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Show 56 THE GOLDEN HOUR. I X. WAR FOR TilE UNION. WE are told, with a frequency and vehemence which so s1. mp1 e a pro pos·r tion could scarcely be supposed to l U . "w evoke, that " this is a war for t le 111011. e can account for the vehemence by the supposition that this sentence has a reverse side, which is, that " this is not a war for emancipation." We do not need a war for emancipation. Slavery is the creature of positive law ; it is maintainable only by systematic force. Only withdraw the positive supports of Slavery,- only let the government declare that IT will henceforth ignore the relation of 1naster and slave,-and Slavery falls by its own wejght. But has not this idea of a "war for tho Union" its comic side? I once knew of a father's whipping his child because the child did not love hirn so well as it did its nurse, and it seemed to me an odd way to cultivate filial affection ; but is it not so that we arc recovering unity with the South ? If that Union had not been already dead, surely we have sent artillery enouO'h down there to have killed it several times. 0 Whether we shall succeed with our ar1ns or not, it would be a corpse that we conquered, gal vauize it as we might. My theory of General ~1c0lellan is, that he has just sense enough to see that, the object as- , WAR FOR THE UNION. 57 signed being: to restore tl U · ....., 10 111011 , tho more he should fight, the less Union he would have · lie 11 au,, prob a-bly concluded that harrnony was more likely to COine by his sitting on tho P oton1ac and waiting for it to turn up ; and he miiTht have boon s"tt' tl . . b (. 1 1ng 1crc still 1f tho country had not boon of a dicr0 t · · w ron opu11on. Andy Johnson goes to Tonne ·s ec ' ai1d p 1e a d s wr. t1 1 that people to see that tho old Union is re-established in that State, and his loading argurncnt to thcln is that Slavery, now in a precarious condition, will thoroby be secured more fir1uly than e"lre1~ I tl • • • ( y • n 10 present representative po rL1on of l\fr · Jo11115011 , we 1nus t con-clude that our govcnnncnt would be on1 y t oo 1H lppy to clasp tho broken arch ·with the old key ·tone which has ju ·t crumbled. But there arc two cia.· ·cs in this cot~ntry,. either of which holds tho balance of power, wh1ch w1ll take care that no such reunion takes place. One class resides in the Cotton ,._ tates. The Cabinet need never hold any love-feasts for J off and his companions. In Irelan(}, ·where the priest pray OYer the little fields of tho pea ·an Ll'y to assi. t their fertility, a priest once can1c to a particularly barron and. harcl-looking patch of grouncl, and sa.icl, " Brethren, there's no usc in praying here ; this needs rnanurc." I tl1ink ·when Father Abraharn looks over tho fence of the Cotton States, if he over docs, he will con1c to a similar conclusion about tho efficacy of pa.rclonillg grace. The other cla. s which, should tho South subn1it to-morrow, wonlcl prevent any return to tho olu 3* |
