Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1864-01-15


As We have not provoked this war, bat
sought rather TO avoid it, we are not respon-
sible for its consequences to its projectors
and their followers. IF the people of the
Southern States feel its burthens and dsvast-
ating influences, it is because they have invit.
ed them ;-if serrOW and suffering and misery
have been breHght to their hearthstones, il is
because they would not be content with peace
and prosperity If oppression and tyranny
are the features of the power they have in
voked to rule them, it is because they suffered
themselves to be seduoed from the govern
ment that had 50 long protected and blessed
them; if they are stepped in debt, inpovished
and ruined, il is because they have preferred
| these to q condition OF af1uence and plenty
if their agriculture is smitten, and their COM
msrce is destroyed, it is because they have as
sailed the interest that has fostered the enc,
and attempted 10 strike down ths flag that
has protected the other if their institution
of human slavery is BOW dying ia their midst,
it is because they have smitten it with their
own haudS-beeause they made it an element
of frebellion,-becsuse they sought to change
! its character from a domestic Institution, un-
der the protection of the Constitution aAd
laws, to the gigantic form of political power
that should rule and desolate the land. The
fruits are of the tree they haYe planted /; and
fhs hand that reared it can alone be csnsured
FLOR their bitterness. Time, repentance and
loyalty, will, in most instances, relieve them
from the consequence Of their folly and crime.
Peace, prosperity and plenty may come again;
bat they cannot expect the nation to restore
all they have destroyed. They Cannot reason
ably ask that we should restore to life and vi
tality again the active agents of this rebellion.
They cannot claim for the institu ton Of slave
ry any further privilege or immunity than the
people of the Northern States may see proper
10 extend to it.
i As we approach the end of this contest it
is natural that portion OF our people should
display some anxiety to anticipate it, with
plans and propositions that, upon superficial
examination, may pr omiEe to hasten its ad-
juGtment.
We want peace-ths North as well as the
South but we have not passed the terrible
ordeal of the last three years, to make or az
cept peace upon any other than honorable
terms, or without the promise Of permanent
adjustment and endurance. We cannot nego-
tiate with rebels in arms, or admit anything
from them but unconditional surrender aad sub
mission. Much we can pardon to the masses Of
the people, but the leaders must reap of the
harvest they have sown. The past has its
punishmentthat may be mitigated or forgiven :;
but the future must have full and ample seeu-
rity.
It is simple folly to talk of suppressiug this
rebellion and restoring the unity OF the coun-
try without first subjugatisg the military
power of the ConfedeFacy, or relieving the peo-
pie of the seeding States from its controlling
infuence--and in many cases, oppression
1t does not follow that the destrutien Of the
military power of the South is the Eubjuga-
ton of the people. In many cases it will
prove their enfranchisement. There is 10y
al sentiment and population in nearly, if not
quite all the Southern States. Where too
strong, or too open in its manifestations, the
military power has essayed, by every possible
means, to keep it in subjugation. Men holding
and expressing loyal sentiments, have been
fined, Imprisoned, hunted into the FORESTS and
mountains and many of them suffered death;
while their families have been impoverished
and ruined. Political leaders-designing
men, who had secretly plotted the overthrow
of our Governmet-led few-but actually
forced majority of the Southern States into
secession and rebellion-and the military pow
er now holds them there.
Future history will record that, perhaps
with two exceptions, the ordinance of seees-
sion would not have been carried in any Of
the seeding States, if the people could have
been permitted fair, uncontrolled election,
by ballot, upon it. But they were overwhslm-
ed by fraud and orce--and then they were
told, aeeording to the improved theory of
State rights, that whenever a majority Of =
State had resolved to commit treason, the
minority were bound not only to submit, but
to share the sin and shame. These whom ar
gument failed to convince, the military dsspo-
tism has silenced, for the time being.
There has been great deal said about the
North seeking to subjugate the South. We
have sought nethiHg of the kind. The politi-
cal aud military leaders of this rebellion it
who have subjugated the people of the South.
ern States, trampled upon their politics
rights, and involved them in the crime of
treason, with its accompaniment of civil war.
The triumph Of :he Northern armies, the res
toration of the old Government, is, in truth,
the delivsrancs of the people of the South
and they will so hail it hereafter.
There are but two ways in which the resto-
ration of peace and the Union is to be accom-
pished first, the unconditional surren der
Of the leaders, and the abandonment of the
rebellion; or, second, the continued progress
and conquest of our arms, until the military
power Of the COnfederacy is broken, and the
heart of the rebellion crushed. All interme-
date plans or schemes are mere palliatives,
that, like our compromises of the past fifteen
years, will only serve to procrastinate exist
ing evils restoring peace that will require
constant watchfulness and concessions and
prosperity that will be dependent upon al
most annual sacrifices to avoid future de-
mands and instructions. Iu view of the per-
msnence of oar Government and the integri-
ty of our Union, there is no such thing as CON-
promise with rebels in arms against BOTH
Turn from it as we may, the great truth is Ap
parent to every reasoning mind, that subnis-
sion or subjugation, for the leaders Of this re-
belion are the only effective means of Festor-
ing peace and good government again.
The first of these is not likely to occur ia
the present posture Of affairs nsr as long a.
hope, however blind or unrsasona BILE, will
serve to shield from despair the fortunes Of
the civil and military heads of the rsbelIion.-
The second, therefore, constitutes our only
certain means of success. In its progress to
this end, our gallant army has two fold mis-
sion to fulfill. The first is to press back, step
by step, if nscsssasy, the military power Of the
Confsderacy from the usurped soil Of the Sc
ceding States and eventually to subdus that
power, and bring it to terms of peace. The
second to develop the principle Of loyalty in
the relieved people, and protect them in its Sx-
arcisa and eniovment. while theV restore thu