Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-02-09
RUTLAND HERALD,
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY s, 1855.
Peace or War.

Most OF the wars that have been car
RED on between separate nations have
been occasioned by some dispute about
boundary, q failure 10 observe the
terms OF an existing treaty, an injury to
some private citizen, an alleged encroach-
ment on the territory Of an ally, or some
infringement of neutral rights. The re-
suit is, that after the parties have fought
awhile, both agree 10 abate somewhat
OF their original pretensions, or, per-
haps, as In the case of the war of 1912,
they conclude treaty Of peace and leave
the points of controversy wholly unset
tied. Mr., Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd,
illustrates the origin and the results OF
national wars by squabbles which some
times occurred between the"up-streeters"
and the down -streeters " of his native
town. A youngster from uptown hap
pens to look flercely at down-streeter,
when the latter says, " What are We
glowering at me for 7" The latter re-
spends, Perhaps I can look where l
choose" am have none o your slang"
"Help yourself" By this time the two
parties have marshalled their "clans," "
and at it they go, with tooth and nail,
and with such other weapons and mis-
siles as they can And-farw arnia minis
bat-neither party gaining any decided
advantage over the other, At last one
OF the leaders, with hardly breath
enough to speak a word, says, "lf you'll
quit I will" Which conditions the
other promptly accepts and the fight is
ended.
The fact of the case appears to be,
that there is a certain amount of pug
nacity, or what the phrenologist calls
eombativeness, in all men. 1t is very
good element in its place. 1t is opposed
to timidity and faint-heartedness. 1t
enables us TO grapple with difficulties
and surmount obstacles 1t also
prompts us to resist those who would
infringe upon our rights, or endanger
our lives. The trough who finds him
self "spilin for fight" unless he has q
good one at least as often as once a
week, has altogether too big bump"
either for his own good or the peace and
safety of the community; and the brag-
gadocio whose courage is greatest when
his distance from danger is greatest, like
the kid on the roof uttering defiance to
the wolf on the ground, is most en-
phatically nuisance
But the war in which we are engaged
is Of an entirely different character from
those first mentioned. 1t is not one
which can end as soon as the mere pug
nacity OF either party is whipped out,
by a compromise which shall involve
no submission on either SIDE 1t is a
war for our very existence as nation,
i and it cannot end until that existence Is
secure. The people on both sides have
had enough offighting to satisfy any war
like appetite. 1t has been proved again
and again that the common soldiers Of
the two hostile parties have now no ha-
tired towards each other. On the con-
trary, they are ever ready to exchange
friendly greetings when they have an
opportunity. The pretence which has
been set up by southern agitators that the
two "races" are incompatible, is mere
moonshine. This is no war of subjuga-
ton, except in the case of few willful
and besotted leaders. But so long as
those leaders have an army at their
command, so long they cannot reasona-
bly, be expected to negotiate their own
political destruction by voluntary sur
render. We are not Of those, therefore,
who are at all surprised that the recent
Hpeaee negotiations are pronounced a
failure. If they may have the effect Of
showing any more clearly to the people,
south or north, who it is and what it is
that keeps up this internecine strife SO
that they may bend their energies more
forcibly to removing the cause or eXter-
minating the guilty agents, then SOME
good will have been accomplished. But
until Lees army is destroyed Grant,
Sherman, Sheridan and Thomas are the
most efficient peace-makers, and the peo-
ple OF the North will be doing most
towards restoring much desired peace
when they labor hardest to supply men
and means to these generals, and are
least distracted from this labor by So
called "peace missions"
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