The Placer herald., 1863-12-26
NUMBER II.
AbOlitiOnists opposed to Peace upon Terms
OF Justice and Equality.

OF Justice and Equality.
Among the telegraphc dispatches the
following item upon the action of the House
of Represen tatives is received:
In the House, Fernando Wood, offered
resolution providing for the appointment of
Commissioners to 60 to Richmond, with
view Of arranging this bloody, destructive
and inhuman war, and securing peace under
the Constitution, upon terms Of justice and
equality. The resolution was tabled by
vote of 90 to SO.
AS might be expected, the Abolition
journals all raise howl of indignation and
denounce those fifty nine members Of Con.
gress who voted against tabling the resolu-
tion, as traitors to their country. They,
however, have used this species Of denuncia-
tion until it has no terrors for genuine
Democrats and is regarded simply as the
press gang cry Of "stop thief" employed By
as Internal gang Of traitors rs ever cursed
any country, in order to deceive the people
into belief that they, the Abolition editors,
are the genuine patriots of the land. Why
not send Commissioners to Richmond with q
view of stopping this "bloody. destructive
and inhuman war!" Is war the natural
condition Of mankind that it is desirable to
continue it as long as possible? Is this
process of cutting throats so pleasant and
profitable that who ever talks of bringing
it to an end must be denouncedl What a
strange deluson has seized upon the public
mind! 1t is said that these ftty,nne men
have declared their willingness to enter
into negotiations with red handed traitors"
Call the Confederate authorities red handed
traitors, or whatever we please, the fact can
not be ignored that they represent vast
territory and millions of people, who have
resisted for nearly three years, the most
gigantic military power developed in modern
| times and if "grim war" ever "smoothes its
wrinkled brow" we think it will be done bv
negotiating.
No war ever came to an end without
negotiations on the part Of the belligerents;
or if it did we must search for such an
example among the records of savage tribes,
and not of civilized nations. We are told
that it is dishonorable to talk of peace upon
any terms How can that be if, as we are
told, the rebellion is about crushed out-and
our ears are almost daily regaled with the
news of a Union victory. 1t is either false
that the North stands the victor in this war,
or it is false that there is dishonor in pro-
posing to negotiate for a restoration of peace.
1t cannot be dshonorable for the victor to
tender the olive branch. Negotiation ended
the old war of the Revolution, after all the
high-sounding declarations of the British
ministry that they would never treat with
rebels Louis Napoleon did not think it
derogatory to French honor to negotiate with
Austria, and even to pay high compliment
to the valor OF an enemy that had tested
the power Of French arms Does war
between people of the same blood-brother
against brother, and father against SON
| justify harsher rule, and make an endless
war of determination the on y course com.
patible with honor and justice, to say nothing
of christianity? The ifty-nine men who
voted in Congress for sending commissioners
to Richmond with view to the termination
of the war upon terms of justice and equality,
did right. History will vndicate their con-
duct from the base ISLANDERS Of class Of
miserable backguards that corrupt public
opinion has lifted to the surface like filthy
scum at the top of the boiling caudron Of
revolution. These men are opposed to any
measure that has tendency to stop the war.
They live off the war-grow rich either off
Government contracts, or money stolen from
the treasury under the cloak Of patriotism;
therefore they pray for it to continue. In
the place of cultvatng the earth, pursuing
the arts of peace making for themselves
happy homes, men 90 forth to slaughter
each other In the place of cuItivatng the
useful and the beautiful, they become de-
stroying evils. The work of century is
undone; civilization reapses into barbarism;
the widow mourns her lost lord, and the
mother bewais her son slain in battle; tax.
alton eats up the substance of the people,
while cold, relentless, iron handed despot-
ism looms up before US, crushing in its grasp
every right and every aspiration worth living
for. These things cannot always be so, and
retribution will one day come on the
heads of the authors and the upholders of
this war swift and terrible. Erpress