Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-03-09
orNational Glory
tency OF the war Policy.

Du'cs W thc pleasure OF but the few, and OF
those only transiently Great victories or
signal conquests may excite the enthusiasm
of some but il will be observed that this
enthusiasm Is intense in proportion as the
! party is ignorant of, or incapable TO appre-
ciatc the cost in human degradation and
misery at which they are purchased Ii il
so providentiay ordered in human affairs.
that, in all national enterprises in which
force is the principal Ingredient, there is u
sharp division of the proceeds; the pleas.
ures and profits fall TO the lot of one class,
the labors and suffering TO that of another.
Those classes of the community which do
the lighting would never, on their own mo-
ton, institute a war thosc'c classes by whose
agency war is tomented and declared, would
never do the lighting. IF the rule were
once established that they who make the
quarrels should be the only ones to fight,
those latter days when wars are TO cease
from the face of the earth, would come in
at once not through the pacific propensi-
ties of those who love to be considered the
wise, the CONSCIENTIOUS, the philanthropic,
humane and religious; but through their
cowardice 1t is the professedly sympathetic
and really pusillanimous who set mankind
by the ears, and who, pretending great ten
dcrness for the woes of humanity, feel no
more remorse at the slaughter of armies of
men, than if they were so many wolves or
hyenas.
There is not man between the lakes and
the Ohio who can give substantial reason
to show that the decision, either way of the
Iauestion, whether there shall be one or two
confederaces upon the territory bounded
north by Canada, and south by the Gulf of
Mexico, would be necessarily of the slight
est importance to himself or to his posterity.
/ AL arguments in favor of a compelled unity
are founded upon predictions, the work of
fancies at once diseased and uninstructed,
or upon pretences that are inconsistent with
each other When the South was with us,
nothing could exceed the scorn of those who
are now the promoters Of the war, at her
supposed poverty Of spirit, and destitution
Of resources.
She was holden up to the world as an
element Of national weakness. She was
charged with being unable to pay her share
of the cost of the common Government; and
the North complained long and bitterly of
the disproportionate burdens it was com
PEELED to bear, to keep the political ma
f chine in motion. The Southern States were
the weak point ofOur national territory the
most open to invasion, and the least capable
Of local organization for defense. These
people, cnervated by the presence Of slavery,
! were incapable to rouse themselves under
the pressure Of danger and even if it we're
otherwise, the presence Of 50 large number
Of negroes, burning with Indignation at their
:. servitudc, and longing for an opportunity to
r burst their bonds and pay off long debt of
/. hatred due to their oppressors, would in
case of peril from without, so occupy them
:, that they could not otherwise than fall easy
victims to the invader
= These notions are not now to be disavow-
= ed for they are, in certain states Of the
|ar mi
J, have remarked, on former occasions, it is
: necessary. in order to be full blown patriot
- and phianthropist, to accept the direct and
J the converse of the same propositions-to
!. see both head and tail on the same coin at
, one and the same time. We are told by the
, same parties who, on necessary occasions
distinctly hold the views we have given
abdte, that there is donger to our liberties
, from the independence of the South that
/. slavery is an clement of Southern strength:
that the people, released from servile en-
ployments, have the leisure to devote them
selves TO military pursuits and that, under
such conditions, hardihood, love of domin-
ion. Indifference to personal danger, and
procivity for military enterprises are always
generated. We are told furthermore that
this war, unless it ends in the subiugation of
the South, will ensure the establishment of
a government independent of the will of the
masses Of the people-a monarchy or an
oligarchy; one of the characteristics Of which
is an ever active propensity to extend the
. limits of its domain. From this our liberties
will be in danger. We shall either be over
, run and conquered, compelled to establish
monarchy in order to cope with SO vigorous
an antagonist, or, seduced by its example,
= we shall forget those principles of liberty to
! which--by a convenient fction-we are now
= so devoted, and voluntarily 90 to work and
set up sovereign on our own account.
We have a great work--a mtsSiOn-to
perform: indeed we have several. First,
we must protect the people of the South,
J over whose unconscious heads serious ca
u lamity impends. Their liberties are in dang
. er, aud they do not see it, Our eyes being
y so much better than theirs to us it is per-
i fectly apparent. Through their liberties We
" must protect our own, for if they they lose
=, theirs, ours is gone without the hope of sal
d walton. Whetherours are the most in danger
!; from cOmpulson or seduction does not dis
y tinctly appear: some ofour loyal cotempora-
: ries seeming to be most afraid of the one,
: and some Of the other.
All this means that there is no good rea-
! = q son for the war. The reasons given contra
u dict and therefore neutralize each other. In
y order TO be a war man it is necessary to be-
IL lieye that the South is weak, and that it is
- strong; that 1t Is rich, and that 1t Is poor
i that its people are constant and courageous,
and that they are imbeclle and cOwardly;
that slavery is an element Of social power,
and the clement of social impotency; that
the effect of slavery upon the character of
the white man is to render him listless and
I unenterprising, and also to render him hardy
i and ambitious Its necessary, furthermore,
to believe that unless We subdue and COM
pletely master this people, whose inferiority
in point of numbers we have derided whose
: characters we have deprecated, and whose
resources We have despised, there is immi-
nent danger that they will subdue and master
US or ifthis should not be attempted, that
we are in peril of having our liberties seduced
away from US, by ourselres, through the evil
: example ofthose toward whom and for whose
doings we have no feelings but hatred and
l contempt 1t is necessary, in order to be
! war man to be very foolish indeed.-Cm-
- cjmatt Enquirer.