New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-10-07

A LETTER TO THE EARNEST REPUBLICANS
WISCONSIN.

FRIENDS: Mr. James X. Doolttle. one OF
your U. S. Senators, having seen fit to diiier
with you, is very naturally impelled to shy a.
stone at me. take this extract from his recent
GAINESVILLE speech:
Il tell you plainly that this doctrine of Imperialism.
that the Southern States. with their ten millions Oh
people ore not States under the Constitution but con
duerrd provinces held under the law OF naons-is the
counterpart OF Secession akin 10 ]. ana porn Oh ho
same falsehood; aud. whenever considered and voted
upou by the people the man, or clique or party that
adop,s it, win be trlmpcd under their feet Wlosceyer
falls upon that stone will be broken In pieces But
uron whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him TO
D WIDER Take the great State Of New IOrA. MOI
ooIy The Union party of New.York declare against it
their opponents also declare against IT,
Mr. Greeley, Of course, declares for 1t. Why
should he not' He for admitting them to seeede ID
the beginning. He claimed they had right TO seeene
II the majority for IT, and urged upon US 10 ht
them 60 for weeks in December ls60 and IN Jahna'y
and February 1861. What else could yon hope from
hmf He like Wendell Phillips aud a few others
could name, have such an immense fnnd oil hncommoh
sense that he is utterly unfit to lead any party except
into minority. Ii a vote was taken In New lork.
such a dogma would be voted down Dy hundreds oi
thousands.
Fellow citizens, you know whether TINS
statement of your Senator's fairly represents
your views or mine. You know whether have
deserved TO be so held up to reproach as wishing
to treat the South with severity and keep her
for a lifetime in vaSsalage. When, just after
the murder of President Lincoln, nearly every
voice cried vengeance, I, all but alone stood up
for magnsnimity, lenity, and forbearance from
further bloodshed-from any vindctive blood
shed whatever. Hundreds stopped The TRIB-
UyE on that account; thousands protested and
demonstrated. II cost something in those days
to be generous to the vanquished. Who heard
Senator Doolittle pleading for mercy and mag
nanimity then
But Senator Doolittle says l was for letting
them (the Southern States) "secede in the be-
ginning" wish he was always so near the
truth. Please look again at what he says above
in depreciation of holding " the Southern States,
with their ten millions Of people. as conquered
provinces" and then weigh well my political
platform, as set forth in the preamble to our
, forefa,hers' immortal Declaration Of indie
Ipendence:
eve hold these truths TO be selfevident: That all
men are created equal that they endowed by their
Creator with certain inallenebe rights; that among
these are life liberty. and the pursuit OF happiness
that 10 secure these rights governments are Instituted
among men. derirns their juH portTs from Me oohsen'
Of he 4or0nsd; that whenever any form oil govern.
cnt becomes destructive Of these ends II N the right
Of the people 10 alter or abolish it, and 10 instute
new government laying Its foundations on such primer
pes. aud organizing MS powers IN sueh .oin' az 90 TT
shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happi'
MSS"
This ACKNOWLEDGMENT its precise words
are Jefrerson's, indorscd by John Adams, Frank
lin, Hancock and their compeers--is conden-
sation of the political faith Of John Hampden,
4 Algernon Sidney Milton, Locke, and all the
great confessors and martyrs Of Anglo-Saxon Lib
= erty, as reproduced in the fervid eloquence OF
N James Otis Warren, Patrick Henry, and their
e. compatrots. Fit is not sound and just then my
grandlathers were both forsworn rebels and
: traitors, and the American Revolution sue
cessfnl cnne. lit is true, who shall say that
"Ten Millions of People," inhabiting eleven
}. States, may not invoke it, as rightuly as Three
n Millions Of people inhabiting thirteen Colo.
II mics
For my part / stand by the faith and the
fame of my ancestors. deny that any State
" has a constitutional right to secede from The
Union, any more than a County has to Secedt
/. from State; but affirm the right Of people
Q to frame and alter their political institutions &C.
cording to their calm, deliberate judgment and
; collective sense of what is due to their OWL
: safety and well-being. This doctrine has been
reaffirmed in our day by John Quincy Adams,
Abraham Lincoln, and other discerning, con.
seryatiye thinkers, no one dissenting or dc.
muTing.
/ did propose, in strict accordance herewith,
that the Southern people, after full and fair dis.
cussion, should decide. by an open, popular vote,
the question of Union or Disunion. i believed
that they would, by large majority, vote to
. stay in the Union; and have now no shadow
Of doubt that they would have done so. Most
surely, they did give q large majority for the
4 Union in the elections held by them during the
Winter of 1360-Gl; as they had given, the No
vember previous, in the Presidential contest.
And the arrogant precipitancy whercwith the
oligarchy Of South Carolina hurled their State
into Secession, refusing to wait for any show
Of consultation or cooperation, with the kindred
refusal in most States to submit the ordinance
Of Secession to popular vote, showed clearly
that the conspirators were fully aware of the
truth. In fact, they opened fire on Fort Sumter
precisely because they found it impossible to
maintain in peace even the appearance Of popu.
lar support. "You must sprinkle blood In the
faces of the Southern people," urged one OF
them; and bis ruthless counsel was followed.
War at once wrought the transformation tbev