The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1864-07-08
BEL AIR, TO- NED. FRIDAY .

checks, toreshadowipg ultimate discnmGs.
ure, which their gigantic army, erected
against the captalof the Coufader4cy, has
already met with, are but continuation
Of the same providantial successes for US
We do not recur to the Successes in ANY
spirit Of vain busting, but humble ac-
Acknowledgements of that Almighty protec'
ton which has vouohsafed and granted
them. .
'The world must now see that eight
millions of people, inhabiting so extensive
a territory, with such varied resources and
such numerous facilities for defence as the
benignant bounty of nature has bestowed
upon US, and animated with one spirit to
encounter every sacrifice Of case, Of health,
of property, of life itself, rather than be
degraded from the condition of free and
independent States, into which they were
born, can never be conquered, Will not
our adversaries themselves begiu to feel
that humanity has bled long enough 4; that
tears and blood and treasure enough have
been expended in bootless undertaking,
covering their own land, no less than ours,
with a pail of mourning, and exposing
them, far more than ourselves, to the catas-
trophe of financial exhaustion aud bank
ruptcy, not to speak of the loss of their
liberties by the despotism engeuderel in
an aggressive warfare upon the liberties OF
arother aud kindred people? Will they
be willing, BY a longer perseverance in a
wanton and hopeless contest, to make this
continent, which they so long boosted to b
the chosen abode of liberty aud self gov
eminent, of peace and higher civiliza-
tlon, the theatre Of the most causeless and
prodigal effusiou of blood which the world
has ever seen, Of II virtual relapse into the
barbarism of the ruder ages, AMI of the de-
struction of constitutional freedom by the
lawlessness Of usurped power? . o.. ..
"Tbesc are questions which our adve :
saries will decide for themselves. We de
sire to stand acquitted before the tribunal
of the world, as we'll as in the eyes of on,-
niscient Justice, of any responsibility for
the origin or prolongation Of war as con-
trary to the spirit of the age as to the ira
ditious and acknowledged principles of the
political system of America.
"On this continent, whatever opinions
may have prevailed elsewhere, it has ever
been held and acknowledged by all par
ties that government, to be lawful, must
be founded on the consent of the Cover n
ed. We were forced to dissolve our Fed
eral connection with our former associates
10y their aggressions on the fundamental
prime pie Of our compact of union with
them and in doing so we exercised a
right consecrated in the great charter OF
American liber.y--the ri ght of a free peo-
pie, when Government proves destruc.
tive Of the ends for which it Was establish.
ed, to reour to the original principles, and
to institute new guards for their security.
The separate independence of the States,
as tue sovereign aud co-equal members
Of the Federal Union, had never been
surrendered, and the pretensions Of APP
plying to independent communities, so
constituted and organized, the ordinary
rules for coercing and reducing rebellious
subjects to obedience. was a soecism in
terms, as well as an outrage on the princi-
pies Of public law.
"The war made upon the Confederate
States Was, therefore, wholly one of az
erosion. On our side il has been strictly
defensive. Born freemen and the descen-
dants of gallant ancestry, we had no op-
ton but to Stand up in defense of our in
vaded 6resides, of our desecrated affairs, of
our violated liberties and birihrighe, and
of the prescriptive institutions which
guard and protect them We have not
interfered, nor do We wish 10 any manner
whatever to interfere with the Internal
peace and prosperity Of the States arrayetl
In hostility against US, or with the freest
development of their destinies in any form
Of action-or line of policy they may think
proper to adopt for themselves. All we
ask is like immunity for ourselves, and
to be left to ourselves in the undisturbed
enjoyment of those inaienable rights Of
"hte, liberty and the pursuit OF happi.
ness, which our common ancestors de-
clared to be the equal heritage of all the
parties to the social compact. r..e.
''Let them forbear aggression upon US,
and the war is at an end. If there be
questions which require adjustment by ne.
gotiations, we have ever been willing, and
are still willing to enter into communica-
ton with our adversaries, in spirit OF
peace, of equity, and of manly frankness.
Strong in the persuasion of the justice OF
our cause, in the manly devotion of our
citizen soldiers, aud of the whole body OF
our people, aud above all in the gracious
protection of Heaven, we are not afraid TO
avow sincere desire for peace on terms
c,nsistent with our honor and the rerrna-
nent security of our rights, and an earnest
aspiration to see the world once moe re.
stored to the bene6cent pursuits of indus.
try, and OF mutual intercourse and exchan.
ges, so essential to its well-being, aud
which have been so gravely interrupted
by the existence of this unnatural war in
America. '-