The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1863-10-29
"PEAcEn ON THE CONFEDERATE
BASIS.

ShNi'ASN ONSO, hhiNh ihuSV II ANASUAaN
ly interest alike the friends and enc
mics of our country: -
Save on our own terms we can ac-
.cept no, peace whatever, and must fight
until doomsday, y,rather than yield an
iota of them, and our terms are:
Recognition by the enemy Of the in
dependence Of the Confederate States.
Withdrawal of Yankee forces from
every foot of Confederate ground, in
Guiding kentucky and Missouri.
Withdrawal Of Yankee soldiers from
Maryland, until that State shall decide
by free vote whether she will remain
in the old Union or ask admission into
the Confederacy.
Consent on the part of the Federal
Government to give up 70 the Confed-
eracy its proportion Of the navy as it
stood at the time of secession, or pay
for the same.
Yielding up of all pretension on the
part of the Federal Government to that
portion Of the old territories which lie
west of the Confederate States.
An equitable settlement on the basis
ofour absolute independence and equal
rights, of all accounts Of the public
debt and public lands, and the advan-
tages accruing from foreign treaties.
These provisions, we apprehend,
comprise the minimum Of what we
must require before we lay down our
arms That is to say, the North must
yield alive, nothing. The whole
pretension of that country to prevent,
by force, the separation Of the States,
must be abandoned, which will be G.
quivalent. to an avowal that our enc
mics were wrong from the first, and,
Of course, as they waged a causeless
and wicked war against us, they ought
in strict Justice, to be required, accor-
ding to the usage in such cases, to re.
imburse to us the whole Of our cxpen-
scs and losses in the course Of the war.
Whether this last proviso is to be in
sisted upon or not, certain we are, that
we cannot have any peace at all, until
we shall be in position, not only to de-
mand and exact, but also to enforce and
collect, treasure for our own reimburse
ment out of the wealthy cities in the
cnemy's country. In other words, un-
less VIC can destroy or scatter their ar
mics and break up their Government
we can have no peace, and, if we can
do that, then we ought not only cx-
tort from them our own full terms and
ample acknowledgement oftheir wrong
but, also, handsome indemnity for
the trouble and expense caused to us by
their crime
Now, we are not yet in position to
dictate those terms to our enemies,
with Rosecrans army still in the heart
of the country, and Meade still on Vir-
gipia soil; but though it is too soon to
propose such conditions to them, yet
it is important that we should keep
them plainly before our own eyes its
the only admissible basis Of any con-
ceivabIc peace. This well fixed in the
/ Confederate mind, there will be nc
more fearful looking tor news from
Europe, as if that blessed peace were tC
come to Us over the sea, and not 10 be
conquered on our own ground. There
will be no more gaping. for hints of re-
cognition and filling Of the belly with
the East wind; no more distraction OF
division from the single momcntous
business of bracing up every nerve anc
sincw Of the country for battle.
1t is especially now, at the momcn
} when great and perhaps dcsisivc bat
| ties arc impending at two or three
e points, that we think it most essentia
to insist upon the grand and entir
. magnifcence of the stake and cause.
Once more we say it is all or moth
ing, This Conlederacy on the Yankee
nation, one or tho other, goes down
down to perdilon. That isto say, on
or the other must forfeit its nationa
existence and lie at the mercy of it
mortal enemy.
We all know by this time tho fate il
; NNVl y lOl NO IL w ouINuillb' l. hO bbiO
= party has no smaller stake.
AS surely us we completely ruin thei
armics-and without that is no pcac
nor truce at all--so surely shall W
make them pay our war debt, thong
we wiring it out of their hearts. AN
# they know it well, and, therefore, the
| can not make peace except throug
!, their Il ter exhaustion and absolute in
# ability to strike another blow.
+ The stake they have to forfeit ther
# ifthcy lose this dreadful game, is as v
:, tai us ours. SO is the stake to be wo
Is ifthey win anything, ltis no less tha
the entire possession ofour whole cour
try, with us in it, and everything tn,
=. is ours from Ohio to the Rio Grand
:, to have and to hold, to them and the
# heirs forever.
{, But on the other hand, what w
g mean to win is utter separation fro
3 them for all time. We do not wal
% to govern their country, but after lc
Y wing upon it what seemeth good to I
by way of indemnity, we leave it
commence its political life again fro
the beginning, hoping that the lcssC
may have made them sadder and wi
cr Yankees.
M We shut them out forever, with ,
T. their mcle0n and scoundrclly way
n intending to lead our lives here in o
- own Confederate way, within our ov
,s well guarded bounds, and without,
N st. John says, arc dogs.
be And let no Confederate feeble kne
and tremulous backbone say to us, Il