St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-03-21
St. Charles City, Iowa, March 81, 1861
Effect of the Peace Conference.

Effect of The Peace Conference.
1t would seem, from cursory
glance at the proposition which was
finally adopted by the Peace Confer
encc, and the unfavorablc reception it
met with in Congress, that the convcn-
ton has proved an expensive farce
and nothing more but when all the
circumstances are taken into consid-
Grafton it appears to have been an ex-
cellent thing. Those Republican
presses which have ccnsured or ridi-
culed the authorities Of the Northern
States for sending delegates there
were certainly in the wrong. Let us
look back. At the time the invitation
was issued by Virginia, elections were
pending in Tennessee, Missouri, Ar
kansas and North Carolina, to deter
mine the question of the secession of
those States. Suppose the North had
taken no notice of the invitation-who
does not see that our Indifference would
at once have become the subject of
hue and cry in those States which
would have turned wholly to the adj
vantage of the scccssionists, and
might have made them triumphant !!
Such, at any rate, is the testimony Of
our tried Union friends in that quarter
of the country. The prevention of
this result even in one State was worth
the trouble and expense of assembling
the Peace Conference.
If the North had not been rcpresen-
ted in that convention, it would have
been held by the border slave States
alone. The Crittcnden plan would
have been adopted and sent up to Con-
gress as their united demand, and
it's refusal to entertain that proposition
would, in the state of feeling then
prevailing, have been Immediately fol-
lowed by their secession in a body.
This was prevented by the majority
votes of the Northern members of the
Peace Conference, was thought better
of by the time which was given for
consideration and sober action, and
was voluntarily abandoned through
the wiser views gained by consulta-
ton with the Northern members.
The meeting of the leading men Of
the North and South, in such a consul
tation, and at such time, could not
fail to make them better acquainted
with the real feelings Of the people in
their respective sections, which have
been SO wofully misrepresented, and
which in fact are friendly, could not
but have the most salutary effect The
great want of the Southern communi-
ty chow could it be otherwise with a
one-sided press p is kno,cledge-knowl-
edge of the true state of feeling at
the North, and of the composition, pur-
poses and character of the Republican
party. We have no doubt that many
worthy Southern members of the Peace
Conference went there under the i'm
preston that the Republican members
of Congress were no true representa-
tives of the people of the North-that
the latter were really frightened at the
crisis-and that they would have the
privilege of instructing them in their
duties. But when they met, day by
day, such men as Gov. Chase, Gov.
Boutwell,, David Dudley Field, William
Curtis Noyes, Judge Wilmot and ma
ny others-mcn who certainly found
no superior among the Southern dele
gates--and heard from all the same
calm, resolute but conciliatory express
sions of Northern sentiment, delivered
with the honest freedom which the Sc
cresy Of the Conference proceedings
insured, they could not but get an al
together new feeling of respect and
regard for those ideas of freedom and
public right which prevail throughout
the free States, and whose political ex-
preston is the Republican party. We
believe we shall yet see the salutary
fruits Of this impression manifested in
many ways.