Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-10-23
FROM RI0HMOND.

..Ffs
The Terms Upon Which the Rebels
are TVIlIing to make Peace-A sig.
nIhcant Article for the Attention OF
Rutternuts-M Mechanics of Rich
mond hold n Meeting and pass Res
olutIons of DIsaheetiOn.
The Richmond Enquirer of the 10th inst,
contains the following editorial entitled
"Peace," which must profoundly interest
alike the friends and enemies of the coun-
try:
"Save on our own terms We can accept
no peace whatever, and must fight till
doomsday rather than yield an iota Of
them, and our terms arc:
Recognition by the enemy of the inde-
pendence of the Confederate States.
Withdrawal of the Yankee force from
every foot of Confederate ground, includ-
ing Kentucky and Missouri.
Withdrawal of the Yankee soldiers from
Maryland, until that State shall decide by
a free vote whether she shall remain in the
old Union or ask admission in the Con
federacy.
Consent on the part of the Federal Gov
eminent to give up to the Confederacy its
proportion OF the navy as it stood at the
time of secession, or to pay for the same.
Yielding up of all pretension on the
Federal Government TO that portion of the
old Territories which lies west Of the Con-
federate States.
An equitable settlement on the basis OF
our absolute independence and equal
rights of all accounts Of the public debt
aud public lands, and the advantage ac-
Gruing from foreign treaties.ii
These provisions, we apprehend, COM
prise the minimum of what we must require
~ 1au II
say, the: North must yield all,-we nothing,
The whole pretension of that country to
| prevent by force the separation of the
States must be abandoned, which will be
equivalent to an avowal that our enemies
were wrong from the first, and, of course,
as they waged causeless and wicked war
upon us, they ought in strict justice to be
required, according to usage in such cases,
to reimburse to US the whole of our ex-
penses and losses in the course of that war.
Whether this last proyiso is to beinsisted
upon or not, certain We are that we cannot
have any peace at all until we shall be in q
position not only to demand and exact,
but also TO enforce and collect, treasure for
our own reimbursement out of the wealthy
cities in the enemy's oouatry. In other
words, unless we can destroy or scatter
their armies, and break up their Govern
ment, we can have no peace, and II we can
| do that, then we ought not only to extort
from them our own full terms and ample
acknowledgement of their wrong, but also q
handsome Indemnity for the trouble and
expense caused to us by their crime.
Now, we are not yet in position to die
IRoseerans' army still in the heart of our
country, and Meade still on Virginia soil,
but though 1t is too soon to propose such
terms to them, yet it is important that we
should keep them plainly before our eyes
| IS the only admissible basis of any con-.
ceivable peace. This well, fixed in the
| Confederate mind, there will be no more
fearful looking for news from Europe, as If
that blessed peace were to come TO. us
from over the sea, and not to be conquered
on our own ground. There will be no
more gaping for hints of recognition and
filling of the belly with the East wind; no
more distraction or diversion from the
| single momentous business Of bracing up
every nerve and stuew of the country for
battle.
It is especially now, at the moment when
great and perhaps decisive battles are i'm
pending at two or three points, that we
think il most essential to insist upon the
grand and entire magnifcenee of the stake
and cause. oi,.e.. * -
Once more We say it is all or nothing
This Confederacy or the Yankee nation,
one OF other, goes down, down to perdi-
ton. That is TO say, one or the other
must forfeit its national existence aud lie
at the mercy of its mortal enemy.
We all know by this time the fate in
store for Ms if We succumb. The other
party has no smaller stake. t1
As surely as We completely ruin their
armies-and without that isino peace nor
~ all
pay our war debt, though We vripg 1t out
Of their hearts. And they know It we'll,
and, therefore, they cannot make peace
except through their utter exhaustion and
absolute Inability to strike another blow. !
The stake they have 70 forfeit, then. II!
they lose this dreadful game, Is as vita1.as |
ours. SO IL the stake 10 be won Il, they
win anything. Il Il no less than III centre !
possession Of our whole country, with us