The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1863-08-07
CAN WE HAVE PnACEi


I Gov. Morton made one Of his log.
lical, characteristic speeches at Cam
bridge City, ON the 4th, to very
large number of his friends and old
neighbors, from which we extract
what he said.
ABOUT PEACE.
How can peace be restored with
the restoration Of our country? BY
some it is said that we can have
peace by abandoning the conflict,
that we can proclaim an armistice,
and negotiate peace.
To have an armistice some one
must ask for it. The rebels won't
ask Tor it. Were they to do so, we
should very naturally infer that they
were in very Strengthened circumstan-
ces: and should we ask for it, they
would conclude the same thing Of
| us.
Should we ask it what would be
their replyy They have told US time
and again that they would not treat
with us till we should withdraw our
armies. This they make a condition
precedent to convention for treating
| Iofpeace.
Suppose, then, that we have taken
the first necessary step, withdrawn
our army, raised the blockade, and
are assembled in Convention at
Louisville or Nashville to negotiate
for peace. They. ut once tell US that
they will not commense the discus
sion until we acknowledge their inde-
pendencc. We may be startled by
their bold demand. but we soon find
that an acknowledgement is indispen-
sible, and we ut once sign and deliv-
er to traitors the bond Of our nation
al destruction!
Now we come to the question of.
peace, and the first inquiry is, where
shall be the boundary We say it
must be the south of Missouri, Ken
tucly, etc, but they most emphatic
ally say:
mo, we will not relinquish one Of
the slave States. Every one of them
is star on our flag, and all Of them
have Representatives and senators in
our Congress, and we will not have
peace until all the slave States are
conceded to us" Thus we shall be
compelled to permit them to coerce
the four border States 10 the en-
brace OF their hateful Confederacy!
What then can we lose? We lose
the Capital, rs the District of Coluln-
bia is within the territory they de
mand. Wclose also the control of
the Mississippi liver Some Of you
say. Not SO; they once offered MS
the free navigation of that great chan
mel of commerce. But you must
rernanber that this offer was before
they had created so heavy a war debt
and now they will say to us that we
shall not send to market on its bosom
u single Darrel Ot nUur urVuVs' -,
inc duty upon it. In response, we
say that we can not relinquish the
freedom of navigation on the Missis
sippi. Towhich they reply most EN-
phatically, then We shall have no
peace!
Thus, while we are negotiating TO
ward our own dishonor and dishonor
and destruction, they are selling ma
ny millions of cotton to England,
building an iron-clad fleet, and pre-
pairing To renew the war with more
bloody desperation than ever before!
We should be unable to renew the
conflict. They will have gained ev-
cry advantage, and we be. compelled
to bow to their will.
They will tell us in the next place
that they will not have peace unless
we will pay at least part of their
war debt. You reply that we must
then return to arms.
All. IL is too late! We cannot re-
new the contest. Our armies are dis
banded, we are powerless and must
ACCEPT their terms. We thus find
ourselves compelled to see our Gov
ernment destroyed and ourselves en-
tirely ruined. ask you ~ patriots
who love your country supremely
above everything else Of earth, are
Won prepared to play the part | have
described in this humiliating scene2
FURTHER pIsINTEGRArIoN
Thus shut out from the Gulf and
cut off from the east, what will he the
next act OF this terrible tragedy;
We will not submit to the burden of
both debts, and disintegration will
90 on. The South has saddled their
debt up on US, and We shall be left
to play the scoundrels' part in repu.
diation by further secession, war and
bloodshed.
Thus we should be broken, destroy
ed and disgraced before the world for
all time IT, come The fatal conse-
oaences fall upon all alike. We are
all in the same boat We can not
have peace in this way. 1t isa phys
ical, intellectual, and moral impossi
bility.
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