From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 15, 1865:
The spirit at the North.
–In New York, on Thursday evening, a meeting of the Union League Club was held, and the following resolutions, offered by Dr. Frank Leiber, were adopted. They show pretty plainly the aims of the dominant party at the North:
‘No diminution of our country by one inch of land or one drop of water’
“Whereas, the American people ardently desire the re-establishment of peace in this country; and whereas, the conclusion of peace with the insurgents now in arms against the country is frequently called for; and whereas, it is fit for this large association of loyal citizens solemnly to express their opinion on a subject important to all, and pregnant with consequences both grave and lasting; therefore
“Resolved, That the American people, by all their sacrifices of blood and wealth, are, indeed, seeking the re-establishment of peace in this land, disturbed as it continues to be by its rebellious citizens; but we discountenance every idea of a conclusion of peace with traitors as a contracting party, which would amount to an acknowledgment of them as a separate Power, capable of making treaties.
“Resolved, That it is a grave error to maintain that we have acknowledged our enemy as belligerent in the sense of the law of nations, and that this acknowledgment gives him the standing of a public enemy, capable of contracting treaties. On the contrary, the United States, for the sake of humanity only, have applied the rules of regular warfare to the present rebellion — a generous conduct which the enemy has requited with barbarous cruelty towards our captured sons and brothers, and with a callous disregard of many of the rules of humanity, faith and honor, which civilized people observe in modern wars.
“Resolved, That no re-establishment of peace can take place, and that no conferences with any insurgents whatever ought to be entered into, except on the following basis and premises, distinctly and plainly laid down and defined, viz:
“1. No armistice on any account.
“2. No foreign mediation.
“3. No slavery.
“4. No assumption of the Southern debt.
“5. No State rights inconsistent with the supreme and paramount authority of the Union, and, above all, no right of secession.
“6. No diminution of our country by one inch of land or one drop of water.
“Resolved, That the President and Secretary communicate these resolutions to the kindred associations of the land, inviting them to express their opinion on the subject of the same.”
Francis Lieber was born in Berlin in 1800 and received two wounds at Waterloo, but he was arrested in 1819 as an enemy of the state. He arrived in Boston in 1827. Dr. Lieber taught history and political economics at South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) from 1835 until 1856. He taught the same subject at Columbia in New York City from 1856-1865. He had two sons who served in the Union armies during the Civil War, but another son died while fighting for the Confederacy … make that the insurgents. He developed the military code of conduct that President Lincoln promulgated as General Orders No. 100 in April 1863. Apparently Professor Lieber did not favor the retaliatory policytoward the Southern states than some members of the U.S. Senate advocated.
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My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.
no foreign entanglements, indeed
