Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-05-01

Is PEACE IMPossrBts-There ia nothing about
the unhappy circumstances that surround us, rs
people more striking more affecting than the uni
versal sadness which hangs like funeral veil over
the ace OF society. It sdscernible in the midst Of
the widest excitement and where there is no dis
position manifested to shrink from the worst conse
quences Of resistance No such feeling would be
prevalent If the warfare were Of different charac-
ter. 1t two or three of the most powerful nations
Of Europe combined to menace our land, and we
were united people, resolved on resistance to the
death, We could be cheerful in the midst Of the
most appalling portents. The death of those who
might fall in conflict with foreign foe would be
robbed Of half its sting and instead Of dishearten
ing the survivors would only add to their energy
and determination. Because there lies deep down in
every American heart the conviction that we are an
invnclole people, and no sequence Of reverses could
destroy or weaken this conviction.
But we find every thinking man, everywhere
North and South, manifestng the same heartfelt
sorrow at the prospect of civil war. 1t is not SO
much on account Of its proverbial horrors and ca
lamties as because it is sure to be protless it
will be vindictve and bloody. Itmatters not which
side is triumphant-the triumph brings no gam to
either. The victory when achieved Nh be barren
victory, purchased at an enormous cost Each drop
Of blood shed in the miserable quarrel will embitter
the contest and drive farther away the hope of re-
turning. peace. The boundaries separating hostile
sections will be marked by Of butchery hith
erty unknown among christian nations. And when
the remnants of exhausted combatants pause in the
Capitol and patch up peace each will find that his
inheritance is nation of orphans, who receive moth
ing from their progenitors but large capacity for
hatred. =
There are not many men on either side who are
msled by the promise of "conquering peace"
No peace can ever be conquered in America The
armies on both sides, where bayonets are to clash in
mortal strife, are composed of men who can never
be subdued We do not mean to assert that battles
will not be won and lost; but we do assert that no
battle can decide the question. The fugtives from
one disastrous field will be the eager volunteers for
the next fight and will fight more obstinatey from
the memory of the preceding defeat. Many thou
sands Of loyal citizens, who have heretofore plead
for peace and reconciliation will become as truculent
and bloodthirsty as the most brutal and depraved,
if they drawn into the fatal vortex and the
one all-absorbing desire of those who now shrink
from the sight or thought of bloodshed will be to
die scattering death around them. It has been said
Of the American nation "that they are a people
averse to war, whose genius was best displayed in
all the acts and occupations of peace; but at the
same time people who might easily be transformed
into demons Of cruelty, if their passions we're once
aroused"
May we not CLEAN some hope from this very fact
The hopelessness of the contest the utter and man.
cst unproftableness of the victory either way, and
above all, the insufficcncy of the ground upon
which the war is naugurated all plead for the re.
turn of reason and moderation.-Balt american