The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-06-16
THE SPECIALIZED SHERMAN-JOHESTON
TERMS OF PEACE.

the Sherman-Johnston treaty. Gen.
sherman. in his book, relates how the |
Lincoln Secretary of War, Stanton, and
his partisan followers, cast upon him the |
imputation of treachery to the Union |
cause in consequence of that treaty, and
how he resented the injury by putting
upon Stanton a Calling insult in the
presence Of the President and his Cabi-
net. and the thousands who assembled at
Washington to witness the military pro
cession at the close of the war. This
statement has been followed by review
of the treaty, or terms of peace, by innu-
merable critics from an ultra Northern
standpoint As matter of history, We
will state the terms as described by one of
these critics in the Chicago Tribune
The terms of that convention were
written, every word, by Gen. Sherman
himself, and they provided
l. A suspension of hostilities IN order
to submit the agreement of ratification.
2 The Confederate armies to be dis
banded, to be conducted to their State
Capitals, and their arms to be there depOs-
tied.
3. The recognition by the President
of the United States of the several
State Governments, including Legisla-
lures.
4. Re-establishment of Federal Courts
in the States.
5. The people of the States to be guar
anteed their political rights and fran
chises, and rights of persons and
property as defined by State Constitu-
tions.
This was signed on the 18th day of
April, 1865, and sent by special mes
senger to Washington. Four days had
then elapsed since the assassination of
the President. On the 24th, response
was received from Washington, disap-
proving the Sherman-J Crimson movement;
on the 18th, new agreement was made
by which johnson surrendered his army
to Sherman.
We have well defined impression that
the Tribune is in error in ascribing the
authorship of these terms to Gen. Sher-
man, but they were the result of
conference between President Davis, Gen.
Breckenridge, and Gen. Johnston, in
North Carolina, after the latter had in
formed the President of the Confederacy,
that further resistance was impossible,
and that Mr.. Davis himself, seeing the
importance of securing the best terms
that were possible for his people, had
more to do with their production than any
one else.
The Tribune, after stating the terms,
proceeds to state their tenor and ultimate
consequences as follows:
Suppose the Sherman-Johnston agree
ment had been adopted by the Govern
ment, what would have been the necessary
and inevitable consequences The
President had issued his Emancipation
Proclamation, but it had been practically
imperative, except within the lines Of the
Union army. Slavery had not, in fact,
been abolished. At the date of this
Sherman-J ohnson agreement the Thir-
teenth Amendment was pending, and
required the ratification of several of the
Confederate States to give it validity.
-Four of the negroes were as practi-
cally in the possession and under the
control of their owners as ever they had
been. Under the Sherman-J ohnson
agreement, the Rebel State Governments
then existing would have been recognized
as the only State Governments in the
several Rebel States all the arms of the
Rebel army would have been deposited at
the State Capitals, subject to the control
of the State Governments and, under
the same agreement, the people of the
Rebel States would have been guaranteed
in the possession of their property as
defined by the laws.
Here, then, this agreement, had it been
ratified, would have arrested all measures
for the abolition of slavery; would have
required the concurrence of the Rebel
Legislatures to ratify the Thirteenth
Amendment, would have garanteed the
Rebels in the possession of their slave
property, and given them legal demand
for money compensation for the slaves
freed by the army.
Had the seeded States thus been re-
stored to their original political rights and
privileges under the Constitution, there
would have been 80 ex-Rebel Represen-
tatives Immediately elected to Congress
and these with their Northern allies
i" Copperheads of that day-would
have such control Of both branches of the
Legislature as to prevent the passage of
any one of the several constitutional
amendments. Not only would slavery not
one have been abolished, but its continu-
ance under the laws and Constitutions
would have been guaranteed as one of
the terms of the surrender, and the Rebel
States would have been left in the posses
sion of all their arms, both to keep the
slaves in subsection and to renew the war
in case the guarantee was violated |
With small vote in Congress from the |
Northern Democrats, these ex-Rebels |
would haYe been able to ooepce the pas
sage Of law making compensation for
the loss of slaves who had been released |
by our armies and had escaped to the |
North. Any scheme for the emancipation |
of the slaves would have been met by a |
demand for compensation, and, if slavery |
was abolished at all, it would have been |
at pecuniary cost equal to the whole of |
our national debt.
1t is not extravagant to assume that no
laws granting pensions to the Union
troops would have passed which did not
treat the soldiers of the "two countries
equally and that no persons would have
been compensated for the property taken
and damages caused by the war unless
all persons on both sides were treated
alike.
1t is impossible to suppose that peace
upon the terms agreed upon
bv Gen Sherman with Gems Iohnso,, |
and Breckenridge would have lasted
year. 1t was practically a surrender of
all the results OF the war to the Rebels