affirm who ought to know better: he simply accepted a war already begun, during the administration of his predecessor. So far as the insurgents are concerned, he found the country in a state of war. Having called for 75,000 troops to defend the Capital, he convened the Congress of the United States, to prepare for the appalling struggle thus forced upon the people. Warmeasures were speedily adopted ; and the nation, as yet unskilled in the art of war, and with no adequate apprehension of the greatness of the work, committed her life and her fortunes to the God of battles. She resolved to put down this rebellion by military force. This is the precise thing which she announced to the world, and to which she committed herself before all mankind. For a little more than three years the Government has been actively engaged in carrying out this decree. Large sums of money have been expended, and a great many lives sacrificed ; and still, the war problem has not yet reached its final solution. The work is still on hand, to be prosecuted or abandoned. THE MORAL NATURE OF THE STRUGGLE. It is then perhaps a good time to submit the following question to our consciences, and to our God : Did the nation do right, did the President do right, and did Congress do right, in accepting the military issue in the circumstances now recited ? Was it right to attempt the forcible suppression of this rebellion ? I thought so at the time ; and I still think so. I know, that there are some so called Peace-men, who cry for peace on almost any terms, who denounce the war on the part of the Government as cruel and wicked, who have done their utmost to embarrass the Administration in its prosecution, who have used even the harp of a thousand strings with which to play all the tunes of a croaker, some of whom though gentle as lambs towards the rebellion, are very belligerent towards the Government, These persons, in my judgment, are either traitors at heart, or do not correctly apprehend the true nature of this contest. What then is its nature, considered in a moral point of view ? To this question I give a two-fold answer : First, on the part of the Rebels it is treason^ open, malignant
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=