The New York herald., 1865-01-22

JcH. Davis ON tho Peace Question.
Jef Davis, on the peace question, is q nice
| illustration Of the dog in the manger. He can
| do nothing himself In behalf Of peace as the
President Of the so-called Confederate States,
| and he opposes all peace movements from any
| other quarter II does not suit him to recog-
nize the fundamental idea upon which his con-
federacy was organized-the sovereignty Of the
| States concerned. As each exercised the as
sumed sovereign right to abandon the old
Union, so to each Is reserved the right Of stay
ing In or going out of its new copartnership, as
It may think proper; but JEFF has found out
that this sort Of confederacy is Of no earthly
account
He understands it, and repudiates it as
boldly as he did those Mississippi bonds.
Separate State action" he says, "would
produce discordant instead Of united coun-
sells" Some Of the States might "aban-
terms of peace;" and where, then, would be
the confederacy and Its dictator? In the next
place, he can see nongood in q general conven-
ton Of all the States. He shows, first that such
convention could not be got together, and,
secondly, that when assembled 1t could do
nothing. meeting upon the concession that
no State should be bound by the convention
would be the recognition of State sovereignty,
to which the North would never agree, while
the South could not consent to be ruled by the
Northern majority; for that would be the sur
render Of State rights and Southern independ-
ence. The case is as clear as mud.s
But, again, argues JEFF, if you propose con-
vention of the States Of both federations merely
to compare notes and see how the land hes the
thing is superfuous; for the "only obstacle in
the way of peace is that the enemy (the gov
ernment Of the United States) will not treat at
all, or entertain any other proposition than that
we should submit to their yoke, acknowledge
that we are criminals, and appeal to their mercy
for pardon" That is exactly where the shoe
pinches him. Furthermore, if it took the origi-
nal thirteen States, in time Of profound peace,
three years to frame and secure the rati6ca-
ton Of their federal constitution, how many, in
the midst of this war, would it take some thirty
ments This is very absurd question. We
have no new government to frame. All that
we ask is that the rebellious States shall give
up this suicidal war for new government and
| submit to the old one which they have aban-
doned. They will have to do this, and the sim
pie question before JEFF and his confederates is
whether they will do it now, and save some
thing, or continue to fight till they lose every
thing.
The proposed experimental convention Of
the States, Davis next contends if assembled,
would be moved this way or that according to
"the vicissitudes" of the war, until, breaking
up, it would leave more embittered feeling of
hostility than ever between the two sections.
His allusion to "the vicisstudes" of the war is
very suggestive in connection with the date Of
this pro1ancansicnto. II is dated Novem-
ber II, at which time poor JEFF. ex-
pccted Hood to capture Nashville, and to
draw Sherman out Of Georgia to the rescue,
and thus give another year Of security to the
Confederate" concern at Richmond. But
what are the "vicissitudes" which have since
occurred? Hoods army has been pulverized,
brushed back into the woods of Alabama, and
rendered mere cipher Us an army. Sherman,
cleaning q swath sixty miles wide in his pro-
gress, has swept down through Georgia to Sa-
vannah, captured that city, and now threatens
Augusta, Columbia and Charleston, with
nothing in his way to detain him. Lastly, the
capture OF Fort Fisher, and the blowing up of
Forts Smith and Caswell, in settling the fate of
Wilmington, materially aids and simplifies the
work before Sherman, and renders the abandon
ment of Richmond by JEFF. the most urgent
question of the day.
We presume, however, that if Davis were
now called upon to write his views Of peace
to his Georgia friends, he would still stick to
bis text of Southern independence, because,
with the collapse of his confederacy, amnesty or
no amnesty, the best thing that he can
hope for is the fate Of an outlaw and an exile. If
pardoned by the United Statcs he can never be
pardoned by the people who have been 80
foully betrayed, wronged, tortured and ruined
by him throughout the South. But if JEFF were
now to write his views on this subject Of q con-
vention of the States, we guess that he would
not insist even for Southern independence,
upon the surrender 10 his confederacy of
West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis-
souri,, Arkansas, Louisiana or Texas We
suspect that, upon pinch, he would
accept az O godsend the nice little con-
federacy of South Carolina, changing the sew
eral counties or districts, as they are locally
called, into so many sovereign States, on the
basis Of State rights and swamp reservations
Here, however, Sherman interposes with his
peculiar notions and forcible arguments on State
rights; and, like the people Of Savannah, we are
rather disposed to admire the ways Of Sherman.
Upon one point he agrees with Jef Davis that
peace convention of all the States, or Of any Of
them, for that matter, is useless superfuity,
and that their simple submission 10 the supreme
authority OF the United States Is all that ia