Year: 1865

THE QUESTION OF PEACE.


Gerrit Smith to President John
son.


PErERBoso, April "a, 1865.
| President johnson -r- U.s..
HoNoRED AND DEAR SIR-Only ten days
| ago and the country felt sure Of an immediate
peace The only Apprehension was that its
terms would be easier than it was prudent to
grant, To-day there is q strong and wide
spread fear that peace is afar of. Whence
| this great change? 1t comes from the aseossi-
nation of Abraham Lincoln, and from your


taking bis place.


LIST. For, while the incessant demand for q
rigorous and bloody policy towards the con-
| quered rebels met with no response, In the re.


markable kindness and compassion of Mr..
| Lincoln, it is apprehended that there may be
| qualities in yourself to which such a policy,


unless condemned by your Judgment, would
be entirely welcome. Then, by your contact
| with the rebellion-by your personal observa-
| tion of its crimes, and especially by what you
and your family and friends had suffered from
these crimes-your temper, unless marvel
| ously controlled, could not haYe failed to be


excited, and to call for the severest punish
ment on the leaders of the rebellion.


I'd. While Mr.. Lincoln was yet alive, govern.


ment was incessantly called on by presses and


public meetings, by sermons saturated with the


vindictive and blood-thirsty spirit of the jew


ish theology and by voices innumerable, not


to spare these leading rebels. No. wonder,
then, that the manner Of his death is made use
of to increase the thirst for their blood For,
absurd 40 Is the charge that the assassin was
their tool, 1t nevertheless gains extended Gre


dence. They all know Mr.. Lincoln's character.


istic clemency, and that the terms of the peace


he was intent on were exceedingly mild.
Hence, how insane is the supposition that any
of them sought his death -


But why should not government refuse to
adopt or even for one moment to listen. to,


this rigorous and bloody policy? Why should


not government deal with the conquered in


this war as it would deal with the CONQUERED,


were it successful, in q war with Mexico2 The


not such q civil war as the ablest publicist hold


sh@ud sona be conducted sy the rules of interna


GOD forbid that now, when the tide of war


sets strongly in our favor, we should be guilty


of thrusting the constitution into the place of


the code of war; and of holding and trying as
traitors those whom we (none less really. Hin-


Directly agreed to regard as enemies and
whom, by all the convulsive reasons In the case


aside from such agreement we are bound to
regard In that light only. We must not be


guilty Of this bad faith. We must not break
this solumn bargain. The soul would hate us


for it! The world would despise Us for it


And would not the north herself, if not dispis-


ing us tor It, be at least fearfully divided in re-
gard to it9 Greatly should we all love our


country But there is one thing we should all
love more-and that is fair dealing. "Our


country right mot 'our country right or
| wrong !"-should be our motto.
referred at the beginning of my letter to


the apprehension that peace, which only few
snnrnod QrHy 1oop ,sk,


mote. l cannot doubt that it is, if the severe


policy toward the conquered rebels, which so
many are calling tor, shall be adopted. In that


event. hardly in my day, or even In yours, will


peace return to our afflicted country. For


once let it be known that the leading rebels


who shall fall into our hands, will be doomed
| to punishment, be 1t death, imprisonment or


exile, and Immediately among their followers,


sympathy with them aud rage against us viii
know no bounds. Tens Of thousands will
| burn with vengeance, and will care for nothing


but to crafty it. This will be true as well Of
| persons under parole ~ of Others. In that


state OF things guerilla warfare would ensue,


which, if not paciHed by concessions, and such


concessions too as would fatally invade ma
| ional and human rights, might run through
many years. haraseing and wasting our armies.


and adding fearfully if not fatally to our al


ready vast debt Il must not be forgotten


that 1t cost our nation many years, many lives,


and forty millions Of dollars to put an
| end to the guerilla war carried on in Florida
by handful of Indians and negroes. have
glanced at the painful circumstance of O harsh
| and unfair treatment of our conquered enemy.
But how blessed would be the consequences of
| wise and kind treatment of that enemy
Then the South would be at peace with the
North; would soon learn to like her; and
would soon welcome the tens of thousands of
| families that would Immediately begin to emi.
crate from the North TO the South. Then the


North and the South slavery having passed
| away would rapidly become one in interest,
and one also in character. Moreover, the


whole work would be blest by the termination
Of this most horrid war in peace so full of
justice and love. Christianity would be hon.


ored and advanced by peace made so strik-
ingly in her own spirit. In that spirit we can


not shed one drop of the blood of our subdued


foe. If possessed Of it, we shall forgive and
forget the wrongs done to the North, and shall
feel the South has suffered enough, and that she


deserves to be soothed and comforted, and no


more afflicted by US. Largely on your wisdom


and magnanimity do l found my warm hope of


seeing this war give place to bloodless, kind,


forgiying, and therefore immediate, peace.


But this is not all for which / look to you.
Now, whilst we have the fresh sense of one of


the worst wars-whilst we can contrast its ug-


illness with the beautiful peace which, unless
we thrust it from us, is just at hand-now is
the time for our nation to be the first of all


nations to propose an end to national wars by


means of an international Congress, whose de-
cisions upon the disagreements and controver-
sizes between nations shall be final. Yours be
| the glory to favor measure fraught with more
honor to God and more happiness to man than
any one or even all other measures! Yours. be
the glory of identifying your administration


with the cause of international peace! no.
With great regard, your friend,


GERRITT SMITH.
The ice on Lake Superior disappeared on
Tuesday last.