The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-11-29
From the Continental Monthly.
The Obstacles 10 Peace.
A LETTER TO AN ENGLISH FRIEND

IS MY DEAR FRIEND IL have your late LETT
ter. inqniring, as did several o. its predeces-
sors. how soon this terrible Civil War is to
en1, and why we do not close it at once by
consentiny tn Disunon These inquiries are
M ural from yorr point of vi,w but the
subject is of vast Importance. and we have
good reason for our desire that correct views
respecting it should prevail among the en-
,ightencd and just in Europe. We feel that
we are entitled to the earnest and active
sympathy Of such men as you and in every
country end Of every creed. We feel that
we have unjustly. by artfu misrepr'senta-
tions, been deprived Of this anl that we
have suffered grievously IN conseqnenc..-
Lat me endeavor. then. to restatc our posi-
tion somewhat more fully, and to show
wherein AMI why we inpeach tho justice Of
the criticisms to which we have been SUBJ
jected even by humane and fair.minded
Englishmen.
I neei not at this late day, prove to you
that Slavery is the aniinatiny soul OF the
Rebellion. The fact that no compromise or
adjustment ofthe quarrel was proposed from
any quarter during the inception and pro
cress of Secession, which did not relate d-
rectly and exclusively to Slavery, is conclu-
siye on this point. Projects for arresting the
impending calamity were abundant through
out the winter Of l86o-'6i. Congress was
gorgcd with them; volunteer Peace Con
eress' was simultaneously held on purpose
to arrest the dreaded disruption, and attend
ed by able Delegations from all the Border
Slave and most Of the free States, many Of
the former now fighting in the rebel ranks !;
but no one su ggestsd that any conceivable
leg;sl.tion on anY subject bat Slavery was
desired or would be Of the least evail. Mr..
Alexander H. Stephen, the Vice President
Of the Southern Confederacy, and, perhaps,
the ablcst man in il. who resisted Secession
until over. borne and carried away by the
swelling tide, ia bis drst elaborate speech
iusiifying tie movement, ABLY and candidly
set forth the natural fitness. justice, human
ity, benedcence, and perpetuity OF, Slavery
as the corner. stonc Of the new National edi-
fee. The Peace Convention presented
the Crittenden Compromise. is, the
positive establishment by act Of Congress Of
Slavery in all present and future Territories
OF the United States. south Of the parallel Of
SO 80 north latitude--as its sole spapacea for
our national ills. Nobody suggested in shat
Congress or any similar conference that
permanent ab ,lition Of all duties on imports
or any other measure unrelated to slavery.
would be of the least use in recaiining the
States which had seceded, or in arresting
the seaess,or OF others The sole prstext
for the Reb llion was and Is that the Free
States had not been faithful in spirit and
letter to their constitutional obligations RES
pectiny Slavery, and csu)d nat bstrpsted to
do better in the future than they had done
in the past We are involved in deadly war
precisely and only because the Free States.
through the 1ction 1t the balot-box ma
iority of their cit'z ms, refused to cooperate
in or make Themselves voluntary party to
the further extension Or diffusion of Human
Slavery. 4sS &a
Bearing this fact in mind. I think you
will mole readily realizs tho moral impossi.
biiity ofonr assent. save under the impulse
Of last dire necessity, to Disunion Peace
and for these reasons::
I. Such peace viii naturally secure to
Slavery the precise object for which the
Rebellion was fonented. five consent to
divide our country. the victorious. Rebels
viii very fairly say, Give Us our share Of
tie Federal Territories. In other words.
'snrisadsr to Sla, cry. through Disunion'