Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-02-17

WAsHIxoToS. February IL
Incontcs,abiy. great change has taken place
ia public opinion here within The past iew days
regarding Mr.. Lincoln. When the arrival OF toe
southern peace commissioners II Gen Grant
lines was announced, the attention Of the people
was Instantly directed toward the chief magis-
trate. and they waited with painful anxiety come
sign on his part which might indicate desire TO
turn the priceless opportunity 20 national account.
With the departure of the secretary OF state for
Fortress Monroe. sdmmtdely for the pDrpose of
comforting with Aessrs. Stephens, Hunter and
Campbell, a hope sprang up in our breasts that
the presiden, did indeed comprehend the situa-
| ton; and this hope so strengthened TO
amount to actual belief when Mr.. Lincoln him
| self went down TO meet the commissioners.
| Democrats and conservative men of all parties
and factions hailed the event a. the possible
foEeranner of peace. None bst the radicals
~eFe displeased. and this dissatisfaction on their
part only .tiiened the hopes OF all true unionists
The significant articles in the Washington
| Chronicle were considered as so much additional
weight to the testimony that the president really
| desired peace. But when Mr.. Lincoln and Mr.
Seward came back to ashington, and the rebel
commissioners returned 10 Richmond, and the re
suit OF the conference authoritatively an
nounced no result. then the swelling tide oil
grateful hope which had been sorey lifting the
president the highest place in the affections of
| the people, began its re1ux, and has at last
stranded him upon a lower shore Of popular con-
tempt than any on which the incapacities of his
administration have yet cast bin. Thinking
men are DOW beginning to recall the fact that
/ Mr. Lincoln. as president, never ct succeeded in
anything be essayed. But for him even Mr.
Seward might have ayerted the struggle through
| the negotiations Of 1861. When, after the war
had really set in, the president undertook its
conduct. everything went wrong-from the very
instant that be assumed the responsibility of set
ting aside General McClellan's plans the adop
toa OF which plans by succeeding commanders
has gained Us all our victories. The president
/ scheme of compensated emancipation fell still
born His proposal for gradually removing sla-
very before the year 1900 was quite unnoticed by
congress. The plan for expatrating or coloniz
ing the negroes miserably failed. His foreign
policy has consisted in squarely backing dowr
whenever any other government has assumed a
truculent demesnor-as witness the Trent affair
Under Gen. Dix, while Lieut.. Coz. Ludlow
| was commissioner. the exchange OF prisoner,
proceeded regularly and smoothly, although a
that time some of the most delicate questions
because entirely novel, arose; but after Mr.. Lin
coin assumed the command of that Office the ex
change was entirely blocked, and no relief was
obtained uDsil the whole matter was placed il
the hands oil Gen. Grant. The result OF th'
lieutensh, generals assumption of the affair il
described by that officer himself "a complete
success. In everything. in short, which the pres
dent has undertaken he has proved himself
living exponent OF the fundamental principle o
the crcumlocuton ofice-how not to do it.
The fire eaters have sneeringly commeDte'
upon the subject Of peace by the declaration tina
Generals Grant and Sherman are "our best peace
commissioners" Conservative men here accep
the statement. and willing to place the entire
question with those officers. For General Grant
in his dispatch Of February 2 TO the secretary o
state clearly showed that he knew how To man
age the matter--tha, he could make peace upol
} the basis of the union. He obtained more from
the commissioners in his brief interview will
them. than either Mr. Lincoln or Mr.. Seward d'
in their four hours OF useless or tricky gable
He found out that Messrs. Stephens and Hunte
were actuated by "sncere desire for peace AIT
union The president and secretary OF stat
declare that they could only discover that th
commissioners were inhexible in the demand 10
separation
i, In view of these things. people here do no
hesitate to declare that the president ia respon
a sibe fog all the future bloodshed of the war
e that every man killed hereafter will have bee
: unnecessarily slaughtered They indignant
assert that Mr.. Lincoln has never been able
e rise above the mere pettifogger that his sol
I. object has been, not how to do, but how not {
e do that he has thrown every obstacle in tn
E way OF honest attempts 10 end the war and re
2 tain our country and that having neglected th
golden opportunity which. rightfully employed
would have secured i'm mediate peace and union
I he has demonstrated his utter inability TO obtal
I those blessings. Hence the bitter indignatio
which is felt against him here, not only by demo
Gratis, but by all honest and practical men in h
: own party SPECTATOR.