The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-07-24
The Rebel Peace Movement.

The Rebel Peace Movement.
It will be seen from the following ed
itorial article in the Richmond Enquirer.
of the 9Th, that the first of the series of
battles at Gettysburg, fought by General
REYNOLDS on Wednesday, was telegraph
ed to Richmond as magnificent VIC
tory" 1t is probable that after they got
the news Of their terrible defeat on Fri
day, the Enquirer may have altered it's
tone.
Gen. Lee, our High Commissioner and
Plenipotentiary for conclusion of peace,
is proceeding well enough with his beneh-.
cent mission. His Olive Branch is bios
soming, and will bear wholesome fruit.
His negotiations, entered upon so auspi-
ciously, to bring about that sweet and
tender reconciliation which is now surely
coming, have already advanced long
stride; and utter fright and dismay, the
only frame of mind in which thoughts of
peace can soften the Yankee nature, now
smile graciously upon the deluge of blood,
and prepare the way for the Dove to
bring her green spray into our Ark. John
ston, and our other Peace Commissioners
in the Southwest, are also diligent in their
mission of love. Weary eyes, long dim
med by the red haze of slaughter, begin,
indeed, to see at last the dawn of glori-
Gus day; and the nation will soon awake
from that spectre-haunted night of blood.
Peace was always impossible to us, save
on the terms OF cOnquering it; and con-
quering 1t IN the enemy's country. After
long endurance, hesitation and delay, that
truth came to be recognized at length
The policy of standing always on the de-
fensive-leaving the enemy free to dart in
upon our country at thousand unpro-
tected points, and ravage our people at dis
cretion-waiting to see how much of our
sufferings the Yankee could find it in his
heart to endure-was not found to answer;
there seemed no limit, in that direction,
to his endurance, nor to ours and the war,
on that system, must have lasted forty
years. If peace had ever come to US by
that method, it must have been a peace
altogether to our disadvantage; we should
have held no hostile cities and strong
places to give in exchange for those towns
and forts of ours now in the enemy s hands;
and there could have been no motive for
our enemies to make US a gratuitous sur
render and restitution. What sort of
peace, then, what sort Of independence,
would that have been, with so many of our
harbOrs closed up by the grinniug batteries
of Jealous and greedy foe! By that way
there was no real chance of peace at all,
for the Confederates never, never could
have laid down their arms, while foot of
their soil or fort in their waters was held
against them.
Gen. Lees magnificent victory at Gettys-
burgh has, doubtless, cost us very dear, as
many of US will know too we'll when the
sad details come in. At p: esent we have
only the grand and glorious result-the
greatest army Of the Yankee nation swept
away, trampled under foot, and all but an
initiated on its own soil-the best part of
Pennsylvania laid under contribution to
sustain our army, and, in some small
measure, make good our heavy losses the
second city on the continent open to our
armies, and already reckoning up the num-
Der Of millions it must pay to ransom it
from pillage and contiagration; our own
city of Baltimore waiting it's deliverance
with a passionate but secret joy; and
Washington, that foul den of thieves, ex-
pecting the righteous vengeance of heaven
for the hideous crimes that have been
done within its walls In Philadelphia, how
the Quakers quake this day In Wash
ington, how the whole brood of Lincoln
and his rascal. ministers turn pale-how
their knees smite together, as they hear
from afar off the roar of their grand Army
of the Potomac rolled back in bloody rout
and dismay, and see flashing through their
guilty dreams the avenging bayonets of
those they dared to call "rebels!" Ha!
does their monstrous crime weigh heavy
on their souls to-day? Mingling with the
cheers that greeted the sweet perorations
of their FOurth-Of-July "Orators of the
day." do their ears hear the wall of the
homeless and the fatherless whose houses
they have lain in ashes, whose pride and
strength they have laid low in the graves
of hundred battle-felds? Yes, they
begin to feel that they were in the wrong
that there was some mistake somewhere
and for the first time they pray for peace
But this is only their first lesson. 1t is
possible that our Peace Commissioners
will have yet several other such to admin
lister, before the enemy shall be perfectly
satisfied that there is no possible peace for
him until he withdraws every soldier from
the soil of every State, including Missouri,
Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware, and
yield up to their lawful owners every town
and fort he holds all around our borders.
Cincinnati, for example, would, we are
assured, burn we'll. 1t is the enlightened
metropolis ofstrychnine whisky, the Queen
City Of fat pork, peopled by as God-aban-
doned sons of Yankees as ever killed a
bog. Our troops have now got a taste of
Northern viands, and their fine, healthy
appetite grows by what it feeds on. Ohio
also has silver and gold, and towns to ran
som, and fertile plains to sweep OF fiocks
and herds. As they will have war, let
them have their fill of it, and that in its
highest perfection and widest develop
ment. So, and not otherwise, will Peace
spread her white wings, and cover all the
| land as the waters cover the sea.
We are only at the beginning. OF our
peace movement, and other such diplomat
ic protocols as that at Gettysburg will yet
have to- be formulated before the end
comes. We hail with joy the Inauguration
of the new era, the opening OF the true
| nath IN Freedom and to peace. We are