| OCR Text |
Show 118 THE GOLDEN IIO R. leaf fell. " An attack from the eneruy is momenta. rily expected" : \Ve waited, and it carne not. " .._ ccretary Deepdi ver ren1arkecl to-day, in convcl\'ation ,vith a gcnUcn1an, that the country ·would be gra,ti flcd by 'Lirring news in ten days" : tw nty pa . ' anu not a stir. The nation arraigned this ·hunbcr of their military energies, and has a\vaitcd the plea of its co1nn1audcr . Thoughtless nation, your co1n1nandcrs had a very sufficient plea. They slept bccan ·c the nation slept. Their eyes were hcaYy because atrno.·ph ric condition: cannot be rc istcd. A certain black drug, infu.·ed into the at1no ph ere of this country, has n1auc open eyes sectional, and Sleepy Ilollow national ; an<l, as Rip Van Winkle shouted for King George before tho astonished subjects of the United tatcs, the graduates of a certain institution, undoubtedly built on the verge of lccpy llollo,v, have not yet heard that we arc no longer colonies of the South, and subjects of Slavery. General ~1c0lcllan occupied his position at tho head of the United States forces, not bccau e he had lived or served up to that po ition,- for several silly procla1nations in Western Virginia, the Poto1nac blockade, and Ball's Bluff were all on his record, and not one great deed,- but simply because, when his superiors snored, he was not so disrespectful a to keep awake. He is not a large n1an, neither is he a fool ; and he could peep through his eyelids THE GOLDEN HOUR. 119 enough to see what befell ~uch wakcfnl spirits as Premont and Lane. General ~fcClcllan wa.· not and is not a traitor ; but in this \var every pro- ·lavery heart i ·, whether conf:ciou,·ly or not, a pa.t'Lially di .! loyal heart, becau ·c it cannot po ·~ibly he awake to the real forces in this confljct. It \vas fixcu in hi . lninu that no person \vho should. slay 1nany ~ ouihcrucr. could fail to exasperate the outh, ancl both . ·ections would never unite sweetly upon any , uch man. It would have been i1npo.· ·iblc for ~IcClellan to have remained co1nn1andcr during that long inaction, if the people had not been in a ru ty, sleepy tran iLion state: when they fii'st sat up in Leu, ihcy called for sorno ·uch man as Stanton ; for the Pre idcnt is the faithful tongue of the people's wishes, however poorly he may supply their ~vants. Well, in a military sense we have waked up; but in dealing intelligently and directly with the cau 0 and support of the Rebellion we arc repeating the ~IcClcllan slumber over again. In this higher anny than the military, it would be a formidable order to have all the sentinels who sleep at their posts shot. There is our honored Pre ident, for exarnplc, none can doubt that be is wide awake before the portal of Military Opportunity; but before the open door by which our nation may pass onward to liberation fro1n all that 1nakcs war po siblc, he gi '\'"CS scarcely a s1gn. It is evident that the worthy Pre idcnt would like to have God on his side : he n~ust have Kentucky. |
