Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-05-29


Of New York city Of which, John Jay. Esq
is president. and Horace Greeley a member.
having asked for a special meeting 10 consider
what action, if any, the club ought 10 take
in respect 10 Mr.. Greeley's signing Davis
bail-bond, Mr. jay courteouSly notified Mr.
Greeley of the fact, and asked him To- name
an evening when it would be convenient for
him to have the meeting called Mr. Greeley
responded to this note through the columns
of the Tribune, in fierce letter addressed to
the gentlemen asking for the meeting. We
regret that we have no room for Mr. Greeley ;
letter, for Its bad temper and worse logic
are sufficient To satisfy any one that the
writer has no good excuse for being bail for
Davis. Mr. Greeley says he shall not attend
the meeting, and then proceeds to make
quotations from his former articles in the
Tribune To show that he has ALWAYS favored
amnesty, been opposed to coniiscation, and
has inclined to desire the pardon Of Davis
After selections from articles written imme-
dIately after Lees surrender. i'll which lac
entreated President Lincoln to be- naenani-
nous, he saws
The evening of that dav Witnessed that
most APPALLING calamity, the murder of Presi-
dent Lincoln, which seemed in an instant to-
curdle all the milk of human Kindness in
twenty millions of American breasts At
once insidious efforts were set on foot L.
turn the fury thus engendered against ne.
because of my pertinacious advocacy Of
mercy to the vanquished CHANGING to enter
the clubhouse the next Saturday evening.
received a full broadside of YOUR scowlS
ere we listened to a clerical haranguc in
tended to prove that Mr.. Lincoln had been
ProvIdentially removed because Of his nOtori-
GUS lcanings toward clemcncv in order To
make way for n successor who would give
the rebels full measure of stern Justice
/ was soon made to comprehend that had
no sympathizers-Or none who dared seem
such-In YOUR crowded a-scmbIage And
some maladroit admirer having a few davs
afterward, made the club a present of my
portrait, its bare reception was resisted in a
speech from the chair by your then president
"a speech whose vigorous invectiyc was
justified by my pleadings for lenity to the
rebels
At once, a concerted howl Of denunciation
and rage was sent up from every side against
me by the little creatures whom God for
some inscrutable purpose, permits To edit a
majority of our minor journals, echoed by
yell of - Stop my paper : from thousands
of imperfectly instructed readers Of the
Tribune. One impudent puppy wrote me to
answer categoricallv whether | was or was
not in favor of hanging jeff Davis. adding
that / must stop his paper if | were not
Scores volunteered assurances that | was
defying public Opinion-that most Of my
readers were against meas if | could be-
induced to write what thew wished said
rather than what they needed to be told
never before realized so wildly the basencss
of the editorial vocation according t. the
vulgar conception of it. The din raised
about my ears now is nothing 10 that then
endured and despised. | Inundated bv
the reflection that 1t is (or was) in the power
of such insects TO annoy me, even by pre-
tending to discover with surprise something
that have for years been publicly, emphatic
ally proclaiming-
Mr.. Greeley then proceeds to show how
he threw away his chance for the United
States Senatorshp from New York, last au-
tumn, by declaring himself in :. favor Of uni
versal amnesty, even though impartial suf-
frage should. for the present, be defeated -
and he expresses surprise that anybody
should, at this late day, misunderstood his
position. He then addresses his brethren of
the Union League in this fraternal strain
Gentlemen, shall not attend YOUR meet
ing this evening. | have an engagement out
of town, and shall keep it. | do not recog-
nize you capable of Judging. even fully
experimenting me. You evidently regard me
a weak sentimentalst. misled by IL maud
lin philosophy | arraign you as narrow
minded blockheads, who would like to he
useful to great and good cause, but do MT
know how Your attempt to base great.
enduring party on the hate and wrath neccs-
sariiy engendered bv bloody Civil War Is
as though you should plant a colony on an
iceberg which had somehow drifted into
tropical ocean. | tell You here, that out of
a life earnestly devoted to the good of human
kind, your children will select my going to
Richmond and signing that bail-bond as the
wisest act, and will feel that it did more for
Freedom and Humanity than all Of YOU
were competent to do, though you had lived
to the age of Methuselah.
1 ask nothing of you, then, but that YOU
proceed to your end by direct, frank. manly
way Don't side off into a mild resolution
of censure, but move the expulsion which
you purposed, and which I deserve if de-
serve any reproach whatever. All | care for
is, that YOU make this square. stand-up
fight. and record your judgment by Yeas and
Nays / care not how few vote with me, Tor
how many vote against me for know that
the latter will repent it in dust and ashes be-
fore three years have passed. Understand,
once for all, that dare you and defy YOU,
and that | propose to fight it out on that
line l have held from the day of Lees sur
render. So long any man seeking to
overthrow our Government, he was nv
enemy from the hour in which he laid down
his arms, he was my formerly erring coun-
tryman. So long any is at heart opposed
to the National unity, the Federal authority,
or to that assertion of the Equal Rights of
All Men which has become practically Iden-
tilted with Loyalty and Nationality, | shall
do my best to deprive him of power; but,
whenever he ceases to be thus, / demand his
to all the privileges of American
l give you fair notice that |
shall urge the recnfranchisement of those
now prescribed for Rebellion so soon as |
hall feel confident that this course is consis- .
tent with the freedom of the Blacks and the 4
unity of the Republic, and that L shall dc
nand a recall of all now in exile only for /
anticipating in the Rebellion, whenever the
ountry shall have been SO thoroughly pacifed +
hat its safety will not thereby be endan- 1
,ered And 80. gentlemen. hoping that you
vill hencefortks comprehend me somewhat
'etter than you have done, | remain,
Yours. HORACE GREELEY.
New York, May %, 1867. +
Mr.. Greeley, willfully otherwise, mis-
pprehends the reason for the general disap-
rotation of his conduct, and his letter fails
holly to meet the objection to his course in