Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
History
Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
In that terrific vision of hell, seen by the poet Dante, those who had
betrayed country, freedom, were visited by the most awful sufferings,
pursued by the most vengeful fiends, and pushed to the most dire
extremity of woe. Among the pale, haunted, shrieking shades flitting
through that limbo of horrors, they were conspicuous in punishment. And
if remorse is in reality the undying worm, the quenchless fire of that
future state which recompenses for the deeds of this, surely the traitor
to this good, free Government will be made to experience its unmeasured
horrors. The salvation of our country, then, and its position and
influence as one of the family of nations, depend on its return to, and
its enforcing of, those fundamental principles of freedom, moral right,
and justice which underlie our system, and for the most part form our
superstructure. Ours is the moral lever that is to move the world, if we
will have it so. If we lose our moral prestige we are nothing. We have
the best Government in the world, but it has, since the time of the
fathers, for the most part, been the worst administered. Instead of
being made to work in the interest of freedom, the opposite has been the
fact, and the whole influence and patronage of the Government for years
have been in favor of the slave element. Prior to the incoming of the
present Administration, this gradual deterioration in the animus of the
Federal Government had culminated in a condition so disgraceful and
shameful, that it is enough to dye the cheek of any honest man with red,
only to think of it. It was time, if ever, for the climax to be put upon
it all, and now it will be a thing to give endless thanks for, if enough
virtue and manliness and true patriotism are left in the loyal States to
bring the nation, under God, safely through the troubles and disasters
into which its supineness, its temporizing and subserviency to wrong
have led it.
Oh, could I speak with the convincing tones of a prophet or an angel,
instead of the weak voice of a woman, I would make myself heard
throughout the length and breadth of the land by every man, of whatever
caste or color, whatever birth or tongue, whatever nationality or
political creed, North, East, West, South, and especially this great
West, of which I am so proud and confident, and would say to them:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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