The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-12-03
The Peace Movement.

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The Peace Movement.
A SENSIBLE. EDITORIAL on THE NECESSARY
STEPS TOWARDS PEACE-THE CoHsERvA
TIVE PEOPLE TO EFFECT AN HONORABLE
PEACE.
From the Jackson Mississppian.l
We have heard the desire frequently
expressed recently for a sufficient
amount Of prescience to see the future
of this country for the next SIX months,
four months, or even two months.
Undoubtedly human kind has been
denied the gift Of penetrating the
murky mists of the future for wise pur-
poses. There is a celebrated mountain
pass in Switzerland over which the
traveller ia conducted blindfold- It is
said that he would lose his footing with
his reason at glimpse of the fearful
ABYSS beneath In like mercy God has
dealt with the American people in hav
ing withheld from them a premonition
Of the whirling maelstrom Of carnage
and bloodshed into which they madly
plunged four years ago.
Could the people Of the late United
States have caught a glimpse of the aw-
full gulf that yawned beneath them,
which, like the very genius of destruc-
ton. threatened to swallow up in its
bloody nav every interest and memory
sacred to the American name, they
would haze SHRINK iron, taking The fearful
feap, and both sections would have a5ated
somclChat n their arrogance. intolerance and
tonahcism They would have sought
and found the means of reconciliation,
ands their conduct towards each other
would have been characterized by Chris
tan forbearance, instead of fanatical
intolerance. And so now, if we could
see what even the next sixty days have
in store for US, we might faint in the
contemplation, and thus fail to work
out our high destiny.
The war has a purpose 1t will ac-
complish great good amid great evil
Whether it is the result of special
Providential instigation or not, it is evil
dent that il is the result of certain
causes, and viii not fail TO reach certain
effects Among the first of these were
mutual and unreasonable vindictive.
ness elimination, hatred, jealousy,
slander Each section bent all its men
tai faculties TO the task of searching
out the wickedness of the other Their !
intercourse was devoid of all charity, |
of all fairness and of all msgnanimity |
In the eyes of the one no virtue in the |
other could be seen. They saw num-
berless notes in their neighbours eyes,
but never could perceive the immense |
beams in their own.
For twenty years or more the course |
of the two sections towards each other |
has been thus characterized In every |
moral and social point of view the |
Union had been dissolved twenty years |
before secession. 1t was only held to- |
Eether, seemingly, TO accommodate that |
spirit of bandying epithets which prom
ised TO fan the flames of discord into |
general couhagration, and thus ripen |
both sides for the impending clash.
The North was the FIRST and the most |
pertinacious aggressoT, and, therefore, |
Is undoubtedly the greater sinner of
the two; but it is needless to deny that |
the South met these aggressions in a
spirit calculated not to assuage but to |
pour oil on the passionate elements |
and to invite the collision. The North |
was fanatic: the South was arrogant. !
The North bullied; the South bantered.
Slavery ,Cas he rock that ship1Creeked The |
ship Of State Both sides BETRAYED the~
came eagerness TO keep this question |
ever prominent Demsgogues at the |
North rode into Office on the anti |
slavery hobby; demagogues at the |
South rode into oihceon the pro slavery /
hobby. The two sntagonizing elements /
met st Washington, and there COM
menced the tug of war-the war of |
wind, the sure precursor of the war of |
blows.
Meantime the people on both sides
were kept in whirl of feverish excite
ment. They looked to Washington |
for their political pabulums they found |
only fuel to feed their passions Their /
statesmen Q)-GOd save that mark -
taught them only to hate, and drilled /
them in the vulgar arts of billingsgste |
and bittor inyective They made them. |
selves, in reality, the representatives Of |
wrath, with all their ingenuity and |
power monopolized in the one idea of |
spreading the flames of discord and |
ripening the minds Of their constitu- |
ents for the final catastrophe.
Thus our political cauldron fomented |
for twenty years or more. The war |
was inevitable At the time secession |
was contaminated there was no earthly |
way of avoiding it except in the dis |
81 ace OF one section or the other In |
der all the circumstances the Southern |
States were right IN seeding The ele- /
ments of discord had been worked TO |
such pitch of anger that no other al |
Tentative was left them consistent with /
their honor and self-respect They I
were literally compelled 10 secede; but |
when we say this we do not mean to /
have it inferred that they were guilt |
less ia those things which made seces-
sion unavoidable In this matter they, |
as well as the States of the North, have /
10 shoulder their share of the original /
Gin of fostering the demon of discord- |
The war was also a necessity. 1t was 1
needed to purge the country of its po-
iitical iniquity and social corruptione /
10 was necessary 10 bring TO the surface /
the monster of greed, ayarice and ex-
tOrtlon, IN order that, in so far as be AT. /
iected the State, he might be DESTROYED 4
IL was the only sure antidote FOR the
bigotry, the arrogance, the intolerance. /
and fanaticism that spread over the |
lard Ike a cankering pestilence. The |
people of both sides had 10 be taught /
80 blood and dire necessity a lesson |
which they had refused 10 learn under |
the benign influence Of peace and pros |
perity. They have already made great
progress in this important lesson, and
Their trials wil.not stop until they have
mastered il eiiectually.
We cntertSin q solemn conviction
thet tie Uar riH 90 o. spsfR he peqpls Of