The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-07-26
ahe Proposed .elar- tseaesnshs. SANDER Ne
gstiatten,

SKY, OF the Suucu cAPtos"o VI u maya
zine in which no powder had been kept
for a quarter Of century, could moi
have produced greater sensation than
the annunciation through the city press
yesterday morning that the gentlemen
whose names are printed att the head Of
this article had opened with Horace
Greeley--of all other men in the world
IA correspondence, requesting safe con-
ducts to Washington, in the character OF
peace neeotiators. The morning papers
seem to have been taken entirely by sur
prise--so entirely that not one OF them
made single remark upon the circum-
stance, although it is the strangest and
most unaecountable that has come 10 no
tice since the commencement Of this war,
These men were not, il seems, invested
with any power To make proposals for
peace--they We're only lin the confiden-
tial employ (how We bate that French
Yankee world of the Government. -
President Davis, therefore. is clear OF
any imputation in connection with the
affair. Messrs. Clay, Holcombe, and
Sanders are alone responsible for it. -
This renders the matter still more Curl
Gus. What circumstances had been dis
closed to these gentlemen that justified
them in opening correspondence with
the Federal Government upon subject
which they had no authority to discuss
Mr.. Holcombe says: ''Exacting no con.
dition but that we should be duly ac-
credited from Richmond" &c, ''it seemed
to us that the President Lincoln) opened
q door which had been previously shut
against the Confederate States" &c
Who ever asked Lincoln to open any
door for them Not the Confederate
States, most assuredly. If we are not
more mistaken than ever We were in our
lives, the last Congress of the Coniede
rate States voted down by an immense
majority the proposition to enter upon
negotiations for peace. President Da-
vis's letter to Governor Vance, on this
subject, is certainly not yet forgotten
What, then, had these gentlemen to pro
pose, and who gave them the right to
place the Confederate States at the foot
stool of Abraham Lincoln, since, con.
fessedly, the President did not p? What
was the nature of that intelligence which,
as soon as it was communicated to Presi-
dent Davis, was to convert those private
gentlemen, enjoying themselves during
the late sultry season at the Falls of
Niagara, into full blown ambassadors.
bearing the fate of nations in their car
pet bags and the issues of peace or war
in their portfolios?
The time chosen by these selfconst-
tuted diplomatists to PROSTATE their
county at the footstool of Abraham
Lincoln is peculiarly unfortunate. Our
arms have been singularly successful
throug bout this campaign. Our sue
cesses have struck terror to the Northern
heart. But few days since New York
paper spoke as follows:
"WhO is so blind as not to see that pro-
longatiOn OF the war is ruin, utter and ire
trievable, to the nation, or II wholesale re
pudiation OF the entire debt. Great rs this
debt is--laTger now no doubt than the im-
mense, colossal debt vi Engiand--it must OF
necessity be largely increased when the
claims OF Union men ior property wantoniy
and maliciously destroyed, aud for slaves
decOyed away by orders oil Federal officers
or by a tacit Understanding with their sub
ordinafes, shall be paid.
''Ifthree years ot war has produced an
additional expenditure greater than the en-
tire cost Of the Government, with the large
additions OF territory added, since its first
formation, three years more of war, with the
price OF everything necessary to carry it on
doubled, trebled, quadrupled in price, by
the depreciation OF the legal tender curren
cy, must involve wreck Of everything fnan
eial. There seems to be but one single hope
tor the country. and that is 10 peace, and
that hope mnst soon be realized Ii we would
have anythiHg lett rs worth saving"
While Northern editors can see but
one hope for the salvation of their eoun-
try, and that the hope of peace, these
men step in and tell them they are great
ly mistaken; that they are not half 50
badly off as they think themselves;
that If they will only hold on the Con-
federates will sure for peace. Yes the
Confederates, who all along have been
acting solely on the defensive, are to beg
peace Of those whose unheard Of enor-
mites against them has made the whole
Christian world hold its breath in hor-
ror. We are to sue at the foetstool. and
are to be spurned, as Lincoln spurns
these sell-made diplomatistsl We pro,
test against this degradation OF our coun-
try. We protest against any PROPOSE
tons offered through such n channel as
Greeley, with whom it would be dis
grace to Southern free negro to nego-
tate. We protest against offering any
terms to Abraham Lincoln, authorized or
not authorized Let him come to us when
he grows tired OF this war. Ii is his war.
lie made it, and he can stop it at any
moment he may think proper. Above
all, We protest against any private man
undertaking, on his own account, to
sneak automatically for this uaanle