Hillsborough (NC) Recorder
June 12, 1861
Page 1
From
the London
Times, 9th May
THE SOUTH
INVINCIBLE—THE WAR WITHOUT AN OBJECT
We
on this side are disposed to take a very grave and dispassionate view of the
American quarrel. If we were somewhat
indignant at the fell celerity with which the seceding States rushed into
violence, perhaps we have also begun to suspect that in the cause they were
ready to maintain unto death there might not be more than we had thought
of. So we wish it were possible that England
or some other Power might arbitrate in this unnatural conflict, and we all feel
sure that the matter might be arranged.
People are apt to think so in a quarrel which is not their own. In this case there are suggestions so
obvious, as they seem to us, that they have only to be offered and they are
sure to be adopted. A reference, a
terrible division at once, a mixed commission—anything seems better than the
barbarous ordeal of mutual destruction in order to find out, not which is most
in the right, but which is the strongest.
But vain our compassion and our wishes.
America
has declared, and no one can doubt it, that she will not abide the arbitration
of any Power, much less one of the Old World. But what if some happy suggestion might be
wafted across the ocean, or some scheme of settlement which might seem an
inspiration from above? Even this is
impossible. Any comment or advice that
can be made on the existing state of affairs, whatever that is, cannot arrive
in the States earlier than twenty days?
The fortress may have surrendered, the city may have opened its gates,
the fleet may have been wrecked, or some one of the chief actors in the
sanguinary piece may have been suddenly eliminated from the scene. Who, then, can guess the state of things now,
though it be only thirteen days since the last bulletin from the seat of
war? What flag waves over the
Capitol? How many ships survive the
Federal Government? What is the number
of the Seceding States? How have the
Northern Generals kept up the communications between Washington and their basis of
operations? Yet, if we are wholly in the
dark upon any or all of these points, our wishes for peace must be the haziest
of all idle sentiments, open even to the suspicion of absolute unreality.
What
have we, then, to do but to watch and see the issue of these “fell incensed
points of mighty opposites!” Since it
must be, let us note the providential uses hidden in this calamity. Is not this a necessary passage in the
history of the nation? There are few
great rivers that have not at some period of their course to struggle through
the gorges of a mountain chain, in which they seem almost to reappear in ampler
channels and more abundant streams. It
used to be said that every nation must go through the feudal state, or show for
ages the effect of an imperfect education like unhappy Ireland; and it
has been added that where this discipline was wanting, the chivalry of war
might do the work. War, it has been
said, takes up nations as the drill sergeant takes up the war recruit, and
teaches them grace, harmonious movement, and mutual consideration. The army, say parents, is the best school for
manners. The sight of the battlefield
has chastened the ambition even of Emperors.
You may tell the man who has been in a great battle. He will not talk of war, of wounds, or dread
artillery, and the sword’s edge quite so glibly as other people. Like Dante, “he has seen hell.” Recollections haunt his mind, and special
images rivet his gaze. This is not the
man to carry about with him a secret armory of destruction, and to rush into
any quarrel, simply because he is prepared.
May we not perceive in this awful conflict the appointed means for
chastening the quarrelsome spirit of the Americans, for elevating self-defence [sic] into a public principle, and for changing the
brave into a soldier? All American has
been long playing at war. Such a game
ought to have a touch of seriousness, and seriousness is not to be obtained
without suffering and cost. One thing is
certain—America
was never likely to be taught her duty by England, or any neighbor in the Old World. We have
been too anxious to avoid a quarrel with this infant terrible, who would be certain to inflict more damage on us
than the quarrel was worth. America is now
supplying for herself the missing part of her education.
Thus
far the war is one out of all precedent and beyond all calculation. At this moment it is impossible to say what
is its object, and how it is to be conducted.
The reduction of the Seceding States is an almost inconceivable
idea. The territory is immense, the
country difficult, the climate unhealthy, and the population twelve
millions. Even if we could suppose a
Republican army of 50,000 men making good its passage from Baltimore to the Gulf of
Mexico, in the face of every difficulty, several such armies might
accomplish the feat, and yet leave the question as they found it. The effect, and even the possibility of a
blockade, a stoppage of supplies, or an embargo upon duties, has yet to be
seen. As for the slave population there
is not the smallest symptom of their disaffection, or of their wish to leave
their masters en masse. Here and there it is likely enough that a
sullen slave who has quarreled with his master or one who really is in the hand
of a tyrant, or one conscious of a figure and qualities worthy of freedom, may
be ready to seize an opportunity of escape.
But the present is an affair, not of individuals, but of millions. So what chance is there of any result to be
obtained from the war, unless the possession of the capital be a result worth
considering? That, in fact, is the
contest at this moment. It is a contest for the dead body of Patroclus; for the Holy Places; for a name, for a prestige,
for a reality. If we suppose the
Northern States victorious in several battles, they are left with 30,000 men in
possession of a worthless site in an enemy’s country. While these 30,000 are locked up there, and
sustained by immense efforts and at an intolerable expense, the Southern States
may be steadily pursuing their own course of secession, self-government and
consolidation. With the single exception
of the Capitol, not a fort, not an arsenal, not a yard, not a ship, not a bit
of wood or stone will be left the Federal Government in the Seceding
States. If, too, their commerce should
be at the mercy of the Northern privateer, that is a game in which the
Northerners have the most to lose and the balance must be ever against the
richer. The Government now at Washington, if still
there, and, if it be there, supposing it still free to act, must have these
considerations before it. We know not
how it can escape the conclusion that such a war is contrary to the very rules
of war, seeing that it has no object. A
day may throw light on the struggle and show that the vast efforts of the
Northern States are not to be lavished in vain and all that noble blood spent
like water. We only reason upon what we
see and know, and we are driven to the conclusion that thus far these thirty
millions of our own flesh and blood are fighting for a shadow.
