Valley Spirit

We give our readers in the present issue of our paper the most glorious news presented them for four years past. General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia have surrendered to General Grant and the army under his command. This great and bloodless victory was achieved on Sunday afternoon, at Appomattox Court House, about eighty miles west from Richmond, and and [sic] about forty miles from Lynchburg, the point Lee's army had reached on its retreat towards Lynchburg. It will be seen from the correspondence published, that the surrender was demanded by General Grant, and accepted by General Lee. The conditions are liberal and honorable, and we have no doubt will be scrupulously observed by both sides. By the terms of this surrender, the Army of Northern Virginia is disbanded, and the men and officers, from Lee down to the lowest grade, are sent to their homes, not to take up arms again against the United States until regularly exchanged, which, of course, will never be. It is virtually a treaty of peace. General Grant, in his note to General Lee, says "peace is my first desire," and General Lee in accepting the proposals desires to know if they "would tend to that end," and says "the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all." Generals Johnson, Beauregard, Hardee, Bragg, Walker, Smith, Magruder, Buckner, and other rebel Generals still in the field with pretty large armies, will no doubt see the surrender of Lee in the same light--the restoration of peace--and gladly accept the same conditions, and lay down their arms and return to their homes, "not to be disturbed by the United States authority so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside.["] These conditions being so generously and noble [sic] granted to Lee and his men, will, of course, be granted to all others. We may, therefore, safely pronounce the war at an end. We cannot but feel proud that this end has been attained without the interference of any foreign powers but solely by ourselves in a way that must reflect great honor on us as a Christian and civilized nation. All must rejoice at these results and offer thanks to Almighty God that this unhappy strife is about to cease, and the blessings of peace be once more restored to our afflicted land.

Mr. Stevens was serenaded at his residence in this city on Monday evening, when he made a short speech, which we find reported in the Express. He said the power of the rebellion was certainly failing, but he would not even now predict that this would be their last campaign. He had not been among those who foretold an easy triumph and a short war; but he believed the ensuing campaign would destroy the most formidable armies of the rebels and take their strongholds. Still he looked for one or two years of partisan warfare in their highlands and fastnesses difficult of access. He did not believe there was much Union feeling in the rebel States. The only Southern patriots were the colored men, and committed a great error in not appealing to them and liberating and arming the slaves the first year of the war.

Mr. Stevons [sic] is of the opinion that when the enemy shall have been subdued, then will begin difficulties little less troublesome than the war. "To re-construct this nation," he says, "on the principles of justice--justice to the victors and to the vanquished--to reconstruct it on a solid, immovable basis of universal liberty, will require the exercise of the highest wisdom and the coolest forbearance of those to whom it may be confided. To re-admit the conquered States and the murderous belligerants," he continues, "to all the rights and privileges of the Union as it was and the Constitution as it is, would be the foulest injustice and the rankest folly." He holds that all the territories of the subdued States should be treated as conquered provinces and belong to the nation, to be governed by Congress until admitted into the Union as new States. So much thereof as may be deemed just should be forfeited and sold to pay the national debt, and other portions should be allotted to our maimed veterans and freedmen.

The above is the substance of Mr. Stevens's speech on the occasion alluded to. It shows that he is still full of venom towards the white people of the South, and full of affection towards the negroes. He wishes to strip the former of their property and give it to the latter. What claims the "freedmen" have to such generous treatment is more than we can imagine. We are able to understand why our government should bestow land upon Southern negroes and withhold it from Northern white men. Mr. Stevens and other malignants who are in favor of wholesale confiscation, evidently desire to make the African the ruling race in the Southern States. They intend to reduce the white inhabitants of that portion of our country to the lowest state of poverty--to make them, if possible, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the "freedmen" upon whom it is proposed to confer their landed estates.

In proposing to deal thus harshly and inhumanly with the white people of the South, we fear that Mr. Stevens reflects the feelings and sentiments of the great body of his party. There is some evidence to the contrary, however. The New York Tribune has abated its former bitterness, and even Henry Ward Beecher begins to talk like a Christian. It is not often that this distinguished abolitionist says anything that we can commend, but the spirit of his remarks last Sunday respecting his proposed participation in the Fort Sumpter fete, seems to us to be just and generous. The New York Times reports him as saying:

At other times, when the prospect of lifting the flag to its former place seemed almost visionary, he had spoken of such an event with jubilation. But now, as the time in reality drew near, his soul trembled within him at its solemn meaning. Many would go there imbued with this feeling of solemn jubilation, in this wonderful event in the history of this people. He should feel sorry if any went there with any other feeling than that of Christian patriotism. If others went with feelings of exultation over a fallen foe, for his part he went as a brother to appeal to misled brethren from the day of their misaaprehension [sic] to the day of knowledge. It would be so say to them that, after four years of blood and darkness, we had brought back to them the same hearts of love they had smitten in these long four years.

If the dominant party manifest any such temper toward the South as here expressed, the task of reconstruction will not be as difficult as Mr. Stevens imagines. Mr. Beecher did his share in stimulating the passions which brought on this dreadful war, but it will be forgiven and forgotten if he prove half as efficient in allaying sectional passions as he has heretofore been in exciting them.

There was one black cloud at Richmond yesterday that did not make the hearts of the people sad, viz: the entrance of the colored regiment with the lightnings of the old flag dancing over their heads, and the thunders of "John Brown" rolling from their lips.--Forney's Press.

Before "John Brown" made his memorable descent on Harper's Ferry, he and his fellow-traitors organized a "Provisional Government for the United States." The property he captured at Harper's Ferry was the property of the United States. The force sent by President Buchanan to retake that property carried the flag of the United States. The marines killed and wounded in capturing Brown wore the uniform of the United States. They were commanded by Robert E. Lee, who was then a colonel in the army of the United States.

Why is it that negro troops now in the service of our government are permitted to enter Richmond with "the thunders of John Brown rolling from their lips?" Did Brown do a meritorious and a patriotic thing when he killed the marines, captured the property and tried to overthrow the government of the United States? If Abraham Lincoln says no, then let him see to it that the scandalous song of "John Brown" is not again blubbered under his very nose by thick-lipped negroes for the pay of the United States.

The news of Lee's surrender reached this place, by telegraph, on Sunday night between nine and ten o'clock. The whole community was at once thrown into a state of wild excitement, the like of which was never before witnessed here. Every one left their beds and gathered on the streets. The bells were rung, guns, pistols and cannon fired, and bonfires blazed at every corner. The excitement continued all night and increasing to a perfect panic about morning. The speech-makers were called out and mounting the store-boxes harangued the crowds in the most excited strains--our friend of the Repository leading off in a blaze of glory. The rejoicing continued through the whole of next day. The troops stationed here turned out and made a grand parade. The artillery company fired a salute of two hundred gnns [sic]. We feel assured that no community exceeded ours in its demonstrations of joy over Grant's glorious victory.