Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-07-22

| menb OF the United States, and will be me
by liberal terms on other substantial .lnt
collateral points, and the bearer or bearer
thereof shall have safe conduct both ways
tSigned) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Major Hay would respectfully inquire
| whether Prof. Holcomb and the gentlemen
associated with him, desire to send to Wash
ingtOn by Major Hay any messages in ref
erence to the communication delivered to
him ON YESTERDAY, and in that case when he
may expect to be favored with such mes
sages.
INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, Thursday.
Mr.. Holcomb presents his compliments to
Major Hay, and greatly regrets If his re-
turn to Washington has been delayed by
any expectation of an answer to the COM
munication which Mr.. Holcomb received
from him on yesterday, to be delivered to
the President of the United States. That
communication was accepted as the re-
sponse to letter of Messrs. Clay and Hol-
comb to the Hon. Horace Greeley, and to
that gentleman an answer has been trans
mitted. .H t..o
The application to which you refer was
elicited by your letter of the 18th inst, In
which you inform Mr.. Jacob Thompson and
ourselves that you were authorized by the
l. lColuCnb vi buC OHlItu COhUCo w ICIluCl uS
his safe conduct, on the hypothesis that we
were duly accredited from Richmond as
bearers of propositions looking to the es-
tablishment of peace, and desired to visit
Washington in the fulfillment of thG'mis-
sion. This assertion, to which we then
gave and still do give entire credence, was
accepted by us as the event of an unex-
pected but most gratifying change in the
policy of the President. A change which
we felt authorized to hope might terminate
in the conclusion of peace mutually just,
, honorable and advantageous to the
: North and to the South. Exacting
no condition but that we should
be duly accredited from Richmond as bear
ers of propositions looking to the estab-
lishment of peace, thus proffering a basis
for conference as comprehensive as we
could desire, it seemed to us that the Pres
ident opened door, which had previously
been closed against the Confederate States,
for full interchange of sentiments; free
discussion of conflicting opinions and un-
trammelled effort to remove all causes of
controversy by liberal negotiation. We,
Indeed, could not claim the benefit of safe
conduct which had been offered us in a
character we had no right to assume, and had
never affected to possess; but the universal
declaration of our Executive and Congress,
and their thrice repeated and as often reject
ed attempt to open negotiations, furnished
sufficient pledge that this conciliatory
manifestation on the part of the President
of the United States would be met by them
in temper of equal magnanimity. We
had, therefore, no hesitation in declaring
that if this correspondence was commune
Gated to the President of the Confederate
States, he would promptly embrace the OPP
f.ft init fa1
solution of this unhappy strife. We feel
confident you must share our profound re-
gret that the spirit which dictated the first
step toward peace had not continued to an
innate the cOunsels of your President.
Had the representatives of the two Gov
ernments met to consider this question, the
most momentous ever submitted to human
craftsmanship, in temper of becoming
moderation and equity, formed as their de-
liberations would have been by the prayers
and benedictions of every patriot and
Christian on the habitable globe, who is
there so bold as to pronounce that the
trightftll waste of individual happiness and
public prosperity, which is daily sadden-
ing the universal heart might not have
been terminated; or if the desOation and
carnage OF war must still be endured
| through weary years of blood and suffer-
ing, that there might not at least have
been infused into its conduct something
more of the spirit which softens and par
.ially redeems its brutalities.
Instead of the safe conduct which we So
sicitc1 and which your first letter gave us
every reason to suppose would be extended
Tor the purpose of initiating negotiations in
| which neither Government would compro-
mise its rights or its dignity, document has
been presented which provokes as much
Indignation as surprise. 1t bears no feature
of resemblance to that which was origi-
nally offered, and is unlike any paper
which ever before emanated from the con-
stitutional executive of free people. Adj
| dressed "To whom it may concern" it pre-
cludes negotiation and prescribes in adj
vance the terms and conditions of peace.
1t returns to the original policy of no
bargaining, no negotiation, no truces with
rebels, except to bury their dead, until
every man should have laid down his arms,
| submitted to the government, and sued for
mercy. What may be the explanation of
| this sudden and entire change in the views
of the President, of the rude withdrawal OF
| courteous overture for negotiation at the
moment it was likely to be accepted, of this
emphatic recall of words of peace just ut
! tered, and fresh blasts of war to the bitter
| end, we leave for the speculation of those
who have means or inclination to penetrate
| the mysteries of his cabinet or fathom the
caprice of his imperial will.
I IT. is enough for us to say that we have
no use whatever for the paper which has
/ been placed in our hands. We could not
transmit it to the President of the Confed-
crate States without offering him an indig-
! nifty, dishonoring ourselves and incurring
| the well merited scorn of our countrymen
| Whilst an ardent desire for peace per-
vades the people of the Confederate States,
we rejoice to believe there are few If any
| amongst them who would purchase it at the
| expense of liberty, honor and self respect
! If it can be secured only by their submis-
| sion to terms of conquest, the generation il
I yet unborn which will witness its restora.
/ ton. If there be any military autocrat in
I, the North who is entitled to proffer the cor.
dition of this manifesto, there's none in the
South authorized to entertain them.
Those who control our armies are the
servants of the people, not their masters
and they have no more inclination than
they have the right to subvert the social in.
stitutions of sovereign States, to overthrow
their established Constitutions and to bar
ter away the priceless prestige of self gov
ernment.
This correspondence will not, however
we trust, prove wholly barren of good re-
suits. If there is any citizen of the Con-
federate States who has clung to hope that
peace would be possible with this admins.
tration of the Federal government, it will
strip from his eyes the last film of such de.
lusion; or if there be any whose hearts
have grown faint under the suffering ant
agony of this bloody struggle, it will in.
spire them with fresh energy to endure and
brave whatever may be required to pre-.