Year: 1861

Influence of War on the Character of


the Nation.


1t is the habit among us to speak of war
as, in itself, an uEmltigated evil, and to set
down the fearful struggle through which we
are now passing, as merely barbarous and
unnatural necessity. Even those who take
the strongest ground for the war. and call it
holy on the part of the Union, employ tone
which seems to imply that only the cause is
molly, not the war itself. That certain sacred
interests and instincts of the race and the
nation, have seized certain necessary but
naturally diabolcal weapons with which to
right themselves f.; that the weapons, and the
wounds Inflicted by them even in the hands
OF justice, are still wicked.


In accordance with this view it is held,
that the only benefit which can possibly
result from the war is the tinkering up again
OF the Union, and the reesta blishment of the
authority Of its Constitution and the laws
over the whole country; and that onr popu.
latlon Will be demoralized and the progress
OF civilization retarded, if not turned back,
hundred years. Thus talk not only the
designing peace men, but many of the
earnest supporters fthe Government.


To this view we object without reserve or
qualification. A just and necessary mor is no
sin at all. Its weapons, its ships its fortfi-
cations, are not more sinful than the plough
and the pruning-hook. Peace is not always
holier than war. Either may be right, either
may be wrong. Peace may sacrifice a vital
principle that only war could have saved,
and legitimate aud safe peace may only bc
possible after an honorable and just war.


Is civil Government an evil is it even
necessary evil ! Does it become such even
when it inticts its wel.meriled punishments
on offenders! Is it not n good thing when
the wicked are punished good for the hon
est members of the comnnity good for the
support of law and orderl Nay, the very
act of punishment is good. that is, it is right.
But as between the nations of the earth do
the great principles ofmorality cease to exist
when they cease TO be regarded ! Shall pun.
ishment which is morally right when inflicted
by national authority upon individuals,
become suddenly wrong when inflicted for
the same offences on communities Right
iul war is an international judiciary, where,
as in other cases the court may sometimes be
| circumvcnted, or even overturned by violence,
but where if the decision is right, all the
power at command must be used to enforce
it.


Men do not convince US that war is evil
by pointing to dcsolatcd homes and wasted
fields and smoking cities, or to commerce
aud manufactures standing stock still while
The grass grows on the wharveS and the ships
rot in the docks. Suppose it is so. Such
| pictures of ruin address themselves mainly
| to our pockets, and are, of course, the sad
dest things on earth to the genius of material
progress. They are to be avoided by every
rational and lawful means; but at the same
time material ruin may have a side of gran
deur which, when time has worn away the
smart. and history has cleared the eye, may
outshlne the most prosperous commerce and
the most prolific til.age. The sacrifices of
commerce and husbandry are nobler than its
achievements. 1t required only avarice and
enterprise to build up fortune, it calls ior
conviction, and right ht-heartcdEcss to sacrifice
1t on the altar of the country. The deserted
cottage Of u true Union man in East Tcnncs-
see, who has saved his concience at the
expense Of his property, would touch and
move you more than the most prosperous
homestead. Desolations and losses and suf-
ferings IN the cause of ones country are
evidences of the highest and truest prosper
ity of the noblest progress; and seen in this
light they blossom as the rose. This is pros
perity Of the national character, the growth
ofmoral wealth.


We have no sympathy with the fear so
frequently expressed, and still more frequent
ly implied in the exhortations of honest pco-
pie, that this war will injure either the
religion or the morality of the nation. Far
from it. This struggle is pervaded by a
great impulse of justice, right and humanity
which thrills the hearts Of all loyal people
it shakes them to the very sources of life. -
1t WHITES the good and pure afresh, turns
common virtue into heroism, and reaches
down into the very lowest. or almost the
lowest classes Of the population where justice
and right and humanity have but glmmer-
ing and shadowy exis!ance, proves the pos
sibility of virtue even there, and gives them
fresh, an appreci able lift toward the SUBJ
llmest truths.


1t is precisely because the nation is still
morally and religously alive that she is bold
enough, selfsacrificing enough to prefer war
10 an nnprincipled peace, to put down the
rebellion at the expense of her treasures, Of
the blood of her children If she had bseH
less upright, she had still been united and
outwardly prosperous. And shall d great
moral and national conviction rising to the
power Of practical and extended sacrifice of
life and property, as in this great struggle,
end in weakening nationsl morality Shall
heroic virtue bring, as its fruit, degrading
vice. Never. We do not expect the ordin-
airy laws Of social intercourse to be mlracul,