The Portland daily press., 1862-11-03


strange and monstrons propositions of the ed
itor Of the Advertiser, we give him credit for
great boldness. He dares be dsloyal-dsloy-
al to the Union-for he has dared intimate
his preference for disunion rather than a con-
unuance of the war. He dares to be unpatri-
otic, for he has dared to welcome even British
or French intervention to restore peace. He
dares to be inconsistent, for he dares to make
war speeches, and to offer money to encour-
age enistments, while declaring in substance,
that the rebellion cannot be subdued, and that
war is the demon that promotes, while peace
Is the divinity that will settle all our difficult
ties. He dares to deceive the people, for he
dtres preach up "the Constitution as 1t is,"
willie he insists upon its being changed
strengthened as he calls it-in favor of the
South He dares to deame God by insisting
that He has ordained negro slavery, and that
those who fight against it fight against Gods
law! He dares to misrepresent facts, for he
dares make statements III relation to the effect
OF an adoption Of the Crittenden compromise,
that every intelligent reader of the history of
the past year knows to be untrue. He dares
to bear false witness, Tor he dares daily, almost
to publish unfriendly statements in relation to
distinguished statesmen, as well as individuals
In humber life, with the evidence before his
eyes that there is not word Of truth in his
allegations Who shall say, then, that he is
not a bold man? And who does not admire
boldness per sei The picture of "Satan in
Council" is not only wonderful work of art,
but the observer is struck with species of
admiration of the courtly bearing and defiant
look of the fiend who sits proudly upon a
world whose destruction he dares plot, and
who dares faunt his vile banner in the face
OF the Almighty But such admiration alone
is not worship.
In the Advertiser of Friday last is an elabo-
rate editorial headed, "a Peace Commission
from which we propose to make a few ex-
tracts. Owning up to his own misconceptions
In relation to the strength of the rebellion, and
the amount OF force needed to subdue it. and
confessing that with '.ten hundred millions of
national Indebtedness" tSecletary Chase says
only S640,0oo,00o,) and quarter of million
of lives sacrificed, "all we have TO cheer us is
periodical telegraphic report that Washing
ton is SAFE or that 'All is quiet on the Poto-
mac" he exclaims:
How long does loyalty demand us to have
faith in ARMS, over our faith in the ballot Dor,
for restoring the Union? To the ballot box
will the battle yet return, and by the ballot
box the decision will yet be made-by the bal
lot box speaking through the next Congress
and not through arms So we believe, and
so We predict.
Plainly interpreted, this means that by
electing a democratic or anti-war House of
Representatives, all appropriations for prose-
cutting the war ''forced upon us by the dsun-
ionists of the South" may be headed off, and
the government be compelled to make its
peace with traitors, to get down on its knees
before armed rebels, and to consent to their
terms, no matter how degrading or humiliat-
ing those terms may be. The spirit of the
federal government is thus summarily disposed
of:
What hindcrs the nation from knowing how
distant is the advent of peace? We answer,
the want of COURAGE in the Federal Govern
ment, and its professed supporters, TO institute
conference for restoration of Peace and OF
the Union. That is all. Moral courage to
meet the crisis.
The editor of the Advertiser, who has so
much more Courage" than the federal gov
ernment, The has as much as his friend Train,
who boasted that he slapped the British gov
ernment in the face. and it had not spunk
enough to resent it, in ansewer to his own
qaestion "What is in the way of conference
for the restoration of peace and of union?'
says:
We answer the whole abolition party is op-
posed TO 1t, lest, in the restoration OF peace
aud the restoration of the Union, their favo-
rite one idea of the war, the abolition of sla-
very at the South would be defeated.
We suppose he proposes to remove this OBJ
stacle, but how he does not say: probably by
converting the abolitionists to his faith in ne
gro-slavery as a God-ordained institution, and
that he who fights against it wars against
Gods law. After all the editor of that paper
has said of the Press, for its alleged attacks"
upon the officers and the army of the Poto-
mac, it is doubtful if anything can be found in
the columns of the "mendacious sheet to
equal this:
There are thousands of officers in the army
and navy, whose cry is like the others, ,cdr,
apdr, or eternal submission OF the South! For
with a return of peace, their vocation. too,
would be gone. The large pay and perqui-
sites-daily ratious for themselves, and horses,
and servants, phich are nerer in the serrice,
would stop. Their grasping hands would then
be withdrawn forever from the Treasury
They with one voice are ready to shout
shame" treason" sympathy for the re-
6els," to any suggestion of measure looking
to return of peace between the North aud
South.
This is the treatment meted out to men who
have laid their lives upon their country's altar,
and looked death in the face upon the field of
blood, by the recent spouter in Portland war
meetings; by an editor who flourishes "A SOL
dier's response to the attacks OF the Press up
Gen. Mcclellan; by man who pompously
proposed to advance the Governor one-fifth of
about 100000 for immediate war purposes,
provided four other men would do the same,
and then acas so afraid his proposition would
be met, that his ocn paper, in the self-same
issue, came out editorially, and, while prais-
ing the Rberaltty Of the offer, said it would be
wrong aud impolitic in the Governor to ac-
ceptit. We hope the Advertiser, if it hasany
modesty left, will cease finging at the Press
for its assaults upon the officers of our army.
The following extract shows very little re-
spect for that noble old motto" Death before