The Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No. V, May, 1863 | Page 5

the
lamented Governor Harvey of Wisconsin, who lost his life in the same
service--that where public good is to be done, the State should be
worthily and effectively represented by her chief executive officer.
There on the spot, trusting to no hearsay, Mr. Yates, while distributing
the bounteous stores of which he was the bearer, ascertained by actual
observation the condition and wants of the troops, and at once set about
devising measures of relief. After Shiloh, that Golgotha of our brave
boys, the Governor organized a large corps of surgeons and nurses, and
went himself to Pittsburg Landing to find such suffering and such
destitution as ought never to exist on the soil of our bounteous land,
under any possible conjuncture of circumstances, however untoward
and unprecedented. Without surgeons or surgical appliances, without
hospital supplies, and, above all, worse than all, without SYSTEM,
there lay the defenders of our national life, their wounds baking in the
hot sun, worms devouring their substance while yet the breath of life
kept their desolate hearts beating. Doing all that could be done on the
spot, and bringing away all who could be brought, the Governor
returned, sending the adjutant-general back on the same errand, and
going himself a second time as soon as a new supply of surgeons and
sanitary stores, contributed by private kindness, could be got together.
And so on, as long as the necessity existed. The great expenses
involved in the relief and transportation of many thousands of sick and
wounded, expenses unusual and not provided for by law, were gladly
borne by the State, and careful provision was made against the
recurrence of the evil. May our Heavenly Father in His great mercy so
order the future as to make these preparations unnecessary, wise and
humane though they be! Says Governor Yates:
'I have hope for my country, because I think the right policy has been
adopted. There remains but one other thing to make my assurance
doubly sure; and that is, I want to see no divisions among the friends of
the Union in the loyal States. Could I know that the people of the Free
States were willing to ignore party, and resolved to act with one
purpose and one will for the vigorous prosecution of the war and the
restoration of the Union, then I should have no doubt of a happy end to
all our difficulties. * * *

'If the members of this General Assembly, and the press and people of
Illinois, in the spirit of lofty patriotism, could lay aside everything of a
party character, and evince to the country, to our army, and, especially
to the secession States, that we are one in heart and sentiment for every
measure for the vigorous prosecution of the war, it would have a more
marked effect upon the suppression of the rebellion than great victories
achieved over the enemy upon the battle field. For, when the North
shall present an undivided front--a stern and unfaltering purpose to
exhaust every available means to suppress the rebellion, then the last
prop of the latter will have fallen from under it, and it will succumb and
sue for peace. Should divisions mark our councils, or any considerable
portion of our people give signs of hesitation, then a shout of exultation
will go up, throughout all the hosts of rebeldom, and bonfires and
illuminations be kindled in every Southern city, hailing our divisions as
the sure harbingers of their success. We must stand by the President,
and send up to him, and to our brave armies in the field, the support of
an undivided sentiment and one universal cheer from the masses of all
the loyal States. The stern realities of actual war have produced
unanimity among our soldiers in the army. With them the paltry
contests of men for political power dwindle into insignificance before
the mightier question of the preservation of the national life. Coming
into closer contact with Southern men and society, the sentiments of
those who looked favorably upon Southern institutions have shifted
round. They have now formed their own opinions of the proper
relations of the Federal Government to them, which no sophistry of the
mere politician can ever change. Seeing for themselves slavery and its
effects upon both master and slave, they learn to hate it and swear
eternal hostility to it in their hearts. Fighting for their country, they
learn doubly to love it. Fighting for the Union, they resolve to preserve,
at all hazards, the glorious palladium of our liberties.
'I believe this infernal rebellion can be, ought to be, and will be
subdued. The land may be left a howling waste, desolated by the
bloody footsteps of war, from Delaware bay to the gulf, but our
territory shall remain unmutilated--the