Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-09-18
ALL TO NOTHING.

49,, A., meals, as Governor Letcher COM
nrehens. ely expresses it, 'the unqualified re-
coenition of the independence OF the o0uthern
Confederacy )" and the Southern C9nfedcr"FS
embraces every square foot OF every o'I''
,rb;cb seeded from the old taion. IL means
the complete triumph of our arms, anu 'no eS'
adjustment Of our ri sht ~ our luli PfoP'r-
+;on of all territories, public lands, navy
everything even to the Newfoundland oahk
fisheries.
Re.weeo this and noihin. is no medium
whatever for US. And NothAy means, no
Southern Conftderacy at all no Southern
Confederate at all no civil or political right
for any man in this land no property that
will not be sxjject TO the debt incurred l0r
.ubduing US; no privilege to bear arms; no
State lines, nor State rights. no StafeS' but
{ ..saul new Territory to be governed by the
Congress OF Westinghouse line new: country
tlrowp omen 70 the enterprise Of the anglo
coyors.n ari With its ancient inhabitants re
a u +. position somewhat worse than that
Il Indians.
Eotb the Yankee nation and the Confederacy
are inevitably and irrevocably committed to
this same principle, All or Nothing We do
net say committed by words and declarations
alone, but by the force and nature Of things.
The North must conquer all, or lose all; they
cannot if they would, stop short with sort Of
conquest which would leave some few States
or parts Of States independent Of their power;
they cannot by jary means admit or accept.
even reconstruction, which would still leave US
States and State governments. They cannot
afford to leave US States at ALL either inside or
outside Of theit Union. They can never make
peace save on one or other of these two conul-
ons-''unqualiied recognition of the indie
pendcnce Of the Southern Contederacy," u
absolute suhjugaton, and destruction of every
right Of our States and four people. II there
were no other, and deeper, reasons for holding
these to lie the only two possible alternatives,
the existence of the two public debts created
on the one side for invasion, on the ether for
defence, is reason enough. To save them.
selves from bankruptcy and ruin our enemies
must make our property pay the whole Of their
debt. Taking the lowest and most vul gar, but
still very forcible view Of the present strug-
gle, it is struggle which Of the two debts we
are to pay--our own or theirs.
There have been many indications lately
that the enemy has settled down upon this
extreme policy. President Lincoln's county
court phrase THAT he who loses the case pays
the cost" is true in wars as well as in actions
Of trespass. Those who are worsted in war
have no rights except the rights Of belliger-
ents and conquered belligerents; for them,
there is no Law but the law Of war; and the
law of warts JIm IIictis.
Although this extreme issue is made plain
to u.s. not so much by professions and declara-
tons as by the very nature Of things yet the
declarations Of far-secinS men amongst our
enemies clearly show that they so appreciate
the situation. When our newspapers lately
published the letter Of the Yankee General
>Hovey, affirming that when the rebellion"
should lie crushed, it would leave the South
without States, and without citizens, they
seemed to regard it as q piece Of extrava-'
gance; but it was the soberest reason, law
and logic. Since then Mr.. VIM. Whiting So
licitor to the Washington War Department,
being invited by the Union League Of Phila-
delphia to express his views on the conditions
of reunion, writes to them a long letter, from
which we now give two or three extracts. Let
them be read attentively:
Each person inhabiting those sections Of
the country declared by the Presidents pro-
clamation to be in rebellion, has the right to
what belongs to q public enemy, and no more.
lie can have no right to take any part in our
government. That right does not belong to
an enemy of the country while he is wagng
war or after he has been subdued. \ public
enemy has right to participate in or assume
the Government Of the United States only
when he has conquered the United States
We find in this we'll settled doctrine Of bcllg-
erent law the solution Of all questions in re-
lation to State rights. After the inhabitants
of district have become public enemies, they
have no rights, either State or personal, against
the United States. They are Beligercn;s
only, and have left TO them only belilgcrcnt
rights
"Whcn all the inhabitants have (by en-
gazing in civil, tc.1itDrial war; become public
enemies, it is the same in legal effect rs though
the uhabitant4 had been anuihi!ated. So far
as this government - concerned, civil war OBJ
literates all lines Of States or countries; the
only lines recognized by war are the lines
which separate Us from public enemy. 4
Beware Of committing yourselves to the fatal
doctrine of recognizing the existence, in the
Union, of States which have been declared by
the Presidents proclamation to be in rebellion.
For, by this new device Of the eremy-this
new version Of the poisonous State rights doc
trine-thc secessionists will be able to get
back by fraud what they failed to get by fight
ing. Do not permit them, without proper
safeguards, to resume in your counscls in the
Senate and in the House the power which
their treason has stripped from them.
EDO not allow old States, with their consti-
tutions still unaltered, to resume State powers
BE true to the UnOn men Of the South not TO
the designing politicians Of the border States
The rebellous States contain ten times as
many traitors as loyal men. The traitors will
rave vast majority Of the votes.
Beware of entangling yourself with the
technical doctrine Of forfeitures of States
rights, as such doctrines admit, by necessary
implication, the operation of code of laws
and of corresponding civil rights the exist
once Of which you deny.
:'The solution Of all our difficulty rests in
the enforcement against our public enemy, of
our belligerent rights Of civil war.
= "All the judges agreed to the posi-
ton that since July y, 1861; there hes ex-
listed between the United States and the Con
federate States civil territorial war.
That since that time the United States
have full belligerent rights against all persons
residing in the districts declared by the Pres.
idents proclamation to be in rebellion