The Xenia sentinel. [volume] (Xenia [Ohio]) 1863-186?, 1865-02-17

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and trial. 1T rises towards heaven through
clouds bursting with tears. Then, if for the
sake Of the worlds progress in civilization
in knowledge and Christianity, suffering
falls to our lot instead Of murmuring at the
providence Of God let us bear ourselves W
with spirit worthy Of our manhood, and es'
TEEN it an honor that we are called to endure
hardships, privations and trials for a cause
so great and holy. The man who would win
and wear the wreath Of victory must fight
-lfe's battle brnEely. So the worlds battle
must be fought with valor if she would rise
| from her long night of bondage and gain the
victory over ignorance, error, superstition,
sin and degradation. These powers have all
1 their hosts marshaled, and the world is now
in the hottest hour Of her great battle. The
| bloody conflict, in which this nation is nov
! engaged win send the world either forward
into light and liberty or backward into dark
ness and the bondage of moral death We
cannot realize the Importance of the hour,
the FastDess of the interests that hang on the
issue. 1t is for the worlds elevation or de-
! graduation, liberty or despOtism, Christian civ
ilization or pagan barbarism. In short, it is
for the worlds life or for its death. Then,
let the fierce conflict rage, but let us not quail
in the hour Of trial or the dawn of victory.
"The prayer of Ajax was for light; % --
Through all that dark and desperate fight,
The blaekness of that MONDAY night,
! He asked but the return of sight,
To see his foemans face
Let our unceasing, earnest prayer,
Be, too for light, for strength TO bear,
Our portion Of the load of care,
That erushes into dumb despair,
Ore half the human race"
We have reason for thankfulness on ac-
count of the retributions of Providence in
the late victories, especiallyin this Depart
ment. Everylover Of public justice ought
to rejoice when retribution, even with tardy
steps, oVertakes the transgressor. We
should be glad when the right is vindicated
and great wrongs are avenged even though
in the infiction of just punishment We
ourselves should suffer. I need scarcely
refer to the retributions of Providence in
regard to the wrongs inflicted by the proud,
selfish and tyrannicaI authors and suppor-
ters Of the rebellion upon that despised
and hated class of humble menials who
were the unofending occasion of the war.
Sometimes 1 have wondered that God could
sit still in the heavens and look on while
man, made in his image, put that image
to shame, and shamed the face of the civ
ilizcd world, by selling his own children
like cattle in the market. Sometimes /
havealmost said to myself, doth God know2
Is there in the Most High, knowledge of
things below? If be does know the
wrongs of thestroug against the weak and
helpless, why does not justice take the
lighining' swing and visitspeedy vengeance
upon the head Of guilt2 But I wonder
no more, retFibution and Justice begins to
be indicated. This, however, is patent
to all, and refer more particularly to a
less general retribution, less frequently
thought Of. Forty years ago the Cherokee
Indians owned and occupied the lands
where our late victories were achieved
They chased the wild deer on the banks
of the Chicamauga, the Costanaula, the
EtoWa, the Goosa, and the Chattahootchee.
They built their rWigwams and planted
their corn on the mountains and in the
rich valleys. They were a harmless ma
tion that meddled not with their white
neighbors. But they believed in liberty as
natures theology had taught them, and
when slave took refuge among them,
they, according to the old Mosaic law, Of
which they were ignorant, allowed him to
remain in their gates, wherever he liked
best. They would uot hunt him up and
return him. This set the slave holders
against them. Besides this, these aYarie-
ious men greatly coveted the rich lands Of
the Indians, and resolved to .disposeess
them. They picked quarrel with them
and the case. was tried in the Supreme
Court of the United States, and decided in
favor Of the Indians. Georgia rebelled,
nullifed the laws of the United States,
and defed the power of the government
The executive power of the government
being in the hands Of southern aristocrats,
they were sustained in that first official
act of rebellion on the part of a State.
In that day they had the same rebelIious,
proud, thievish, lying and ,treacheTous dis
positions that have been their leading
characteristics. in the beginning and con-
tinuance.of this rebellion. The nation con-
tinued under the control of that class of
men, and they robbed the Indian of his
home, and Waged with him relentless
and exterminating war. 1t was not enough
that at Mission Ridge they had mobed or
hanged or imprisoned the humble nilsson
aries, whom they blamed with teaching
the Indians false notions of liberty. The
Indian himself must be killed or driven
away, and his lands co1fscated-all In
the very face Of national law that had been
but recently. decided against them. He
was chased to the sWamps of Florida, and
from thence he was hunted by men who are
now chiefs in the rebel army, aided, too, in
their relentless work, by Cuban blood
hounds procured by the executive authori.
ty of the nation, at the nations expense :
"Like fallea leaves that forest tribe has aed;
Deep meath tho turf their rusted weapon lies /;
No more their harvest lifts its golden head
Nor from their shafts the stricken red deer aies
Forgotten race, farewell! Your haunts we tread,
Our mighty rivers speak your words Of yore,
Our mountains wear them on their mystic thead,
81 Our sounding caturacts hurl them 70 the shore,
But on the lake your flashing oar Is stlln ri .yl
flushed is your hunters cry on dale and hill,
YourarroW stays the eagles fight no more,
And yey like troubled shadows sink 3 rest,
In unmrememberod tOmbs," ~.
Yes, the poor Cherokee is gone, but
the Spirit has not forgottnn his wrongs,
nor the wrong -doers. Nearly forty years
have passed, and behold the retribuiion !
On the very spot where they we're mur-
dered and robbed of their homes, on the
very spot where the rebels first ignored
the authority Of the government and proud-
ly dehed its power, they have been slaught-
cred and whipped and driven like chat by
the winds Spirits Of the Cherokee na-
tiOn, ye are this day avenged God has
in this particular vindicated his moral gov