It is easy
to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be
sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. Yet, all being for the
Union, by reason of these differences each will prefer a different way
of sustaining the Union. At once sincerity is questioned, and motives
are assailed. Actual war coming, blood grows hot, and blood is spilled.
Thought is forced from old channels into confusion. Deception breeds and
thrives. Confidence dies and universal suspicion reigns. Each man feels
an impulse to kill his neighbor, lest he be first killed by him. Revenge
and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may be among
honest men only. But this is not all. Every foul bird comes abroad and
every dirty reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. Strong
measures deemed indispensable, but harsh at best, such men make worse by
maladministration. Murders for old grudges, and murders for pelf,
proceed under any cloak that will best cover for the occasion. These
causes amply account for what has occurred in Missouri, without
ascribing it to the weakness or wickedness of any general. The newspaper
files, those chroniclers of current events, will show that the evils now
complained of were quite as prevalent under Fremont, Hunter, Halleck,
and Curtis, as under Schofield.
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