Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-08-23
Can we have Honorable Peaesl

Can we have Honorable Peacsf
4 This interrogatory is appropriately answer
ed in the following article from the pen of j ohr
W. Forney, which we clip from his Washing
i ton paper, the Sunday Chronicle:
Amid the roar of cannon, the measured
tramp of soldiers, and the clang of the pickaxc
and spade, throwing up vast fortifcations
there comes up voice in Congress, asking fol
/ peace, aud asserting that %it is the part of ra
tional means" II both the belligerent parties
I to this contest were rational, there would bt
no difficulty in bringing about q pacifcation
but the Southern rebellion is madness on the
! part of its leaders, and a phrenzY on the part
/ of its rank and file. We find no proposals for
peace coming from those by whose aggressions
the war was commenced; we hear of no apollo
gies offered for the long catalogue of f,rObber-
les, pluEder, eoOfscations, and treasons, which
inaugurated the hostilities. The defiant tones
of the Confederates is not lowered, and JEFF.
Davis. in his recent speeches at Richmond,
joins the character of the mendacious braggart
to that of the spotted traitor. The. United
States government has not invited this war;
but, on the contrary, exercised a forbearance
which has brought forth taunts against it of
imbecility and pusillanimity. 1t did not crush
the treason in the egg, but allowed it 10 be
fedged to full grown bird of prey. Must
we now be pursuaded to make the gross mis-
take and fatal blunder Of proposing terms to
the rebels which they are certain to reluse?-
What can we offer them Ia honor which they
viii accept? They want recognition of their
bastard republic as first article in q treaty
for peace, and that would be virtually the first
step towards the fetal disihtegration of our
government. Recognition is disnnion, and dis
union is death to the United States of Ameri'
Ca We must have, then, a full free submis-
sion to the federal authority and perfect res
toratioh of the pOwersof the government be-
fore We can talk of peace. Eternal infamy
wonld light upon the fame of that statesman
who dared to counsel q parley while there is
single armed traitor in the field,
We desire peace, and would pray for-it at
any sacrifice but that of national honor. As it
is better for an individual to die than to be
subjected to contumely and disgrace, so it is
nobler for nation to sink into the tide of time
and drown rather than listen to dishonoring
terms Of peace. Give imp nifty to the present
rebellion and absolution to the traitors, and it
Invites maleontents for the future, upon the oc.
currence of any fancied wrong, to set up an
paramount to the government and
insist upon the right Of peaceful secession
Conclude peace upon the only terms which
would be listened to by the Confederates, and
we subject the hundreds of loyal Union men
in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Missouri, to all the dangers of the infuria-
ted secessionists, who would seize their proper
ty5and imperil their persons, if not sacrifice
their lives. The, honor Of the true States and
true men in the rebel States, alike demand
that this war should be prosecuted with the ut
most vigor until the crushed and coerced peo- 1
pie of the south are able to be heard, and until
they are armed and prepared. to drive from
their soil every traitors foot which now pol |
lu;ei it. There is danger that the North may
allow It's business interests to direct its sympa
thes. The fear of losing the debts due at the |
South operates powerfully upon some men, and
perhaps they are uhconsciouSIy advising the |
government to take a d ,shonorabIe step. Let |
US pause and deliberate with the utmost car-
ton before we are allured by these phantom |
hopes of peace, which look so bright until |
they are subjected to a rigid scrutiny. We |
shall then convince ourselves that there can be |
no present mitigation of the war dncoupled |
with dishornor, and that the surest, safest, aud
most direct mode to restor the authority Of |
the government as the first great step towards !
pacifcation, is to levy men and vote money to |
the full extent Of the conntry's capacity, until
rebellion is crushed, its leaders brought to
terms, and those who have been, broken down |
under their despotism are restored to all their |
constitutional rights, and the seeded States
brought back to the enjoyment of their con
stitutional guaranty of a republican form of
government.