The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-03-07
LETTER From An Ex.REBEL GEN

LETIER FROM An EN-REREL GEN
. ERAL-
The rebel General Jas. B. Chalmers,
now in Washington city, has written a
letter to Hon. Reverdy Johnson, COM
mandatory of his course on the militia
~ reconstruction bill, and saying he
regrets the censures which have been
passed upon the Senator. he reviews
the action of the President in fixing
terms of peace for the South; says they
were very distastefuI. but his people
accepted them because they could not
do any better, and then continues as
follows:
But Congress said that the President
had not alone the power to make trea
ties of peace, aud, therefore, they pre-
scribed other terms. The Southern
States, believing that the terms already
imposed were sufficiently severe, and
believing that the power of the Presi-
dent and a returning sense of justice
and generosity in the public mind in
the North would enable them to secure
all the benefits conferred upon them by
! the Presidents terms of peace, deter
mined TO stand by him and rejected the
terms proposed by Congress
Our hopes were vain. The President
proved TO be powerless. and there was
and is no evidence of any returning
sense of justice and generosity in the
public mind in the North; ON the con-
tr4ry, its sentiments are growing more
hostile toward US every day, anu the
history of the Sibyl's book at Rome
power to dictate terms increase rather
than abate their exactiOns. The history
of the French revolution and the his
tory of the and-slavery party here
show that the original agitators are
soon distanced by their followers. Mr..
Seward, once the great head and front
OF the abolition party, Is now eminent
ly conservative when compared with
Mr.. Sumner or Mr.. Stevens; and yet,
unless some check is given to the ad-
vance now going forward in the radical
policy, those gentlemen may yet stand
appalled, and be conservative when
their younger followers may be press
ing to establish congressional oligar-
chy which shall govern every State
by military satraps- There must
be an end of these troubles as
soon as possible, and the names of
Southern rebels which are now used
before the northern poPulace like the
arouse, inflame and madden them
must be Withdrawn. If this can be
done by accepting the terms now offer
ed by Congress, and 1 am assured il can
be, L for one am in favor it. The terms
offered by the President were to nv
mind unconstitutional, and those offer
ed by Congress are still more so. We
accepted one for peace and can see no
sacrihcei of principle in accepting the
other. In great revolutions men never
stop for logic, or consistency, or Consti-
tuition, and il IS idle in us 70 hesitate
now upon any logical or constitutional
grounds, or to expect anything from the
81
ty of to-day Is inconsistent with its po-
sition during the war. If the southern
representatives can once get into Con-
gress they will, If united, form power
that will be sought after, and they will
be able when great questions of tariff
and governmental science shall divide
the East and West, to hold the balance
OF power and to demand favors for their
support.
/ believed firmly in the doctrine of
secession, and believe that we did Sc
cede, and that when we were conquered
We were foreign nation; and there
fore believe that the United States have
right TO prescribe new terms il we
should make new alliance with her.
Believing this, and knowing that the
President alone cannot make a treaty
OF peace with foreign government, I
never have believed that the action OF
the President, in his efforts 70 recon-
EkEAEE Tie GuAOuT ~ 47 Ouk EAdO-
II supported him and supported his
plan because IT was more liberal 10 my
people than the congressional plan.
But since he cannot carry out his plan,
since the Supreme Court cannot now
afford US adequate protection and may
be soon changed so as to be hostile
70 Us, and since the Louisiana bill
and the couhscation bill are being
pressed by the extreme radicals, with a
| fair prospect of forcing them on Us if
the agitation continues. am for closing
the contract with Congress on the terms
which she proposes. II is true that
and many Like me who have occupied
positions IN the South viii be pro-
seribed, but we have had our day and
should be willing TO yield our personal
ambition forthe public good. Bnt our
young men can, under this bill, come
I forward aud-repressnt=us In the gov.
ernment II We delay until fanaticism
has gathered strength, and that she Is
gathering 1t Il evident from the advance
| made in six months on negro suffrage,
not only. viii we ourselves be excluded,
I buI all who cannot take the "iron-clad
oath" viii be disfFanchised and excfu-
ded That Will leave Us 10 the mercy
OF the Regro-and- the white man who
| lay hid in our sWamps while We fought