Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-03-30
JeT. Davis Last Message.


published on the first page of this paper
plainly indicates that an honorable peace
can be obtained without fuither boodshed
Whether says the New York World the
facts disclosed by Mr.. Davis are the exact
and literal truth, or are colorcd and height
ened by him for effect on his people, the
h course proper to be pursued by our govern
ment is equally plain. The thing chiefly in
y sisted on by the rebel President, in his ex-
y hortations to perseverance, is the lmpos-
u sibility of obtaining from our government
. any terms of peace which the South can
{ without dishonor and degradation accept
) His statements on this head are either true or
false. Ifthey are true, and the rebs have met
" with persistent rebufts in their proffers to-
ward an honorable peace, the responsibility
: for all the blood hereafter shed will rest upon
President Lincoln. But if Mr.. Davis
statements are false or exaggerated, the fact
that at this coniuncturc he thinks it neces-
sary to make them, proves that the South
ern people are ready to return to the Union
if the door were fairly opened. A profer
of liberal terms of peace would be accepted
by Mr.. Davis if he is sincere in his present
declarations; and it would demonstrate his
deceit and detach the Southern people from
him, if he is false.
The frank acknowledgment made by Mr.
Davis of the great perils which encompass
the confcderacy i'll consequence of the mill
= tary events Of the last four months, fur
nishes an occasion for making liberal ten
der of terms. Offers made by our govern
. ment under such circumstances can be con
= strued by nobody as evincing misgivings as
to the final success of our arms.
q MIR. Davis also points out a method OF
q negotiation to which the most fastidous
+. sense of the national dignity can find moth.
Y ing to object. He states that this method
}, was suggested by one Of the confederate
,, Commissioners at the Hampton Roads con
d ference, and that it hsa since been proposed
" to our authorities without success Th,
l. channel of negotiations proposed by Mr.
d Davis is the substitution of a military con
2. vention between the two commanding gen
Is erals, in place Of the ordinary methods o
a diplomats intercourse. Mr.. Lincoln him
tn self admitted the feasibility of this mode o
- negotiation when it was suggested to him "a
the Hampton Roads conference, although
el he thought it might not be adequate t.
ne cover all the questions that would have t,
w be adjusted. But surely there is no poin
70 on which an informal understanding nigh
le not be reached in that way; and the dignity
b. of the Government could not be compro
missed by accepting the submission of the
Is South on the basis of an honorable under
!, standing thus reached.
Il 1t is plain, then, that Mr. Davis has
- smoothed the way over all difficulties that
+ stand in the way Of an immediate peace ex-
:. cept such as may relate to the substance OF
y the settlement. President Lincoln is Ger.
. tainly justified in Withholding all proffers
v and refusing his consent to any proposed
y method of negotiation, if he has conclusive
ST evidence that neither Mr.. Davis nor tn,
Southern people ready to accept q
reasonable conditions But the evidence j
u. clearly the other way. 1t is conceivable
n enough that Mr.. Davis may be crafty AM
~ deccitful in his way Of arguing; but there i
tn no possibility of supposing that he woul,
pc present to the southern people the kind q
rs arguments he uses i'll his message, if tie
IN are not willing to return to the Union o
es fair and honorable terms He does not sa
MS to them that the federal government stead
90. lily refuses to recognize southern indeper
L., dence, and therefore they must continue t
od fight but that Mr.. Lincoln refuses to Ii
for ten to any terms but unconditional submi.
ror sion, "and that the question whether W
would be governed as dependent tcrritorit
or permitted to have II representation
their Congress was one on which he coul
'n- promise nothing Whether these stat,
he ments are false o. true, it is in either cas-
- equally clear that the people Mr.. Dav
u seeks to influence by them have ceased t
u- regard their independence as the ndispel
ur sable condition of peace, and would Willing
m. y return to the Union if they could be pei
" mitted TO re-entcr it ON the old footing
nv State equality. IT, in these statcmcnt
# and that contained in the following eXtrac
ey Mr. Davis is deliberately dcceiving tn
de Southern people, the President owes it t
- himself and them to disabuse them af thc
IT. error without unnecessary delay Mr. DG
- Wis says:
1t thus appears that neither with the cor
tederate authorities ofany state, nor throug
the commanding generals, will the govern
n ment of the United States treat or make an
terms or agreement whatever for the ccssa
D. ton of hostiities. There remains, then
h for us no chice but to continue this contes
ID to final issue for the people of the con
a. fedcracy can be but little known to him VIII,
! suppoSes it possible they would ever consen
!, to purchase, at the cost of degradation anc
d slavery, permission to live in country gar,
d risoned by their own negroes, and governed
by officers sent by the couqueror to rule over
them.
!" If the southern people aac fighting be
Vi cause Mr., Davis is abusing their creduit,
u in making them believe that peace is impos
' sible on any terms they can honorably ac
ccpt considerate proclamation by tn
President would Immediately undocciy,