The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-23 00:00:00

Prospects of Peace in America.

(Front the Times' Correspondent.)
CLIFTON HOUSE, NIAGARA FALLS, Ang. 8.
T he long and fiercely-contested battles of North
and South have decided nothing but the courage of
the !ombatants and the hopelessness of Southern
subj ugation. The North has boasted of its wealth,
of its inexhaustible resources, of its teeming mil-
lion a, and of its determination to restore by force of
isms the perished and vanished Union, which it
insane.ly believed to be better than peace, law,
liberty, and prosperity ; while the South has replied
to the, bravado by the calm assertion, which it has
made good by valiant deeds—that though its re•
sonrc es both in men and money, are inferior to those
of its adversary,thedifference was more than compen-
sated. by the indomitable spirit of its people, who
will under no circumstances renew the partnership
w'.aic'n the sword has cut asunder, and who will
cai-ri on the war for 30 years, rather then make or
lis':( .n to any terms that shall not rest upon Southern
in lependence as their basis. Fighting has but in.
creased the obstinacy of the Southern people ; bat
it has had no such effect upon the Northern. Defeat
is no disgrace to men who are struggling for their
liberty and their firesides. On the other hand, the
it wader feels defeat to be a humiliation. His con-
s( ;knee tells him that he is foiled in a bad cause, and
t hat were the conditions of the struggle reversed, he,
i.OO, would shed the last drop of his blood for home
ind independence. Such is to-day the feeling of the
1 i'orth. The failure of Grant's campaign, and the
a wful losses by which the fact has been established,
h ave not encouraged the people to incur new uteri-
& :es. They have not inspired them with hope that
which today the cause w looks so black will look
brighter to-morrow. On the contrary, they
ha, ye inclined them to compromise and peace.
The, people have palpably lost heart. They do not
2118 pond to the President's call for another half a
xni Llion of men, although they know that unless new
ar lies be immediately raised they will not only be
unable to continue the offensive war which they
he,ve now waged with varyirg fortune for nearly
fc ter years, but to guard their own fields from the
enemy's cavalry and their cities from his torch.
They never had much faith in the administration of
Mr. Lincoln and the impracticable, jealous, and self.
seeking functionaries whom he called into office, but
whom he can scarcely be said to have admitted into
his councils, and that little they have lost. Neither
have they any faith in their militery leaders.
General Grant, from whom so much was expected,
has proved no better than his predecessors, and will
,speedily be thrust aside to make room for some
other hero of the same calibre rash enough to try
the impossible, and to be as ignominiously dismissed
in his turn as all who came before him. The de.
preciation of the currency fills the commercial and
professional classes with alarm ; the rapid rise in
the, price of all the necessaries of life goads the
working men and their families into perilous discon-
tent, which, were it winter instead of summer,
might burst forth at any moment into formidable
riats, if not into organised insurrection.
It is at this crisis that the present hostelry on
the Canadian side of the Falls of Niagara has be.
come the centre of negotiations which promise the
withdrawal of the differences between North and
South from the arbitrament of the sword. As the
I tepublican party, under the leadership of Mr. Lin■
coin, either cannot or will not make peace, and will
tie t listen to any proposal of compromise that does
not involve two conditions which the South will
not accept—restoration of the Union and abolition of
ela-very—the Northern friends of peace, who hope
to elect a peace President in November next, have
taken counsel with such Southern exiles and friends
of peace as have congregated on the Canadian fron-
tier to ascertain whether there is no common
ground upon which the whole weight of the Demo-
cratic party might be brought to bear against the
war faction, and on which a peace candidate might
be nominated at Chicago on the 29th inst. The
South, through Messrs. Clay and Holcombe, the
fully-authorised agents of President Davis, demands
an armistice and the calling together of a National
Convention, as prescribed by the Constitution, for
the consideration of all matters in dispute. The
Democratic party of the North, no longer hopelessly
split into two sections, the one advocating war, and
the other peace, has made np its differences on al
minor and major issues, and resolved to support al
Chicago a candidate for the Presidency who will
pledge himself to these terms. As it is feared, it
not known, that Mr. Lincoln, in his insane
de sire of reelection will, under the plan of re-
co astruction, which gives the right to a tenth part
of the population of any State in the military occu-
pation of the Federal armies to perform all functions
of election that belong to a clear majority of the
whole people, endeavour to elect himself by the aid
of the soldiery, and by the exclusion from the polls
of all persons who will not take a test-oath of un-
conditional loyalty to the Union, it has been resolved
by the leading Conservatives and Democrats who
are now and have been recently assembled at the
Clifton-house that measures shall immediately be
taken to defeat this purpose. At the Chicago Con
ventien it will be emphatically and distinctly de,
Glared that any State carried on behalf of Mr. Lin

coin and Mr, Johnson by bayonets or by test-oaths,
or by the rotten votes of a tenth of the population,
shall be counted as having voted for the Chicago
nominees; and that if such nominees shall receive a
clear majority of the electoral vote, inclusive of that

of the Border States of Kentucky, Maryland, Dela-
ware, and Missouri, they shall be considered duly
elected as President and Vice-President of the
United States, and shall be inaugurated accordingly.
The nominees, whoever they may be, will be re-

_ .
qnired to pledge themselves to take possession of the
Government should they be elected in the manner
specified, and to maintain their position at all hazards.

It is understood that the Convention will organise
committees of vigilance in every town, village, city,
and district of the North to support the constitu-
tion, and to resist by force of arms, if necessary,
every usurpation or encroachment on the part of
Mr Lincoln and the Federal Administration or
authorities, civil or military. Thousands of lead-
ing Conservatives and Democrats, comprising men
of the greatest wealth, position, and talent in the
country, are already pledged to serve upon such
committees, and are ready to stake their lives,
fortunes, and honour in defence of the platform on
which they have resolved to stand, and of the
purity and freedom of election. If Mr Lincoln is to
be President for another term he must be elected

fairly, or a new civil war will break out in the
North, in the interest of the wrongly-defeated, but
legitimately-chosen candidate. Such is the present
condition of the Presidential question as far as the
Democratic party is concerned. Within the nest

ton days or a fortnight it will assume a still clearer
_ .

shape. Possibly by that time, if not earlier, the
candidates whom the party will support will have

made up their minds to assume all the risk and all

the honour of the position. Gen. 111‘Clellan might
have been the man, had ho chosen, but he has let
slip the opportunity. His civic courage was not
equal to the occasion, or •he has allowed himself
to be overpersuaded by timid advisers. per,

haps, too, he has preferred the chance of
being Commander-in-Chief under a civilian Presi-

dent, elected ol this basis, as more congenial to his

.
tastes and habits than the office of Civil Governor.

At all events, whatever chances he may have had
of the Presidency have disappeared for ever; and
Alr Dean Richmond, chairman or president of the
Newyork Central Railway, rules in his stead as the
favourite of the United Democracy. That gentle-
man has taken time to consider, and will probably
make known his decision within the present week.
Should he accept, he will be the nominee of the
Chicago Convention on the platform of an amis.
tiee and a convention of the States. If the Demo-
crats be really united, it they have truly made up
their minds to hold together in support of their
candidate, their candidate is certain to obtain a
majority of the electoral vote, and to be the legal
Prenidcnt of the United ,tates. It Mr Lincoln,
however, be determined to win, per fns aut nefas,
there will be a conflict of powers that will convulse
the country and carry the tire and bloodshed of war
into regions that have not yet felt the miseries of
civil conflict, or know of them but by the depre-
ciation of the currency, the derangement of trade,
and the augmented cost of subsistence.
A Short titne bLow whether the governing