Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1864-01-02
siout Gitg &egister
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1864.
The Condition OF car Country, and
.cmr Of t-ie Causes which promo.
(cd Il.

.lc con a'' on VI tHE country ~ hiaIH
ing enough to excite the attention Of ev.
cry one claiming to entertain any concern
for the public welfare. and to justify doubts
of its ultimate preservation. And when
the safety Of a nation is at stake, doubt is
sufficient to justify enquiry.
Let US, therefore. with all candor aad
with due respect for those in power. inves
,isate in measure tae cause and extent
OF Tie presen. popular feeling in the
North.
We are prone to believe what we wish
to be true. 1.-THE wish was father to the
Thought expresses a great truth as fully
to day as it has done heretofore.
Although this tendency Of the mind is
more active in times Of great excitement
and danger. when Of course the exercise
Of the reasoning faculties is the more dit
ficult, and the temptation. to adopt the re.
suit of feeling and inclination the more
powerful yet it is nevertheless true that
the same tendency prevails to no incon-
siderable extent at al times and among
all classes. Whether this feeling which in
the North for the last few years has exhi
bited itself in an intense hatred to the
institution OF Southern slavery be the re.
suit of an mate conviction of the "bar.
harities Of the SYSTEM or Of the teach
ings Of designing, interested, unscrcpu.
lous politicians, imposing their fa'lacies
and their sophisms-tbeir false promises
and their n;schlevous conclusions upon
an unreasonirg community it is
that it has eliminated in the belief among
a ma ori.y Of the people of the free States,
that the dreaded institution might be ex.
tended over the whole country, and they
accept the doctrine as true, that emo per.
ton Of the common country could con.
ti"ue to enjoy the blessing of free ins,i.u.
tons, while any part of it was allowed
to r. ain slavery, ard hence is it that the
people, influenced by this feeling Of dan
ger to their own institutions aud hostility
to that of the South, are induced to be
lieve that the measures adopted by the
present national administration are iusti.
fable.
There is many supporter Of the pow
ers claimed for the presen, Adm;nistra
ton, who, if he had been told five years
since, ,ha, within that time be would have
sacrificed the principles Of liberty upon
the altar Of any party or policy, by the
m..ctanauce Of his present opinions re-
specting the powers If The President in
times of war, would Indignantly have ex
claimed, in the language of Hazael to the
prophet Elisha, is thy servant dog,
that he should do this great tting?'
This charge from the principles of
free republic to those Of a military despot,
ism, would be "passing strange and
piieous wonderful did We not consider
the facility with whic!, men persuade them
selves of the truth and soundness Of that
which is in accordance with their own
wishes.
1t is not to be assumed, and it might
be uhchari'abie, perhaps, to believe that
all those who endorse the measures Of the
party in power, are mere fraudulent pre-.
tenders, though !, must require foil tx
ercise Ct that christian charity which
be!ieve.h all ,hines,' to convince VS. Of
lie entire faith, on the par, Of those in
favor Of hat construction of the Consti
'ution which changes its whole character
in time Of war. from that which it had in
time of peace, and renders all it. provis-
ions in favor of private rights, not merely
a dead letter, bu; mockery and decep.
ton. A claim is set up Of certain war
powers from ard under the Constitution,
which sabvert all constitutional liberty
Pretending to be instruments of republi.
canism. they turn the Government into
military despo,ism. Assuming to be an
agency Of free government. their exercise
At once puts an end to all constitutional
liberty. Protesting to be brought into
action for the purpose Of emancipating
three million Of slaves, they consign to
political slavery trenty millions Of free.
men.
Cui bono. To what purpose and for
what good, it may be asked, is this lives
tigation Of cause and effect, when the sub.
Ject is the unfortunate condition Of our
country? We would answer, that the
purpose Of the enquiry Is not mere spec.
ulative one; that its very object was, that
having shown the cause and the evils re.
tsulting from it, the proprie,y Of some
remedy. and the character of tina. remedy,
would be patent to all The cause being
. perverted public sentiment in both SEQ
lions, the remedy must necessarily be .
correction Of that sentiment. Until then
there can be no heartfelt reconciliation