Year: 1865

! "a Minister Of Christ sends the follow
ing to the Church Journal, "in the hope
that God spirit may give effect my his
effort in behalf Of an empire Of suffering
people" The appeal is dated at Peters
burg, Virginia, and we feel assured that it
will at least be read wit interest and respect.
ltis addressed by the writer to his Chris
tirn Brethren of the North


''The arms of the United States have
now achieved all you could desire, aud all
you have professed TO seek. Everywhere
in all the length and breadth ofthe land you
have been victorious. Your flag waves in
trump over every fort, and arsenal, and
hamlet. Every State Except those west
your dominion, Is at your feet. No oppo-
sing standard is lifted up; no hostile bugle
blows defiant blast Your work Of su-
premacy is complete. One greater and ho-
licr victory is yet wanting, to finish, in sub
limest majesty, your march of conquest
the victory over yourselves. 1t is yet to be
seen whether you can rise superior to your
own passions and crown your achievements
with the glory Of magnanimity Will you
be as true to yourselves and the cause Of
humanity as you have been to the Union of
the States, and as you would claim, to the
perpetuation Of the Constitution? No log
ic, though it reason with the irresistible
force OF multitudnous executions can con-
vince the Southern people that they have
been guilty Of any crime. In poverty and
ruin, and universal mourning, they know
that they have failed. You have success
fully displayed and exerted your material
mastery; it is yet to be seen whether you are
as generous in victory as you are irresista
bic in arms. We accept our destiny
Whether right or wrong we are powerless to
resist. Our agriculture is utterly broken
up, our estates are ruined; many hundreds
of our oldest and proudest mansions are in
ashes; our people are homeless in the land
of their birth; hundreds of our rural
churhes have been burned; the same has
been the fate of a great number of our
school houses and court houses. There is
no description that can fully convey to you
an idea Of the destruction to our mills, fOun-
deries, railroads and canals. Our forests
are consumed; our fields are without labor
ers; our towns and cities are without trade !;
our people are without employment or the
means of support, our children are growing
up without education our wives and maid
ems are sick with watchings by the bedside
of the dying, and with mournings over the
dead and thousands Of our young men are
either in exile or prison, ask, in the name
of wasted bleeding, crushed humanity, is
not this enough? IF we have offended,
have we not, in the destruction of every ell
ement of social and political prosperity,
most bitterly expiated the guilt? And can
it be that we only have been in the wrong:
Has this most afflicted calamity its causes
only in us Can the people of the North
before God, deny that they have been some
what to blame? Were we not honest in be


levlng that we had cause for our course ?
But it is said that our act is crime Be il
so. Have we not already suffered punish
ment? Gro through our land and see our
ptable condition.


Need more blood be shed. more groans be
wrung from the hearts of a ruined and
mourning people? Need the gulf of hatred
between the two sections be deepened and
widened, and incarnadined by further war
upon disarmed and bankrupt people p
There need be no anticipation of future Sc
cession or revolution by the South. The
catastrophe has been developed and we
must submit to what we have exhausted our
selves to avert. Your arms have wrought
our submission in ruin magnanimity may
win our loyaltyln a regenerated postcrlty.


Now what will your government do P
| l&cl uS hIloN ne DtSt Ut lUC WOTSU. w Ill
you permit us to return to our homes, and
beneath the iorbearance Of government
we once loved, seek again in the paths and
pursuits of peaceful industry, in the habits
of Christian worship and the forgetfulness
of years, the suspended affections Of relig-
ion and political unity? Military execu-
tions and contiscations of our estates are
harsh arguments to win us to loyalty. Am
nesties to people Frustrated by war, in
spire more loyal affections than exasperating
seventies, which deepen while they muffie,
the spirit of resistance. A soft word turn
eth away wrath. Your people say that our
folly has ruined us; will you let us see that
your clemency has restored us q? You say
that you have sought the integrity of the
Union; will you let us assist you in its per-
petuation


From my observation and knowledge of
the people, | confdentaly say that if the
people of the North will now lay aside the
sword and withdraw their armies; if they
will restore to US our rights as States, and
withhold vindicitive prosecutions and pen
aties, this people will rally, to a full honest,
and in time, hearty support, of the Govern.
ment; will defend it against all enemies, will
struggle as they can to rebuild our desola-
) ted fortunes, and unite with you in the fu.
luic VniSct VI thO SoNcIIiuelit W GREATNESS
and glory.


Remove the suspense of this afflicted
land; kindle again the light of hope in, our
sky; bid the people--who as you say, have
otfended-go and sin no more. Show us
that you sought not our destruction, but our
obedience, and the land will be filed with
joy. Personal and kindly intercourse would
soon WELD us into one homogeneous whole
j Revived agriculture and the active enter
prises of commerce would soon reopen the
sources and elements of material prosperity,
and a Union as enduring as Time, and firm
as the immovable hills, glorify this CONT
nent. Let the voice ofa forgiving christi
anity speak. Let all wrath, and clamor, and
evil speaking be put away from each other
Let the press and the pulpit address them
selves, not further and vindicitively to de-
stroy, but to preserve the good that is left,
and rebuild upon our awful ruins the Struc-
ture of a colossal government and a divner
civilization.


A MINISTER OF CHRIST