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It will be observed by the [date?] at its close, that this
communication was written on the 11th of May. But it was doubted whether the public mind was then in a condition to receive so much truth so plainly spoken, and therefore the publication of the article has been deferred till the present time. For the Journal of Commerce.
SOME REASONS WHY I AM OPPOSED TO THE PRESENT WAR.
First.-Because war is, at best, a terrible necessity,
not to be resorted to until all amicable means of settling national difficulties have been exhausted.
It is well known that ever since the election of Mr.
Lincoln, the Republican party has resisted every prac- tical suggestion in favor of peace that has been offered.
Toward the close of the last session of Congress,
when a final effort was made in the Senate on behalf of the Crittenden resolutions, the motion was defeated, one of the Senators, I think his name is Hale, saying, "We have more important business on hand, -we have a Tariff to [pass?]."
Second.-Because it is a civil war, of all wars the
most cruel and exhausting, and the most repugnant to the sentiments of the present age.
Third.-Because, if successful, it must be over the
ruins of the Republic. We shall have a government, but it will not be the government of the United States.
It is an abuse of terms to speak of a Union on com-
pulsion, "a union of equals," consisting of conquerors and conquered ; besides a government asserted by force,, must be maintained by force ; and the power necessary to hold in subjection one half of the country, is a standing menace to the liberties of the remainder.
Fourth.-Because it cannot succeed. Eight millions
of free people, inhabiting such a country as they pos- sess, accustomed to the use of arms, fighting, as they verily believe, for their lives and for all that makes life precious, cannot be conquered.
Fifth.-Because we enter upon it without the moral
support of the great Christian nations of the earth ; and in prosecuting it are very likely to embroil our- selves with them.
Sixth.-Because war will not settle our difficulties ;
it will only aggravate them. We shall have to nego- tiate sooner or later, and had better do so at the thresh- old of a bitter war than at its close.
Seventh.-Because of the spirit of lawlessness and
ferocity it is creating. The hand of the dial seems to have gone three centuries backward since this war com- menced.
Eight.-Because of the conditions on which it is
waged : submission or extermination.
Ninth.-Because it will promote the unfriendly de-
signs of our great foreign rival in trade and power.
Tenth.-Because it wil prove ruinous to the city of
New York, and highly injurious to the country at large. It will load the country with a heavy national debt ; withdraw the strength of our population from the pur- suits of peaceful industry to a life of high excitements and irregularities ; drive our commerce from the seas, or send it skulking under convoy ; the healthful chan- nels of enterprise and profit will be choked up ; the capital of the country will be hoarded or absorbed by the government for warlike uses ; consumers and idlers will be multiplied, producers will be diminished ; prop- erty will depreciate in value ; the hard-earned credit and wealth of years will vanish away ; there will be a general bankruptcy ; all classes will suffer ; and the poor and vicious will be greatly increased. Such are some of the followers in the train of this war. How greatly will these evils be multiplied and aggravated, in case the war should fail of its object.
Eleventh.-Because of its tendency to demoralize the
government, and make it one stupendous jobbing con- cern for the benefit of contractors and their confed- [ersies?].
Twelfth.-Because the Declaration of Independence
asserts the right of a people "to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them." "That Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was in- stituted, it is the right of the people to alter and abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its founda- tion in such principles and organizing its powers in such form as shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
When New York [rutified?] the Constitution, she ex-
pressly reaffirmed those principles, and further said, "That the powers of the Government may be reas- sumed by the people whenever it shall become necessary for their happiness;" the [rutifications?] of Rhode Island and of Virginia are to the same effect. These express conditions apply to all the States, for all are equal.
Thirteenth.-Because this government was founded
on voluntary consent ; to assume that it must be main- tained by force, is to admit that it is a failure.
Fourteenth.-Because, in waging it, we as a people,
[?] ourselves in all our pretensions to the right and capacity of self-government. We vindicate the pretensions of Great Britain in her attempts to coerce the Colonies and maintain her government. We make our forefathers traitors, and the Declaration of in- dependence the round robin of a nest of conspirators against law, order and government.
It makes a world of difference whether we run with
the hare, or hunt with the hounds.
Fifteenth.-Because it is not, as some suppose, a war
to sustain our government, but a war to compel other States, our equals, to continue members of a govern- ment they do not choose to have.
Sixteenth.-Because it is a war for supremacy, and
not for the Constitution; a war of desperation, and not of hope.
Thousands in the land believed that when Mr. Lin-
coln was elected, the Union was lost. Subsequent events confirmed those apprehensions; but only of late has the heavy truth struck home. We begin to realize the loss. Our commercial position, if not our very ex- istence, threatened by protection at the North, and free trade at the South, our national pretensions humbled, our visions of unbounded greatness rudely dispelled; our prosperity turned to adversity; on all skies baffled and perplexed, we yield to our passions, fly to arms, and seek those desperate courses, "which, if not victory, are yet revenge."
Seventeenth.-Because it is inexpedient; and, excuse
me for saying it, unnatural. Instead of making the best of our misfortunes, we are making the worst of then. Wisdom, true patriotism, high conduct, the re- spectable opinion of mankind, religion, all tell us : "Let these people go." Protest, if you please,(saying nothing of your own share in the business), in terms of rhetoric the most dignified and touching, against the course they have taken, and the ruin they have accomplished; but let them go; your father fought the battles of the Revo- lution shoulder to shoulder with their father; the ashes of your dead mingle in the soil of every State from Maine to California; your sons have taken of their daughters to wife, and their sons have taken of your daughters to wife; ye are brethren; ye have been bap- tized with the same baptism.- have wept at the same graves.
"And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife I pray
the, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brethren : Is not the whole land before [thee?] ? Separate thyself I pray thee from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, the I will go to the left."
Are not these imperative considerations? Let us
submit to them gracefully, and put aside the arms of [fratricklal?] strife. It was [Moloch?], that bloody [deity?], who "rather than be less,
Cared not to be at all."- The sentiment was worthy of the soil. True courage
speaks a different language. Let us take counsel of sound policy and deliberate judgement, and turn from the rash conclusion of fanaticism and resentment; let us be friends, serviceable neighbors, if we cannot be fellow- citizens. If the Union is to be saved, it is not to be saved by force. If the Union be lost, it is nevertheless in our power to become close allies, and to stand before the world as one people, a mighty nation.
Let the most [?] mind, the liveliest imagina-
tion, endeavor to pierce the future of a contrary course, and it will vainly strive to fathom an abyss unfathom- able, of woe and desolation which no pen can describe.
Eighteenth.- I oppose this war because it is a war of
sections : the North against the South, the stronger against the weaker, the majority in arms to compel the minority in arms to resist. In this onnection it ceases to be a question of slavery, pro or con.,;-or any other question save this,-the right of States satisfied with the Union to compel dissatisfied States to abide by the Union, nolens volens. As I am con- vinced that a solution of this question by a resort to force was not in the bargain, and know that a suggestion to that effect was promptly rejected by the framers of the Constitution, I am obliged to op- pose this war.
Nineteenth.-I oppose this war because there is no
law authorizing it. These armies operating in the field; this great increase to the standing force of our national defense; this extensive sea coast and river blockade; the invasion of States, the suspension of the writ of Habe- as Corpus; the seizure and confiscation of private prop- erty by military force ; citizens taken by soldiery and put under martial arrest for trial, for speaking treason ; the [provost?] marshal superseding the sheriff; and the drum [head?] taking the place of the jury box ; these and many other [sets?] of like character,done by the President, or under his authority, are wholly without warrant in law. George Washington was for some time Dictator, because Congress made him such. This case is without a precendent, but it makes one. When arbitrary power can be so readily assumed, all of the liberties of the peo- ple are in danger. The plea of necessity draws the sword on our adversary to-day ; the like plea may turn it on ourselves to-morrow.
Twentieth.-I oppose this war because it is the war of
the Abolitionists and of the Republican party.
By the strongest appeals to our patriotism the nation-
al sentiment has been thoroughly roused ; the whole North is in [army?], and eager for battle to sustain the government. Who does not know that all this excite- ment and preparation is for the [especial?] benefit of a certain portion of the community; in short, of those very people who after years of toil and preparation have succeeded in bringing their pleasant tragedy before the public, and who, safe behind the scenes, now chuckle over the felicitous development of the plot, and the wonderful success of the piece? Yes! the impending crisis.-the irrepressible conflict,-the long-expected day, has at length come; "Blow ye the trumpet, blow, and proclaim liberty throughout the land."
Those quandam champions of free speech and a free
press, suddenly converted into blazing patriots, glow with pious heat against all freedom save their own.- Those who differ with them are traitors; to oppose them is treason. In the name of the Union they have be- trayed, of the Constitution they have disregarded, and of the laws they have insolently defied, those model citizens now demand of us, and of all men, to march for them to their tune of the Union, and wage their war [of?] extermination.
I will yield to no man in my love for the Union.-
[Heretofore?], with my humble pen, to the best of my ability, I have endeavored to serve it. I am not now to be driven from well considered opinions, by the [clamors?] or the threats of those very people who have done so much to overthrow our government and dis- honor our flag. If then thousand lives could give peace to this distracted land, and restore our glorious old Union, cheap indeed, would be the purchase, and happy, thrice happy, those patriots on whom the lot should fall. However much or little I may presume to share in these sentiments, I make bold to say, that I will not, under any pretense, aid or countenance the abominable projects of those, who, having hunted the Union to death, now hound us on to her bloody obse- quies, and of general ruin. L.S.
NEW YORK, MAY 11, 1861.
