Delaware State journal and statesman., 1864-02-12
THE TERMS OF PEACE.
BY WILLIAM II. ALIEN. LID.
Mol. The Right of secession InadmisaaHls


The President of the United States has way
peculiarly his own, Of saying the right word and
doing the right thing at The right time. While
he is as honest and sincere as II child, he is as
firm hs q veteran and IS courageous as Il hero.
When the war began we looked anxiously for the
''comiug man - aud we prayed that the mantle
Of Andrew jackson might descend upon him -
We wished TO see him rise in the majesty Of his
power and wrath, shake his hOary locks as q
lion his name, aud crush the rebellion to powder
aS with the hammer Of Thor, the war-god.
But the man we looked for had already come,
aud we knew him not. lie was only half de-
veloped lie did not reveal at once ali there was
OF him. lie has grown with the occasion
| MIR. Lincoln thinks that the time has come to
offer terms of peace and amnesty, not to the
rebel government, but to the people of the in
surgent States. Between the government of the
United States and the rebel government there
can be no terms. Neither party will listen to the
other except at the cannon's mouth nor is
either so worsted and out OF breath as to cry
"hod, enough"
But every war must end in peace. As sin
destroys itself by destroying the sinner, so war
sKhausts itself by exhaustng those who wage it,
This general proposition is as true of civil as of
International wars, and applies to the present
war with none the less force, because of all
civil wars this, as waged by the rebels, is the
most aneivR
1t may be further observed. that wars rarely
terminate on conditions perfectly satisfactory
even to the most successful belligerent. When
the blood of people is up they will scout at tho
word concession but it neither party will abate
o little Of it's demands, no war would end except
| by the determination Of one aud the ruin of the
other. Peace was never made without some
giving way on both sides, save when the iron
Roman "made a desert and called it peace."--
I Tl.w.A I.tI L..
or an hundred battles, the cool brains which
are left always have to settle the terms of recon-
ciliatiOn
Though the insurgent States have offered no
terms nor asked for any, since the first cannon
was fired in this war, we ara not ia the dark as
to those which their government would demand.
The messages Of their President and Governors,
the acts and resolutions of their Confederate and
State Legislatures, and the explicit declarations
of their influential press, set forth their claims
in no doubtful voice or tone. They demand
recognition of their independence and of the
right of secession. They demand division of
the territories and of all the public property held
| by the government before the war. They de-
mand the restoration of oil the forts, islands,
States, and parts Of States which we have taken
during the war, and now occupy. And finally,
they demand payment for oil negroes liberated
and for all private property consumed or de-
eNlVJSu b1 tn0 Oulon ATlulbh.
On these conditions and no others, so far as
we are advised, they are willing to sheathe the
sword.
The marrow of this modest ultimatum lies in
the right of secession. Admit this claim, and
you admit all the others, for they are its coro-
laries. 1t is vast drag-net to bring to the sur
face oil monstrous and abominable things. Ad-
nit the right OF secession, and every hour you
hesitate TO withdraw your armies and acknow.
adj tt.1a ,4,... 80
you do them grevious wrong and stultify your
selves. The refusal to divide equiiab.y the
partnership property, if they have not already
seized their share, is Infamous. The withhold
ing Of payment for your trespass and waste,
from every chicken to every negro, aud from a
shanty to Fort Sumter, is vandalism. And the
continued occupancy Of Morris Island, Port
Royal, Fort Pulaski, New Orleans, Port Hudson,
Vicksburg, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Missouri. won by the best blood of the na-
tion, Is the act of filibusters In fact, do not
see how you could refuse payment of their war
debt, if they should claim that also, az they
doubtless would, without branding yourselves as
o dishonest people.
The statesmen Of the North, with few excep-
tions, have adhered to the doctrines of the
fathers as to the nature Of our government
They have taught, and we believe, that awe the
people of the United States, ordained and
established Constitution )" that by the adop.
tiOn of that Constitution we organized govern
ment and formed an indissoube Union; that out
of the elements Of jarring and discordant States
we created nation, one and indivisible, organize
vital and sovereign that this Constitution and
the acts of Congress which accord with its pro
visions, are the supreme law Of the land that
no State nor State court, but only the Supreme
Court of the United States, can authortiveiy
declare an act of Congress unconstitutional; that
allegiance to the nation is of higher order than
allegiance to State and that when the two
conflict, allegiance to the nation is paramount
that if defects exist in our form of government,
or abuses spring up in its administration, or
evils are discovered in the body polite which are
beyond the reach of legislation, the proper and
lawful remedy is on amendment of the Constiu-
| tion md, finally, that this charter of liberty
and bond of union cannot be annulled, nor the
government altered or abolished, except by the
will of the people Of the United States and that
will must be ascertained and expressed ip due
| form, either by n recommendation of Congress,
and the action Of the State Legislatures, or by
convention legally called and constituted. We
therefore hold md teach that secession is violent
rebelliOus and wicked
On the contrary, the leading statesmen Of the
| South during the last thirty years or more, have
persistently denied that by the adoption of the
Constitution the people organized sovereign
nation. The trainers Of the Constitution, as
| they pretend and teach, did not Organise any
thing. They only constructed, and that quite
loosely. They put the timbers together without
framing or dovetalling,a and with very little glue.
They made cOnfederaey or league Of sovereign
States, but no State surrendered any portion Of
its sovereignty to the General Government As
\ high contracting powers, the States waived the
exercise of certain attributes of sovereignty dur
ing the period OF their adhesion to the compact,
/ but reserved the right to resume these and with
draw from the league at any time, either with OF
without the consent of their co-partners. They
hold also that allegiance to the State is sacred
and invioAble, while allegiance to the General
Government is promise 10 be violated without
diahonor, q bond TO be broken without crime ''n
thread that falls asunder at the touch of fire."-
This is their theory Of the Constitution and in
this mOnstrOus heresy they have educated an en-
tire generation of men to prepare them for se-
cessiOn and rebellion.
We of the North plainly perceive that this
theory destroys the government. 1t defeats
every object which the trainers of the Consttu.
tion had in view when they made that instrument
and the people when they adopted it, Accept il
| as true Interpretation, and we, the people Of
the United States, did not form more perfeo
union, nor establish justice, nor insure domestic
tranquility, nor provide for the common defence
nor promote the general welfare, nor secure th,
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our poster.
Ity We formed a highway to disunon; we es
tablished injustice; we insured domestic discord
we provided weakness, danger and defeat WI
promoted the general adversely; and we secured
the blessings of slavery to ourselves and our pos
terity. Accept this Interpretation, and it is de-
monstrable that we have no government ant
never had. The people will never subscribe Il
!, | a political creed whose logical and practical con
sequence is national dissolution and death.
/ A persistent bachelor, Il hope that unfortunat
class Of men will not think me personally whe