THE ULTIMATUM OF THE PEACE MEN. WE have received a letter from a Democratic ex-Governor of one of the largest of the northern States, which so well expresses the feelings of a majority of the masses of the Democratic party, that we are induced to give one or two brief extracts from it. The author of this letter is a gentleman who stands among the most exalted of his countrymen as a man of honor, ability and wealth, and who has ever. been regarded as one of the most devoted friends of the Democracy. He says: "Unfortunately, the majority of the leaders and active men of the party are just as much committed to the war as Lincoln; and if it is to be continued, I prefer that he should have a monopoly of its infamy. * * * I have no confidence in the Democratic party as now organized and led. On the contrary, with individual exceptions, I hold it as above all others in most ineffable contempt, as false to every principle that it has ever professed-the earliest and the loudest in the war-whoop against the South, for endeavoring to maintain the doctrine to which we all subscribed, that the Union was a fraternity of sovereign equal States, and that whenever we ceased to regard this principle there could be no Union. Four years ago we were warning our section that if the spirit of Abolitionism and sectionalism succeeded, the South would have no alternative left them but a cowardly surrender of their Constitutional rights, and equality in the Union, or withdrawal from it; and now we are The opinion of this distinguished gentleman is that soon after the reelection of Lincoln he will resort to forced loans, and that then no man will be permitted to take his property out of the country, or go himself, even, unless his age disqualifies him for doing military duty. Although few share the entire hopelessness of the author of this letter, yet nearly the whole rank and file of the Democracy agree with him entirely as to the disgraceful position the Democratic party occupies before the world. And it is certain that this rank and file can be no longer used to support the war. The so-called leaders may not comprehend this yet, but should a war candidate be nominated for the Presidency, they will learn the fact the day after the election, to their disappointment and shame. No true Democrat will support this war another hour. The war will henceforth get no support from the Democracy, except from such men as can be bribed to support it. And they will be no more the leaders of the party. They will carry to Lincoln only their own votes, and their own bodies, whatever their value may be. The present and the future time will stamp them as traitors, not only to the Democratic party, but to their country. A leading Democratic jour nalist, who has heretofore ranked as a War Democrat, writes us: "I have made my last offering to the Moloch of war." He holds a commanding position in his State, and will use an in fluence which will be powerfully felt for good. All men who ever were at heart Democrats, and who comprehend the principles of Democracy will, must now, stand invincibly for peace. Democracy denies the right of the Federal Government to wage war against the States, as Madison, the father of the Constitution, expresses it, "from any consideration whatever." From Jefferson to the end of Mr. Buchanan's Administration that was the doctrine of Democracy. It is now, and will continue, the doctrine of the genuine Democracy. Those who abandon this doctrine desert Democracy. From one end of the country to the other the party will be organized upon this, its ancient basis. That is the ultimatum of the peace men. DIPLOMATIC WIT. At the commencement of our revolutionary war, when the French showed an inclination to take part with us, Sir Joseph Yorke, the English ambassador to the United Netherlands, happened to meet the French ambassador at Hague, and quite freely censured the Court of France for interfering in the dispute between England and her colonies. "You have been guilty of a dishonorable act," said he, "and one which cannot be pardoned, even that of debauching our daughter." "I am sorry," replied the French ambassador, "that your excellency should put such a severe construction upon the matter. She made the first advances, and absolutely threw herself into our arms; but rather than forfeit the friendship of your nation, if matrimony will make any atonement, we are ready to act honorably, and marry her." EDITOR'S TABLE. -What is the difference between a butcher and a general? A butcher kills animals for food. A general kills men to gratify the ambition or malice of politicians and scoundrels. To the eye of sense and religion the profession of the butcher is far more respectable than that of a general. If we abhor the business of a hangman, who simply executes a man whose life has been forfeited to justice by his crimes, how much more ought we to abhor the general whose business is to slaughter thousands of innocent men, with whom neither he nor society has any grounds for quarrel? I never shake hands with a general that I do not instinctively feel a disposi tion to wipe the blood from my fingers. I never see one of these inflated, bespangled puppets in the street, that I do not say to myself, there goes a creature whose trade is murder. The cannibals more rationally kill men for food; generals kill for the sake of killing. It is the most abhorrent and detestable of professions. Nothing but the abscence of reflection, and a blunted moral sense ever made such a profession respectable. Of the two we hate less the hangman, because he kills fewer men, and those only who are condemned to die in expiation of their crimes. If it is said that we must have generals, it may be said, so must we have hangmen. Give me leave to despise the two professions alike. They are neither the signs of truly Christian civilization. -The publishers of the United States are issuing a great many books, most of which are fully worthy of the era of shoddy and blood. The following are supposed to be in press: An Infallible Scheme for Ruining the Bri tish Government, and Reducing it to a FifthClass Power. By Hon. Charles Sumner. A Plan for a Coalition of all Parties, which will prevent all disputes at the next election, inasmuch as it permits no party to enter the field in opposition to the Administration. It is entitled "The Era of Goodfeeling." By a United States Senator. An Essay on the Art of Bribery and Corruption. By Thurlow Weed. A work on Liberty, in which it is proved by an appeal to Teutonic roots that the word means black. By the eminent etymologist, Horace Greeley. A Pamphlet on the Laws which have been enacted by the most enlightened nations, for the encouragement of prostitution, and for the protection of keepers of houses of illfame. By Richard Busteed, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. An Essay entitled Lying-Made-Easy. By John W. Forney, amanuensis to the President. An Essay on the Decline of Piety in the United States. By Benjamin F. Butler, Missionary. An Essay on Prayer, as a Destructive Missile in War. By E. M. Stanton. An Essay on Gunpowder as a Means of Grace. By Henry Ward Beecher. An Essay on the Excellent Quality of Ebony Furniture for a Gentleman's Bed-room. by Park Godwin. Another Essay showing the superiority of Mahogany Color for the same use. By James T. Brady. A Work on the Art of Saving Human Life in War; affectionately dedicated to the Butchers' Association. By Lieut.-General U. S. Grant. A Work on the Uses of Forgery in Diplomacy, in ten folio volumes of 1,000 pages each; affectionately dedicated to Lord John Russell. By Wm. H. Seward, Diplomatist. All these invaluable works will be issued under the general title of "Books for the Times." Each will be elegantly and appropriately bound in calf, and sold by the ounce, at the rate of $1,000 per pound, in gold. Apply to the Harpers for an agency. -We are again amused with rumors of Seward's intention to retire from the Cabinet. When that event happens, it will be more likely to be a flight than a retirement We have no expectation of seeing Seward leave his present place until he is forced to fly before the wrath of the American people, all of whom he has either duped or persecuted. The illegal arrests and all the despotic acts of the Administration are of his inspiration. He is to this revolution what Robespierre was to the last days of the French Revolution. He follows Robespierre in his very manner of doing his deeds of tyranny. All his brutal acts are committed with a smiling face. His arrest of Mr. Faulkner, of Virginia, and of ex-Governor Jones, of Iowa, are examples. Both of these gentlemen, on returning from their foreign ministries, hastened to Washington to settle their accounts with the State Department, evidently not conscious of having committed any act which could draw suspicion upon their heads. They closed their business, and Mr. Seward politely and smilingly shook them by the hand as he bade them "good bye." And the instant they had turned from his door, he set the machinery going for their arrest, on the charge of "having sympathies with the South." Nero and Robespierre had that good-natured way of doing ugly things. Danton, after he had fallen into the trap set for him by Robespierre, and was chafing within the gloomy walls of the Conciergerie, said: "What proves that Robespierre is a second Nero, is his never having spoken to Camille Desmoulins with so much friendship as on the day of his arrest." Seward seems delighted to be in the footsteps of Robespierre. Let him keep on far enough, and he will be sure to land where Robespierre did. When Robespierre's own head at last rolled under the guillotine, one of his victims in prison wrote on the walls the following epigram: "A thousand human victims were his foodHe spoke of freedom while he swam in blood." One of Seward's victims, in either of the several bastiles he has prepared for guiltless citizens, might trace upon the walls of his dungeon these appropriate lines for his epitaph: Here lies the American Robespierre ; It is barely possible that of all Seward's numerous illegal arrests there may not be any one who will revenge the insult to law and human right. But if he keeps on, he will be sure to light at last upon some Roman who will send him for trial to a bar from which he cannot appeal to a court of his own, by act of Congress. -Mr. Garrison thinks that "the American Church has been converted within the last ten years." It has indeed been converted from a follower of Christ into a disciple of Mars. From the paths of peace it has turned into the broad road of destruction and death. At the annual meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, held in New York in May, 1856, their third resolution characterized the American Church as follows: "It is impure in heart, hypocritical in profession, dishonest in practice, brutal in spirit, merciless in purpose; a cage of unclean birds, and the synagogue of Satan."" " Of the American Board of Foreign Mis sions, the American Tract Society, the American Bible Society, the American Home Mis sionary Society, their fourth resolution declare they "are each and all convicted of the vilest hypocrisy and the most astounding wickedness, and it is equally a sin and a shame to contribute to their funds, or to give them any countenance whatever." The fifth resolution is so short that we can make room for the whole of it: "5. Resolved, That the managers of these powerful religious bodies are the most despicable of all time servers and trimmers, and that they belong to the class whom Jesus denounced as "whited sepulchers, vipers and serpents, wolves in sheep's clothing"-Pharisees and hypocrites who compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made he is two-fold more the child of hell than themselves." The cause of all this vituperation, blackguardism and scandal, was that the Church at that time followed, quite generally, the example of Christ and the Apostles on the subject of slavery. That was only eight years ago. If the Churches continue to run down for eight years more, as rapidly as they have for eight years passed, where will they be in the year 1872 ? We shudder to imagine where they will be! We shrink aghast from the question! -The renomination of Mr. Lincoln was a thing of course. It may disgust, but it cannot surprise. The party that could support such an Administration would as naturally seek to prolong it, as a band of thieves would wish to duplicate a good chance for plunder. The only question of any importance to the country is, will the people suffer him to declare himself re-elected? If he could be elected by the fair legal votes of the States, nobody would have a right to complain, and nobody would complain; but that is impossible. He stands no chance of a re-election except by rotten boroughs and bayonets. Then the great question is, will the people stand that? Will they tamely submit, and see the government of our fathers thus overthrown? Or will they plainly tell the usurper that they will meet force with force? Those laggards who talk about such nonsense as appealing to the ballot, against rotten boroughs and bayonets, are either insincere knaves or cowardly dolts. When it has come to that when elections are carried by soldiers and bayonets, as they have been in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and other States, it is an insult to the people to advise them to rely upon the ballot for their safety and rights. What are a hundred thousand ballots against a single platoon of bayonets? Any party, meaning to enter the field against Mr. Lincoln, that does not tell the usurper at once that it will meet force with force-that does not begin to campaign by training its masses up to the pitch of manfully resisting force at the polls, better save its pains and its money, by giving up the contest and patiently submitting to be slaves. If Mr. Lincoln can be elected by fair and free voting, according to the laws, there ought not to be, and there will not be a murmur. But let him be told plainly that there shall be a fair election, or a free fight! It is useless to spend time and money in a campaign less elevated in its patriotism and pluck. -Some of our exchanges speak of a "Freeman's Protective Union," which it seems has been organized in various sections of the country by the people, to protect themselves against violence and illegal arrests. From what we can gather, the system appears to be to hold the leading Republicans of a man's immediate neighborhood responsible for any wrong that may be committed upon his liberty or rights, by inflicting punishment upon them, as well as marking the officials who may order or execute any illegal deeds, for future vengeance, whenever they can be reached. All this comes from the folly and crime of the Administration in attempting to deprive the people of redress for wrongs before the courts of justice. If the Administration supposes that it can go much further in its course of lawless violence upon personal rights, and its leading supporters may rue the day when these deeds of despotism began. Such blows were never given without producing and justifying blows in return. Be sure the people sooner or later will have their turn at their oppressors. -A General who was fortunate enough to get frequent furloughs to visit this gay metropolis, during the year 1863, became quite madly enamored of a rich lady, who had already reached the discreet age of 32 years, but who seems in no hurry to "taste connubial joys." The General, having exhausted the stores of his own arts of winning, as is quite common among men of his intellectual standard, laid his case before a literary gentleman, requesting him to "get up some poetry" which he proposed to address to her as his own composition. The poet, instead of using his own invention, "turned into English," in a style to suit the case, the 7th Ode of the 4th Book of Horace, thus: O, Lizzie, why art thou so coy, When youth invites to pleasure? The question I am stating; Though now insensible as fair, And all my vows disdaining, And mock my fond complaining. When age shall seize you yet a maid, And scatters thorns and graces, |