Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-02-02
what yyouid be Fair Terms of
Peace

II 10 lbI luc COHIlOu lilltltSb lllNli WuCu
this controversy is settled, both sections of
the Union shalacquiesce. Thisis attainabc
only by a fair and equitable settlement. If
We are to have stable peace it must not
be dictated by any faction of extremists,
either North or South. The honest, unam-
bilious masses, in both sections, will consent
to reasonable concessions; and, under re-
publican government. the sense Of the ma
jority ought to prevail
Whatever might be the case two years
hence, when, if the war continues, the South
will itself have abolished slavery, the chief
obstacle to peace at prcscntis the diihcultvof
coming to an understanding on this question.
The elements ofmutual hostility are concen-
trated in the extreme anti-s avery party of
the North and the ultra pro-slavery party OF
the South. These two factions are the
heads Of the opposing iayens, the mass OF
the community in each section being the
handles. If these heads could be blunted or
broken, the war would end, almost of itself
Let us consider what ought, in reason, to
satisfy each of these factions.
1t must not be supposed that, because
slavery is the only question in which the ul-
traists are interested in feeling, it is only one
in which they have an intercstin fact They
too, like therest of US, have deep stake in
the greatness and prosperity of the country.
That the growth of our colossal debt should
be arrested; that our taxes should not be-
come more oppressive {; that the public bur-
dens should be lightened by contributions to
the revenue by the renovated South that
commerce between the two sections should
revive; that the expectation OF the great
southern staples should redress our ex-
changes, and by bringing gold into the coun-
/ try, enable US to return to a sound currency;
that our republican Institutions should be
rescued from the dangers Of overshadowinq
military influence that our vast commercial
marine should again rival that of Great
! Britain that our country should resume its
. former proud bearing toward foreign powers;
! in all these great interests the violent fac
tionists, who care only for slavery or its abo-
ltion, have as deep a concern as the mass
of their fellow-citizens. To set all these
great elements Of national well-being in re
newcd activity, they ought to be willing to
abate something of their extreme acrimony.
! They owe some Difference to the wishes Of
the majority and there can be little doubt
! that the majority of the people ofboth sec
tions ardently desire an equitable peace.
Now, what terms of peace oughtto satisfy
! the Republican party? So far as the North
is concerned it is peculiarly their war, mas.
much as ltsimmediate occasion was the cleo
ton Of President representing their prin-
cples When party to a war has complete
ly gained the object for which it originally
began the contest, it should be willing to
make peace. The Republican party brought
on this war by insisting that slavery should
be excluded from the national territories,
and that no more slave states should ever
be admitted into the Union. The South,
having failed to defeat this principle in a
presidential election, seeded as their only
remaining hope of protecting slavery. The
Republicans have accomplished the object
for which their party was formed. The
fortune Of war has favored them and il
must now be universally conceded that
slavery can not only Ecvcr be extended, but
that, by the natural progress OF things, it is
in the way Of speedy extinction The Re
publican party always maintained that il
slavery were confined within fixed limits, it,
extinction would follow as the necessary con
sequence of economic laws The ables
southern statesmen admitted this cOnse
quence ; and it must be evident to both side.
that shaken as slavcryis by the war, its ex
tinction by compression and strangulatior
must be more speedy than if the South haC
| peacefully acquesccd in its exclusion from
the territories.
1t is clear, then, that if peace should bt
agreed upon, leaving slavery in the state
under state control, the Republican part,
would have gained more by the war, and hav,
greater reason to be satisfied with its results
than any other body Of citizens, North q
South. They are the only party that woul,
, come ont of the contest benefited by til,
slavery controversy which they forced upoI
the country. They havcaccomplishcd every
object they were willing to avow at the com
menccmcnt of the war. They ought to be
satisfied when it is at length settled tha
slavery can never be extended, and that it i
+ in the course Of speedy extinction withou
further interference The complete trilmpl
of the principles ON which their party wa
formed should dispose them to be conciiato
ry ON other points or, at least, to pay rea
f sonabe regard to the interest they have il
common with other citizens, in the earl
termination of the war
The complete success of the Republican
in securing all the objects for which the
originally contended being so evident let u
now inquire what ought under the circum
stance, to satisfy the extreme prO-slavcr
party of the South. They cannot expect t
change events that have passcdinto history
They must so far submit to the fortune q
l war as not to expect defeat and disaster t
$ bear for them the same fruits that would hav
been borne by victory. Their leaders toll
them, and they believed, that the instituto
.. of slavery could be saved only by success
: full war for Independence, In undertaking
I such n war, they, by their own showing
: staked the existence ofslaycry ON the success
9 of their arms, They are, indeed not ye
J disarmcd nor is slavery yet extinct. Bu
/ in the present state of their prospects
. they could retain the subject under stat
o CONTROL and attempt the great change i
2 their industrial and social system by maxim
. it guarded and gradual, it is all they ca
i reasonably expect or claim. When they be
! gan the war, they voluntarily staked the in
= stitution of slavery ON its success and whc
: it is seen that the game must 20 again,
" them, they ought to be satisfied if they ca
/ retain part of the stake by stopping betor
: it is played through,
: The slavery question being Of the chic
. difficulty, we contine our remarks to it, al
though many other considerations belong t
the subject If the Republicans would b
satisfied with the complete triumph of the
=, original principles, and the full attainmer
of the objects for which their party wa
formed and if the secessonists would l.
# content with retaining slavery in the state
c under state control, with no obstacles to il
+ pcrpetuity but the restriction of its limit
Il and the irresistible compulsiOn of economi
; laws, the arrangement would be such on
| as all candid minds would consider fair
1 Other points of difference would then i
y easily adjusted. --Nec York World