The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-25


REASON, Jefferson Davis is nSturally the very last
man in tho Confederacy 10 COZ sent 70 restora-
tiOh Of The Union on whatever teYmS
For he Is now one OF the pOtentst tes OF tue
earth, ruling with despotic sway spacious en-,
pire and several millions Of human beings ana
there IL no conceivable, at least no tOerable re-
construction which would not seriously dimin-
ish his power and consequence. Ho, unGuestiou-
ably, Is "hghting for independence" ce"-which, In
his individual case, includes everything el,e--
since be has not a slave LETT IL ever he consents
TO Reconstruction, it will be because he has no
alternative.
Now, then, we will suppose that the exchange OF
notes A. Niagara bad resu ted in the appearance at
Washington of Rebel Commissioners, upon their
assurance that they had (Or would promptly Oh.
tsin) iull powers 20 propose and accept terms Of
peace or course, they would have been morally
and every way bound to prgBcr such terms-our
Gov,rnment simply standing still and requiring
Hight upon any point which those terms did not
make clear.
Suppose, then, that, thus brought 20 book
Davis had instructed them 10 say, we demand
Independence, and will make no treaty th At does
not COuCtde Il" would not that dem ind, thus
unmistaSably authenticated, have been worth
TO our Government q reinforcemeut OF one
hundred thousand men to its armies Thomas
Jefferson, more than sixty years ago, observed
that there was one spot on this continent
New Orleans 10 Wit-whereof the foreign DOS.
SCISSOR must inevitably and eternally DO the
enemy Of the United States that spot wo first
ObiainCd by fair purchase at large cost, and,
having bad Il wrested from us by treason, we
have fought ourselves back into possession of Il
at still heavier cost Of patriot 1lood, and have
held IL unChalltnged for more than two years
past. H. now, MIR JEFF. Davis would Oficially
inform us that we can have no peace with him
save on condition that we surrender New Orleans
and submit 70 be excluded save on sufferance
from the lower Mississippi, whereOn no flag now
floats but by our permission, would not that eX.
action immensely aid US 10 raise the men and
money We now need
We see not how this question can be consider
ately answered in the negative, nor how any
one can fail 20 perceive that any possible proposal
Of peace from Richmond must DO so shaped as
to COnduCe 20 the restoration Of peace and the
Union. There may be q wisdom far beyond ours
In the premises iI 80, II sOars quito above the
popular apprehension.
But, even though the results actually attained
fall dcplOrably short of what might have been,
we hold that great step has been gained towards
peace by eliciting the Presidents manifesto. Let
us reconsider it,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, July Is, lssl.-To
the restoration Peace, the ntegity " The whole On o.
and the abandonment Of slavery aud which comes by and
with authority that control the armies at
against the United S:aes will be received aud considered
viii be met by liberal terms on otnCr and col
lateral points and the bearer or bearers Of 4 shall have
Here the President insists upon but two car
dnal points, intmating that on all others he Is
ready and willing to treat on "libcral terms"
This overture Of the President WILL of course, be
OlhhtinluhIcu tne anu VIII 20 lar 10 uld-
abuse the Rebel soldiers OF the delu,ion, which
has been scdulousy incucated by their chiefs
that no terms can be made with the Government
that they have no choice hut that between per-
sisteut fighting and unconditional surrender.
Not one-tenth Of those soldiers has any interest
in slavery, save to get rid of it while tens of
thousands of them regard the Rebellion a. mex
cusable, and know that its authors richly deserve
hanging. "But," they say, 1--WE are standing
between our homes and devastation between
ruthless, hostile soldiery and our wives and chill
dren and here we must stand till we die" If
the South really knew the actual state OF feeling
at the North, the Rebellion would not stand
another month The Zanies In the loyal States
who talk rs though broad empire could be sub
jccted to military execution supply the venom
Gus, desperate traitors in Dixie with the very
sJment they need and we deeply regret that one
of the resolves of the late Baltimore Convention
seems calculated to give them a lift
General Fremont did wise, generous, manly
act in stamping, instead of standing, on the
wholesale confsca'ion plank of the Cleveland
platform, thereby aiding 10 smoota the path to
peace. Mr.. Lincoln, in the paper above given,
bas gone much further on the same way taking
ground radically different from that OF uuCondt-
tionsl submission. His indispensable bases of
peace are just right-are those which il be-
comes him to insist; though it does not follow
that the Rebels should be precluded from pro-
posing any other, nor that all negotiation should
be barred until they shall be prepared to concede,
as preliminary, all that is essentially in dispute.
Wesley, reproved by one of his brethren for
| TO which he sat his hymns, wisely responded
that he disputed the right Of the devil to a mo-
| nOpoly Of all the best music. We feel very much
| like this when we hear the most vocferous
champions Of the sneaking theft of Texas from
Mexico, the holder robbery OF New Mexico and
| California, the defenders of the Ostend Mani
| festo, and of every atr0clous, bloody-mtnded
| aggression which has diSgraced our couutry's
| history, now grOaning over the horrors of war
and descanting on the Christian blessedness of
| peace
What they really seek is a rehabilitation of the
| slave power if this war were only making slaves
| instead of emancipatng them-or il 1t were add
| ing new empire like Texas to the domain of the
| slavcholders-they would observe with compla-
| CeBcy its prosecution throughout the next ten
years. 1t Is not war that they hate, but war
| wherein slavery is getting worsted But the
| hatred they affect, we feel and we would have
the people freshly assured that we are struggling
| for national existence against the most wicked
and wanton Rebellion that the world ever saw
that, II we continue at war, II is only because q
few months more Of wholesale agonos and
dCvastatiOns are the necessary prelude 70 cen
tury Of true, benehcent peace.
| II seems to us that the time, il II has not
ALREADY come, must be near at hand, wherein the
NaTth and the South will be ready 10 exchange
glHnCos otherwise than over the crosts OF their
riyal intrcnchmenis along the sights Of their re-
| syeC'iyo muskets-a node OF regard moi
conducive TO Rnality Of temper, gra
| ousntss Of manner, or comciiucss Of Wsage
In that day, the South will be made
| 20 cOmpreh, nd thit thc North requires
the extinction Of slavery In no enyious
| inimica sp'Tit-requires IL because its contuuet
existence involve, the chersh hing Of inbred lhougl
smOthcrcd iealuusies, anita aonisms, antipathies-
because cordial Union, lasting peace, arr attain
able only through homrecncons Institutions
based On liberty for ull And, II tAe suporhcialll
aboriivc effort at Niagara shall have served 4
hrsten by bur q week this most desired consum
nation, i will by no means have been made II
vain.
TuE DINING SEHGEANf.