Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-10-05

Il II. -
sanguinary conflicts. Ia Virginia the ad-
vantage remained with the Confederates,
who had been the assailants; IN Georgia
the Federals, If the occupation OF Atlanta
is truly reported, may claim the credit of
the day. But, though Atlantis may At last
have been. occupied, the covering army
has not been routed, and successful COM
bination of Confederate forces threatens
Sheridan with serious embarrassment. At
Mobile Admiral Psrragut is displaying
that teuacity of purpose which has chArac-
terized the Federal tactics throughout the
present campaign, and, IL his progress be
slow, he exhibits ct least no signs Of dis
couragement. But in the meanwhile q
voice has gone forth which may still the
thunder Of the cannon. The Chicago Con-
vention has not only declared thePrinciPles
on which the great Democratic party Is
prepared to act, but has demanded, in the
name Of the peoplR, that negotiations shall
be Immediately instituted for the suspen-
sion of arms. An armistiee at once, q con-
ference as soon as possible-these are the
cries now resounding through the States
of the North; and unless they can be dis
Eegarded-which is not easy 70 suppose
we may relieve ourselves from the trouble
Of further speculations on the events of the
war. o.
We trust the public will admit that they
have not been misguided by our comments
on this obstinate contest. The great fact
which we asserted from the first, is now
placed beyond reach Of controversy. We
said that the North could never subdue the
South, and the North has now proclaimed
the same conclusion. After three years Of
the most desperate efforts, in which no
expenditure has been spared and NO tactics
have been left untried, Q preponderating
section Of the Northern people have put on
record before the world their deliberate
conviction that the policy of war is mistaken
and hopeless, and that It must be super
seeded by policy of conciliation and COM
promise. This is the declaration made by
a party presumed to be unqaestionably the
strongest In the State, and the expression
of the principle has been intrusted not to
successful OF triumphant soldier, but to a
General I0ho TDdS the first TO diSc0UEr the i'm
Praeteabiity of the object on t0hieh his
couHtrymeH uOere bent.
We think it probable that the Chicago
resolutions will be adopted, aud than an
armistice will be proposed. In that event,
will the South enter the convention of the
States without a stipulation, expressed or
reserved, for the recognition of its national
| independence? 1t seems almost impossible
to think so, for, in that case, the South
would be simply surrendering all that it
has fought for at the very moment when
success appeared most sure. On condition
of e-entering the Union, the Confederates
might have dictated their own terms in
the very first year Of the war. At that
time President Lincoln was not committed
to the principles of the Abolitionists, and
his aVoWed policy Waa -Union-Without
Slavery, If possible, but Union on any
terms. Over and over again the PSdeTalSt
allowed it to be seen, that If the Southern
ers would bat shake hands enoe more
they might do with Slavery as they pleased.
Il was only as the strife became emhittered
that extreme views prevailed. The other
day, in conformity with these views, MIR.
Lincoln met the envoys of the South with
demand not only for the reconstruction
of the Union but the abolition of Slavery.
His terms were rejected, but what will the
South say when the former condition is
rendered without the latter2 The logic of
facts would teach us that it would, either
openly or by reservation, be rejected still;
for If the Gonfederates refused such terms
when threatened with the untried power
of the North, how can they acceptthem
when, by the confession of the NOrtherners
themselves, that power has been tried in
vain2 The Federals have failed in their
endeayors to ooerce the Confederates into
reunion, and they have acknowledged their
failure. The ConfederRtss have fought
heroicslly for their national independence
and have proved their ability to maintain
it. On what ground, therefore, or with
what expectations of success can they now
be asked TO yield what they have been
! fighting for to the very men who have been
unable to Wrest it from them!
1t appears to us more probable that the
Democrats should have disguised their
genuine policy than that the people Of the
South should have eviuced any readiness
to compromise. The Chicago Convention
professed TO stand by the Union as stoutly
as the Republicans themselves, but that
resolution probably expresses little more
than the reluctance OF the North to part
finally with darling idea, and the natu-
raj unwillinguess of political party TO
alarm the public by the premature conces-
sion of an unWelcome truth. We can very
well understand why the Democrats at
Chicago should shrink from blurting out
the fact that the South must 90 free, but
we cannot understand why the South, with
success in its very grasp, should forego
the condition for which il took up arms,
and on which it has perseYeringly insisted
through three terrible years of trial. 1t Is
more likely that the Armistice will be the
fret step towards the perception Of the
truth; that the North, after finding that the
South cannot be -coerced, will fnd also
that it cannot be persuaded, and that the
reflection encouraged by the interval will
gradually induce the Federal States to re.
linqulsh what they cannot obtain rathel
than recnr to what has already been proved
, hopeless and ruinous struggle for it.
sRYMonR-N'ULRLLAN.
Prom the London Times, Sept. 12.