Year: 1863




ELDER HNRKNESs. BINGHAM.


Spirit of the Rebel Press.


There is much food for reflection in the fol-
lowing remarkable article from late Richmond
paper:


From the Richmond Sentinel, July %.


OF all the formal expressions Of public opinion
which have come to US from the United States,
we have noticed but one that has kind word for
the people of these Confederate States. True,
thev all claim that we are one people with them;
thaG We belong TO the same country ana the same
government; and. in short, their brethren.
But the dominant party breathes out against US
nothing but slaughter and destruction. and de-
nounces US with much demoniacal fury


Gas all the fends from Heaven that fell,


Had pealed the bsnner-cry of He'll"


They intend TO have US again by sheer brute
force They diSdaiu the very thought of con
ceding 30 much as a civil word to the ''Uile Reb
elsl They intend to have US, that they may
crush and destroy US. They scout with fury any
compromise short of this They are filed with
rage at the bare mention Of il. The rumor has
gone out that Seward thinks the time has come
when he NAV, with some hope, try upon US his
hypocrticaI Establishments aud his false preten-
sions-never falser than when he swears-never
less secure than when he pledges his sacred word
OF honor. But the very mention that Seward
proposes to address us cOuciiiaiory words no
matter how hollow and treicherous, has thrown
his followers into paroxysm of rage. ard they
are denouncing him almost as furiously as they
denOunce US.


The meetings of the Democratic or peace party
have not gone so far as this. They denounce the
war as wiekedy and ineticently conducted, and
they declare for peace the best means of Sc
curing reunion. War they consider hopeless
to effect that object. But they have not. in any
other instance that we remember spoken in
the New Hampshire Democratic Convention
presided over by ex President Pierce and doubt
less animated by his sentiments.


The New Hampshire Democrats, addressing
the citizens of the COnfederacv. pledge that il
we will come back into the Union, they will do
ali in their power to gain for such guarantees
as will secure safety. This proposition we
believe 10 be as frankly made rs il is courteousv
expressed. We believe 1t to be an honest prOpO
si5iOn; for franklin Pierce and Milard Fillmore,
and few others. have pursued course that
commands confidence in their sincerity. We
credit the simple word OF one of them sooner
than we would AS many Oaths as could be sworn
in a week by the men who promised that pence
should he preserved at Fort Sumter. and the ex-
isting status maintained, at the very time they
were sending thither the material of war.


We respond. therefore, to the New Hampshire
Democrats with courtesy and respect. But we
tell them what they must know, when we say to
them that they pOwerless to secure foe us
those guarantees of which they admit tine neces
sitS. Less than three years ago. wien the late
Union was in the very throes of dissolution. the
States which now form the Confeieracy sought
in the spirit OF conservatism and forbearance To
avoid disruption, with an Importantly that now
seems to US amazing We would then have &C
cepted terms which OWE better judgment told
us were inadequate. and to which nothing but the
extreme reluctance to dissolve the existing order
OF things could have reconciled US. When we
look back at il now. It makes us tremble TO think
that we offered TO take the Critteuden COmpro
mise


But Cancellation our part met only BY
contumely and defiance by the Republican ma
ioritv They were warned Of the necessity aud
inevitable effect of the course they were pursuing
but they treated the warning with contempt and
scurrility.


In that decisive hour the Democrats of New
Hampshire, however willing. could do us no
good.


We had to take care of ourselves. Falling
back on sovereign rights, and calling upon
God 10 vindcate US, we assumed a separate ma
tiona life. From that time the men who willfully
destroyed the Union have been assailing US with
all the enginery of destruction. They have
eviuced toward US a malignity which has seldom
been parAlieled in human history If it were in
their power they would turn the mountains and
pour the seas upon US. They would cover Us
with consuming lava. They would sink US With
the earthquake and overwhem m Us with the storm.
They devote u. as far they can. to the desc
lation Of fire and sword


Do the New Hampshire Democrats suppose for
one moment that we could much as think of
reunion with such peoplel Rather tell one to
be welded 70 a c0rps Rather Join hands with a
fend from the pit. We exhausted Cancellation
before we separated. Thenceforth these was not
room for so much thought Of reunion We
had buried dead out of our sight. and the
mourners had become comforted. Since that
time our false allies have been our vindctive
foes. We have ten thousand atrocities TO re
member against them. The blood of many
thousands Of martyrs is between them and Us.
A thousand feelings Of horror repel the bare
idea of a renewal Of association.


Let not the Democrats of New Hampshire. or
such as think with them. deem us bitter in these
remarks. Let them put themselves in our places
They know how villaiaously we have been treat
ed They know that to have submitted to Lin
coins tyranny to have taken the yoke for
ever. We should have been considered con.
senting slaves. and even our unavaiIing friends
would have deserted Since that time the
only greeting OF knd words which has come 70
us from the North, the New Hampshire men
have sent: All. or nearly all beside, has been
conhagration, sw ord, demoniac denunciation. and
brutal menace and destruction. Could dead
love be expected 10 revive again lh such nre
Let not the New Hampshire men press us We
are glad that the, have seen 6t to manifest hu'
man feeling. We respond to them in that But
between the United States aud the Confederate
States the best that the future bring is amica
bic relations.


This cruel war may stop Il the North so will:
Il. And when those in the United States who ars
disposed TO deal fairly with Us shall sgain rule
We may In time begin TO bury the msny bittel
memories which nov add sIergy TO our resent
ments. and may make with them treaties which
shall be mutually advantageous. Perhaps here