Washington telegraph., 1864-07-27


iraternsl and neighhorly affection, friendship,
religion, all the sentiments which ennoble us
from brutes to men, refuss to bloom or bear
their frnit in that sterile soil. Even the bands
which most bind men together, which do most
brighten and sweeten our existence, which are
stronger than DEATH are snapped asunder. Pa
ternal, flial, connubal affection, smothercd
in the dire atmosphere of slavery. 1t is the
chief value of ibelty-not that through its influ-
ence we can amass and perpetnate wealth, ex-
tend our empire, or acquire renown-but that it
ia the parent and nurse of virtue. 1t is only
under the genial auspices of liberty that virtue
is born and matured, and buds and acquires her
proper vigor.
This fact of the speedy and hopeless d-gene-
racy of all civilized races when reduced to ser
Witty, has been applied by Northern fanatics
with equal folly and criminality to African slav
cry, forgetful of the fact, that the negro in his
native condition is more brutal than the white
race have ever been, or ever be; and that
slavery, SO far from depressing she negro. really
elevates and amelorates his condition. 1t is
only by slavery that the negro has ever been
improved or refined; but to the white race,
which possesses superior cndowments, subjuga-
ton is destructive to every virtue.
We have but to refc: to the most shining and
the most abject example of history to prove
what we have said. No nation ever attained
such height OF refinement and culture as did
the ancient Greeks. Whether in war or in
peace, they were alike splendid; and even now,
iyyhG hGDErr- h - =
and noble and brave, and beautiful we refer TO
that classic land and it win be- perhaps, to
the end Of the world. Though restricted in ter
ritory and population, yet they made remote ma
tions, and the most powerful empires, to tremblo
before the prowess of their arms; and they have
transmitted to us models of art and literature,
which we may humbly initiate, but can scarcely
hope to rival.
Bnt to them there came night of darkness
The Spartans subjugated Athens, and then the
legions of Rome confounded victor, and van
quished in irretr;evable ruin. From that hour
the Greeks Were slaves, and their genius and
their virtue rapidly declined until they were ex-
tinct- The mougrrl and ignoble people who
now inhabit that country vegetate in idleuess
ibtl, s-lAil'l blS INlne bl the
tic structures Of their ancestors, and vacantlv
gaze upon them without being smitten with
| their beauties; or behold the rapt traveller who
! wandcrs over Marathon, and wonder what he
can there to look at. The very name OF
| Greek. once title of honor throughout the
world, issyncaomou. in Modern Europe with liar
and thief. Even the noble poet Who surren-
| Il. I.
life IN attempting their regeneration was fan to
exclaim
| ''For what is left Inc poet here,
For Greeks blush-for Greece tear"
| That is the same destiny which would be
manifest for us, if it were possible for us to be
subjGgated. We should be the meanest people
on the face of the earth. We should creep from
our cradles to our cofinS with shame upon our
faces, and fear, malice and treachery in our
| hearts. Not one vestige of that courage which
has enabled US to brave and withstand millions
Of armed men-not relic of that manly patri-
| otism and Independence which have illustrated
our career-not trace of that good feeling,
generosity and liberality, which have been con-
spicuous in Southern society, would he left
| but moral abssement and villany instead. Our
descendants would be unmindful of the achieve
ments Of the past, and dead to all hopes of the
future. Their intellects and their hearts would
adapt themselves 10 their degraded condition
Like the Modern Greeks, the splendor of their
past would but set out and make more promin-
ent the wretchedness Of their present; and their
names would grow into bye-word of reproach ;
or, like the Jews, they would wander in un-
friendly lands displaying their countrys suffer-
. ings in every mart OF Christendom.
The truth is, that the evils of subjugati0n can
not be labelled and put in catalogue. Their
name is Legion. The loss of liberty infers with
It the loss of almost anything that men should
prize. 1t WAS said by writer during the revo-
luton of 1776, that heaven knows what price to
set upon its blessings, and it would De strange
if thing so ines.imable liberty should be
easily acquired. Liberty, whose benefits are
moro in number than the sands Of the SEA shore.
is indeed above all price; and if ever repinng
thought arises in view of our present snfferings,
we should remember that exceeding great is the
reward thereof. And we cannot but remember
with pride and gratitude, that 10 people of the
Anglo-Saxon race have ever failed to gain that
liberty of which that race has always been tho
strictcst defender.
The value of liberty may be measured by the
sacrifices which men have made for II. Even the
phlegmatic Dutch fought for it eighty years.
Children, born after the war began. went to
their graves in gray hairs, and the war had not
yet ended. 1t was most cruel and unrelcnting
w2r. The Duke of Alva reported that during
thG five years which he governed the Spanish
army, he had turned over $1,000 men. women
ana children to the executioner, as traitors and
hcretics. And yet the Dutch, through much
more unequal war than the present, expelled the
SpaDiards, and were free.
Compared with the schemes of Abraham lin.
coin, those Of Philip III were prudent and SEN
'iblc. History hardly presents an instance of
folly and presumption equal TO that of the war
waged by the North TO subjugate the South.
Even the vain endeavor of Xerxes to cut noun
tains from his path, and bind the angry sea with
CHAINS, was not more impractcable than the
effort to rlvet perpetual fe.ters upon the South.
ern people; and if anyw here the madness of this
enterprise has found paraIIel IL vas in that n,