The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-17
"DEATHLESS PRINCIPLES"


suppression Of the rebellion and the freeing of
the slaves, the Charleston News and Courier
takes occasion to reassert ''the deathless and
indestructible principles" in vindication of
which the South fought. BY an inexplicable
paradox, the News and Courier goes on to
pledge the defeated confederates to loyal al
legiance to 'the States as they are and the
Union as it is" Our Charleston contemporary
argues as one already convinced of its error,
but too proud to admit change Of heart, or
the acquisition of knowledge through years
of bitter experience. An excerpt from its
editorial will reveal its inconsistency:
'The people of the Southern States know
as well now as they knew when they staked
their all in the stern game of war that the
principles for which they fought are deathless
and indestructible, and could not be impaired,
or diminished, or even modified, by the disas
trous consequences of their assertions. This
necessary belief has not prevented the de-
feated confederates from pledging to the
States as they are, and the Union as it is,
loyal allegiance which is unchanging and un-
changeable. Nor does it deter them from
acknowledging the abolition of slavery to be
far from an unm.tigated evil. They condemn
the mode of its acknowledgement, and the
measures which supplemented it, while rejoic-
ing almost at the relief from burden which
was hard to bear, and must in time have be-
come uncomfortable. There is in this shade
OF compensation for defeat but there is no
justification in it for joining in the denuncia-
ton OF slavery as moral evil"
Will the News and Courier please define
itself little more clearly2 What are the
principles for which the Southern States
fought, that are deathless and indestructibleG
Was one of these principles the right of seces-
sion7 If so, how can the Southern States
pledge ga loyal allegiance which is unchanging
and unchangeable9Rs Was not another of these
principles the divine right of human slavery
How, then, if it was deathless and indestruct-
ible, can you now rejoice at burden which
was hardto bear, and which ''nust in time,
have become uncomfortable" Your argument
defeats itself 1t is a juggle of words that
assert the right of secession, and in the next
pledge an answering loyalty to the Union. Ii
the right of secession and the maintenance of
slavery were not of the 'deathless principles
upon which the war of secession was fought,
we would like to be informed what were.
What concession did the South gain by the
four years war--what advantage not possessed
up to the moment the first gun was fred upon
Fort Sumter2 In what respect have federal
principles been altered to accommodate them
to "the deathless and indestructible principles
for which the South voluntarily went into
WARE
Now that the South is pledged to unchang-
ing and Interchangeable loyalty to the Union as
it is, why may it not go step further and
admit the truth-that it never had cause for
going into rebellion, and that it was a
partisan madness and sectional prejudice en-
gendered by the existence of human slavery
The immortal principles you talk about
secession and slavery-we honestly believe are
dead. We hope so, and if you are loyal. you,
too, hope so. You stultify yourself by pledg-
ing loyalty to principle that cannot exist
while your ''deathless principle endures.
They cannot be brought into contact without
hostility, and can no more commingle than
the principle of life and of death can com
mingle. If life be triumphant death is de-
feated, but if death prevail, life is no longer
there.
Your plea against the mode by which slavery
was abolished is likewise specious and puerile
The reader of history will discover that the
South left no alternative to the North but to
free the slaves as q war measure, whatever
may have been Northern sentiment relative
to the crime of human slavery. Mr.. Cable
stands in advance of Southerners of the News
and Courier school, and occupies the ground
that succeeding editors of the News and
Courier will occupy when prejudice shall have
given way to sober second thought. Slavery
was more than moral evil-it was mons
trous iniquity, crime alike against God and
humanity, detriment alike to master and
servant, an impossible barricade in the way of
commercial progress. The Charleston paper
is cropping towards light and truth when
it acknowledges relief from burden
hard to bear, and that in time
must have become uncomfortable. There is en-
couagcment in tho utterances of the News
and Courier, cramped as they are by pref
udice that dies hard. The redeemed South
redeemed by the Republican rarty, aided