The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-06-14

JlENl1 II. NWEETSER,
Box 4l70, =, O. n. Y. CITY.
Everything for Peace-NothIng for Ven-
geance.
Words unfitly spoken are bad words
1t is astonishing to see how many indv-
iduals and presses fail to comprehend
that the changed circumstances of the
country require a corresponding change
of tone. While there was war there was
some propriety in the use of exasperating
language towards the enemies of the ma
ton, and to paint their crimes in the
darkest possible colors was at least nat
ural, though we doubt if there was time
during the war when the people needed
to be inspired with hatred in order TO
fight well for the Union. But now the
war is over; the rebel armies have sur
rendered, and are disarmed and disband-
ed; the whole South lies powerless at
our mercy; what do we want now
The work to be done by Christian pat
rotism is to bind up the bleeding wounds
of the nation and assuage the animostics
bred by civil strife. We want true union
and concord in the quickest possible time
and by such means as will make these
blessings perpetual. Are these ends to
be gGined by reproaches and invectives !;
by prolonging the spirit and the evils of
war after the war itself has terminated
There can be but one answer to these
questions.
Our soldiers understand this They
show no animosity toward the rebels they
have conquered. On the contrary, they
fraternizc at once with them, and conquer
them the second time by kindness. -
There is not one of our fighting generals
who counsels harsh and vindictive meas
ures towards the subjugated. 1t takes a
civilian in epaulettes to do it, and only
those who have watched the war at a
safe distance echo the cry for vengeance
The Richmond Times complains of the
vindictive spirit manifested by the press
of the North, and especially the religious
press, and says it is having a most dis
heartening effect upon the South. As to
the punishment which the southern peo-
pie have already endured, the Times
says -
"'rreason must be punished is the
watchword of:many at the North. This
cry proceeds from those who have not
spent the last four years at the SOUTH
Let such persons ask the thousand of scar
red and brave soldiers of the federal ar
my, who will soon return TO their homes
Has treason been punished ? They are
fresh from the South, and we will rest
content with the answer which the sol
diers who have overthrown the conleder-
ary shall give. Let them ask Grant
Halleck, Sherman, Meade, Ord, patrcl,
Sheridan or any other of of their leading
officers whether the diabolical ingenuity
of a master inquisitor could lnnict upon
the unfortunate South more terrible suff-
ering than that which now afIlicts the
land. Let those who have restored the
Union by their valor and heroism, and
who are now hanging up their faithful
muskets, tell those who are still camor-
Gus for vengeance the true condition of
the South. They seen our desolated
fields, our cities, towns, villages and ham
lets in ashes-every southern woman
mourning lost son. brother, husband or
lover, our young men sleeping the sleep
of death on many battlefield, our homes
abandoned, our labor system annihilatcd.
our children and women ragged and hol-
low-eved, and wanting bread, and eight
millions of people with their currency
rendered WORTHLESS by the events of few
weeks. The terrible sufierings of the
south have sottened the hearts of the
stern warriors of the armies of the Poto-
mac and Tennessee. They know that
blood enough has been shed, and that no
nation OF modern times has been more
severely punished than the South, These
warriors, to whom the United States owe
their present greatness, have emerged
from the smoke of the contest, anxious
that their magnificent work shall be well
and magnanimously consummated by a
generous and conciiatory policy"
If the people OF the South could I'M
derstand the real feeling IN the North
they would be treasured. There is no
such spirit of vengeance here as is indica-
ted by some of the papers. They are
mere echoes of the echoe of the war de-
partment, which has not yet learned that
we have entered an an era of peace
Treason will be punished, but not in any
spirit Of vengeance or bloodthirstiness.- -
The government l,as ,he chief instgators
of the rebellion in its hands They will
be calmly and deliberately tried; they
will be condemned to death; if any OF
them are spared it will he by acts of un-
deserved clemency. If one Or more OF
them are hung it will be to demonstrate
the reality and the enormity of the cr!me
OF treason, and the power and duty of the
government to protect itself agains trait
tors. That accomplished, not life will
be taken for vengeance, ur to satisfy alb
stract notions of justice. And as to the
people of the south generally, the govern
mcnt will be magnanimous and kind. The
neonle of the North will not hermit IL 10