Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-19
THE ROAD TO PEACE.

GerriH Smith, having been violently /
assailed in the Northern press for becoming
bail for Jefferson. Davis, has written a
letter in defense in which he takes the
grounds. si z g. a
lst. That Mr.. Davis has not been guilty |
Of treason. and be is indicted for no other
crime tf
ID. That the South should not be pun
ished, because the North was quite as much |
responsible as the South for the chief cause |
Of the war &#H0 8#s&1
Sd, That the South had already suffered |
enough Fh HR#sA
4th That the South would regard The
bailing of Mr. Davis as an expressiou Of
Northern good feeling toward herself
After celebrating these four propositions |
With great clearness and force, he concludes
as follows:
81 have now said all that was necessary,
and, indeed much mora than was neces-
sary, in defense of the bailing of Mr.. Davis, |
But cannot close this paper without add |
ing that the road TO a speedy and a sure |
peace between the North and South is, in |
my view, very plain one. All that it is |
wise for US TO require on the part of the |
South is that she shall give, in her laws, |
her press, her assemblies, and eyerywhere, |
abundant proof that she aequiesces in the |
abolition of slavery and in negro suffrage. |
The Northern Democratic press, instead of
hindering her from doing this, should |
encourage her to do it. Foolish as well as
wicked is the editor, is the party, that, in
this day of the rapid and resistless progress
of the cause of human rights both in
Europe and America, attempts to stem it.
There are still many discontinued spirits in
the South, who, instead of accepting the
inevitable living present, are hugging
the dead past and hoping for the re-
turn not only Of negro disfranchise-
ment, but even of negro slavery. These
Northern words which daily minister TO
the vain hopes Of those disconnected spirits
do more than all things else TO keep the
South from taking her true and necessary
attitude. | spoke of what was to be re-
quired of the South 1t is true that there
will be much more for her to do But we
| must trust her to do it, instead of requiring
her to do it. / admit that she would not do
| South. But a new and very different
| spirit will rule her in her relations.
! She who was the enemy of freedom will
now be the friend of human rights. She
| who crushed the lowly will now lift up
the lowly. She who looked upon popular
! education as her greatest danger will now
| regard it her greatest safety. She who
| cared not that her poor have homes will
now, in all practicable ways facilitate their
acquisition of homes. pass from what
must be required of the South to what
must be required of the North. / made
| but two requirements of the South. l
| make but two of the North In the first
| place, she must relieve the disfranChised
| class of the Southern whites of their po-
| litical disabilities. No possible good can
! come from this dislranchisement, and its
effects, on both blacks and whites, are bad,
very bad Instead of diminishing the po-
/ litical influence of its subjects, it does, by
means of the sympathy which it begets for
them, increase it. 1t is true that the in
tent OF the disfranchisement was not
TO sci the blacks above the whites,
| but the loyal above the disloyal.
/ Nevertheless, il does set the blacks above
the whites; and, by thus irritating the one
and Initiating the other, it works evil to
both. In the next place, the North must
hasten to put AN end to these threats Of
coniscation. Congress ought to say with
out one dissenting voice, and at the earliest
day, that there should be no confscation.
The disfranchisement | have Just referred
TO is calling, and, as the masses believe, in
sulting to its subjects. But these threats,
paralyzing the industry of the South, and
making even her bread uncertain, are in
fnitely less bearable. They are fatally in
the way of her material prosperity. With
the cloud they bring upon her titles she
can neither sell her lands nor borrow upon
them. What could be a more trying disa-
bility to an agricultural people who are
destitute of money? That strong and
patriotic man, Thaddeus Stevens, would
have certain losses Of loyal men repaired.
would myself be glad to see liberal per-
centage paid upon them. He would pro-
vide the means out of confscation at the
expense Of the South out Of the national
f treasury, and at the expense of the nation.
There are three things which, in urging
, coniiscation, Mr.. Stevens seems to forget.
First that the North, as we'll as the South,
was guilty of the war; second, that while
the North is still very rich, the South, ex-
' hausted by that war, for which the North
i in common with herself was responsible, is
' exceedingly poor; third that confscation
once entered upon, It will be difficult, il
Z not impossible, to set limits TO the spread
= of its demoralizing power The spirit o
lawless greed engendered by confiscation
will no more stop at State or other lines
than will the flames Of prairie fire at the
word of command. Let there be confscation
e in the South for the benefit Of these, Mr.
e Stevens loyal losers, and also for the benef
r of the poor blacks, as he also proposes, and
J. very soon, under its debauching influence
V immense numbers at the North will b,
e clamoring. in the name of "Agrarianism,
0 | "Eaualization and other taking names
/. for their neighbers' possessions And thss,
: rich possessions, il must be remembered
: will kindle the spirit of robbery, as caI
: none of the poor possessions ofthe desolateC
0 South. These four requirements Responded
to, these four conditions of "reconstruc
20 tion exacted and no Others exacted, peac,
between the North and South will be sur
& to follow. But TO make this peace NOR,
speedy and more cordial-in other words
y to effect with the least delay an enduring
8, heart union between the North and Soutl
e there must be one thing more. Our gov
ernment is getting in the way of bnyiny
; territory. There is a purchase it cal
: make which would be immeasurably NOR
N important and profitable than the purchas
10 of any territory. Let it buy the Seutheri
heart, worth more TO us than thousan,
" Alaskas, nay, than ali Russia. There
B. one way, and only one way, by which
r can be bought and that is BY provingto th
m South that the North loves her-that tn
North has a heart to give in exchange 70
her heart. Political concessions and ibera
e, terms of reconstruction DO not prove il
a They pass for but the cold calculations G
10 cold statesmanship. Let the government
in the light of the fact that the North
Sc largely responsible for the war and is stil
n- rich, while her sister is Impoverished, us
ID ten or twenty millions in ways most essen
" tial to relieve the suferings of the Soutf
and let it also exonerate her from direg
Federal taxes Tor few years, and the Sout
viii then believe that We pity and love he
= and our producing this belief in her will b
le our buying of her heart One thing NOR
" in this connectioa--she streams of privai
le charity from the North TO the South shoul
=. be deepened and multiplied. And how, to-