The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-03-17

"HteH may nut uc SltN tu vi lOIeSctHi
and which can only be told when all
is over, in many long and sad his
tory. How can we be sure that Some
OF these fragments, heaped up or
hurled aloft will not como crushing
down on usp Already, commerce
and manufacture throb at every beat
OF that still mighty heart, and the
hopes and fears OF thousands among
us rise and fall as some new rage ex-
cites the American breast; or as II
yields under some touch OF grace,
some qualm Of conscience, or some
voice of reason and common sense
The present stage of this great
struggle Is noticeable for its marked
novelty upon the tenor of the lasI
four years. The extreme exhaustion
of both sides as to men and as to
money, appears to render 1t impossi
bic to carry on the war as it has been
carried on. There will not be for the
future those stupendous armaments,
that waste Of material, and those far
more dreadful sacrifices of human
life. There will not be such costly
and murdcrous struggles for the pos
session of certain points, whether
finland ormaratime. Both sides seem
to have discovered that they have
made mistakes in attaching an eXag
'gerated importance to positions re-
quired for no purpose. We have,
then, before us the alternatives of Il
peace or war carried on more in the
open country, either guerrilla fashion
'or by movements such as thai 10y
which Sherma an has, in fact, changed
the fortunes and the face OF the war.
Sucn II change VIII involve othors,
and, not the least. it will be liable to
bring forward military advonturcrs
who not depend on either Washing
ton or Richmond tor their resources
or their plans, perhaps not even their
Authority. Such result is fraught
with perilous consequences to every
constituted or recognized power eli
ther on the soil or at all within reach
of the great earth shaking. We have
mo thought of frightening the Amer
leans into peace--nay, the danger is
rs much ours "a theirs; but, if the
war proceeds. twill one day come to
such pass that neither we nor they
will be able to say who are the real
rulers OF that vast continent, and who
are the men whose power, whose
vengeance, or whose wisdom we have
to watca.
That the war must enter on new
phase Is eNlucng r,Vin tho lrovod i'm
possibility of carrying it on with the
existing institutions, or rather con-
stitution. The requisite leyies,
whether of men or of money, can not
he made under Il system of much Iii
vided and even discordant authority.
When the President is obliged to en-
.ploy detectives to see that the States
do their duty, the day can not he far
distant when the central power will
do that duty rs it is done in Europe
by the imperial agency, and no
other. Such was ever the result of
long wars in times gone by: and the
several States in this instance have
proved that they are no more to he
trusted than the feudal chiefs the
tributaries and allies, whose short
Comlngs, vacillation, or weakness
have so often ruined the cause which
depended on their loyalty and zeal.
For the prosecution Of great war
there must be not only a common
cause, and a common ardor, but the
sacrifice of everything that interferes
with perfect unity of action. One of
the earliest consequences of our own
great war with France was the Irish
Union, and the first result Of the Ia.
dian mutiny was the transfer Of the
Indian government to the British
crown. A divided authority makes
large demands on time, and on that
mutual Difference which contributes
so much to the pleasures of peace,
but becomes impossible when com
mands must be executed Immediately
and thoroughly, which is the. only
pace war can take to succeed. The
Americans fondly hope that the sus-
pension Of their constitutional guar
antees for liberty is an incident that
will soon be q matter of history. But
years pass by, great transactions take
place, and a new generation is rising
to mems estate, under q reign Of ar
bitrary power, and in the sphere of
one all absorbing contest. VIII the
State or the federation be the more
important in their thoughts? p? Or, if
they should have a quar- el with the
larger bond, will it be to fall back on
the lesser? The Americans have al
ready sacrificed liberty for Union, and
they may shortly find that they will
have to sacrifice Union for empire -
They will have to sacrifice that free
voluntary Union which their fathers
framed and died for, in order to
raise power that shall snstain its If
at any cost, and hold its own against
a!l comers, whatever political consti.
tuition may be found best for that
Served II i'm Right.