Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-12-25
ABSORBING LETTER.
Greeley to Butler, Greeting.
The Policy of Vengeance a Fol-
ly and a Crime.

DEAR Sic: thank you heartily foI
your response to my former letter, and
that you took ample time to make 1t full
and deliberate. am glad that you saw
fit to make it public, so that1 first saw it
in print. For the questions on which we
differ are nowise of private or personal
interest, but deeply concern our country
and all her people. Pardon my belief
that they also concern humanity, and that
their solution will determine that our race
has or has not made progress since the
good old days when the gallows was
always brought into free play at the close
of every civil war In the hope that pub
lie sentiment may be somewhat enlight-
ened and corrected by our discussion, l
propose here to review several of your
more important positions.
! THE EXAMPLES" AS A MATTER OF POLICY.
|. Let me thank you once more for the
frankness with which the main point in
controversy is presented in your letter.
You state correctly that your position
originally was that tEthe leaders" in the
Southern rebellion f'should be punished,
as examples" You and 1 are both aware
that no list of those '9eaders" could have
been fairly made that would have reduced
their number below one hundred, in
Guiding cabinet officers, members of Con-
gress, Governors of States and army
officers of West Point education and
grades from Lieutenant Colonel upward,
who abandoned the service of the Union
4Or that of the rebellion. Yet you now
suggest that "some half-dozen, more Or
less, " would have sufficed for such exem-
plary justice. When five more years of
peace shall have interviewed, | am quite
confident you will consider that two or
three examples would have been enough
and, after the lapse of five more years,
you will be satisfied that to have strung
up in 1865 him who was your choice for
President in 1860 would have answered
the purpose.
l shall differ from you then as | differ
from you now. believe the killing of
many, or few, or one, of the Confederate
chiefs, at any time after the complete
overthrow and collapse of their revolt,
would have been fearful, ghastly blum
der, sowing seeds of bitterness and wrath
that must have borne evil fruit throughout
future ages. | dislike vicariOus punish
ments altogether, and realize that in this
case they would convey to the spared
rebels this monition: You, too, de-
serve hanging; but then you are insignif-
cant and hemp is dear. 1t would have
been a patent of nobility for generations
at the South to be able to claim kinship
with one who was tried, convicted, and
executed AS one of the Confederate
" leaders" Their death would have
opened a deep abyss between those who
fought for and those who fought against
the Union. One life thus taken would
have ranked more and longer than hun
dred thousand sacrificed in fair, manly
collision on the field Of battle. The great
Hebrew warrior and monarch fully COM
pretended this difference when he directed,
from his death-bed, the cutting off from
life of his valiant lieutenant Joan, "be-
cause he had shed the blood of war in
peace. " q. Kings, ii: 81
LESSONS OF HISTORY.
But l had read some history, and one
of the lessons l CLEANED from it was the
duty of resisting and if possible restrain
ing the passions of party completely tri-
umphant in the issue of a desperate civil
war I did not find that the seventies of
Philip II. and his lieutenants had saved
the Netherlands to Spain - that the
"bloOdy assizes of Jeffreys after Mon
mouths overthrow had buttressed the
throne of James IL l saw that the exc
cution of Louis XVI and his Queen had
not saved the French Republic-that the
execution of Marshal Ney did not perpet-
uate the throne of the BOuTbOns-that the
hanging of Macy Sander and twelve more
Hungarian Generals after GOrgey's surren-
der did not prevent the recovery of their
cOuntTy's ancient liberties. In short, if
there be one lesson written all over the
face of history, it seems to me that ''pride
goeth before destruCtiOn"-that the con-
queror in a civil feud who has glutted his
vengeance stands often very near his final
downfall. l should have known, if Shak-
speare had not said it, that ''blOOdy in
structions" quite commonly "return to
plague the inventors" And, as l had
stood by the cradle of the Republican
party, and fondly believed that its mission
of benefiCence is not yet exhausted, |
sought to save it from fatal blunder, even
though at some personal cost. l judge
that the hanging of Jeff. Davis would have
cost that party one hundred thousand
votes, while it would not have saved it
even that of the original mOuth-piece
of the vindictive policy, Mr.. Andrew
johnson; and l did not believe it had so
many vOters-to spare.
THE ABSOLUTE POLICY IN TENNESSEE.
". Tennessee was thoroughly recon
structed, under the sway of Andrew
johnson and of Parson BrOwnlOw, on the
principle enunciated by the former, that
"loyal men, white and black, must gov
ern America" No one who had ever
given any voluntary aid to the rebellion
was allowed TO vote or hold office. In
some counties seven-eighths of the whites
and two-thirds of the adult males of all
colors were under the ban. The Consti-
tuition was conformed to this programme;
a loyal delegation sent to Congress, Brown
low succeeded to the Governorship; and,
to swedge the bolts so that none of them
would draw, the Governor was given alb
solute control over the registering officers,
so that no Rebel could get on the registry
even of the most rebellious district. If
ever policy could be keyed up and riv