The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-11-19

cementing principle, bereft of which
the union Of the free men of the
North must fall to pieces. Strange,
that the people of the South should
be prepared to face the hazards of a
separate nationality, whilst those of
the North, twice their number, should
consider themselves unable to stand
alone. It is difficult to see how a
Union, that was not expected to hold
good over homogeneous part, is more
likely to endure over combination
of discordant elements
AS to the pretence so industriously
urged here, that the real object of the
North was to abolish slavery, it would
be idle to argue with anything so OBJ
Tiously insincere. Mr. Lincoln was
surely most likely to know why he
called out the Is, 900 men, and made
a declaration of war and he tod us,
not that it was to free the negro, but
to save the Union. The true object
on either side is fairly stated in the
New York Times, the organ of the
Federal Government. tspeaks thus
E What is the South fighting for :?
There is a prevalent opinion here in
the North that it is fighting for slavery.
This is erroneous. Though passion
for slavery was the immediate occasion
for the war, it does not now sustain
the war. The South would buy tri-
nmph tomorrow, if it could, by O
complete sacrifice of slavery. It would
not yield, though it could take a bond
OF fate that by yielding it could save
slavery. What Jefferson Davis told
Colonel Jacques is perfectly true, that
slavery had now nothing to do with
the war, and that the only question
was that of Southern independence.
It is precisely this for which the South
is fighting-exactly the converse of
the national principle for which the
North is fighting. We can tell the
South, in all sincerity, that the North
ern people Will carry this war to any
extremity rather than let the nation
ality be broken Here very compe-
tent authority confirms the assertion
of Earl Russell, that the North was
fighting for empire, the South for in
dependence. 1t is true that as the
war went on, the anti-slavery feeling
of the North widely extended. This
has been described as the growth of
virtue we should call it the growth
of passion. Was it love for the negro
that grew, or hate for his master :?
We are told the war had exercised a
purifying, elevating effect on the
people of the North. It is new
Christian doctrine to claim this as the
result of shedding the blood of
brothers. So far as we can discern
the effect, it is precisely the reverse.
AS the war went on, the Northern
people grew more and more Indifferent
to their own Constitution, till they
looked with apathy on breaches of it
which at one time would have reused
the fiercest Indignation. They be-
came more and more callous to the
destruction of human life, and the
lnfiiction of human suffering. Debt
ceased to give uneasiness, and the
volunteer was exchanged for the con-
script Luxury, extravaganza, specu-
latlon, grew with rapid strides. We
should hardly call this the purifying
of a people. We cannot see that the
life Of nation is fostered by the
death of her sons. We distr1lst the
creation of wealth that goes hand in
hand with the increase Of debt. We
doubt the moral growth that produces
such men as Butler and Blenker,
Turchin and MNeil, that is illustrated
by the preachings OF Brownlow, or
the rawlings of Anna Dickinson. Nor
do we see that the cause of freedom
has gained by the liberation of four
millions of negroes and the reduction
Of five millions of our own race to
bondage.
Nothing more deplorable than the
fate of the South can well be imagin-
ed; impoverished, desolate, derided.
a land Of anxiety for the living, and
lamentation for the dead, assailed at
the same time by all the sufferings Of
defeat and all the dangers of a social
revolution IFS LOT ic for ,,-orsa +I,,,