Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1862-08-30
MIR. Greeley's Response.

DEAR SIR Although I'LL not onticl-
pate nor seek any reply to my former letter
unless through your official acts, thank
you for hating accorded one, since it ena
bles me to say explicitly that nothing was
further from my thought than to impeach
in any manner the sincerity or the intensity
of your devotion to the saving OF the Union.
never doubted, and have no friends who
doubted, and have no friend who doubts,
that you desire, before and above all else,
to re.establish the now derided authority
and vindicate the territorial integrity Of
the Repubic intended to rase only this
queslion-Do goW propose 10 do this By reeOg-
niziag, Obeying and enforcing the ialos, or by
ignOring disregGrded, and in effect detying
them
stand upon the law of the!land. The
humbest has clear right to invoke its
protection and support against even the
highest. That LAWN strict accordance
with the law of Nations, of Nature, and Of
God-declares that every traitor now en-
gagged in the Internal work of destroying
cur country has forfeited thereby all claim
or color of right lawfully to hold human be-
iugs 10 Slavery. | ask of you a clear and
public recognition that this law is 10 be
obeycd wherever The National authority is
respected. | cite to you Instances wherein
men fleeing from bondage to traitors TO the
protection Of our flag have been assaulted,
wounded and murdered by soldiers, of the
Union-anpunished and unrebuked by your
General Commanding-to prove that it is
your duty to take action in the premiseS-ac-
ton that will cause the law to be proclaimed
aud obeyed wherever your thority or that
of the Union is recognized as paramount.
The Rebellion is strengthened, the National
cause is imperiled by every hours delay to
strike Treason this staggering blow.
Wien Fremont proclaimed freedom to
the Slayes of Rebels, you constrained him
to modify his proclamation into rigid accor-
dance with the terms of the existing law
1t was your clear right to do so. | now
ask of you conformity to the principle so
sternly enforced npon hlm. ask of you 10
instruct your Gene ais and Commodores
that 10 loyal person-certainly none willing
to render service 10 the National cause-is
henceforth to be regarded as the slave OF
any traitor While no righiful Govern
ment was ever before assaiIed by so wanton
and wicked a rebellion as that of the slave
holders against our National life, | am sure
none ever before hesitated at so simple and
primary an act of self-defense as TO relieve
those who would serve and save it from
chattel servitude to those who are wading
through seas of blood to subvert and de.
Stroy it. Future generation will with diff.
Guilty realize that there could have been
hesitation on this point. Sixty years of
general and boundleSs subservency to the
Slave Power do not adequately explain it..
Mr.. President, | beseech you to open
your eyes 10 the fact that the deVotees of
Slavery everywhere-justa as much in Mary
land as in Mississippi in Washington as in
Richmond-are to-day your enemies, and
the mplaeabe foes of every effort to rees
tablsh the National authority by the dis
comfture of its assailants. Their President
is not Abraham Lincoln, but Jefferson
Davis. You may draft them to serve in
the war but they will only fight under
the Rebel flag. There is not in New York
to-day man who really believes in Slavery,
loves it, and desires its perpetuation, who
heartily desire the crushing out the Rebel.
ion. He would m uch rather save the
Republic by buying up and pcnsioning of
lbo uooulluhto' AAlo " OulOu Ap ~ W 40 10
Union of which you were not President,
and no one who truly wished Freedom to
All ever could be. .aa
If these are truths, Mr. President, they
are surely Of the graVest importance. You
cannot safely approach the great and good
end you SO ntently mediate by shutting
your eyes to them. Your deadly foe is not
blinded by any mist in which your eyes may
be enveloped. He walks straight to his
goal, knowing well bis weak point and most
uuwillingly betrayiug his fear that you too
may see and take advantage of it, God
grant that his apprehension may prove pro
| phetic. f ".
| That you may not unreasouably perceive
these vital truths as they will shine forth
on the pages Of History-that they may
be read by our children irradiated by the
glory Of our National salvation, not render
ed lurid by the bIood.red glow Of National
conhagration and ruin-that you may
promptly and practically realize that slave.
ry is to be Vauquished only by Liberty-is
the fervent and axious prayer Of
Yours, truly, HORACE GREELEY.
kep York, Aug. "a, 1862 .I.t .H.r