Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-11-03
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1870.
Winning Losers.

The recent death of General Lee has
called forth many expressions from pub
lie journals both of the South and North,
which show that, in their opinion, the
cause which has been supposed to have
been lost was not, and is now entitled to
as much respect Ss the cause which tri-
umphed in the conflict Of arms In com
menting on these notices, under the sug
ge-tive head of "Winning Losers" the
Chicago Post says that eulogiums pro-
,nouneed upon tho dead loader If the IoUrt
armies have not stopped with praises OF
his personal character and soldierly abih-
ties. They have included praises of the
government which he sustained. the cause
for which he tonight. We might fill this
newspaper with extracts from different
papers of tho character Of which we speak.
Now while it is true that mans errors
are buried with him, and that we should
only so5ak of the good deeds Of those who
have gone before Us, ct at the same TIM
we must remember that there are duties
to be performed to the liviug,-ard d thai
in speaking of the late rebellion there are
dead on both sides to be considered.
The great triumph of the Union in the
recent civil war In this country was not
the triumph Of arms. The illustrions
generals and armies by which that tri-
umph was achieved, are, indeed, entitled
to the deepest gratitude and immortal
glory. And chiefly bee tuse they sustained
aud saved a just government; because
they gave the victory to right ideas and
prineip pies, and sent errors and iniquities,
as we trust, into eternal exile and dis
grace. The war was war of ideas. It
was a conflict between freedom and slav-
cry; between civilization and barbarism
There was not an oppressed nationality
anywhere in the world whose hopes of
coming Justice were not cheered by every
victory of the Union troops ; not one
whose aspirations were not repressed, and
prospects of the future engloomed by
every rebel victory. The cause of liberty
and of human rights was not more faith
fully represented by our forefathers at
Lexington, at Concord, at Bunker Hill
and at Valley Forge, than it was to the
men who captured Fort Donelson, and
Vicksburgh, won Gettysburgh, and suf-
ferei ten thousand deaths in the prison
pens of Audersonville and Libby. There
never was "A war, indeed, i'll which all the
right was on one side and all the wrong
on the othar, so completely as was the case
in the late war in this country. The
Unionists were wholly i'll the right the
traitors were wholly in the wrong.
Wherefore the rebels not only de-
served defeat in arms, but the hearty con
demnatiuu of all Just, and truly and
wholly civilized people. Had their ideas
triumphed, it would have been gloomy
Calamity to mankind. Such triumph
to injustice and wrong would have set
back the cause of human progress five
hundred years, and made necessary the
shedding OF rivers of blood and the sacri-
flee If millions of lives to bring the world
up to whore it now is, by reason of the
triumph of right ideas in that war-in
view of the promised land of universal
freedom, where neither kings, nor lords
vex and harr4ss the people, and whence
every sort of injustice and slavery is
banished forever. To confouud the losers
with the winners in such cause as that
of the Union against rebellion il Amer
lea is to attempt to dignity injustice and
consecrate crime.