Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1864-09-02

\ yonrl 81 ~A0 s1fS z ing plA"e VI tug 1Vu1ilSih
Mr. Davis smiled.
i respess yogr earnestness. Colonel, but you
do not seem 10 understand the situation If your
papers tel the truth it i y0ar capital that is in
danger not oars. Some weeks go, 6Eant cross
ed tie haRlaan 70 whip Lee, ard take Rieh.nold
Lee drove nan in the first hat8le and then Grant
executed what Your Leopse call brilliant fanls
movement, end fought Zee again. Lee dr5ge
him a second tine and then Grant made aabsher
flank asoEement; and SO they kept oa--l-ee ss1;p-
ping and Grant nankin gS.ntil Grant got where
he i now. And what is the net result Grant
has lost segenty-ive or eighty Thousand maa .n0se
than Lee had cst tle outset and Is 10 nearer tag
Richmond tian at the f1st; and Lee, whose front
has never beea broken, holds him completely In
cheek, ane has nsn enough left TO inyz1e Mary
land and threaten Washington! Sherman, 10 be
sure, is before Atlanta hut suppose he is, and
/ suppose he takes ii Y0h know the farther he
goes from the hase Of his supplies, the weaker he
grows, and the more disastrous defeat win be to
| him. And defeat may cone So. in military
view should certainly say cur position ssas bet
ter than yours
As to money we are richer than you are
/ You smile; but, admit that our paper money is
worth n0thlngit answers as a circulating medi-
um, and we holdi all ourselves. LII every dollar
OF it were lost, we should, as we have no foreign
debt be none the poorer. But, it IS worth some
thing; It has the solid basis of large cotton crop.
! while yours rests on nothing, and you owe all the
world As to resources we do not lsek for arms
or ammunition, and We have still a wide territory
| from which to gather supplies So you see, we
are not in extremities. But, if we Eere,-if we
were without money, without food, without Weap-
I ons,-f our whole country were desolated, and
our arinieserushed and disbanded, could we with
out giving up our nanhoed give up our right to
govern ourselves2 Would you not rather die, and
feed yourself a man. than Eve and be subject to
foreign mower
From your standpoint there is force in what
you say, rephed the CcI6neI tBut we did not
come here 70 argue with yoa. Mr. Davis. We
came hoping tofnd some honorable way to peace,
but / am erieved to hear YOU say what you do
When have seen your young men dying on the
battlefield, aHdiydur old men women and child
ren starving in their homes, | have felt could
risk my life TO save them. For that reason | am
here: and | am grieyed, ,-grieved, that there is
no hope.
7 know yout motiyeA Colonel Jacques, and ]
honor you for them bty what can do more than
am dong? would give my poor life gladly if
it would bring peace and good will to the two coun
tries but it would not i is with your own peo-
pie you should labor 1T Is they who desolate our
homes, burn our wheatfelds, break the wheels of
wagons carving away our women and children,
and destroy supplies meant for our sick and wound
ed At your door Hes All the misery and the crime
Of this var and it Is a fearful, ul,-fearfal account
'sNoW all Of it, Nh Davis. | admit a fearful /
account bus il is not tHat our door The pas /
sions of both sides are aroused Unframed men .
are hanged, prisoners are shot down in cold blood, /
by yourselves Elements Of barbarism are enter
ing the war from both SIDES, that should make US /
you and me, as Iarlstian men-shudder TO I
think of In God same. then, let us stop it.
let us DO something Foacede something, 10 bring
about peace on esssnut expect with Only four /
aud half millions LIS Mr. Benjamin says you /
have, 70 hold out forever against twenty mil /
lions "
Again Mr. Davis smiled.
DO you suppose there is twenty millions at the 4
North determined to crush US
II do.-tocrash your Government. A small
number of our people, a very small number, are
your frends,-secessonIst The differ about
measures and candidates, but are united in the
determination to sustain the Union Whoever IS
elected IN November, he must be committed to
vigorous prosecution of the war. II
Mr.. Davis stil booking incredulous, / remark
cd
lyon give no offence, y he replied, smiling very
pleasantly Il wouldn't have you pick your
words This is frank, free talk, and / like you
the better for sSying what you think. 60 on
Il was merely going to add, that let the North
ern people once really fee! the war--they do not
feel it yet-and they will insist on hanging every
one Of your leaders.
''Well, admitting all you. say, / can't see how
it affects our position. There are some things
.
on giving up the right Of selfgoyeFnnient one OF
those things.
.'By selfgovernment you mean disunion-
Southern Independence,
Yes
And slavery, you say, is no longer an element
in the contest
No It Is not, It never was an essential ele-
ment. 1t was only means of bringing other
conflicting elements TO an earlier cuiInination 1t
fired the musket that was already capped and
loaded There are essential difFereEces between
the North and the South, that will, however this
war ma end. make them two nations.
You ask me to say what | think WI you !
allow me to sax that / know the South pretty !
well, ard never observed those differences
'"fhen YOU have not used your eyes Ny sight !
is poorer than yours, bat have seen them Tor /
years
The laugh was upon me, and Mr.. Benjamin en-
joyed il ,,
you the dispute between your government and
ours is narrowed down to this: Union or lhsun-
'!Yes3 or, to put in other words. Independence
or SGbiugation."
Then the two governments are lrreeoncIably
apart. They have no alternative but TO fight it \
out. But. it is not so with the people They
arc tired of fighting and want peace; and as
thev bear all the burden and suffering OF the war,
it is not right they should have peace, and have
it on such terms as they hkeg
II don understand you be little more ex- 9
plict
''Well. Suppose the two governments should
agree to something like this 70 60 TO the people
with two propositions says: Peace with Dlsun- :
ion and Southern Independence as your proposl- :
tion; and Peace, with Union, Emancipation, ?
No Confscation, and Universal Amnesty, as oIrs Fl
Let the citizens Of all the United States las they
existed before the war; vote Yes OF Mo- on };
these two propositions, at special election with
in sixtv days IF majority vote Osunlon, our
government is to be bound By it. and to let yoti
be bound by ii. and to letyJu 90 in peaee If /
majority vote Union, yours to be bound BY it, a
and 10 stay in peace. The two governments can
contract in this way, and the people though con- 7
stitutidhally unable to decide on peace or war, e
can elect which of any two propositions shall gov
arm fheir r41iers Let Lee and Grant, meanwhile, y