The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-03-30
WHOLE NO. 389.
War VS.. Vandalism.

War VS.. Vandalism.
In the St. Louis Daily Union of Marci
9th, we find the following article. Tn,
Union is in the interest of Mr.. Lincoln
and against the radical policy of the Ere
mont faction. Will the readers of on,
paper please read what the Administration
organ says on the subject Of "EXTER
MINATION?'
When, at the commencement Of this war,
the declamatory rebel leaders, seeking for
motives to force the hesitant into a cohe-
rent solidarity of rebellion, declared that
the purpose Of the Northern people through
their Government was the military Sub
jugation' of the South-thc people of the
North, as one man, disavowcd the unau-
thorized design. If We rcco,lcct Alright,
there was not single voice that accepted
the imputation, while every officer, from
the President down, every loyal citizen,
from the most distinguished to the hum
it. 1t was solemnly and au.
thoritatively announced in messages by
the Chief Executive, and in resolutions by
Congress it was positively asserted all
over the land in the war meetings Of loyal
citizens; it was cmphatically declared in
the hustings, by popular speakers-that We
did not and could not aim at the subiuga-
tion Of the nsurgent States we sought to
bring them into submission to the Consti.
tuition and general laws-nothing more
The right and du'y Of corcion, indeed
was steadily asserted by the people; for
the right to coerce obedience to it's enact.
ments. is the very first principle of gov
ernment's existence; but the idea of sub
jugation, that is, of forcing the people Of
the South into harsh vassalase, after the
rebellion had been ovcrthrown was not on
ly not entertained. but was Indignantly re
putiated. We felt that the word was one
Of heather and despotic origin, and could
find no place in the vocabulary of a Repub-
lcan and Christian people-that free peo-
pie could no more afford to be subjugators
than to be sutjHgated since to be the au
thors Of despotism of which others should
oe victims, would be to invite aud Justify a
future deSpotism Of which they themselves
should be the victims. In "a word, we felt
that to avow the design to subjugate the
South would be to fa!sify our whole his
tory, challenge our very right of national
existence, and become ourselves the as
sassins of that very republican liberty
which for nearly century we had pro.
claimed to be the common right of all man
kind
But these doctrines seem to belong to a
past age. The passion Of strife has gene
rated a party that stigmatizos them as the
doctrines of disloyalty. This party repu
dating every dictate Of justice, every sug-
geStion or reason. and every rnle of .;eA.,
anu enthroning revenge as its deitied lead
er, vehemt ntly demands, not only the sub
jugation, but the determination of the
Southern people. When one Of it's bury
adherents declared himself 'in f.vor of
contiscation, suhjugation, eNtermnat.on,
hell and Gamnation, for rebels" the pro-
fame announcy ment was received with un.
mixed delight; and when Il fair young
woman asserted, IN speech at the Mercan-
tile Library in this city. 4 Shnrt time aga,
that There is belt Of flame and blood
flowing between the North and tie South
which can never be extinguished till one or
the other shall be eXtcrmiratcd"- little
less than diabolical sentiment was applaud.
ed by her admirers as an utterance of the
highest and nobleSt truth. If the assertion
ne indeed true-if the necessities of our
position really require that we shall mas
'acrc five millions Of human beings, heap.
ng men and maldcnS, mothers and babes,
n one common CORY epulchre-then do
he yet unfoldcd horrers of this war exceed
III history, and surpaSs all conception by
'ur feeble minds; and the Christian patriot,
whose heart yearnS for the veal of his
country and his race, may well pray in
helplessneSs to bear the great
voc that IS yet to come, to lie down and
he. II this strife must not, and shall not,
nd tlll we have butcheIcd all the inhaLit.
'nts of the Southern States, then must
'avc b"sun that lhrophet predicted "tr-
'uia'loh such as was not since the begin.
nng It tie "orll, no, nor ever shall be"
= thai ap 'ca!yptIc earn ge in which blood
anne u OF The wine-prcss, even unto the
lors. bi idlcs, by the space of a thousand
TX hundred ful llong>.' PHILIP the Seconds
nerciless and bloody extirpation Of his
i"ori>h subjects from Andalu>ia; the
'l,l''ss slaughter by the French Jacobir
n La Nendee; WARREN HASTINGS Justly
Xrcraied determination Of the heroic Re-
'lilaS; CLEAvERnoUsEs sanguinany hunts
liter the Scottish Covenanters our own
low torture to death of the Indian race
iussia $ iepeoted attempted assassination
i the Polish nation-not all these great
historic crimes put together, would begin
0 equal in enormity of niquity the coos
al butchery to the commission of which.
the name of freedom and humanity, we
re clamourou>ly urged by the extermina
ION patty. Suppose the unna tural stimu
us of passion should sustain US through |
he weary slaughter-suppose the horrid |
ask completed, the blood thirst of our
engeance sated, and the Southern land |
He'd with the dismal stencil Of decaying
arcasses. We would rise from the work
find ourselves execrated by mankind as !
nation of butchers. The crimes Of the
lsnrgent Soutnerners-their willful and
licked rebellion, their persecution Of Tn.
'nIStS, their slave codes and all would be
faced and forgotten in their overwhelming
hin. The world woulG remember them
nly as an exterminated people, and us,
My as their slayers; and the monstrous-
ess of the deed would be aggravated by
lie fact that the victims were Of our own
Ice, blood, and language.
The demand for determination is born of
assion. There never is, and there never
IN be necessity for a Government ex-
rminating an insurgent population, any
ore than there is for parent Staying his
subordinate child. To assert that the re
'llon cannot be suppressed without the
Of the people of the South,
to make our ultimate success depend
pom crime which perhaps no conceivable
aman aim could justify: The war history
Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Lcuisi
IA and North Carolina, affords irreiutab!e
'oof that the Southern States can be re-
tabliShed in the Union, with their pre-
mt living population, without resort to