The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-10-06
A TENNESSEEAN'S VIEWS.
He Never Had a Doubt Regarding the Out
come of the War.

1 come of the War.
Through your kindness in publishing my
contribution, titled East Tennessee" hav,
| become the recipient of SO many letters ant
| cards of commentator from the comrades al
along the line, from your city to Oregon, many
| of them coupled with the request to write
| again, that i take this method of acknowledg
| ing the same and of thanking the comrades for
| their approval. No doubt most of the "boys,
like the writer, have grown prematurely old,
but it is gratifying to observe that neither the
hardships of the field nor the pains of impaired
health cause the fires of patriotism to abate, or
| prevent q throb of response to that which is IN
| touch with their own experience. The senti-
| ment of friendship born of love of country and
| intensified by common sufferings in its defense,
has grown apace. The revival of memories of
| mutual hardships endured, of reverses, of tri-
umphs achieved, deepen affection for one
another, and intensity love of the country
which they did SO much To save. Like true
men that they vera and are, when the end
came contrary to the ominous forebodings of
many friends aud Of jealous monarchy, they
went quietly to work where they had left of.
They are as true to-day as when the Stars and
Stripes was first insulted at Sumter. God bless
them all. The more / think of their loyalty,
their herosm, and their selfsacrifce tho more
/ love them.
A mere boy Of Is when the struggle began, /
was for two years within the Confederate lines.
Running the gantlet of Confederate surveillance
of the Cumberland Mountains / entered the
service at IL. One so young was not very likely
to keep memorandum of passing events, and
i was not an exception to the rule. The war OF
the rebellion, measured by the magnitude of
the issues and the results to flow from it, was
the greatest military conflict the world has
ever known. The fate of a race, the stability
Of Republican Government, hinged upon the
result, The former was the primal cause, and
if oligarchy triumphed, popular Government
would perish. 1t was struggle to the death,
and either slavery or the Union must go down
to rise no more. 1t was battle OF giants
struggling for the mastery. The world stood
aghast pending the outcome; but my faith
never wayered for a moment. L never doubted
the justice of our cause nor the ultimate tri-
umph of the Union forces
From the day that slave labor proved profit
able in the cultivation Of tobacco in the James
town Colony, the future great Republic was
destined TO be purified and made indestructible
through the baptism of blood. The cotton-gin
of 1893 only forged the shackles tighter, and
strengthened the determination to nstionalize
the accused institution. But public sentiment
was not sufficiently aroused in favor of or op.
position to it for the masses to perceive its in
sidious intrusion into the body polite. While
thus with disinterested patriotism and jealous
endeavor they sought to build up an invulner-
able citadel against foreign and domestic foes,
the canker-worm was worming its way to and
endangering the very foundations of the Re-
public.
At the North slave labor had proved unproft-
able and as consequence slavery itself had
died out. For two centuries, however, little or
no regard had been paid to the treatment of the
blacks at the South, and the National con-
science seemed dead to the wrongs perpetrated
,ct halv, Ac fi-x,a ccodo md
the stories of repeated cruelties of slave
auction-blo the separation of members of
the family for life, hand-cufs, gang-chains
bloodhounds afterwards used to catch Union
refugees and soldiersl, and wbipping-posts be-
came more frequent and inhuman, the National
conscience seemed to have become somewhat
aroused. Then came the Missouri Compromise
of 1920, Omnibus Bill OF 1850, Kansas Nebraska
Bill of 1854. The humiliating aspect of the
subserviency of the judiciary and the uncon-
stitutional use of the military to disperse legs-
lative bodies elected in opposition to slavery's
behest, and the last hope of the perpetuity of
good Government, gave way to the conviction
(credited to Senator lack Chandier) that thence
forth this Government would not be worth a
darn without little blood-letting."
To the South slavery was purely matter of
business, unmixed with sentiment or mercy,
and at every point in its progress and subse-
quent overthrow the Southern leaders were
actUated by purely mercensry motives. This
reached that extremity where argument as
sumed the ridiculous and fanatical-that slav-
cry was of divine origin, and that as the
Supreme Court held slaves to be chattels,
they had no soul, and hence there could be
no sin attached to the institution. So that
when Ben Hill charged the trouble to what
he was pleased TO denominate "the higher
law of fanaticism he was not far wrong; but
neither their education nor the impulsipeness
of their natures could condone the crime of
cruelty to their wards nor of treason to the
Government. 1t was this utter subserviency
to the slave power and the imperiousness Of
their demands to override the popular will
mere than anything else that reused the North
to realization of the danger that menaced the
Union. The conviction became general that
compromise had run its course; that those who
were SO mercenary and imperi0us were no
longer fit to rule the Nation, and that, if neces-
sary to their subsection, 1t would be best to de-
stroy the cause.
This sentiment continued TO grow, and, taken
In connection with the fact that the great
profits flowing from slave labor went into the
Golfers Of foreign manufacturers, became so
prevalent as to menace the institution. Per
ceiving this, the Southern leaders intrenched
themselves behind the judiciary, forgetting or
refusing to recognize the more potent fact that
the people were the sovereign power, and hoping,
with much reason, that in the event of a clash
they would receive recognition from across the
water. We all remember how nearly this hope
on their part came being realized. To the labor
ing classes at the North il seemed to make
little or no difference. At the South the "poor
white trash" were so ignorant as TO economic
questions and so subservient to the ruling class
that they were easily led TO believe themselves
meuaced by interference with slavery,
and as consequence about fve-sixths of the
Confederate army were on-slaveholders; so
that it was literally the rich mans war and
the poor-man's fight" so far as the South was
concerned. 1t was providential that We were
defeated at Bull Run, and that the South did
not take advantage of the peace overtures, or
President Lincoln's 100 days grace. III she had
it would only have postponed the conflict, which
was inevitable. / am glad it is over, and not
sorry nor ashamed of having participated in it;
but am concerned over the studied effort to
defeat at the ballot box in the South what they
failed TO defeat on the field of battle.-H.
CHURNLEY, Co. G, ID Tenn.