The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-09-12

necessity it was cruel aud Proilgate IN the
| south, because Of privilege. Inc comfy
aud civilization and limitation OF modern
wars are all mere phases Of temper aud OK
pedioncy for an army OF Americans has
proved itself as remorseless as q horde OF
Huns. Our volunteer generals from the
quiet walks Of domestic life from the pulpit
and deaeon's seat, were i)uud as ready to
rob and let rob as French marsha. The
plumber Of Holly Springs, by the retreauhg
army Of Grapt the skinning in Virginia by
Hunter and Mlroy, and the ndiscIlmnate
burning aud pilage Of South Carolina by
Sherman, exhibit condition Of hear. and
mind in the army over which philosophy
may sicken with despair aud which christi
anity may ponder with wonder and humilla'
ton. There are armies Of war excused BY
costly; as the burning Of 1.-TWO thousand
barns aud seventy mills filed with gram
by Sheridan, in obedience to orders from
Gen. Grant, who seems to have studied the
AIT Of war from the deyastatOhs 81
the locust, and the dcstructyeness oil
fire and the fatality Of fever rather
than in books of military SCIENCE
Yes,we are much inclined othnk that Shcr.
man and Grant made war on the same prncI'
ples AS Sisera and that Methodist preachers
could have blessed one of these chiefs as
consistently as another. No doubt Sisera s
chaplain sent him to heaven in the quickest
STYLE of freetieketed apothoesis then in fash
ION, and that the ladies of Sisera aud their
friends declared it to be horrible barbarity
for Jael to hammer nail into his head, aud
wondered how he could have had the heart
to do it. AS to Deborah, the Sisera people
could not find words to express their ebhor
renee Of her conduct in inAamng the Israel
ties to defend their country and save then
damses and needlework. No doubt the in
spired heroine was called then by the then
Butler Of the northern invading army by al
cpithct equivalent, in the language Of Ca
naan, to "iShc 1dde1" in ours and her sis
ters in Israel were threatened with discipline
of which the famous New Orleans order wa
an exact translation. Nothing is so old a
sin---so interchangeable as sei6shness. The
"wost men Of history always live. The
worst crimes Of history are always eXisten
| in the dreadful cOyetOusncss and malice an
hardness Of the human heart awaiting oCca
sion for open exhibition. Civilization does
not remove the plague of The desperatei'
wicked heart, out of which murders, thefts
alulteries, blasphemies and false witness
proceed, being already formed there anl
| ready to rush out, whenever the devil OPEN
the door and war is opening all the door
at once. The New England notion tina
education eleyates the mind and weGkeni
the passions and makes men better, is wo
ful error. We can only educate, that is de
yelop and endow with instruments for work
what faculties and dispositions we find. !
we water and warm the earth as we find 1t
we will only oduce and strengthen and prop
agate the seeds latent in il. If these be
bad it is hard to see the advantage of cult
walton. The north sent TO the south, anC
into places Of trust and power throughout
the country, the most educated soldiery The
world ever saw and yet, take it all in all
no army manifested less humanity and con
science. Without Christ We can do moth
ing-when we abandon His precept3 for the
watch-wo.ds Of party or the dictates OF prac
teal policy, we are in our hearts tht
same things that the worst Of men are
made of and Of what we shall be made
will depend upon circumstances, Educat
cd belief to God is no protection from ials
witness. The annals OF heather Rome eX
hibit no facility in perjury, equal to thu
shameful COnOyerism that TeCked to heaYCI
from our highest courts and gravest inyesti
CATION rooms, down to the lowest of thO
thousand dens of oppression and robbery in
to which officials dragged their victims
Murder was never more horrible, than wheI
whole nation dragged an innocent woman
to a sca1Old and openly straagled her fol
party effect Mr. Dean has written power
full book, blazing with indignant oloquenc,
and branding the north with statements tha
are enough to drive decency to phrenzy-
| but Mr.. Dean has failed altogether to Civ
even Il moderate idea Of the extent and dc
gree Of the w;ckcdness that regned unchecb
| ed and defiant. No man can do it ; no vol
umc can contain the truth. No eye bu
! Gods could endure to read the endless recor
| of" IHe crimes Of the War; They ar
written only on the hear Is ofthe'yictims, bu
day by day these are going to God.
The Free Christian Commonwealth, al
other religious paper, in copying the foreg(
ing, says:
| Palutul a. SuCn "reminiscences are We III
not sorry that men of DR.. Bonds peculio
skill in unmaskng humbuggery and hypoc
r.sy, should have the courage thus to hol
up the hideous picture to the miserable PHI
risees who bounded on the dogs Of war fror
the pulpit, the platform and the press wit
sanity phrase, blasphemously Peryerting tn
words Of the gospel of peace. We know
no more demonstrative argument for til
doctrine Of total deprayity Of the race, tina
the cold blooded savagery evinced by tn
advanced civilization" Of Eastern and We
tern New Englandism in the recent civ
war. AS if in righteous visitation Of II
scolfers who deny any inherent deprayity
man, and any devil instigating man to SIT
God seems to have given them over to ute
savagery and let loose all the passions
their deprayed hea's, by way Of maxim