It is possible that certain lukewarm men will express their desire for a compromise in the special session of Congress today, but we cannot believe that any such cowardly proposal will receive much serious consideration. On the contrary, we hope to hear requests that the administration cease its inactivity, that it proceed in Virginia, and carry on the war more energetically, until treason controls not an inch of ground in this Republic. The thought of suspending hostilities before the rebels have been dispersed and forced to obey, is so absurd that it would be an insult to the administration and to Congress to request them to consider it.

When the loyal states took up arms, when they declared that they were willing to sacrifice thousands of their men and millions of dollars in money and property to preserve the Union, when they sent many of their 2sons to camps and battlefields and exhausted their economic resources for years to come, when the loyal states displayed this splendid evidence of patriotism, did they do so merely to hear contemptible speeches favoring a compromise or to achieve a worthless peace? Did they do so, perhaps, merely to come to a friendly agreement with the rebels, who even now are under arms at the portals of Washington in defiance of the Constitution? No, a thousand times no! The loyal states have made great sacrifices, and they always will, when it is necessary to defend the Union, the Constitution, liberty, justice, and honor, and to destroy the rebels who are trying to overthrow the Republic. That was, and is, the purpose for which the loyal states armed at great sacrifices, and a pillory is ready for anyone who dares to desecrate the heroic efforts and offerings of the loyal states and their citizens by compromising with the rebels.