Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-09-16
The Rum0rs Of Peace Proposals Mayor
Weed and President Lincoln.
trou tEe N.g Yors riulss

| from tEe New ore illlSs
For some months past the whole country
! has been assured By gentlemen Of the " Peace
party" that President Lincoln had declined a
proposition from leaders OF the Southern
| Confederacy, which looked toward and would
| have insured u restoration of the Union. Mr.
| ' allandi CHAM yentured on d very distinct
statement to this effect during some OF the
harangues which led TO his arrest, and our
fellow citizen, Ex-Mayor Wood, has more
than once made the same assertion, with all
the emphasis which be usually gives where
intrinsic improbabilities require this ex-
traneous support. 1t is only few days since
he declared his belief, in a note published in
the IaaeS, that the Government might have
ended the vi az and restored the Union at any
time within the last year, il it had desired to
10 So
We are at last enabled to test the precise
value of these assurances. We are indebted
to Ex-Mayor Wood for the correspondence
between himself and President Lincoln, upon
which they have ali been based, aud which we
publish in another column. 1t seems that on
the Sth of December last Mr.. W God wrote TO
Mr.. Lincoln, stating that he "had been IN
formed by an authority which he deemed
likely to be 3oeA informed as well as reliable
and truthful, that the Southern States would
send representatives TO the next Congress,
prortded, that full and general amnesty
should permit them to do So" Mr.. " ood
therefore suggested that . Gentlemen artpSe
former potitcQt AID social relations eltt tie tea
OF tie Southern reroit rendered it proper,
might be permitted to correspond with them
on the subject
1t will be observed that IN all this there
was no intImation that any official parsonage
or anybody authorized To speak for the reD-
els, had expressed aEy such wish Somebody,
whom Mr.. Wood deems reliable, had express
ed the op-aaon that the Southern leaders wod
send their representatives to Congress on
condition OF an amnesty and on the strength
OF TINS anonymous belief, Mr.. Lincoln was
asked to appoint a Commission, composed of
gentlemen holding political and social rela-
tons" with the rebel leaders, 10 negotiate
with them and to proclaim an amnesty =
There was no pretence OF any authority on
the part OF Mr.. Woods informant; it is only
claimed for him that he is well informed,
reliable and truthful" and even this rests
solely and exclusively on Mr.. Woods opinion
The opinion may not have been well found
ed but no man of sound Judgment could tor
a moment claim that Mr.. Lincoln ought to
have acted upon it. How could he presume
to assume for moment that Mr.. W God was
authorized to speak Tor the rebel leaders, or
that his opinion TO their wishes, worth
more than that of any other man: To have
done so would have been to assume that Mr.
" God Ill communication with the rebel
leaders-that he was authorized to speak
their sentiments and to utter their wishes
and this would at once have made him con
tederate in their plans and sharer of their
treason.
The President treated this letter in precise
accordance with its merits. He meets pre-
cisely and with emphatic directness the only
point which 1t contains. He diScredits Ell
tlrely the information on which Mr.. Wood
processes to have acted but he saws that if
the Southern people viii communicate to him
their willingness to end the war on such
terms, ''tte sCa7 ac0lad cease on tie part Of the
United States and till and general amnesty
1co,sld not be ocithhela" Here is a full, explicit
and satisfactory answer to Mr.. Woods sug-
gestion. If he had any "iniormants" author
lied to speak for the South and anxious to
know the disposition of the President, all he
had to do to convey to them this intor-
nation. 1t was all they could possibly ask
it was everything which, according to Mr..
Wood himself, they protested to desire. If
his protestatiOns were sincere, here was
chance to show it. If he desired to inaugu-
rate negotiations for peace, the President
here put into his hands the means of doing IL.
Mr.. Wood did not avail himself of this OBJ
portunity to serve his country and restore the
Union. On the contrary, he eyaded the Pres
ident's direct aud unmistakeabe offer of an
amnesty, and rushed into a sweeping and hos
tile criticism OF the general policy OF the
Administration. He insisted on the amnesty
IN aarance lie wanted the President to stop
the war, in order to ascertain whether three
was any truth in the story that the South
wished it stopped. The President very uatu-
rally and very properly declined according to
this request. And there the matter ends.
We do NOT think aithar " God
the Peace party which he represents, has
made anything by the publication of this
correspondence. 1t pricks the bubble with
which they have so long been amusing the pub
lie, and proves conclusively that there Is not
the slightest foundation for their reiterated
assertion that the President has refused TO
accede to propositions for negotiation. 1t
shows, moreover, that the correspondence
was simply political trick, in which the over
reaching cunning of Ex-Mayor Wood was
completely foiled by the direct and straight
forward honesty of Mr. Lincoln