Year: 1862

/ From the Richmond Examiner, Sept. -


This is a question ottener ask
ed than answered We have
been asked the question repeat
edly, but If any one should ask US
"When will the war end?" we
should be just as able to give an
opinion. Oar conviction is that
a good many people will come to
an end before the war does, and
that in a like manner the war will
/ finish off a good many before it is
finished itself. This is a somber
view of the future, but we wish
we could see any streaks of light
10 indicate the dawn OF day.


The only way that the war
can end is by the exhaustion OF
the North or the determination
of the South. The North has
deteruIned to subjugate us. 1t
gives us only this Alternative
"The Union or DEATH" That,
in sum and substance, is all that
its most conservative politicians
propose. 1t is invain that some
OF them deny the cruel determin-
alton that we have indicated. Is
there one Of them, conservative
/ Republican or conservative


Democrat, who will proclaim
that he prefers the sacrifice of the
"UnlOn" to the determination of
the South? The Union is the
god of all parti es alike, except
the ultra Abolitionists, who,
strange to say, are the only men
in the North willing to ''let it
slide" The war haS been car
ried on from the beginning by the
conservative classes, and scarce
" an AbolItioniSt is to be found
in It's armies. If tue Union
sentiment" which so pervades
the North were genuine patriot
ism, we might nave some hope
of Its abatement; or, ii it were
mere fapaticiSm. the grab Of pas
sion might howl itself out; but it
is the practical, substantial grief
of gold, which will never let 90
It's gri p as long as life remains.
The North Is fighting only for
the Southern trade and com


merce, but to make the South pay
the erroneous debt accumulated
in this war. Not only this, but
it is fighting for It's very being.
The idea is common that 1t Is the
South alone which is cOntendlng
tor national existence. But it
the North ultimately fails in this
war she will fall as fast and far
as Luciler in his descent from
heaven. The brightest jewels OF
her crown wrested from her grasp,
the chief sources of her revenue
withdrawn, and national debt
half As large as that Of England
piled upon her shoulder; her cit
les silent, her harbors deserted,
her manufactures silent, her
military capacities so paalyized
that she can neither command re-
spect abroad nor insure good or
der in her own incongruou3 pop
ulation, composed of a seething
mass of the ignorant, depraved
and flnatical Of all nations, she
will cling to "the Union" and to
the war, by which only she hopes
to preserve it, as the shipwrecked
mariner clipgs to the last plank
that lies between him and the
fathomlesS depths of sternity.
We must bear these facts in
mind when we sing syren songs OF
hope, to look for a speedy peace,
and to relax the exertlOnS which
alone can save cur throats from
the throttle Of a powerful nation;
engaged in a fearful and final
struggle for life or death. We
wish we could deScry brighter
prospect, but we see no reason
for such predictions. The un-
manly expectation of foreign in
tervention which so long deluded
our people has long ago proved
an Idle dream. Europe not oaly
refuses to intervene, but rejoices
In her heart over the American
troubles, bacuase they are not ex-
hausting and rendering impotent
for injury TO the despotic Govern
mentS that continent whose tree
institutions have always kept
them in nightmare of alarm.


England, the chief instrument in
the disruption of the old Repus-
lie, preserves neutrality--that is.
she furnishes the North material
and the South moral aid; she
permits the North to purchase
material and ammunltions OF


war, which the South, by reason
of the blockade, is only partially
able TO do; and she praises the
SOu.h for its military nroUess