this fact we
ryl great pleasure in calling the attention of our