The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-14 00:00:00

pose the terms of a just and honourable peace :
"Sir, I have but little hope that our insolvent and cruel

foe will listen to this [ roposition favourably. I have but
little confidence, I confess, sir, in the wisdom and sagacity,
the statesmanship, or the true manliness of spirit, of Mr.

Lincoln and his deluded Cabinet councillors. I am not

unaware that these personages have been disgracefully

driven forward continually, from the first shedding of blood
in the affair of Fort Sumter, up to the present moment, by

a numerous and active body of infuriated fanatics and un-
scrupulous demagogues, until they have almost reached

the depths of utter hopelessness and ruin. I am not at
confident that the weak and vacillating executive chiefs
in Washington City has adequate moral courage to
receive our Commissioner, should we conclude to send
one, even were the sufferings of our Northern enemies far
greater than those which they have already experienced,

though stimulated, as to some extent the must neces-

sarily be, by the apprehension of the far greater suffer-
ings with which they are now so obviously menaced.
But, sir, to these considerations I attach but little
importance. I will endeavour to state my view of the
subject in a very concise manner, as, according to the
rules of the house, I can occupy its attention only for
a few minutes. The enemy will either refuse our pro-
posal of peace, or, perchance, even refuse to receive our
commissioner ;or they will be courteously received. Cer-
tainly it is hardly to be hoped that our proposal of peace
will be respectfully considered and agreed to. In the latter
case a most bloody and desolating war will be brought to a
close; our own beloved country will be relieved from the
experience of present sufferings, and be, perchance, saved
from greatly multiplied sufferings hereafter. If a just and
honourable peace be madly refused us, then upon the heads
of our heartless adversaries will be accumulated all the re-
sponsibility connected with them evils which may be here-
after inflicted upon the general interests of the civilised
world ; the oceans of blood which may be hereafter shed,
and all the immeasurable horrors which must inevitably
result from a war conducted as it has been heretofore con-
ducted by our heartless enemies, in utter disregard of all the
well known principles of civilised war. We cannot, in any

state of thiligs which can be possibly conceived of, be at
all injured by the pursuing of the line of policy suggested
in the resolution. Our brave armies in the field will not
feel less inclined to prosecute the war with energy and re-

solution, because their Government manifests a disposition
to save them from the necessity of incurring further hard-
ships, and shows a disposition to restore them once more to
the blessings of peace, of domestic happiness, and of
social beatitude. On the contrary, I shall confidently ex.
pect the exhibition of a still sterner resolution, a still
fiercer military zeal, and still more glorious achieve-
ments, when they shall thus find it demonstrated
to them that there is no possibility of peace with our perse-
cutors, save by resorting, in a spirit of just retaliation, to
those terrible expedients which may be calculated to impress
upon their own obdurate hearts the intense consciousness
of those horrors of which they have been the sole origina-
tors. If our proposition should be declined, and there be any
good men yet left in the North, friends to justice, to the
laws of Christian humanity, and the general happiness of
the world, they will at once make their presence known,
organise and embody their energies against an insolent and
barbarous Government, drive Lincoln and his myrmidons
from power, and elevate to the seats of official authority
wise and upright statesmen, through whose efficient instru-
mentality this sanguinary struggle may be at last brought
to a termination. Sir, it is not even possible that our moe
tives or objects in taking the initiative in the noble work or
pacification can be misunderstood either by the enemy or
by the rest of the civilised nations of the world. We are
thus far completely victorious in the war. In all the nume-
rous battles which have been fought we have been most
signally successful. We have driven or are now driving the
vaunting hosts of the North beyond our confines, and our
victorious standards are now being planted upon the terri-
tory of the foe. Such a succession of brilliaa and deci•
sive triumphs has never heretofore adorned the page of
our history. Our successes have been acknowledged in
the most emphatic manner even in the columns of the
Northern newspapers. In sheer magnanimity we are
bound to offer terms of peace to the enemy. With us
alone can a proposition of peace originate without
the deepcst dishonour. If the war is not to be inter.
minable (and who desires this ?) the first movementtowards
a settlement of existing difficulties must be made by one of
the parties contestant; and as the enemy cannot be expected
under existing circumstances, to send to us a proposition
for the present termination of hostilities, it results that the
civilised world has a right
to look to us for such action as
the resolution proposes. 11Zr. Speaker, I know well that I
shall be denounced in certain quarters for my present con-
duct. I shall be probably chargoidianwiirathex. I
shall not be excessive modera-
tion, and perchance even of pin. ity
at all surprised if all who are especially interested in the
continuance of the war shall resort even to ridicule and de-
nunciation. To all this lam prepared to submit, confiding
as I do in the general good sense and elevated moral senti-
Inent of my honoured countrymen, and being perfectly per-
suaded that this resolution, if it should be fated to rejection,
will
awaken a responsive echo in the bosoms of good and
wise men elsewhere, which will more than compensate for
present misjudgment and undeserved obloquy, Mr. Wilcox