Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1863-10-15
The Voice Of a Veteran.


The following letter frou, the Hon. Josiah
Quincy OF Massachusetts,, to the President
Of the United States, @ill be read with par.
ticular interest by all who remember the ex.
trsme age and eminent public services Of
the writer, and his llustrious revolutionary
ancestry. Mr.. Quincy was born in l772.-
He was member Of Congress in 1905, and
served until 1873, aud, throughout this
period Of life, he did not cease to expose
and denounce the ambitious projects of the
slaveholding interest. He was in the Mas
sachusetts Senate from 1873 to 1921. He
was then elected to the House of Repre-
sentatives and chosen Speaker. In 1923 he
was Mayor Of Boston, holding his place un-
til 1923. He was then appointed President
Of Harvard University, and held office until
lS45, since which time he has lived in pri-
vate. In 1856 he was warm supporter of
the Republican candidate for,he Presidency,
making one speech in Quincy
We have reminded our readers Of these
events in the life of Mr.. Quincy, that they
may know how to value properly the senti-
ments and opinions of the writer of the
letter which follows:
"1ION. ABRAHAM LiNCALN-S1:: Old
age has its privileges, which / hope this
letter will not exceed But cannot refrain
from expressing to you my qualification and
my gratitude for your letter to the Illinois
Convention; happy, timely, conclusive, and
effective. What you say concerning eman-
cipation, your proclamation, and your course
OF proceeding in relation to it, was due to
truth and your own character, shamefuly
assailed as il has been. The development
is an imperishable monument of wisdom and
virtue
Negro Slavery and the possibility of
emancipation have been subjects of my
thought for more than seventy years, being
first introduced to it by the debates in the
Convention of Massachusetts for adopting
the Constitution, in 1888, which / attended.
had subsequently opportunities of know.
ing the views on that subject not only of such
men as Hamilton, King, Jay, and Pickneys,
Of William Smith of South Carolina, ard
of many others. With the first of these
had personal intercourse and acquaintance. |
can truly say that never knew the indi.
vidual, stakeholder or non-slaveholder, who
did not express detestaticn of it, and the |
desire and disposition to get rid of it. The |
only difficulty, in case Of emancipation, was,
What shall we do for the master, AMI what
shall we do with the slave? A satisfactory
answer to both these questions has been,
until now, beyond the reach and the grasp
Of human wisdom and power
Through the direct influence of good
and gracious God, the people of the United
States have been invested with the power
of answering satisfactorily both these ques-
tons, and also Of providing for the difficult
ties incident to both, Of which if they fail
to avail themselves, thoroughly and con-
they will entail shame on them
selves and sorrow and misery on many gen.
eratiorIs.
ut is impossible for me to regard the
power thus granted to this people otherwise
than as proceeding from the direct influence
Of experimenting Providence who ever
makes Mosen,d ,ohom lie intends to destroy.
THE only possible way IN which Slavery,
after it had grown to such hight could have
been abolished, is that which heaven has
adopted.
Your fnstrumcntality in the work is to
you a subject of special glory, favor aud
felicity. The madness of Secession aud its
consequence, civil war, will, in
their result, give the right and the power OF
universal emancipation sooner or later. If
the United States do not understand and
fully appreciate the boon thus bestowed on
them, and fail to improve it to the utmost
extend of the power granted, they will prove
to themselves and posterity.
al write under the impression that the
victory of the United States in this war is
inevitable.