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 SHALL WE HAVE AN ARMISTICE? 
 
 SHALL WE HAYE AN ARMISTICE? 
 
 The Democratic party, in Convention at Chicago assembled, have demanded 
 this • it becomes, therefore, one of the distinct issues of the present pohtical 
 campai'^n The question has been forced upon us ; we cannot escape it it we 
 would 'it behooves us, therefore, to give it earnest, dispassionate consideration 
 that in acting upon it we may do so intelligently, with an eye single to our 
 country's slory and well being. ^ ^ ^ ^i,- 
 
 Let us look at the resolution which presents this issue. Among other things 
 
 it declares that 
 
 " Justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that im- 
 " mediate efforts be made for the cessation of hostilities with a view 
 " to an ultimate convention of all the states, or other peaceablk 
 
 " MEANS, to the END THAT AT THE EARLIEST PRACTICABLE MOMENT PEACE MAY 
 " BE RESTORED." 
 
 This is something definite, something tangible— not like McClellan's letter 
 of acceptance, a jargon of "glittering generalities." Here we have a frank 
 outspoken expression of the sentiments which animated and controlled that 
 Convention. We are told "justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare 
 demand an armistice." For God's sake look at the absurdity of this thing ; and 
 in doinff so I charge you do not fail to remember all the history of this bloody 
 war— how it can e upon us— how there was no alternative left to us but war or 
 national ruin and dishonor. t. • j «. 
 
 Look back again upon the starving garrison at Fort Sumter, besieged, cut 
 off from supplier:, and finally bombarded by those who were seeking to wrest 
 from us all we held dear as a nation. It was not until our glorious flag had 
 been insulted, fired upon, and trampled in the dust; not until our forts and 
 and arsenals, our navy yards and mints had been captured or robbed by the 
 rebellious foe, that the slumbering manhood of the free North, was aroused, 
 and she put forth her heroic energies to save the little remnant of hberty and 
 govennoent Buchanan and the rebels had left us. -, ^ e ti. 
 
 It w=^5 littie more than the empty nam^ of government they left us. ihey 
 had seqt our navy to distant shores, that the traitors might the better be en- 
 abled t^ seize upon the forts, navy yards, and harbors stretching from the 
 Potom-ac to the Rio Grande. They had robbed our arsenals of their arms (the 
 accumulations of many years of peace) in order to enable the traitorous hoato 
 
more effectively to resist the efforts of our heroic men when at last this hide- 
 ons wifkedness and unparalelled infamy should become known. You wil 
 remember too that ever memorable 19th of April, 18G1, when the gallant sons 
 of Massachusetts, rushing to the defence of our imperiled capital, were shot down 
 in the streets of Baltimore, by the minions of treason and slavery. 
 
 You will remember the history of all these years, and before you vote to " stop 
 the war," to call back our heroic men from the work so nobly commenced, so 
 eaccessfully and bravely prosecuted, you will insist upon some good reason for 
 yielding to this demand for your national humiliation. 
 
 These men at Chicago, plotting your dishonor, gave yon no warning of the 
 results coming from this " cessation of hostilities." They did not tell you that 
 the rebels would be strengthened and you weakened thereby. They did not 
 tell you what they surely know, that the exhausted and failing resources of the 
 rebellion needed this " suspension of hostilities." 
 
 No, they cunningly and deliberately falsified this thing to you, saying " Jus- 
 tice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand it." Had their resolu- 
 tion run thus : " Whereas, under the powerful and well dealt blows of Grant 
 *• and Sherman, of Farragut and other brave men of our army and navy, the 
 " Rebellion is nearly brought to a close, and whereas, it is expedient that the 
 "Rebels be allowed time to recruit their shattered forces and replenish their 
 "wasted stores, therefore, Resolved, that immediate efforts be made for the 
 cessation of hostilities," you would much better have understood its true 
 meaning. 
 
 Let us consider this question of an armistice. What is it ? What is meant 
 by it f 
 
 Ih Wheaton's " International Law," by Lawrence, page 585, he says: 
 
 ** An armistice is the suspension of hostilities. This may be either special or general. 
 If it be general in its application to all hostilities and in every place, and endrue for an 
 indefinite period, it amounts in effect to a temporary peace, except that it leaves undecided 
 the controversies in which the war originated." 
 
 Again the same author, page 686, speaking of the consequence of an armis- 
 tice "and the rules by which the parties are bound during its continuance, says : 
 
 "The first of these peculiar rules, as laid down by Vattel, is that each party may do 
 within his own territory, what he could do in time of peace. Thus either of the bellig- 
 erent parties may levy and march troops, collect provisions and other munitions of war, 
 receive reinforcements from his allies, or repair the fortifications of a place not actually 
 besieged." 
 
 " It amounts to a temporary peace," says Wheaton, " but it leaves the contro- 
 versies in which the war originated undecided." Let the people determine 
 whether they desire to leave undecided the controversies in which for the past 
 four years we have been engaged. Let them decide whether we shall fight 
 cover again the battles on land and sea which have added so much of glory and 
 renown to our brave army and gallant navy. You have considered well the 
 meaning of that word armistice — let us analyze it ; let us put it in tangible 
 ehape so that you may see and know what you give up to the rebellion if you 
 concede to the traitors this boon of an armistice. 
 
 Ist. It amounts to a temporary peace. 
 
 2d. It leaves undetermined the controversies in which the war originated. 
 3d. The rebels may do in their own territory which they might do in time 
 of peace. 
 
 \^' 
 
V 4th. They may levy and march troops, collect provisions and other muniliona 
 2^ of war. 
 
 v» 5th. They may receive reinforcements from their allies and repair their shat 
 _ vtered fortifications. 
 
 <^ 6th. It follows, therefore, as a necessary consequence that the blockade which 
 has shut out the traitors from the commercial world, since the war began, would 
 be broken up, and they again re:ip the advantages to be derived from an un- 
 restricted trade with those nations that have evinced such active and earnest 
 sympathy with them in their efforts to accomplish our national dissolution. 
 
 " Why do Copperheads, the friends and advocates of McClellan, demand this? 
 
 ' It cannot be because the armies of the Union have been conquered ; not be- 
 cause our resources in men and money are exhausted ; not because we have not 
 made wonderful progress in the suppression of the rebellion and won imperish- 
 able glory for the Union arms both on land and sea. They demand it because 
 they desire the rebellion to succeed and see slavery restored ; because the rebel 
 armies have been beaten in the field ; because their resources are exhausted, 
 their armies diminished and demoralized, their commerce destroyed, their 
 finances ruined, their strongest forts recaptured, their harbors and ports block- 
 aded by our navy and commanded by our guns, their foreign friends discouraged, 
 their people disheartened, their country laid waste, and their products rend- 
 ered worthless. They therefore need time to recuperate, to replenish their 
 depleted treasury, to recruit and drill fresh armies, to build other ships of war, 
 to convey their cotton to market and secure arms and other munitions of war ; 
 to strengthen the fortifications now in their possession, and erect oth;^rs need- 
 ful for their safety and defence ; to farm alliances and make negotiations with 
 foreign nations for a recognition of their nationality. 
 
 They need time. Without time to recuperate their cause is lost, and they 
 know it. Hence comes this demand from their northern allies for an armistice. 
 Men of the North ! Soldiers of the Republic I do you want such a peace ? 
 Are you willing that all your heroic devotion to liberty, and the Union, should 
 result only in this temporary peace ? If you want a peace worth having, one 
 that will be 2}ermanent, a peace that comes to you unstained with national 
 
 B dishonor, then you will trample under your feet this proposition for a " temiyorary 
 
 I peace" which comes to you with the nomination of McClellan. 
 
 "■'^ Do you wish to leave the causes and controversies in which this war origi- 
 nated undetermined ? 
 
 Some of you, at least, believed that slavery was either the immediate or remote 
 cause of the troubles which these years of self-sacrifice and'war have brought 
 to us. You have cherished the hope, that with the end of the war the end of 
 slavery should also come. You remember how, for many years, this curse has 
 troubled the peace of the nation ; how it has made freedom of speech and free- 
 dom of the press impossible ; how it has debased and demoralized the na- 
 tional politics ; how it has caused the churches and ministers of religion to 
 be faithless to the teachings of " Him who went about doing good, and who 
 spoke as never man spake ;" how at last it broke out in open and violent re- 
 bellion, against the Constitution and laws, in order that its insatiate thirst for 
 power might be satisfied ; and slavery become " alike lawful in all the States, 
 North as well as South, old as well as new." You, remember all these things, 
 and yet you are asked to blot them from your memory, and restore, and re-esta- 
 
blish the institution which has been the fruitful source of all your woes. These 
 inen at Chicago do not say this directly, but they hope to obtain some share of 
 your sympathy and support, by pleading with you in the ^nanie of ''justice, 
 humanity, liberty, and public welfare." They have not the manly courage to 
 say to you that an armistice would result in the accomplishment of all the 
 rebels have ever desired. They knoio that with the cessation of hostilities, 
 would come negotiations for a permeneut peace upon the basis of southern in- 
 dependence, or if not that, at least additional guarantees to slavery. 
 
 Let us notflfiveup the advantages, which wc have secured, after so many bloody 
 battles, and so much heroic devotion. Let us not smother the old flame, leav- 
 ing beneath the ashes which cover it the same fuel that kindled the canflagration 
 which has threatened our national destruction for so many weary years. 
 
 No the war and the heroic moral courage of our President, have placed 
 the institution of slavery " where the public mind will rest iu the belief that it 
 Is in the course of ultimate detinction." There let it remain. Let no appeals 
 for an armistice, or a temporary peace divert your attention from the labor of 
 completing the work so gloriously begun. You have this wily serpent of 
 slavery and treason under your feet, and do not, as you value your country's 
 life and honor, allow traitorous appeals for a " cessation of hostilities" to divert 
 you from your purpose to destroy him. 
 
 Think of it ! The traitors, at the commencement of the rebellion, held un- 
 disputed sway in Louisiana, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, 
 Arkansas, and Florida ; and also had control of portions of Kentucky, Mary- 
 land, and Missouri. Do you wish to yield up those States, won back to the 
 Government by so many well contested battles, both by land and sea ? Do 
 you wish to throw open those States to the undisputed sway of those from 
 ■whom they have been conquered ? Do you wish to give the enemy an absolute 
 right to raise and equip, and march armies in those States? Do you wish him 
 to enter, unharmed, into the vast grain fields of Maryland, Kentucky, Tennes- 
 see, and Missouri and replenish his exhausted stores, and gain fresh strength 
 for the contest, which must surely come when the armistice shall end ? Do 
 you wish the rebels to again enter and possess the territory, over which Sher- 
 man has won his way, after so much labor, and the shedding of so much pa- 
 triotic blood ? 
 
 Soldiers of the Army of the West, you who struggled with Grant 
 at Fort Donaldson, at Shiloh, at Vicksburgh ; you who won undying renown 
 at Stone River, under the courageous and indomitable Rosecrans ; you who 
 have shared the glories of Lookout Mountain with the fighting "Joe Hooker;" 
 you who have labored so patiently and haroicly from Chattanooga to Atlantic, 
 do you wish to give back to the rebellion all that you have gained after such 
 laborious and heroic service ? If you do not, then spurn from your very pres- 
 ence these men who come to you with proposals for an armistice or a "cessation 
 of hostilities." During an armistice, says Vattel in his Law of Nations, page 
 408, " each party may do in his own territory what he may have a right to do 
 in time of profound peace." And on page 410, he says : " During the armis- 
 *' tice it is allowable for enemies to pass and repass, to and from each others 
 " country, in the same manner as it is allowed in time of peace." 
 
 Do you desire the return to the national capitol, of JefF. Davis, and his asso- 
 ciates unrestrained, unharmed ? Do you desire to impart in every way 
 new hope and strength to the waning life of the rebellion? Then you have 
 but to vote for McClellan, and with him this armistice. Reipember you can- 
 not have one without sooner or later having the other, for however much Mc- 
 
Clellan may now seemingly ignore the platform upon which he was nominated 
 should he be elected this delusion would end. He must, and would necessari7y 
 represent the desires and wishes of the party that nominated and elected 
 him. 
 
 We have learned something of the hope that comes to the enemy by this 
 armistice — let us now consider what advantage comes to us thereby, la the 
 first place comes national humiliation, for by granting an armistice we confess 
 our inability to compel them by force of arms to yield submission to the Con- 
 stitution and the laws. You, who have been defending the Union against the 
 assaults of its deadly enemies, believe that you have been doing battle in a holy 
 cause, if you ask an armistice noiv^ you give up the right for the wrong. You 
 reward disunion ; you punish loyalty ; you admit your inferiority ; you cry 
 enough! and submit. Pause and consider, I pray you, the depth of our na- 
 tional degradation after such a submission ! 
 
 But this is not all we lose, though God knows if it were, it were sufficient to 
 arouse the withering indignation of any loyal man at the thought. For what 
 is this cessation of hostilities proposed ? " With a view," say they, " to a con- 
 vention of all the States for ihe purpose of making peace." Such a conven- 
 tion must be first called by a two-thirds vote of Congress, and the call after- 
 wards ratified by three-fourths of the States. Now, this is an utter impossi- 
 hility. Do you suppose, as has been eloquently asked by the venerable Dr. 
 Breckenridge, that " after three or four years of war ; after spending two or 
 "three thousand millions of dollars; afcer spilling the blood of a million of our 
 " brothers, and consigning five hundred thousand to their gaves ; after conquor- 
 " ing an extent of territory fifteen hundred miles in length by six hundred in 
 " breadth ; having an army in every State in the Confederacy, and the majority 
 " of them under our control ; having taken every stronghold from them except- 
 " ing Charleston and Richmond; that, notwithstanding all this, we will discjrace 
 "ourselvep, like a set of poltroons, to the latest generation of mankind, and 
 "sacrifice everything we have fought for, and all that makes a free government 
 " worth living for ? No ! a thousand times «o." Every patriot heart will 
 spurn the thought. 
 
 But suppose such a thing possible. Have you thought of the long months 
 that must elapse before such a convention can assemble ? Have you thought 
 of the time you would lose, and how your stronghold upon the rebellion would 
 be relaxed ? How your armies would become demoralized and impatient by 
 the inaction and delay which such a step involves ? Those who ask this of 
 you, are heart and soul in the interest of the traiiors. They hope thereby to 
 save them from utter defeat and absolute annihilation, to bring them back 
 into the Union, with the old curse of slavery hanging like a mill-stone about 
 their necks. That you may see that we indulge in no unwarrantable assertions, 
 we ask you to consider who wants this armistice ? Not " Honest Old Abe," 
 who, as Commander-in-Chief of our Army and Navy, has been taxing every 
 energy to destroy the rebellion, and efft-ct a restoration of our imperiled 
 Union. Not the heroic and untiring Grant, and the gallant officers and men 
 of the grand old Army of the Potomac. Not Sheridan, who has 
 signaled our successes from the valley of the Shenandoah. Not Sherman who 
 with his heroic self-sacrificing officers and men, have kept untarnished the re- 
 putation, and shed additional lustre upon the glorious Anny of the West. Not 
 Farragat, nor any of the intrepid officers and men, who have upheld the honor 
 of our flag in many a hard fought battle upon the sea. I ask the men who 
 survive the terrible battles of this glorious war ; you who fought a at Wileon'g 
 
6 
 
 Greet, at Belmont, at Donaldson, at Shiloh, at Corintli, at Stone River, at Ar- 
 kansas Post, at Port Hudson, at Cbampion Hills, and Vicksbiirg ; do you want 
 the armistice ? Yon, who at the outset of this wicked rebellion, came at your 
 country's call, and struggled so hcroicly and bravely at Bull Run, at Yorktown, 
 at Williamsburg, and in the seven days battles of the Peninsula; you who 
 fought at Centreville, at South Mountain, at Antietam, and the battles before 
 Fredericksburg ; you who with Grant, have struggled in all the battles from 
 the Rapidan to Petersburg ; you, who with Butler wrested the Crescent City 
 from the hands of traitors ; do you want the armistice ? From all these brave 
 men, concecrated to the service of their country hy so many battles and so 
 much devotion, there comes the same answer. " Let there be no armistice until 
 the last traitor to libeity and good government shall have perished or submit- 
 ted himself to the wholesome authority of the Constitution and the laws." 
 
 Who wants the armistice ? Jeff. Davis and all rebeklum want it. The 
 Chicago Convention, and the party supporting the election of George B. Mc- 
 Clellan want it. The Pendletons, the Woods, the Valdighams, the Seymours, 
 and the Longs, want it. Every man who has vilified and traduced our brave 
 soldiers, and denounced the war in which they have been engaged want it. The 
 men, who in Congress, have voted against supplies for the army, and tax bills 
 for raising money with which to pay the soldiers want it. Finally, the men 
 who love slavery and hate freedom want it. 
 
 Men of the free North ! Soldiers of the armies of the Republic ! Will 
 you trust such men with power? You desire peace, but is it such a peace you 
 want?, a peace that is disunion ; a peace which means separation of the States 
 and endless ruin to our God given Republic! No, from millions of loyal hearts 
 thrills back the answer NO — and on the 8th day of November next, you will 
 thunder it aloud from every hill, from every valley — and the rolling prairies send- 
 ing back the indignant protest of a loyal people, will consign to eternal infamy 
 aud oblivion these men, seeking by au armistice and treason, our national 
 humiliation and ruin. 
 
Hon. E. D. MORGAN, of New York 
 " JAS. HARLAN, of Iowa. 
 " L. M. MORRILL, of Maine. 
 {Senate.) 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 
 
 •JNlOLCONGRESSiONAL COWIMITTEE. 
 
 Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE. of Illinois 
 " R. B. VAN VALKENBURG, N.Y. 
 " J. A. GARFIELD, of Ohio. 
 " J. G. BLAINE, of Maine. 
 V T\ -KirnTin n-KT r,7 ■ , „ [House of Representatives) 
 
 E. D. MORGAN, Ohair7nan. JAS. HARLAN, Treasu rer: D. N. COOLEY, Sec'y. 
 
 Committee Rooms, Washington, D. C^^Sept. 2, 1864^ 
 Deak Sir : The Union Congressional Committee, in addition to 
 the documents ah-eady published, propose to issue immediately 
 the following documents for distribution among the people : 
 ^ 1. McClellan's Military Career Reviewed and Exposed 
 ' ?• S''°''^? .^- Pendleton, his Disloyal Record and Antecedents. 
 / 6. ihe Chicago Copperhead Convention, the Men who Com- 
 posed and Controlled it, 
 >/ 4. Base Surrender of the Copperheads to the Rebels in Arms 
 * 6. The Military and Naval Situation and the Glorious Achieve- 
 ments of our Soldiers and Sailors. 
 . 6. A Few Plain Words with the Private Soldier. 
 
 7. What Lincoln's Administration has done. 
 
 8. The History of McClellan's "Arbitrary Arrest" of the Mary^ 
 land Legislature, ' 
 
 / 9. Can the Country Pay the Expenses of the War? 
 10, Doctrines of the Copperheads J^orth identical with tliose of 
 the Rebels South. 
 , IL The Constitution Upheld and Maintained. 
 12. Rebel Terms of Peace. 
 ^ 13, Peace to be Enduring, must be Conquered. 
 "^ \^K ^ ^'^^^O^ ^^' Cruelties and Atrocities of the Rebellion, 
 ' \\' ■'^^idences of a Copperhead Conspiracy in the Northwest. 
 lb. Reward's Auburn Speech. 
 ^ 17. Schurz's Speech, 
 
 18, Copperhead votes in Congress. 
 ^ 19. " Leave Pope to get out of his Scrape." * 
 
 ^ 20. Shall we have an Armistice ? 
 
 ^ The above documents will be printed in English and German, 
 in eight or sixteen page pamphlets, and sent postage free, accord- 
 mgto directions, at the rate of one or two dollars per hundred 
 copies. Ihe plans and purposes of the Copperheads having been 
 disclosed by the action of the Chicago Convention, they should 
 at once be laid before the loyal people of the country. There is 
 but two months between this and the election, and leagues, clubs, 
 and individuals should lose n^ time in sending in their orders 
 Rennttances should be made in Greenbacks or drafts on New 
 oj-k City, payable to the order of James Harlan. 
 Address — Free, 
 
 Hon, JAMES HARLAN, 
 
 Washington^ D. C. 
 Yery respectfully, yours, &o., 
 
 D. N. COOLEY, Secretary 
 
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