Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-01-06

may it be presumed the war will end2 When the
South has gained the end for which she has 80 long
struggled in vain-when the North shall be eX-
hausted aud there will be none 10 haunt those
manifest destiny, stars and stripes" to the free
and favored breeze Of heaven But is the North te-
coming exhausted in comparison as rapidly and
surely as the SouthP We may read that New York
was never livelier, never more business like; her
prosperous citizens never accumulated money fast
er; never reaped such immense profits speedier
than now, through an Illegal indirect traffic with
the South; while their mercenary armies are de-
lugng every foot of land with the best and nobest
of Southern blood Verify It's a strange way of
exhausting hostile people lighting them with su-
blime heroism in the field; while at home wives
and daughters our sweetheartS and mistreSses aunt
their exravagdnt 6nery; send the proceeds of many
fiue bale of cotton to their plshorc Golfers and
deuge the hated land of the peregrnating and inqu
sltiye Yankee with golden shower Of coveted gold
So far as exhausting the material with which the
federal armies are supplied that is simply an ex-
ploded fallacy. appeal then to our people, from
the centre to the circumference of this once best
and smiling land, if there yet remains the slightest
hope the remotest possibility Of this terminal
ing through mutual blood.letting2 This entrench-
cd system of modern, rather American warfare,
is one which even under the most favorable, that is
to say, the most sanguinary circumstances, is pecu
larly indecisve tedious and barren of present or
prospective fruits. lam fully aware that our nu
merical strength will not allow our confronting the
foe on open unprotected battlefelds But he has
! ever at his ready command the same infallibe re-
sources and Is not slow to avail himself of the pos
sible advantage. The result IS, species of warfare
which tires the patience even of the most phlegmst-
ic and can never result in any thing decisive if car
| ried on until the very crack Of do6mi
Besides, let Us fight ever stubbornly, and all
the important points of the irrepIessible conflict
must ultimately be settled by negotiation. 1t is
commended by those who, perhaps precpitated
the war upon the American people, that we OF
| the South, are in no condition Just at present
| to negotiate. That we have, in a word, the simple
alternative only confronting us to fghtl Let the
| North withdraw her armies; let our territory re-
main intact and innocent of hostile tread let Grant
raise the seige of Petersburg Sherman embark his
azure hosts for some Northern port; Abe Lincoln
raise his effective paper blockade and then we will
negotiate. have invariably noticed that those
who set up such preposterous claims are in the en-
joyment Of some sinecure where Yankee shell do
not Shrek, missiles whistle or bayonets clash
where the duties are light and the pay secure
| where there is no occasion for sleeping exposed to
the foul dew under the broad canopy OF heaven with
| a single blanket, where the danger and hardship
of life IN the trenches is not their daily experience!
This war cannot be terminated by barren victories
The searching lambert flames of ruinous warfare
may waste and absorb tie last resources of the land
in devilish strife, but the end will be then as far
removed in the dim perspective as at present.
Something must be yielded on either side; claims
more reasonable must be set up; less intense and
bigoted selfinttrest must become the order Of the
day or else we will have not only the moral graft
fcalion Of seeing the North irretrieJably ruined,
but also be swallowed up ourselves in the CHASTITY
and devouring whirlpool of blasting war. As a
contingent tendency finale of this dread its
approach to the character of mere partizan strife
each mans hand raised against his neighbor; life,
property helpless infancy and decrepit old age,
| our fragile sisters alike insecure; depending for
their very existence on the fluctuations. of those
brutal passions which will then have become
our crimson types as people. If persisted in
! the war can never come 10 a sudden end, even
under the most fortutous circumstances. Its last
quivering throbs aud dying pulsations will be gasped
| forth " hen this country will be to all ntents and
purposes utterly desolated a perfect wilderness
| desert u blood and crime!
1t is in effect, too painful to cast the saddened
eye down the terrible vista of the dark and gloomy
| future There is no true man, oae having the best
and dearest interests of his country Immediately al
| heart, ~h" would be intirnidalff Cor snsPa mo-
| ment4a advocating the opennS of negotiations al
once. Will paltry, contemplate, and supercOus
pride prevea: from following the course so obv
OuSly pointed out by reason and true religion L
so, shudder for the future fate of the American
people. | should consider them as having unfor
tunately inherited most decided tendencies to bar
barlsm; as in fact, but little elevated at the
present above the purely savage and most ferOcouE
Of the human race
e. Lest, however, draw too tight reign on thel
vanity, will drop the curtain, only exposing tC
public observation tie autograph of
MOULrRIE