The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-13
Why Have We Not Peace!

From the Cincinnati Gazette.
Immediately after the surrender of the Con-
federate armies there was the fairest promise
of peaceful and satisfactory settlement of all
the issues of the war. The Southern leaders
generally acknowledged that they had staked
their political condition on war, and had lost,
and were therefore Justly subject to such
terms of political settlement as the outraged
Government might impose; and they were
then disposed to be grateful for such terms as
would leave them in possession of life and
property, and under the protection of equal
laws. A few of the more malignant, who
had determined that they could not submit to
such terms as justice demanded, and that
under no conditions would they consent to
live under the United States Government, re-
solved to emigrate, and some of them tried it,
and at last came back broken in spirit AS q
gauge for measuring the change that has taken
place. we have the fact that one of the most
recalcitrant of these was leader in the Tam
many Convention, dictated the most impor-
tant and the worst declaration in the platform,
and was one of the Confederate officers who
made the Convention nominate Frank Blair
upon his new rebellion manifesto.
But this fair promise of peace was destroyed
by the unfaithfulness of the Acting President.
1t divided the Government while all the con-
ditions of peace were yet to be settled, and
thus disabled its political power and utterly
destroyed its moral force. The Southern
leaders quickly saw that Johnson, welding
the vast executive power, which had been
greatly magnifled by the war, was hostile to
the Congress which represented the power of
the people who had conquered them. They
fancied that through this division they could
recover political domination by becoming par
tisans of Johnson. At this opportunity the
Rebel spirit revived. The tone of submission
and OF gratitude for the magnanimity of the
national Government was changed to tone of
arrogance, dictation, and recrimination.
Mr.. Johnson instigated this Rebel revival to
the utmost by his'intemperate declarations of
hostility against Congress, and by arraigning
the Northern people as "traitors at the other
end OF the line" who must now be put down
IN thelr turn. And as in the ripening of the
secession conspiracy the aid and encourage
ment that embOldened it to strike the blow
were given by the Northern Democratic lead
ers, so in this revival of the spirit of the lost
cause the Democratic party indOrsed with
great alacrity Johnson's treacherous policy,
and again deluded the Southern people to their
ruin by the promise of a political reaction
cracy to power, and place the Southern leaders
in their former situation of dictators OF the
party and the Government.
Ihis is the reason why we have not peace,
and why the happy promise of domestic tran
quillity was changed to fierce agitation, sec
tlond hostility, enmity between neighbors,
domestic violence, murder, massacre, and
threats OF a new war; and this is the reason
why the issue of this election is the issue
between the establishment of government or
the renewal OF anarchy and war. The election
will give us united Government. Thus il
will strike at the root the disease which de-
stroyed the opportunity for establishing
peace. This unity of the political power of the
Government will give it moral influence