, 1865-01-20
(FroIn the National Intelligencer,l
To Those who Expect Peace Through
ln Subiugation

Do YOU fatter yourselves that with the over
throw of your organized military power of the
Confoderacy we shall have peace and harmony.
/ This hope is a delusion. They who would cause
you to trust therein point you to the historical
examples of France and England as the illustra-
tive of the facility with which the ravages of
war are obliterated after its termination.
It may be true that during the civil wars in
these countries personal animosities were as
bitter and as intensified as those now witnessed
4 by u.s. and that these feelings soon subsidized af-
ter peace was once established. But you must
recoIlect that in those cases the antagonist par
ties were not separated by geographical lines,
but were intermingled throughout the entire
country.
We have often witnessed more e1asperation
between opposing parties in Presidential cleo
tions than was exhibited in 1850. But in pre-
| yious cases those parties were inte7spersed
throughout every State and neighborhood in
not very unequal proportions The political
hurricane was succeeded in a few days by calm
which left scarcely a trace Of the recent conyul-
sion. Intelligent men understood this differ
ence then. We can all appreciate it nom.
Examples more pertinent and suggestive
/ than those above referred to might readily be
found in English history. In the year 1l72 Hen
/ ry II succeeded in establishing by force of
/ arms his claims to the sovereignty over Ire
| land. The independence of the latter country
was thus "crushed out, and, as it was then
| thought, forever. But the two parties to that
contest were geographically separated, and not
more than six hundred years has the fury of ma
tional and Individual hatred sometimes biazed
and sometimes smouldered, but has never been
| for a moment extinct. I....... ID.
! Time and again has rebellion reared its head
in that devoted country with temporary success
and as often has England vindicated the fright"
| of oppression by the sword. The people have
| shown themselves ever ready to cooperate with
a foreign foe for the overthrow of power which
held them in unwilling subsection, but the mil
| itary and naval power of England would at
length prove triumphant and Ireland would be
again quelled, though unsubdued Every ex-
| pedient that vengeance or ambition could sug-
gest has been exhausted-deYastation and cru
| city and starvation, but all in vain. Coloniza-
! ton has been attempted with view of sup
planting the whole population by another race,
between whom and their felow-Countryme on
the other side of the channel no "irrepressble
conflict" of religious opinion should exist, but
all to little purpose, until England, despairing
of success throsgh measures Of mere force, has
finally resorted to that of liberation and justice.
| But even now the traditional memory of seven
hundred years of wrong still lives in the bosoms
Of her children wherever scattered on the earth,
and the eye of every hod-carrier and ditch-dig-
ger will still sparkle with treasured feelings of
| hatred unayenged, at the mention of a name
/
tonal wrong and individual oppression.
But the example of Scotland is still more per-
tinent and analogous, inasmuch as the two peo-
/ pie inhabited the same country, and in point of
population, wealth and power, stood more
nearly toward each other in the relation of the
| two belligerents here
Toward the close of the thirteenth century
Edward l Of England, claimed to be the legti-
mate sovereign of Scotland-holding all those to
be traitors who resisted his rule. His claims
were stoutly resisted by the ''rebels' under the
leadership of the celebrated William Wallace.
Ia l299 they were defeated at the decisive bait
tie Of Falkrk. Their military power was
'crushed," and Scotland was subjugated and
'loyal"
Three years later Wallace had become again
as formidable as before, and Edward had TO
commence his work and conquest anew. He
moved northward with the whole military pow
er of his realm, accompanied by his navy, which
had the entire command Of the sea. After
war of two years the Scotch were entirely over
whelmed and Wallace taken prisoner and exc
cuted. The cOnqueror marched in triumph
from one end of the country to the other. All
Wed in their professions of allegiance; all
bowed to the sceptre of the couqueror. He at
tempted to abrogate the Scottish customs to
abolish the Scottish name, and even to substi-
tute English for the Scotch inhabitants of the
kingdom. All seemed peace and security
under Robert Bruce In 1907, at the fatal bat
! tie Of Methyen, the organized military power Of
Scotland was again annihilated and Bruce be-
came a fugitive and wanderer Eight years
later he found himself at the head of another
army The battle of Bannockburn was fought
and Scotland was again free.
! Under the weak successors of Bruce the DOM
/ ination Of England was again claimed and en-
/ forced. For three hundred years Scotland Of
! ten raised the standard of rebellion, and seized
upon every opportunity that presented itself for
| cooperation with the enemies of England. The
| two nations came to be regarded as natural en-
emies until James VI of Scotland at length as
| cended the English throne. The more power
| full country thus united itself to the weaker and
! national animosities became extinguIshed by
peaceful appliances which would never have
! yielded to force. The lapse of more than two
! hundred and fifty years has that union
! growing stronger, which centuries of war and
mutual injury had seemed to render wholly i'm
! possible"
These teachings Of the history of the past arc
/ confirmed by the lessons Of our own experience.
! The State of Missouri, once reduced to quiet
and held in a constrained loyalty by military
power, is again rising in successful rebellion,
and must be conquered anew. The same may
be said of a great portion of Louisiana, Texas,
/ Arkansas, as well as some of the States on this
side of the Mississippi
Mere conquest never extinguishes national an
tipathies but gives them edge and venom. The
mild influences of peace and kindness effect
what could never be attained by violence in the
production and preservation OF national unity.
They accomplish their purposes, not by resist
ing the power to separate, but by removing the
wish and the motive of doing So Is the lesson
to be lost upon US q? Shall we continue vainly
to follow the phantom "Union" over fields of
carnage, when it is ready to nestle in our bos-
oms as a blessed reality, if, discarding the bru-
tai, savage and fendish propensites of our ma
ture we invoke the peaceful influences of INTEL
lect and reason and the teachings of the Divine
Master We may soon have peace and Union if
we choose but not by war, however successful.
The conquest Of all the cities and the dispersion
I Of the armies of the Confederacy will bring in
creasing difficulties aud enshroud the country
in deeper gloom. Your means Of support will
be abstracted by increasing taxation, your sons
snatched from you by frequently recurring con-
scription. Large standing armies will be me-
cessary to preserve the country in its forced al
legiance The simplicity of your republican
institution will disappear, and in their stead the
cosyly machinery Of s goVsyrn1ect which enjoy