Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-07-11

that with these things staring him In the face
be has ever uttered word Of rsbuke or coun'
sci against them, 1t will be fact greatly In hl
favor with me, and one Of which, as yet, an
totally ignorant. When it is known that th,
whole burden Of his speeches has been to stir uI
men against the prosecution of the war, aDt
that In the midst of resistance to IL, he has mo-
been known in any instance TO counsel agains
such resistance, it is next to impossible TO repe
the inference that be has counseled directly IN
favor of it. With all this before their eyes, tht
Convention you represent have nominated Mr.
Vallandigham for Governor of Ohio; and both
they and you have declared the purpose to sus-
tain the national Union by all constitutional
means But Of course they and you, In COM
mon, reserve to yourselves 10 decide what are
constitutional means, and, unlike the Albany
meeting, you omit to state or intimate that 10
your opinion an army 10 constitutional meane
of saving the Union against o rebellion, or even
to intimate that you are conscious Of an exist
Ing rebellion being 10 progress with the avowed
object of destroying that very Union. At tha
same time your nominee for Governor, In whose
behalf you appeal, Is known to you and to the
world to declare against the uss OF IN army to
suppress the rebellion. Your own attitude,
therefore, encourages deserLion, Resistance TO
the draft and the like, because IL teaches those
who incline to desert and to escape the draft to
believe IL Is your purpose to protect them, and
to hope that you will become strong e8ough TO
do 80 After personal intercourse with you.
gentlemen Of the committee, Can not cay |
think you desire this effect to follow your atti-
tude, hut assure you that both friends aud
enemies Of the Union look upon 1t In this light.
Ii Is substantial hope, and by consequence,
real strength to the enemy. II ia false hope,
and one which you would willingly dispel. |
will make the way exceedingly easy. Isend you
duplicates OF this letter, in order that yor, or
msjority of you, may, if you choose, indorGe
your names upon one Of them, and return 1t
thus lndorsed to me, with the understanding that
following propositions, and to nothing else:
/. That there is now rebellion in the Unit
ed States, the object and tendency Of which is
to destroy the National Union; and that, 10
your opinion, an Army aud Navy are constitu-
tional means for suppressiug that rebellion.
=. That no one OF you will do anything
which, In his own judgment, vii! tend to hinder
the increase or favor the decrease, or lessen the
efficiency CT the Army or Navy, while en-
gagged In the effort to suppress that rebellion;
and,
3. That each of you will, in his sphere, do
oil he can to have the officers, soldiers and sea-
men Of the Army end Navy, while engaged in
the effort 10 suppress the rebellion, paid, fed,
clad, and otherwise well provided and support
ed.
And with the further understanding that upon
receiving the letter ard names thus indorsed,
will cause them to be published, which publioa-
tion shall be, within itself, revocation of the
order in relation to Me-. VAllandighsm.
1t will not escape observation that con- ,att
to the release Of Mr.. Vallandigham upon terms
not embracing any pledge from him or from
others, as to what he will or will not do. do
this because he is not present TO speak for him
self, or TO authorize others to speak for him;
and hence, shall expect, that on returning, he
would not put himself practically in antsgonism
with the position of his f,iends. But do it
chiefly because thereby prevail on other inhu-
entlal gentlemen Of Ohio to 80 defne their po-
sition as to be of immense value to the army
thus more than compensat ng for the conae-
quences of any mistake in allowing Mr.. Vallsn.
digham to return, go that on the whole the pub
lie safety will not have suffered by is. Sill, in
regard to Mr.. Vallandigham and all others, l
must hereafter, as heretofore, do 90 muca as the
public service may seem to require. Ihave che
honor to be, respectfully yours, etc,
A. LINCOLN,