Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1864-03-29
LINCoLNs WAR UNPOPULAR.

! 49, A~As W &AAs ~ ~ OhTAAssz
/ The New York News shows that Lincoln's
war is not popular in the North, as the admin
= istration papers maintain, but, on the ccutra
ry, that the people yearn for peac,
and will have it," To learn the true senti-
CO." says the New York News, eto the columns
of the pensione9 press of the dynasty at Wash
Iington; nor to the manufacturer of New Eng
land or New York, or elsewhe re, who have
grown fat on the carnage of better men; nor
TO the traders, or jobbers, or contractors, VI
placesmen, or parasites-the myriad of jaekals
who feed on fhe bloody offal of thestrfe. We have
only to contemplate the simple and naked facts,
that with population three times that of the
States at war with US, and fighting popua-
ton proportionately much larger--with boun-
ties profered, such as never tempted cupidity,
in any war before-aoe are compelled to seduce for
eigners from their homes to fight our battles for.
pay and are driven to thestill more degrada7ag ne.
cessity of committing the honor of our flag and
| the vindioation of our manhood to the hands
of negroes, bond and free. Not the relentless
grasp of most merciless and unconstitutional,
CONSUMPTION, nor the seduction of bounties large
enough to make 6 pooryman's fortuse, can noa0
drag or eatace American citizens, except in num-
bers absolutely Insignificant, to fight the battles
of this war. 1t is insolent as we'll as idle
and absurd, to talk of the popularity" of any
war that can command no warmer support than
this, from brave and mpulsive people. If the
hearts of the people were in the war, they them
selves would be in the field to fight to the death.
If they sincerely believed it to be a war in
WHICH they ought to offer themselves as sao>
rifce, they would crowd to the very horns of
the altar, without threat or bribe. That they
shrink from the contest-that they will devote
all the little earnings of their lives to purchase
exemption-that they cannot be tempted ore
forced into the ranks, while there is an escape
all these things tell the story. The peopl
do not feel any longer that the war is their war
They may support 1t q little while because the
government is waging it and the flag is waved
over it. Some of them may be willing it should
continue, because 1t pays themselves or their
friends large proitsor keeps up their influence
or advances their party, or fatters their vanity
or gratifes their rancor. But the great current |
of public feeling and opinion runs in its favor no
longer. 1t has now no hold on public enthusi-
agm. It's popularity Is deadl
If the Administration really believes that all
this is false--ift is persuaded that the popular,
ity of the war continues, let it abandon the con-
scription and the bounty system and make the
experiment of volunteer enlistments for single /
soeek. That brief space of time would suffice I
for the entire solution of the problem. IF snch /
an experiment, however, be deemed hazard
ous, let Mr.. Lincoln and his counsellors make
q still simpler one. Let them tell the people the /
truth for single month, if the thing be possi-
BILE, if not let them endeavor to do it for tort
night. Let Mr.. Chase give us the real amount
of the public debt and of his means and provis-
ions for its payment. Let him inform us of the
amount of taxes which we must endure to avert
the shame of Reputation now without increas"
ing the debt single dollar. Instead of seessaw-
ing between greenbacks and bonds, which ap-
pears to be the substance of his financial policy,
and concocting paltry schemes for jobbing in
gold on Wall street, let him trust the people, if /
he dare, with the facts from which they may
know their own solvency,or insolvency, and ap-
peal to them to meet the issue, face to face.-lI
Let M. Seward try if he can write one solitary
despatch without some intentional perversion of
the truth, and confne himself to the legitimate
purposes of diplomatic correspondence abroad,
instead of loading the files of the State Depart
ment NTH cldptrap and Misrepresentation for
home consumption and deception. Let Mr.. Stan~
ton, instead of flooding the country witl3 false
bulletins from irresponsible or fictitious sources
undertaking. the strength and resources of the
enemy, exaggerating their wants and sufferings,
multiplying their reverses and our triumphs,
give himself up, for ever SO brief space, to
the dissemination Of the truth, which the peo-
pie are entitled to have in regard to struggle
for which they are taxed to the utmost in treas
ure and blood. With what face can he assert
the war to be the peoples war, when, after hay.
ing caused the press to TEEN with kilograms, AN
nouuciDg the almost universal and enthusiastic
re'enlistment OF the veterans of the army, he
has caused the President to refuse to give the
House of Representatives any information on
the subject, on the ground that it would be
'prgudiciaz to the public interest? If the
Administration will not venture to pursue the
plain, Straightforward course we indicate, let it
cease to prate of its war policy as rooted in the
confidence of the people, If the people uphold
it, why conceal from the people what they up
holdg Or, is it that the war can be maintain
ed in its pretended popularity, only so long as
the people are kopt from knowing what it is
and what it promises.