Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-10-08
From the n. Y. Evening Post.
letter from the Hon. Josiah Quincy to
MFR lincoln.


From the n. Y. Evening Post.
letter from the Hon. Josiah Quincy to
MIR. LineOlm.
We have the pleasure of laying before our
readers in this sheet letter addressed to Mr..
Lincoln By the venerable Josiah Quincy, who,
already in the tenth decade OF the years of ms
life, preserves the Clearness of perception and
Yigor, promptDesS, and soundness of iudg-
ment which belonged to his best days. The
occasion Of his writing was the appearance of
Mr.. Lincoln's letter to the Illinois convrn:
tion-a subject eminently worthy of the con
gratulations of the veteran statesman of Mas
sachasetts. Mr.. Quincy remarks that the
subject OF negro slavery and the possibility of
emancipation has engaged his thoughts for
more than seventy years. What other living
man can say this? Seventy years, the ordl-
nary measure of fortunate human life. con-
meet the present day with the time of those
great men who framed the institutions under
which we live. OF the evil Of slavery and its
remedy his views are the same with theirs
Those wise and illustrous men-that genera
ton whose minds were enlightened aud en-
larged by the vast responsibilities cast upon
them by the mOmentOuS events of their time
may be regarded as speaking to us through
bis voice. His letter is the utterance of Il
glorious past, addressing Its counseS and adj
monitions to the present. Let US hope they
will De needed and obeyed.
This letter, a copy OF which, in the firm and
clear handwriting gifts author, we have seen,
WIS not intended for the public eye, and it has
ben acknowledged, as we are told, by Mr..
lincoln in terms OF most frank and cordial
na.ure. We believe we violate no rule of
prspriety in laying it before the public, which
we have done after consultation with some of
Mr. Quincy's friends. There is nothing in it
which is otherwise than highly honorable TO
both him and to the prominent parsonage to
whom it is addressed, and the subject is of
such universal interest, and is treated in such
a manner, that few will dissent from the iudg-
ment which we have formed that the public
have a rightto read it now instead Of waiting
for its future appearance in an historic form
One of its remarkable characteristics is the
hopeful and confident tone in which it speaks
Of the eventual victory of the cause of the
United States government. Age is ordinarily
timid and responding, but the age of Mr.
Quincy has all the cheerful courage of Wig
orouS manhood.
|'HoN. ABRAHAM LINCOLN:
''Sir; Old age has its privileges, which |
hope this letter will not exceed. But [ can
not refrain from expressing to you my graft
tude for your letter to the Illinois convention;
happy, timely, conclusive and effective.
What you say concerning emancipation, your
proclamation and your course of proceeding
in relation 10 it, was due to truth ard your
own character-shamefully assaied as it has
been. The development is an imperishabe
monument of wisdom and virtue.
Negro slavery and the possibility of eman-
cipation have been subjects of my thoughts
for more than seventy years; being first in
troduced 10 it by the debates in the conven-
ton of Massachusetts for adopting the con-
stitution, in 1888, which l attended. | had
subsequently opportunities of knowing the
views on that subject, not only OF such men
as Hamilton, King, Jay and Pickering, but
also OF distinguished slaveholders-0f both
the Pinckneys, of William Smith of South
Carolina, and many others. With the first of
these l had a personal intercourse and ac-
quaintance. | can truly say that | never saw
the individual STAKEHOLDER or non-slaveholder,
who did not express Il deteStaton of it, and
the desire and disposition to get rid of it, The
only difficulty, in case of EN- ,ucpation, was
what shall we do for the master, and what
shall we do with the slave? satisfactory
answer to both these questions has been, I'M
ill now, beyond the reach and 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 answer
ing satisfactorily both these questions, and also
OF providing for the difficulties incident to
both, OF which if they fail to avail themselves,
thoroughly and conclusively, they will entail
shame on themselves and sorrow and misery
on many generations.
at is impossible for me to regard the pow
er thus granted to this people otherwise than
as proceeding from the direct influence of
u,o
those mad ichom he intends to destroy.
''The only possible way in which slavery,
after it had grown to such height, could have
been abolished, is that which heaven has
adopted.
''Your fundamentally in the work is to you
a subject of special glory, favor, and felicity.
The madness of secession and its inevitable
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 extent of the power
granted, they will prove recreant to them
selves and posterity.
II write under the impression that the vic
tory of the United States in the war is newt
able.
Compromises impossible. Peace on any
other basis would be the establishment of two
nations, each hating the other, both military
both necessarily hostile, their territories in
terlocked, with tendency to never-ceasing
hostility. Can we leave to posterity more
cruel inheritance, or one more hopeless OF
happiness and prosperity.
pardon the liberty | have taken in this
letter. and do not feel obliged in any way to
take notice oft; and believe me,
'hveryour grateful and Obliged servant,
''JosIAH QUINCY.