Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-11-05
The Road TO Peace.

There are two very short roads to peace;
Ist the immediate and unconditional recog-
milton of the independence and nationality
of the Confederate States by the United
States, and the withdrawal of Northern troops
from Southern soil End the Immediate and
unconditional submission ofthe Southern rev
oluiionary States to the Northern despotism.
The first is not to be presently expected, and
the second cannot be thought of for a mo-
ment. Neither is there space for compro-
mise anywhere between these two PROPOSE
tons The South has said, there shall be two
governments, and the North has accepted
the issue, and replied, that there shall be but
one. The decision is referred to arms. There
is, therefore, but one visible and prac ticabls
of arms-iu other words, it must be con-
quered, by one party or the other. If there
be any one in either section, or in the world,
who entertains any other opinion or cher
ishes hope for any other solution, he is the
victim of stupendous error. We desire
our own people, at least, to understand this
at once, and to feel and act accordingly. 1t
is all-important that we should fully appre-
ciate the work which lies before US, that we
may dispatch 1t in the shortest possible time.
Above all, we should not deceive ourselves
with the vain hope that something may turn
up" by which the burden may be lifted from
our shoulders.
Less than six months since, the voice of
war was lifted upon the land and sea at Sum
ter. At that time, there were many who
professed to think that reconciliation was
not only possible but probable. The con-
testants together did not then have 25 900
effective men in the field, and scarcely any
of the materials of war. There was no blood
spilled, punctilio of honor, it was said, had
been decided and, indeed, it seemed sorry
beginning to magnificent war. But there
are now from a half to three quarters of
million of men in the field, and thousands
are falling into line every day. Immense
stores of war munitions have been created
and concentrated. Two armies, of more than
q hundred thousand each, are confronting
almost in sight of the Federal Capitol, while
the line of division is contested from the AL
leghany mountains to the sierras of Mesilla,
and the ocean is fretted by feet more for
midable than the renowned Spanish Armada.
This means simply and only war, war on
both sides, war to the knife, and the
knife to the hilt, war more stupendous than
any that ever engaged the arms of the New
World, and seldom surpassed in magnitude
in the Old. 1t means simply and only that
one or the other must conquer before it is
ended. We should not misunderstood it. We
should not waste our time and our energy by
looking at it in other light. If the South con-
quer, the North will remain power and
nation, happy, free and prosperous as its
people and their resources are capable of
making it, aud no more 30. If The North
conquer. the South sinks in shame and misery
to the condition of q province, and her free
people become slaves and seris- That is the
difference. The Southern people cannot SUBJ
nit TO such condition. The South cannot.
therefore, be conquered She may be annihi-
lated, but never conquered. Any success of
the North. whether it occur in the defeat of
our armies or In overrunning our States. will
be necessarily temporary. If our armies, at
the outset or during the war, were annihils-
ted, others would rise to ill their places. If
we should be so far exhausted by reverses or
the prolongation of hostilities as that we
could not raise and sustain armies in the