“A Mission of Humanity”
New York
Journal of Commerce, April 12, 1861
This is the term applied by the friends of war, to the
attempt to furnish Fort Sumter with supplies. It is, they say, a mission of
humanity; an attempt to relieve a band of men from the dangers of starvation.
Very well. We agree that Major Anderson and his command should
not be starved to death in that fortress, where they remain by order of the
government, doing their duty as faithful soldiers, acting under the command
of their superiors. But is this the only mode in which humanity can reach
them? And does not humanity demand also, that the terrible sacrifice of human
life which will attend a war between the North and the South,
shall be avoided? Humanity indeed!! That is a singular order of humanity which
is shocked at the prospective hunger of an hundred men in a strong fortress,
but demands the sacrifice of an hundred thousand on the battle field.
We express no opinion whether the effort to provision and
reinforce Fort Sumter, will prove successful. That is a point upon which military
men differ, and we await the result of the experiment, if it must be made,
with feelings of the most intense anxiety, not alone on account of the few
men who are there, but for the higher and overshadowing reason, that the opening
of the contest there, must, according to all human expectation, be the signal
for a general war between the North and the South. That we deprecate, as the
worst of all calamities; and we doubt whether it is an act of humanity to
persist in a policy which shall produce such a conflict.
We are aware that opinions differ as to the responsibility
for such a result; that in one section of the country it will be charged upon
the seceders, and in another upon the Administration.
If any good result could come of using force against the seceded States, there
might be a plausible reason for its exercise. As it is, the most cogent argument
we have heard is, that we shall thus determine “whether we have a government.”
With all respect for those who feel solicitude on that point, we suggest that
one thing is likely to be demonstrated, viz., that we have not, and in the
event of the subjugation of the Southern States, are not likely to have, such
a government, as the Constitution contemplates, or such as our fathers understood
to be instituted, when the Union was formed. The Government then established,
was a Government of equals, in which all the States would perform willing
parts. The one which our warlike friends, represented (it seems) by the Lincoln
Administration, would prove to exist, is a government
of force, where a majority of States, or of the Representatives, as the case
may be, shall hold the minority in subjection to their will. If it is to demonstrate
this fact, that war is to be precipitated upon the country, then we doubt
whether the motive is one of humanity—much less of right.
