PEACE! PEACE! PEACE! BY LINDLEY SPRING. Tow beoutiful upon the mountains are the feet of hum that bringeth glad tidings that publisheth Peace.” —ISATAN, LT, V. 1. Christmas suggests our subject—¢ Peace on earth, and good will to men.” Yes! we write for Peace-—that, for This distracted and well nigh ruined land No more the thirsty Frynnis of the soil, Shall daub her lips with her own children’s blood ; No more shall trenched war channel her fields, Nor bruise her flowers with the armed hoof Of hostile paces.” With Peace we desire the restoiation of the Union, if that great blessing can yet be obtained, but we are, at all events, for Peace—an early, honorable Peace. What- cver war may accomplish for dissolution and ‘despotism, in Peace alone is there any hope for the United States of America. In this unnatural strife enough blood has been shed, enough loss and suffering inflict ed, to giut the fiercest disjosition. The power that has been exercised; the money that has been squandered ; the preferoients that have been bestowed, ought to appease the wost voracious appetite. But, © there * ‘“ which Had he lived tll our day he might have addad to the number, — are thiee things,” saith Solomon, are never satisfied.” What will abate the rapicity of an army of contractors ; the importunity of an army of placeh unters 2 What will satisfy the intol. erance of a creel faction ; the cravings of unscrupulous ambition ? We do nut propose to address any such people. Nothing ! The association would be disagreeable, and We do, with confidence, address those who refuse to bow the lator certainly wasted. down to Baal or to worship the image which set up, those who Jove the things that mske f&i Peace;” who are at heart sick of tas war; of the wickedness and competency it has dis- closed : of the profligacy and erime it has ‘engendered ; of the horrors that everywhere follow in its train, those who ara unwilling long: r to ree the country abandoned to the rainous experiments of a wild and reckless B ty; those who value the rights of an American citizen, who view thé rapid strides of Nebuchadnezzar has military despotism with jeal usy and ap- srichension: who ave unwilling that person” al liberty should avy longer be beld subject 20 the impertinent tyranny of every Jack in ‘office, or that the Bastile shoull supersede | the jury-box, and the novel pretensions of inaitial law annul toe law of the land. Against the voice of Peace a great'ontery will of course be raised hy thos: who have ‘a direct pecuniary, golitical or 2ioés inter est in prolonging the war; by those who for years, have labored to bring about the present condition of things ; by those who are at all times ready to sell our birthright, fellow-¢ ti ze - established are faiiy disclosed in the pream- ble to the Constitutior. *¢ We, the people of the United ‘States, in order to form ‘a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the cow- mon defence, promote the -general welfare. and secure the blessings of liberty to our: selves and our posterity, do ordain and. es- tablish this Constitation for the United States of America.” The preamble is as much a part of the Constitntion as any article in it. —the sacra- mental clause—the key to the whole instra- ment. It declares the objects of the Union. Those objects were the inducements to the been entered into. When those inducements fail, the contract cea:es. Let us suppose that after a full and fair trial, the Union is found not * to provide for the common defence,’ nor ‘flo promote the general welfare,” nor *“ to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- terity,” nor *‘to form a more perfect union,” must it, nevertheless, continue to bind the parties—the living to the dead ? Assuredly not. New, all or nearly all of this, is affir- med by the South against the Union. After yars of agitation and vam attewpls & be be made secure against alleged wrongs and injuries, believing that her difliculties and dangers increase continually, and that her relative means of resistance continually di minish, khe has resorted to extreme eas- ures, which all, save a wicked faction, equal. ly deplore, but which &1 are not cqually disposed to condemn. If the complaints of the South are just and resonable ; if she si cerely believes that redress and protection can be shtained wise she hag done wrong. Good faith, as parties to the contract ; the great vested in. terests of the while eauntry ; the cause of caprices ; or unreasonable complaints or dangers. substantial motives have governed the Son and directe the course she has taken 2 Wo think not. Ther: always have been and always will be, m every country, a class of yeople whose element 18 turinoil cand distraction, vain. noisy, silfish demagogues, of one idea, restless, ambitious and unserupalou per sons. whe seek to promo’e discord, srrife and revolution, that they my live and fats | ten thereby ; but all such, however import- ! ant in their eirele, club or district, | erluss agninst the basis of society, unless the popular will and interest direct the | blow. Society is no fool. Tt knows wh'n lit is well treated and where its advantage Are puw- contract, without which it would never have | { | | petty interests ; or speculative and fancifal | no faith with me, ney : | . a Ts it at all probable thet such un-| received a comwpinsation : he never enjoyed of liberty without molestation. These many years we have been intermeddiing with ther —attending to their affairs quite as ‘much as much as we have attended to our own, if not a little more. = We have given them no rest, day nor night, in their pos- sessions ; or their comfort ; or their repu- tatiun ; or their personal safety. In the proper exercise of undoabted right, we have denied, or thwarted and crossed them in ev- ery possible way. We have vexed them continually with harsh. insulting and abus- ive language, using the vilest epithets, the bitterest denunciations. Had they been a race of pirates, robbers and outlaws—the refuse of the earth, we could not have said more against them than we have said, By teachings of the pulpit, the lecture-room, the school and the fireside, a generation has been taught to hate them. It has learned the lesson well, and, in its ignorance, verily believes that Southern Chivalvy is bat an- other term for lust and cruelty. pride. arro- gance and irceligion. Could such a state of things continue forever? [Ir was impossi- ble! not stand.” The South finally concluded that, notwithstanding the sdvantages of the Union, it was not the dest government for them.. ~ "We are told that ‘“ the government dit not do these things.” A¥ tive virtues only, is but hall a government, It will not say merely, that government does no wrong. ernment of nega. it so much as that, answer to [fit is powerless to prevent wrong it is radi cally defective. A government which [fails { to secure to any portion of i 8 people, the er joyment of their material rights and inter- ests, is not a good government to them in no other way, she has done 'right—other-| whatever it may be to others. © What care T how fairshe be, Lf she be not fair to At this peint of the discussion we shall b+ freedom and *he necessities of social orler, | told that + slavery is the cause of all the forbid that any government, and especially | trouble—only dy away with that, and every- this Republican government of ours, should | thing will go we'l.” ho'd its leace of life oy the frail tenure of | might a highwaymen make the like com- ; eecause, he breaks With greater propriety plaint against my purs ave a pledge, nor my hospitali y, nor protited by my labor, vor swore eternal friendship; and finally, «A house divided against itself can- | Mr. Edmund Randolph : ‘If the National Legislature 1s to be the judge whether the State Legislature can or carnot meet, that amendment will make the clause as objec- ‘tionably as the motion of Mr. Pinckney. «Mr Morris: ‘We are acting a very strange part. We first form 2 strong man to protect us, and at the same time wish to tie his hands behind him* The Legislature may surely be trusted with such alpéwer to preserve the public tranquility. «On the motion to aid to, on the appli- cation of its Legislature,” ‘or without il when the Legislature cannot meet, it was agreed to 5 to 3. “Mr. Madisods and Mr, Dickenson moved to insert, as cxplanatory aftr;’ ‘State’ ‘against the Government theréd ; ‘there might be re ellicn against the United States,’ *Agreecd to. nem con. «On the clouse amended, the vete stood. 4 to 4—so it was lost. The delegates from Mass, and Penn. were a‘sent. On the prin- | ted Journal. Mass, is stated as havi» g voted in the negative. (Madison papers pp. 1349, 50, 51, fv. iii]) | «Mr. Dickenson Moved to stfike out on { the application of ths Legislature, against.’ | He thought it of essential importance to the | tre nquility of the United States, that’ they | should, in ull caves, suppress domestic vio- | lence which may proceed from the Legisia- | ture itself, or from disputes between the | two branches, when such exist,” On the question ayes 3. nayz 8 «Mr. Dickensen moved to insert words ‘or Exceutivel after the words, { plication of its Lagislature. 12. (Ib, pp 1846. 67 6S. | «On the question on the clause as amend- ed—axs 9 nays 2. Thé elause as adopted is as follows: { The United States shall guarantee to every | State in the Union a of | Government and shall protect each of them the ‘ap- Ayes 8, nays Republican form sngninst invasion and, on application of the Leaislaiure. or of the Erecutive, { when the { Legisle ture cannot be convene 1 acathst violence.” (See Con. U. S. Artfir, | doincs 7 See, 4 ) The Coustitntion. as odopted, was sent to | the several States for ratification. The | States called their several Conventions. In i because, you impiously réb, for ** Christ's those Conventioas the instrament was thor ! | | 1 | | 1 { i | | | | in * wal ye ne " . ! 18, for their miserable mess ef! lies. There is not an instance «f a people | African pottage. We wili not be disturbed | rising up against good government ‘and | by thar clamor, nor denunciations, <hreats, nor even by their violence. Calmly and freely we will consider the matter for ours ter us, They will bellow out ‘reason,’ Saartor,” with all the variations. Those terms have veen nite honored lately, and an honest man may now accept them with- out reproach, if not without apprehension: A good while ago, one Dr. Samuel dohnson sarcastically defined pa ristista as ¢ the last refuge of a scoundrel.” The world changes but men and morals remain substantially the same. Our accusers, having monogoliz ed a'l the patriotism of the land, share it wi h none, except their confederates and tools. << But,” say they, “lreat with rebels | — Peace with rebels! No terms for rebels, but unconditional submission!” Yes, treat ! and Peace and terms; ye lifelong rebels against God's righteous goxernment daily dependents on His gooduess and mercy, by all your hopes of salvation, yes! And ye say the Lord's Prayer, doubtless, « Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” and sing, with lifted ‘eyes, + That mercy I to others show, - That mercy show to me.” and have no fear of judgment, but thank God that ye are not as other men. +‘ Upon what meat hath this, our Cresar fed, that ho hath grown so great 1? Have ye: forgo ten +'that your father was an Aniorite, and your mother a Llrttite ;”> that ye are the children of rebels against ‘“‘the best government that ever existed 27° But *‘rebels have no rights,”* The saying is sgmewhat stale. Vattel’s comment on it is % the language of flatterers and wicked yalers |” We wili say no more lest the spir- its of our noble ancestors should be scandal- ized by the discussion. + Unconditional submission !” They would not be their father’s children should they render it; you would despise them if they did; you well know that such terms are im- possible, and therefore insist upon them. The separation from the motker country was a forced separatio , The treaty of Peace which terminate the coatest, ac. knowledged the United States, cach Slate by itself, severally named, * to be free, sov- ereign and 1odependent States.” The sub- sequent Uniop of those States, under the present Constitution, was voluntary, each S ate, in the final act of ratification, acting by itself and for itself, A compulsory Un- jon would not bave been tolerated, could not tiave been formed, I'he purposes for which that Union was hain GRA res and for those sgho are to come af-! nor | throwing it off. but there arc many instances | | of their patience and long suff ring, under | every species of bad government. = All ex- i pericnce hath shown that mankind are | i « more disposed to suffer while evils are un +t gufferable, than to right themselves by | 77 4 / {forth the forces of the Union against any | s¢ abolishing thie forms to which hey are ac- +s cus'omed.” (See Declaration of Inde pendence.) Says Alexander Hawilton, in a i speech before the New York Convention for } the ratification of the Coustitution: * We | have been told that the old Confederation | has pioved incfficacious only because in- | triguing and powerful men have been forev- + «rinstigat'ng the people, and : endering them | dissatisfied with it. This, sir, is a false in” | sinuation. The thing is impo-sible. 1 will | venture to assert that no combination of de- signing men under Heaven, will be cajable | "of making a good government unpopular.” | (Elliott’s Deb. v. 11. p 253 ) To the great mass of the sotubern people seccssion was a disagreeable step, taken re- luctantly, with a heavy heart, and 4 contin- ual hoping ‘that something might occur which would cpable them to retrece their course. Had a wise and conciliatory policy been promptly adopted, with a proper show ofistrength and resolution toprotect the right, every one of the southern States might have been trought peaceably back, and the Uni- on restored to more than its former great- nessand stabiiity. We chose a difterent method, and invoked the spuit of coercion. The first peal of an hostile bugle, as it ech- oed along the hills and valleys of Virginia, awoke the united South with a shock as in- evitable as that which flashed upon the col- onics when news ran that British troops had marched on Lexington and Concord. The first invasion of southern soil was sealed with blood ;—blcod and destruction have fllowed it ever since. Fellow-citizens, this is not the land, nor is liberty the tree to bear coercion of law. Agawst all this we hear no logical an- swer. The grand arguments : * The best government that ever existed.” So it is, for us of the Nor‘h, and always has been. We sake; hie, very d gutly. for his own, Had the people of thiscouniry always ac- knowledged the might of a S:iate to secede for cause, ay a re lutionary right: lal they reahied the j$ssibitity of such an oe- currence and the consequences of it: all, North and South, would have been under bonds 10 keep the peace, which would not have been broken, There would have been no secession. no dissolution no war The idea of sustaining the Union by force is of mcdern date. We propose briefly to examine it by the old lights ; by the author- tion, and very influential in estallishing the Government. - In the Convention, the nlan of the Consti- tution under the contained a clause authorizing the Governntent “to call diszu sion member of the Udon failing to {uliill its du- ties under the articles thereof.” When this clause came up for debate, Mr. Midison ob- served, that ‘tlie more he reflected on the use of force, the move he doubted the prac- ticability, the justice and the efficacy of it when applied (0 the people collectively and not individually ; a Union of the States con- tainitig such an ingredient, scemed to pro- vide for fts own destruction. The use of force against a State would look more hke a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment, and would probaply be considered by the par- ty attacked as a dissolution of al! compacts by which it might be boand: He had hop- ed sucha system mi. ht be framed asmight render that recourse unnecessary, and moved that the clause be postponed.” The motion was agreed to nem con. (See Mad- ison Papers, p 761, [v.11] ) By the same : *Any Government for the United States, founded on the supposed probability of using force against the uncon- stitutional proceedings of the States, would prove visionary and fallacieus as the government of congress.” (Ib, p 822, |v. ii.]) Again: “The clause to subdue the re- | bellion in any Siate, on the application of its Legislature,” ed. “Mr. Pinckney moved to strike out ‘on the application of its Legislatare., Mr, Gov- erneur Morris seconded. «Mr. Luther Martin opposed as giving a dangerous ‘and unnecessary power. The consent of the States ought to precede the introduction of any extraneous force what- ever. “Mr. Mercer supported the proposition of Mr, Martin. - «Mr. Oliver Ellsworth proposed to add- after ‘Legislature,’ « on Executive.’ was next consider- ity of the Federal Cenvention and the opin- | ions of the leading men of tha. day, who | were prominent members of that Conven- | have had peace in all our borders; domestic | «Mr. Morris . “The Executive may possi- tranquility bas been insured ; nobody has, bly be at the head of the Rebellion. . . { Mr, Ellswor:h: ‘In many caces the Gener- meddled with our affairs, or attempted 5 41 Government ought not 7 beable to inter- dictate to us what we should do or not dv. | pose, unless called upon He is wiliing to we have not been disturbed tn our persons | yary Bs Motiotl 50 as to read ‘or without it and in our property, and the highest bless-| When the Legislature cannot meet.’ ©. : . ‘Mr, Elderidge (terry was ‘against lettin ngs of liberty have been ours, fully to N= josse the myrmidons ul United States i joy, without molestation. With the people! a S:ate, without itsown consent. The States of the South it'has not been so. They have | will be the best judges in such cases,’ . not had Peace in all their borders, nor hag! ‘Mr. Lanzdon was for striking our as : Na ; | moved by Mr. Pickney. The apprehension domestic iranquiity Deen tsured to them, | of National force will have a salutary effect Nor have they enjoyed the highest blessings ' preventing insurrection.’ Ni ls | . 3000 Tw . {oughly discussed and criticised. previous to “its adoption. i ion of New York. Mr. Lan- nher ! ¢ { Inthe Conve: “sing am know not if history fur ample of a Confederate Repub- t lig coercing the States composing it, by the "mild influence of Law, operating on the in- | dividuals of those Staten, It is therefore, I suppose, to be a new experiment in politics. | (Eltiott’s Deb. v. 11.,p. 221. Mr, Alexander Hamilton, a member, and ‘a delegate to the Federal Convention 3 “It ! bas been obsc rived, coerce the States, is one of the maddest projects that was ever devi: sed. A failure of compliance will never be confined to a single State. This being the i case can we suppose it wise to hazard a c1- {vil war 2 What a pictuse does this present [to our view. A complying State at war with a non-comp!ying Sate. Congress marching the troops of one State into the (bos m of another. This State collecting auxiliaries, and forming, perhaps, a major ity against the felr.l head, Here 1sa na” | tion at war with itself.—Can any man be wel disposed towards a Goyrenment which ! makes war and carnage the only means of | Supportity itself : a Government that can {exist only by the sword? Every such war ! pishes an «3 must involve the innocent with the guniliy. This single consideration shotild be sufti- cient to dispose every peaceable citizen | against such a Government. But can we be- 1cve that one State will suffer 1tself to be used as an instrument of coercion ? The thing is a dream. Itis impossible! )1b. v. ii_p 232) . In the Convention of Ccrnecticut, Mr. Oliver Ellsworth a member and a delegate to the Federal Convention : “Thus we see: how necessary for the Union is a coercive force. The only question is: Shall it be a coercion oflaw, or coercion of arms? There is no other possible alternative. Where will those who opposa a coercion of law come ont 2 Wheres will they end ? A necessary consequence of this is a war of the States one against the other. 1am for coercion of law ; that coercion which acts on'y upon the delinquent indiviiuals.—This Constitution does not at empt to coerce sov- ereign bodies, States, in their own political capacity. No caercion is applicable to such bodies but that of an armed force. If we should attempt to execute the laws of the United States by sending an firmed {orce against a delinquent State, it would involve the good and the bad, the innocent and the guilty, in one common calamity: (lb. v. ii. p. 199.) In the Convention of North Carolina, Mr Davies, a member and a delegate to the Federal Convention : ‘For my own part I know of about two ways in which tht laws can be executed by any’ Government. if there be any other, it is unknown to me. The first mode 18 coercion by miiitary force: { shall suppose that it is 80 repugnant to the principles of justice and the feelings of a {ree people, that no man will support it. therefore, that there is no rational way of enforcing the laws but by the instrumentality of the Jndiciary. «If the laws are not to be carried into execution by the interposition of the Judic- iary, how itis to be done ¥ TI have already obgerved that the mind of every honest man, who has any feeling for the happiness of his country must, have the highest re- pugnance to theidea of military coercion., (1b. v. iv., pp. 1645.) : The great defect of the Federal Uonstitu- tion was, that it provided no means of en- forcing obedience to the General Govern- ment. The only remedy was military force’ employed against a State, which walk eivil war and dissolation The difliculty was obviated in the present Constitution, by making the Judiciary the coercion force, bearing on individuals.” This remedy ig- nores the use of military force, except in certain casesrand under certain limitations, and only then as an auxiliary power, in the nature ‘of a posse comitatus, to aid the Judi- cial officer in the performance of his duty. — (For this, see the Federalist, beginning with No. XV.) ~ Whatever may be said of these authorities they certainly dispoze of the assertion that those who established our Government fail- ed to provide against the prosgert crisis, be- cause they could not have foreseen it, The Union, unbroken, lasted for seventy years and upwar!s, Under it we prospered greatly. With no other nation has it ever been as with this nation, For the rapidity of its growth. in territorial extent and pop- ular numbers ; in riches and power : in the diffusion of knowledge ; the development of intelligence ; the cultivation of the sciences and the polite arts: it has excited the adwiration or the jealou-y of the world. Fearless of foreign invasion. confident of our resources, we have thought ourselves sceure'~—Now and. then dark clouds have lifted above our own horizon, but they seem to vanish away. Harsh mutierings of do westie discord would be heard, bunt the sound was too remite and too faint. to por tend a storm, or our slumbers too deep to heed the admonition. We indulged bright visions of perpetual union, of prosperity without a serious checi and defied conse- Consequences, are av nged ; our visions have been rudely dispelled ; the storm has come upon us; the temple of our worship tott(rs to its base, and the whole land is under the decpest excitement of an- ger, apprehenson and distress. To re establish the Union, and retreive ou” fortunes we have resorted to quences, war —civil war : the direst.calamity which can befall any pation. Recently, at a public meetiig. one who profanely styles himself a divine , invoked this war as *‘a war to the knife, and a knife to the hilt.” It was a sentiment fit for the shambles. “And David said unto Gad. Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord, for [lis mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man, This war has now raged: with great ficrce- ness, for more than eighteen montis. The nation has engaged in it with characteristic energy and resolution. There has see ned vo limit to the range of violence and dis- truction. ‘Lhe armed and unarmed, the strong and the weak, the innocent and the guilty, have Leen alike involved ; and much have we dune, and are now doing, which is not war, bur vandalism—as if to destroy, and not to restore, was the national purpose. ‘To a very considerable degree we appear to have abandoned the established usages max- ims and practices of barbarians, who **con- sidered a state of war as a dissolution of all moralities, and a lizense for every kind of disorder and intemperate fierceness. An en emy was regarded as a criminal and an out- law. who had forfeited his rights, and whose life, liberty and property lay at the mercy of the conquerors. Everything done agamst an enemy was to be lawful. He might be destroyed, though unarmed and defence- less. Fraud must be employed, as well as force, and force without any regard to the means. | “But these barborous rights of war have been questioned and checked in the progress of civilation. Public opinion. as 1t becomes enlightened and refined, condenins all cruel- ty, and ail wanton destruction of life and property as equally useless and injuridus ; and it controls the violence and severity of war, by the energy and severity of its re- proaches.’ (1. lent’s Com, sec. v., p. et. supt.) In this war every material advantage bas been for us, and against our adversa- ries. Their land is wasted by our armies ; hor- des of lawless and ill-disciplined volunteers bave been let loose upon them; permitted to lay waste, with fire and sword, and to perpetrate every species of brutality on the unprotected and helpness. Desperate bat- tles have beon fought almost daily, some of which were to have been decisive of the v.ar. Blood runs like water. New-made graves are thickly scattered, in clusters like villages, and the land is full of sick, woun- ded and mutilsted men. : We have blockaded their potts and great- ly straitoned thew, not only in the arms and munitions of war, buat in the necessaries of life and health, We have lad waste ther coast ; ravaged and depopulated their plan- tations ; bombarded and destroyed their ex- posed towus and villages ; occupied and de- spoiled the most defenceless and inviting portions of their country. We have cap tured theit chief city and ruled it with worse than Oriental despotism. We have armed the negroes, and set them like blood- hounds, on the track of their masters.— Failing to drive their srmies from the field, we boldly assault their ungarded homes, civilized 4 and in the performance of a two-fold duty, benevolence and revenge, seek to bring upon their women and children, the infant and the man of gray hairs, all the realities of a San Domingo massacre. We have pronounced sentences Of outla¥ry and ‘confiscation against them, which threaten utter ruin to the whole people, without regard fo age, sex or condition, degrees of innocence or guilt ; or the claims of survivorship and in- heritance. For severity and injustice, for the magnitude of the interests against which they are intended to operate, these measures are without a parallel in the history of the world. Whenever and wherever it was con- venient, these sentences have been enforced; | in many cases prospectively —in all, without legal process, in the name of military an- thoifity. All of these things te contrary to the usages of war ;-to the sentiments of the ( hristian world ; to sound justice and hu- manity, and to the Constitution of the Uni: ted States, which declares that ‘No man shall be held to answer for a capital or oth- i er infamous crime, unless on a presentment | or indictment of a Grand Jary, nor shall be deprived of life, liberty or propesty. with- out due process of law’ and that “no at- tainder of treason shall work forfeiture cX- cept during the life of the person sttainted.” These things we have done, ani more, much more, which will never be disclosed till the graves give up their dead, and men sre call. d to answer the Geeds done in the body. And for what 2 To restore dhe Union? Well have we restored it? Are we any nearer that consummation now than when the war began 2 Are weas near? No! no! no ! Such questions mock us ; laugh at our folly, and deride our expectations. “f could weep for my country when I say that I fear the Union has lost forever its cohesive power. That power lay not so much {n its ATts or arms; not in what the Union could produce or defend, but ina kind of mutual recognition of the cquality and brotherhood of the great American fam- ily, ‘one and indivisible’ All that is gone. For twenty years northern pulpits and noi” thern schools have been teaching hatred to the South. That hatred fs deep, and, | think, irradicable ; mbst assuredly, waf is not likely to ramiove the evil. We Have had wars which have helped to knit us together ; but a civil war, such as we have on hand now, necessarily uproots everything. I should be glad {o believe otherwise, but I cannot.” (Extract from a letter of Hon. Thos. 1H. Seymour, of Conn., to Ion, Na- hum Capen of Mass.; July 26, 1862.) low stand the people of the South affec- ted by our remedial process of coercion ? Do they love the Union any better” Are tiney any the less united among themselves ? Do they exbibit any signs of yielding, or discouragement, or irresolution? 1s there any abatement of their zeal, energy and courage ? Far from 1t. They but the more intensely abhor and loathe the Cnidn; In whose name 1mmeasural 1&8 sufferings and violence have been inflicted ot them. Nev- er were they more united; ore determined or mure sanguine. They never thanifested greater zeal, energy and devotioii. Never were they inspired by loftier courage. And besides, they are aided by a spirit which cannot, in the nature of things, anithate us; they fight for their lives and for their homes and for all that makes life and home pre- cious. Are these our hopes of a restoration? «Do meu gather grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles 27 Th the letter of Hon. Robert Dale Owen, to the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, pushed in a recent number of the Evening Post, oc: curs the following passage: «Never since the world begin, did nine millions of people band together, resolutcly inspired by the one idea of achieving their independence, yet fail to obtamn it. It is not a century since one-third of the num- ber successfully defied Great Britain,” # Says Mr. Everett in his letter to the Chairman of the commi tee of Arrangements for tho Peace Meeting to be held in Faneuil Liall, Boston, Feb. 1861. (Dated Washing- ton, 2nd Feb, 1861.) «To expect to hold fitteen States in the Union by force, is preposterous. The idea of a civil war, accompanied; as 1t would be, by a servile insurrection, is too monstrous to be entertained for a minedtt. If onr sis- ter States must leave us, in the name of Heaven let them go in peace.,’ * There is a f: ble, of a certain contest be- tween Sol and Boreag, tor the possession of tlie traveler's cloak. As we remember the story :—the harder and fiercer the north wind blew, the tighter the traveler clasped his cloak ; but when the wind ceased. and the Sun came out, his warm rays caused the old man to relax his hold, and, by de- grees. put aside a garment which was be- coming bur hensome and oppressive, The fable was a moral for the times, if we would learn it. There is a large class to whom sich seil- timents are far from palatable. Those bus patriots of last year’s birth, whose immac- ulate traditions, intolerant zeal ard san- guinary projects leave no question as to the quality of their conversion, see nothing but Treason io mild counsels. Their bark is Union, but their scent is bloood, and they follow it with the swiftness and tenacity of instinct. Their cry is ¢ Submission or ex- termination ; havoc and death ; burn their waste by famine, fire and sword; let loose every horrible shape which violence can as- sume ; if necessary, sweep every living thing irto the Gulf of Mexico; till nota vestige of the people or their possessions re- main.” Well migh® Madam Rowland ex- claim : —0 liberty ! what horrors are com- mitted in thy rame !” Chaiity obliges us to believe that those whe rave in this man- ner, do 1t ignorantly. The ideas are mon- strons. Thank God, the crime is impose. ble ! what? Exterminate more than eight milllons of free people, of the Anglo-Saxon and Gallic races —possessing a territory ex- ceedin x a million and a half square miles in defensi- We can eis ther exterminate, nor, by force. coerce then! But, suppcs® extermination possible ; that we attempt 1t; foreign powers remain pas- extent; a vast resion, every ‘way ble by nature aud art 2 No! sive spectators of the tragedy : afer years of bitter exhausting strife the work is complished ; the last armed rebel nas se ed devotion with his like; the wenk and de- RC al- fenceless, hunted, scattered jike sheep he. fore wolves, nerish by the way or arc driv- en into perpetual exile; the garden of Amer- waste of ica hax becouwe a mingled blood and ashes, and resis Union ha has the desolation : riumphed, ang the tictors hav What then 2 Wi spoil of Achan—an acecur arned laden wrth spiils ? ax the s 2A S not « NOL the niumph bring renown, esteém. and a return of peaceful, rrosperous. happy days? Will it restore the Union with its precions gifts 7 No! delusion 10 believe it. ver! "I'were a micehievons The desolation we have inflicted, as an avenging &pirtt, will follow us ; the voice of om brother's blood will ery out against us from the ground ; a guilty conscictice Will reproach us’: the kecn anguish of remorse will smite as: a hissing, and u reproach. and a byword shall we become to the nations. When ‘these evils come upon us, then shall we begin to realize the forfune we have blagred ? the ru. we have contemptoously slighted. Thea will { * “ihe ¥ct¥e of lost happiness And lasting pain torment and overwhelm us;" redrosch and reernimination, ‘wrath and jeal- olay, suipicion and dislike will arise, instead of Peace. S range elemen s these, of Union between Sovereign States, whose changed relations to the whole and to each oth=r, cause their ctidlicting interests to grow da'ly more ii fdrtunate. a old Union, with its superior benefits, half Hestroyed and blotted out, where is the cohesive force, to bind in one, the jarring fragments ? Shall we find it in an inmwnense public debt? and which of the States will pay it ? Those who allege a failure of the conditions on which it was mcarred ? Those who have realized the benefits, or those who have suffered the loss ? Shall we find it in national pride ? that is humbled to the dust—or strength and greatnss? Thy have passcd away ; litde remains of them, but the violence of the whirlwind. more dan- geronb to ours Ives than to others. In our Liberties 2 Already they have fled the Cap- itol. In superior nativual benefits 7 what are they ? mame them. Ina wronged, de- lnded, over-taxed and dis'rssed people 2 The allusion may well excite anr apprehien-ions. rather than our hopes. In foreion dangers? They are remote and speculative. Wro will heed them in the turmoil of conflicting passions ? Shall we find it in ihe desolate Sout: ? Unless human natave bas greatly changed, history and expaience greatly misaken, those coveted possessions wll prove the source of discord, jealousy, and contention. In any or all of these thimgs do we find full assurance of Hore for our coun- try ? Alas! no! rather the deepest desgair. Tn con emplating such a future, how dis- mal is the view —confusion and chaos—so- ciety at war with itself —the sword of the smiter turned azainst his own breast, At such a spectacle, the Genius of Liberty hides Her face, and, in grief, depsfts. The’ great Republic 6f America falls for ever, de- stroyed by the insane fury of her own chil- dren, who know not how to apprec ate or deserve the blessings she luvished upon them. The thunder of that fall will shake the na- tions. The windows of the prison house will be darkened ; oppression will rejoice ; libe.ty and human progress will meuarn for generations, Not for al! the hous = or the wealth this land ean bestow, would we have on our hearts the guilt of such great ruin. We have presented a sad, hum liat:ng pic- ture. When all the colors are dark aul gloomy. we know not how to paint other- wise, IL may be called the painting of a wild imagination, is it a whit more extrav- agant than what his alrealy occurred ¢ than the events now passing before us? Our hope for the conniry ; for the Union, for Republican Goverment; for Liberty ; is, in peace, an early pe: Each day the war is prolonged, makes wider and deeper the gdp lctween toe sections, alds to our detworaliz tion, increases thé burtben whicn threatens to bear us down. - Those there are, who in powpous and well-rounded periods, blandly protest to you that ¢* the composition of such a controver. sy is impossible,” Cold-blooded suggestion and atrocious: it sounds as an ulterance from the dark regions = Where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes, That c.nied to all,” £ and has no fellowship with anything that is good. [tis not true that the ** Composition of such a controversy is impossible. [tc 18 possible, with honor and advantage—with- out any sacrifice of right and justice. The civilized world implores it, humanity and religion demand it, and say, ‘¢ Blessed ae the peace makers,for they shall be called the Children of Heaven. New York, Dec. 24, 1862. * We make no comment on the remiarkahle in. consistency between the paesa; uoted avd later efforts of the same writer, A the gentle. cities and strew the ruins with salt; lay man to his own conscience, and the charitable opinions of the reader. in we have madly invoked; the ‘warnings’
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers