American literature; Pierce, Franklin, 1804-1869; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
I am sorry for them, though it is by no means a sorrow without hope.
Since the matter has gone so far, there seems to be no way but to go on
winning victories, and establishing peace and a truer union in another
generation, at the expense, probably, of greater trouble, in the present
one, than any other people ever voluntarily suffered. We woo the South
“as the Lion wooes his bride;” it is a rough courtship, but perhaps love
and a quiet household may come of it at last. Or, if we stop short of
that blessed consummation, heaven was heaven still, as Milton sings,
after Lucifer and a third part of the angels had seceded from its golden
palaces,--and perhaps all the more heavenly, because so many gloomy
brows, and soured, vindictive hearts, had gone to plot ineffectual
schemes of mischief elsewhere.
[We regret the innuendo in the concluding sentence. The war can never be
allowed to terminate, except in the complete triumph of Northern
principles. We hold the event in our own hands, and may choose whether
to terminate it by the methods already so successfully used, or by other
means equally within our control, and calculated to be still more
speedily efficacious. In truth, the work is already done.
We should be sorry to cast a doubt on the Peaceable Man’s loyalty, but he
will allow us to say that we consider him premature in his kindly
feelings towards traitors and sympathizers with treason. As the author
himself says of John Brown (and, so applied, we thought it an atrociously
cold-blooded dictum), “any common-sensible man would feel an intellectual
satisfaction in seeing them hanged, were it only for their preposterous
miscalculation of possibilities.” There are some degrees of absurdity
that put Reason herself into a rage, and affect us like an intolerable
crime,--which this Rebellion is, into the bargain.]
ALICE DOANE’S APPEAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account