Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1864-04-22
For the Delaware Gazette.
NOTES IN DIXIE.

That the war being waged by the Southern
States is wholly unjustifable cannot be doubt
ed by any enlightened and impartial mind
and that it is base, cruel and barbsrous, -
that it had its origin in ambition and avarice
that it is prosecuted for the overthrow o
free Institutions it has not the palEa
ton of single humane principle or feeling, :
that it conspiracy against the best inter
ests, the noblest, impulses, and the highest des
TIMES of mankind IRE propositions that will
meet no dispute, when time and civiliza tion
shall have dissipated the balefuI Influences of
prejudice and barbarism. "
But much as we may denounee the crime oi
the South, the criminals are not wholly unde-
serving Of our charity. Our humane and free
government has all along been administered
| in view Of this generous suppositioa. 1t is
even now worried to know how it shall sus-
tain the destitute families of thousands of men
who to-day stand in rebel ranks. 1t extends
hand of kindest forgiveness to all who, wilI-
ing to renounce the madness and treason of
the past, accept for the future the immunities
Of loyalty and good citizenship.
The rebellion of the South is the rebellion
of an oligarcby. 1t is the-adventure OF few
rash and desperate capitalists who manage and
01Un the whole concern. It's success is de-
signed not to promote the interest ofthe many,
bat of few not to elevate the masses, but
to trample them down. The despotism Of JEFF
Davis is one of the most arbitrary cruel and
aRrelenting that ever existed. It 1rags the
youth of seventeen summers and the trembling
dotard of sixty from the purity and comfort of
home to the corruption and suffering of the
the camp. With troops Of blood-hounds, it
hunts the lover of liberty like wild beast
from hospitable caves and forests. 1t holds
the knife at the thrOats5Of helpless women and
children and counts the, hours during which a
loved father, husband or son shall be betrayed
to merciless CONSUMPTION, or they, as hos
tages, pay the penalty of their lives. 1t hangs
shoots, burns, deyours men for no other crime
than that oF oFloyaTty to truth, to country and
to God. 1t courts the alliance of the savage
and appeals to all the basese instincts of hu-
man nature. s'ooa 1Ie7st 3s'a.l S7'- ---5tfs' .
But the tyranny of the Davis. Government
is after all; midness compared to the tyranny
oil. that public opinion which it moulds, owns,
controls. The bitter sneeF, the taanting jest,
the scornful innuendo have drivGn'more yo6ng
men from their homes to the rebel camps than
the conscriptien agents ever dragged. o!Ahd
in this, women have been the chief workers
The ipsihaAtions Of cowardice has fallen upon
them from bps too fair TO be questioned, too
winning to be resisted.~Fhe female garb has
been rendered to mem whose leVea Of country
was only surpassed by their pride, and whose
physical courage but toos far outdid their
moral. Those whose loyalty and good sense
attempted to Withstand the tide aOfs popular
hate and passion were, by these female -har=
pies, hooted from society and made targets for
all the tea-tabIe venom Of. the sneighborhood.
What wonder that thoughtless youths and
even those Of maturer years, should under
such influences, give themselVeslup to the de-
ceitfnl and attractive delusion Ofat Southern
Conlederacy?"y What wonder that with the |
prejudices Of locality, the 1biass Of education,
the fever of political excitementy prurient
love of adventure, mistaken patriotismy an. /.
arraigned manho cd, atOgether,With the tender |
but puissant Influences Of the social relation,
to warp and blindFthe judgement, that thousa
ands, both learned and unlearned, ignorant
and intelligenta should fly to theaembraee. of
Treason, .arrayed in the. stolen, garb Of Free
dom? At any rate let US not Judge them to
harshly, nor forget the sentiment -WaFbled BY
Ohiols sweet poetess 81, rg-e.,.s e-o i