Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-11-17
The Presidential Election,

a lengthy article on the result of the Presi-
Dental election, in which, while it denies it
to be free and unawed expression of the
popular will, declares that it has no feeling
on the subject, and proceeds as follows: +
"They, (the North ) whether they know it |
or not, have Master as we'll as we. Our
hope is that he will be mild and merciful to
us poor miserable sinners. All the little we
know of him, or imagine we know, is derived
from newspapers and current talk, and is
scarcely sufficient to justify an opinion that is
worth anything. We cannot assert that he
will cut the radicals, or give fresh turn to
the screw with which they are torturing the
South. We know not whether he will be
bloody Nero, or mild and benignant Angus
tus; whether he will lay deep and broad the
foundations of a. despotic empire, or restore
the lost rights of the States, and re-establsh
the constitution in its original vigor and purity.
There are some favorable tn3icationS-our
ignorance does not enable us to use astronger
word-there are indications which may excuse
the wronged and oppressed for indulgipg hope.
If he be, as General Butler says, ipdtfer-
ent to human suffering, he has never manifest
ed, by act or word, so far as we aware, any
pleasure in torturing his victims. He has
left the indulgence OF that noble feline pro-
pensity to others, who more loudly vaunt their
humanity. He acted with manly heroism in
demanding that the parole of General Lee
and other Confederate officers should be
religiousIy respected. His conduct on that
occasion induces the belief that, when in a
position to control the matter, lie will insist
that the spirit aud intent Of that parole shall
not be confined to the officers, but shall be ex-
tended to all the people of the Confederate
States No man knows better than he does
that General Lee would never have surrender
ed his sword if it had been understood that
the people whom he represented were to be
subjected to African domination. General
Grants letter demandinga surrender excluded
the possibility Of such an Interpretations
That letter, the second to General Lee, says:
General-Your note Of last evening, in
reply to mine Of same date, asking conditions
on which 1 will accept the surrender of the
Army Of Northern Virginia, is just received.
In reply l would say that peace being my
great desire, there is but one condition would
insist upon-namely, that the men and officers
surrendered shall be disqualified for taking
up arms again against the government of the
United States till properly exchanged. I
will meet you, &c.
In exact accordance with the zone condi-
ton" were the terms of surrender. Here
they are:
TERMS OF SURRENDER.
APpoMATToX G. H., Va, April 8, 1868.
GencraNIn accordance with the substance
of my letter to you of the 9Th instant, pro-
pose to receive the surrender Of the Army of
Northern Virginia on the following terms, to
wit Rolls of all the officers and men to be
made in duplicate; one copy to be given to
an officer to be designated by me, the other
to be retained by such officer or officers, as
you may designate. The officers to give their
individual paroles not to take up arms against
the government of the United States until
properly exchanged, and each company or
regimental commander to sign like parole
for the men of their commands.
The arms, artillery and public property to
be stacked, and turned over to the officers
appointed by me to receive them. This will
not embrace the side.arms of the officers nor
| their private horses or baggage. This done,
each officer and man will be allowed to re-
turn to his home. not to be disturbed by Uni
ted States authority so long as they observe
their paroles, and the laws in force where
they may reside.
U. S, GRANT, Lieut.. General.
General r. +. LEE.
We are moi left to conjecture why these
liberal terms were accorded. We are not
certain that General Grant himself has not
admitted that his object was to remove every
inducement to guerrilla warfare. His
friends have frequently confessed that such
was his motive, and VIC copied an article last
week from the New York Times to this eff
feet, and expressly conceding that it was
wise stroke Of policy as we'll a grand
act Of magnanimity. General Grant knows
that there never would have been peace
+Iok !, I,o,,
hands, never would have surrendered them
position with their slaves.
Quibbles may be raised about military
equalization embracing political rights, &c
But General Grant knows the full intent and
whole scope of that capitulation, and he
knows it would never have been agreed to
by the Confederates on the terms of radical
reconstruction. We appeal to his honor
which is more concerned in the matter than
ours is. He has testified to our faithful OBJ
servance of the condition imposed he is
now in condition to exact like compliance
on the other side.
That we do not pervert the intent and
meaning Of the capitulation, we subioin the
views Of the French Courier des Etats Unis,
whose editor being aforeigner, and unbiased
by our domestic factions, may be supposed to
speak in the impartial tone of posterity.-
We give as accurate translation as we can
''The charge of inconsistency and moral
weakness is imputed to General Grant, based
OH his acceptance even of the Presidency at
the hands Of the republican party What
in fact, is the act by which the policy of that
party is especially characterized? The des-
potic laws of reconstruction, which impose on
the Vanquished tyrannical yoke, which treat
them as subjusated enemies, which, four years