Year: 1862

The course of the public sentiment of this
nation for the last eighteen months. or since
the breaking. out of the slave rebellion, af-
fOrds much matter tor instructive and curl
ous reflection 1t is not of the history mere
ly ofthe war that we are tospeak bat rather
of the lessons which that history teaches, and
has taught.


When the first act of war was perpetrated
by the mad incendiaries of the slave States.
wLodeterm;ned to pull down our temple, even
if they perished in its ruins, sooner than per-
nit themselves to be turned out of cosy rest
ing places, in which it would seem that they
nestled by hereditary right, the public SEN
timent of the country was far from being in
Il sound or safe condition. Ii was corroded
and weakened by long quiet and prosperity,
and it may be that it was corrupted by the
familiar and fragrant delinquencies of those
who had managed the power of the nation for
many years. 1t is to be remembered and
admitted henceforth that those in place are
teachers as well as rulers that extending
from them downwards, and permeating and
coipring to the remotest verge, our society,
their example viii affect the people for good
or i'll. Corrupt rulers, corrupt the ruled. Sin
in high places is copied and emulated in low
places. So degrading in its effects on the
public mind had the influences of Buchan.
ans administration operated. that it was
doubtful, even down to the bombardment of
Fort Sumter, and perhaps oven after that, if
our nation could rise with the occasion, and
grapple with the events of the new era then
born. Thus. at that time men in high places
threw obstacles in the way of the nation when
it made feeble efforts towards vindicating the
insults heapcd upon it. Thus, organs of
public oninion could be heard clamoring for
peace and separation, while yet the wrongs
were unavenged, and the insults uneffaced.
That mass of people who had lived beyond
the range of the CORFU pting influences which
emanated from Washington city, understood
their dignity and responsibility however bet
ter, and it is TO them that the credit is to be
given for the attempt that is being made to



keep this nationality in its proper place be-
fore the world Another lesson worth re-
membering is derivable from this fact. When
the President at first called for seventy five
thousand men to defend the national capital
from invasion md destruction, multitudes
stood aghast at the idea Of such an army
Those who have clamored for peace, ever
since they brought on the war. picked
up Constitution which they never respected,
and nervously sought for proof that the Pres
idont had no right to repel blow aimed at
the nations heart. unless it was done in
strict accordance with the Kentucky and
Virginia resolutions Of '9S, holdingit to be
vastly better that the country should perish,
than for it to.be saved in a way contrary to
any one. of the various meanings of this Del
rhian aracle. That was an era of constitu-
tional disquisition, to be sure!


Many good men at that time could not see
the necessity of such q force. Many were
nervous and superstitious about the eonstitu
tional rights of these brothers of ours in arms
against US, and were all the time dlsmai!y
pouring into the nations ear a monotonous
croak about so fighting that no rebellious fel-
low citizen should be hpr.. The war, how
ever. assumed its natural and unavoidable
proportions, and who is not proud to see how
our people have risen with the occasions, have
equaled all emergencies, until to- day they
- Il -.
even if to do it one half becomes wilderness
untenanted by any living thing! The insti
tuition of slavery? If it opposes in any way
the march of our armies, If it affords in any
form an aid or comfort to our enemies. 1t
that dav perishes fromshe land, The people
are prepared to go. any length necessary to
save the country. and lat no man mistake the
scope of this sentiment.