Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1864-11-04
A SOUTH CAROLINIAN ON PEACE.
amporsant Letter ny Encouragement


n SOGIH CAIOLANIAN ON FEACE.
amporssns Letter ny Ex-CongrcssnAan
Hoyee.
The Richmond Wig publishes a letter
from ex.Congrcssman Boyce, Of South Car
olina. to JEFF. Davis, several points Of whc;,
are quite significant. After saying that Da-
Wis should respond to the Chicago Conven.
tion, he says: ....u. ..s..-.
BY a satisfactory peace I mean peace
consistent with the preservation of our free
institutions. BY a satisfactory peace | do
not mean that cessation Of hostities which
suight, after protractcd contest, result from
the exhaustion Of the bclhgertntS, whereby
the sword would fall from their nc,vcle-S
hands, their hearts a prey to the fures -
Such peace rs that would be but hollow
truce in which each party would be inces
sanity preparing for a new. tnaland decisive
struggle. The peace which mean is peace
which rcconcieS the interests and the feelings
Of the belligcrcn,s; peace, IN short, which
restores harmony.
He then proceeds to show that tire "Con
ftderacy" is drifting towards dcspo,isn, and
that Republican government can only be pre-
served by making peace. Ho says:
Have we not carried conscripton to its last
limits? Is not every man in the country
betwcen'l7 and 80, subject to military au
thority? None are exempt except upon con.
sid, ration Of public interest. hive We not
been compelled to levy dir, ct taxes IN the
very teeth OF the theory of the Coustitu
,ion' Have we NOT issued such vast amounts
IS paper money as to unsettle all values -
| I'LL Al. I.
papc, money to fund II or lose one third p
Have we not seized all the railroadss Have
we not destroyed railroads and built others ?
Have we not established a universal system
Of impressmcnt Of property at our ewn prl.
ces. in Our own moneyY Have we not es.
tabliShrd government monopoly of the OK.
porta,ionS OF the great staples OF the coun
tryy Have VIC not compelled those whom
We permit to remain ut home, to execute
bonds to furnish their products to us at our
prices? Have we not suspended the writ Of
rhabtas corpusp Have we not introduced the
passport system. which, We used to think
b longed to the iron despotism Of Europe
In short. has not the Federal Government
done everything that = centralized military
despot'sn could dop Indeed, if you were
appointed Military Dictator. what greater
power could you exerci, than you now do ?
a'lude to these things. not to complain o!
them, but TO lament them. If you tell me
they nre necessary. reply that is precisely
my argument. My argument assumes ami
requires that necessity. 1t is plain our
Government exercises tho powers Of cen.
tral despot'sm.
AS to the despo.ism in the South, com
pared with what the coppcrhrads call the
'sLincoln despotism," Boyce says:
The truth is, that the Government nj
Washington has not dared to exercise power
on the grand scale that our Government has
The Lincoln Government has not ventured
to resort to an effective conscr'pton. 1t has
not resnrtcd TO taxation as we haze; it has
no tax in kind it does rot prchait imports
IT does not monopnlize the exports; it doe:
not rely upon imprisonment.
He then proceeds to talk to jeff. Davi.
about the Necessity "of giving the Demo
cratic party oil the power we can" lie pro
poses to do it by accepting the proposal o
the Chicago Convention for Convention o
the States, but demands, as did Vice Pycsi
dent Stephens, that they shall be "sove
reign"