were made Presidents, now a man's capacity
for the office seems to depend on the meanness of his intellect & the
_number of rails he can split in a day_. And so great were his "maul &
wedge" propensities that he withheld not his hand from splitting the
Tree of Liberty. But let us inquire upon which side "_humanity_" stands
in this contest. You complain much of several (local) depredations
com^td by South on private _boats_ &c. I ask, in candor, if it was not
in retaliation for like outrages com^td by the North. I am certain as
to its being so in several cases. The very 1st boat thus ill-treated
was one belonging to the South on its way down the Miss. & attacked at
Cairo. To retaliate they determined to attack _North^en boats coming up
the river_. And what have your noble _Ohioans_ done lately & repeatedly
with our _Ka._ boats at _Gallipolis_? Thrice have they overhauled the
same boat and twice kept every pound of freight on her timbers. But
this is not all; your _humane Lincoln_ has closed the Southern ports, &
is daily _robbing vessels_ on their way in & out of the same. During
the last week he stole $150,000 worth of Southern Tobacco, & thus the
programme continues. _Very humane indeed!_ Again, he is _no invader!_
No indeed! by no means! yet hundreds of Citizens are now fleeing from
Wheeling, & other towns invaded, for personal safety. Scarce a day
passes but some one stops here who has thus escaped. If they remain on
their own soil and round their proper hearthstone the (very) humane
doom of a murderer awaits them! The North don't intend to make invasion
at all, yet _4000 F^l_ troops are now in _Parkersburg_, breaking up
printing presses, putting innocent people in jail, and doing other
_humane_ acts, "too numerous to mention." According to my letter from
Father I understand they don't have the first principles of _Civilized
warfare_--they intend to _hang_ all their prisoners. Oh! _humanity!_
HUMANITY!

And now that we have seen that neither Reason, Justice, nor Humanity is
on the side of the North, let us look at the subject in the light of
_Expediency_, admitting, for the sake of argument the while, that it
_were_ right or just to wage the war. And viewing it from this
standpoint, we ask, what does the North expect to _gain_ by it? Does
there live a man so lost to reason & common sense as to imagine that
the Union of the seceded States with the N.S. can ever be effected
again? _And if it could be done by force_, ho