The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-09-23
VOL. II.


Zehs, VINO are invited to JOIN thetcOpperhead
in the support Of Gen. Benton and the Pos
sum ticket, to be blinded by the over zealou
and obtrusive loyalty Of these Copperhead
now, and forget their record and utterances il
times past. The criterion by which to jadg,
of the soundness and loyalty of these men
must not be the Now, in which with rebellio,
suppressed and the evil prophecies of Butter
nuts falsi6ed, the soldiers return in triumph
and glory to their homes. They must b,
judged by the Then of the dark hour
of the war, of the days of the Chicago
Convention and the Democratic proclamation
of failure:
The Des Moines Statesman published a
the conclusion of the Peace sensation in Feb
ruary, 1865, the following leading article.
was in the issue Of the 18th Of that month:
THE FAILURE OF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.
| We are not disappointed in the result of the
peace negotiations. The attempt at compro
mise is singular failure. Had Mr. Lucolr
and Seward gone to Hampton Roads with q
disposition to meet the Southern commission
ers on terms of equality and treat them as
equals, it is by no means improbable that an
arrangement might have been effected by
| which this bloody and devastating war would
have been speedily concluded and peace and
prosperity restored to the country; but such
was not their disposition. They presented
themselves as naughty and arrogant conquer
ers demanding unconditional submission
They insisted on the total abolition of slavery,
condition which Mr.. Lincoln had no right
to make and which the Southern commission
ers had no right to accede to. Slavery is a
local institution, regulated by the State, and
had the Southern commissioners. the Com
federate Executive aud the Congress beenfa-
vorable to the proposition, they would have
been powerless te effect sucha a purpose without
the exercise of an unwarrantable usurpation
and tyranny. But, not content with insisting
upon an unreasonable demand in the aboli.
ton of the great labor system of the South,
Mr.. Lincoln and his Secretary insisted upon
an unreasonable submission to the Federal
authority without offering any assurance as to
the constitutional or political status of the
Southern States, or pardon to those who had
engaged in the rebellion. An armistice was
was denied, and nothing was presented to
the Southern people as an inducement for
peace but eonfscation, emancipation and
gbbets With such an ultimatum, who could
expect the Southern people to lay down their
arms? They would be worse than madmen to
do it. They never will do it. 1t is possible
for them to be overcome, their armies des.
troyed and their property taken from them;
but as long as they have dollar to keep them
selves with. or a soldier to handle musket
they will accede to no such terms as proposed
There is no question but the people of the
South are tired of the war, and ferventiy de-
sire peace, but they spurn with contempt the
proposition to enslaye them and enfranchise
their negroes. The proposition Of the FEEDER
al Executive they treat rs an insult, and de-
rhand to be led to the field that they may
avenge it.
1t is remarkable. after nearly four years of
human butchery and desolating ruin, Of de-
struction to foreign commerce and domestic
industry, and after having sought the appoint
ment of commissions to confer on the subject
of peace, that negotiations should have been
abruptly broken off because of the unreasona-
bleness of Federal demand. Why Cid Mr.
Lincoln seek conference with ANEW to COM
promise, when he had nothing to offer them
but chains and slavery2 A compromise pre-
supposes concessions on both sides; but 50
far from concessions from the Federal Exec
utive, his demands were more arrogant than
ever, so that all hopes of an early peace are
u
ten fold fury. and torrents of blood must yet
be spilled to administer to the fanatical fren
w and inhuman vengence of few misguided
men who are ambitious to make history. If
their present policy is continued, it will not
take them long to complete their history, and
it will be record of crime and blood which
no ten generations of their progeny can ef
face from the memory of man. 1t will be a
record which will consign their authors to in
fanny.
True to its invariable policy, to the policy
that characterized the entire Democratic press,
the Statesman had its denunciations for Mr..
Lincoln and Mr.. Seward, not for rebels. At
ter saying the South would not submit upon
Mr.. Lincoln's terms after saying they would
be madmen if they did submit, this foul eroak-
ing bird of evil omen prophesies the renewal
of the war, and the shedding of torrents Of
blood, to administer to the fanatical frenzy
and inhuman vengeance Of Mr.. Lincoln and
Seward, and Grant, and Sherman, and the
record thus made was to consign Lincoln and
oompatriots to infsmy, And when this Iowa
Oopperhead wrote thus the pains of dissou.
ton were already upon the Confederacy, and
in less than three months the South had sub
mitted on the terms which the man of the
Statesman had said they would be niadmen
if they yielded to. That was the Then where
our soldiers had not yet fully triumphed, and
the Statesman's Southern friends not yet been
subdued. Now this same sheet has the name
of Gen. Benton and the candidates of the
Possum ticket at the headof its column, and
| it labors to make that ticket successful at the
| ensuing election. 1t expects Iowa soldiers to
join it shoulder to shoulder in its cru
SADIE upon the Union party Of
Iowa. And it does not expect them to ex-
press yllable of disgust ct the coppsry associ-
ation thus forced upon them. 1t little knows
the material of which the Hawkeye soldiers
are made, if it expects them to forget its past
and theirs and tamely become parties to a
political alliance SO infamous.
How NoBLE.-The N. Y. Post says that
during the late war the people have spent in
aid of the soldiers of the republic no less than
$212, ,274, ,248.45. This is exclusive of the
government expenditures, and $l87, ,209, 5O6-
62 of the sum was contributed by counties
and towns, for the aid and relief Of soldiers
and their families, while individuals and asso-
Citations contributed for the care and comfort
OF the soldiers about twenty-five millions