The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-10-18
MR.. GREELEY ON SECESSION.

g. down to his reception at Pittsbur
ir as Democratic Presidential cand
% date, Horace Greeley has sfirme
ot and reaffrmed the right of any Stat
q. on a fair vote of a majority of ii
le citizens, to break up the Union an
d 60 in peace. His statements hav
ir been clear and unequivocal. It
.e well known, undeniable and undenieC
'e that he favored peaeeable sepsratio
b IN 1850 snd 1861; that he resfirmed
: during the progress OF the war, tn
d absolute right of any State to secede
e on free and fair expression of th
II will of its people to that effect; an,
: subsequently, in writing history @
n the war, he distinctly said lin hi
s American Conflict" Vol. l., p, 359]
! "Nsy, we hold with Jefferson {
o the inalienable right of communstie
8 to alter or abolish forms OF govern
u ment that have become oppressiv
r or injurious, if the Cotton States shal
j become satisfied that they can d
v better out of the Union than in il
y we insist on letting them go in peace
o The right to secede may be a revo
: lutionary one, but il exists, never
s theless, and we do not see how on
party has the right to do what anoth
er party has right to prevent. We
must ever resist the asserted right d
any State to remain in the Union and
nullify and defy the laws thereof
To withdraw from the Union is
quite another matter; and whenever
q considerable section of our Union
shall deliberately resolve to go oui
we siisiI ssis s5is sll coercive measures
designed to keep them We
hope never to live in Republic where
one section is pinned to another by
bayonets.'
At Pittsburgh, Mr.. Greeley again
defined his position on this question
one of The most momentous that
can engage the attention of the
American people st the present time.
In that speech he reiterated and de-
Tended his old opinions, in still more
startling language, the gist of which
is found in the following words, which
we quote:
81 demand that there shall be open,
and honest, unterriied, unconstrsined
vote. If they approve, if the people
OF the South say they want disunion..
l will consent to it,
The Commercial interposes the ex-
tremely feeble plea that this was not
all he said-that the "contex| was
not quosed-but neither that paper
nor Mr.. Greeley himself, in alluding
to our comments denies that the
above was his exact language. The
commercial is dull enough to explain
that these words are q mere repeti
tion, in the present tense, OF what Mr..
Greeley said before the war. Did
any one need this explanation And
does any one find. in the context"
any disclaimer of these sentiments,
any denial that Mr. Greeley holds
them now? Quite the contrary.
Read the whole of the long passage
which the Commercial gives as the
context, and see:
"When Lincoln had been elected,
and this conspiracy for secession had
begun to manifest itself, the Republic
cans were told by our own men, and
told still more by those out of the
circle; you must back out Of your
Republicsnism you must surrender
your opposition to the extension of
of slavery, or consent to a great civil
war. This, they said, was the only
alternative. Bloodshed and desola-
tion over the whole country, or you
shall surrender the principles on
which you have just carried the elec-
ton. l wss one of those who ssid
No; there is no such alternative. l |
deny that the Southern people, the
great minority of them, are against
the Union. / demand that there |
shall be open, free discussion before
the Southern people, Of an honest,
unterriied, unconstrained vote If
they approve, il the people OF the
South say they want disunior, will
consent to it. / know they will not
l know that the Southern people, that
the great majority, would have voted,
as they actually did, that winter, not
for secession, but for clinglng to the
Union. And now to-day, if the na-
tion were imperiled, and there were
just two modes to save ito trust to
the chances OF civil war, or to the
chances of free, fair vote Of the
Southern people, very greatly pre-
fer to take the latter chances than the
former. For, fellow-ciLizens, they do
greatly misunderstood and malign
thjs American people when they as
sumo that, in cold blood, before there
had been any clash of arms, the peo-
pie in the South any more than the
people of the North desired disun-
ion."
There ia but one possible con-
struction TO put upon this passage,
the gist of which we quoted and
MIR. Greeley, so far
from denying his concession of the
right OF secession (as above quoted
from his deliberately written and
printed book)-and that is the point,
not a question OF the probability OF
any State voting to secede, not MIR.
Greeley's preference in the matter
but his pledge to consent" to seces-
sion il fairly voted-he distinctly re-
afirms, as we represented, that he
would "now, to day" so emphatic
as to be tsutologieal) in case any
State proposed to secede, and says:
81 demand that there shall be open,
free discussion before the Southern
people, an honest unierrifed, uncon-
strained vote. Ii they approve, if
the people OF the South say they want
disunion / will consent to it."
We challenge any candid person to
point out wherein, from first to last,
we have N srepresented Mr.. Greeley,
in this matter. And Jet, having in
readiness some very fine rhetoric to
deliver here about the smiling
Ohio and Kentucky hills looking
'lovingly on each other from the
North and South" across "mightY
river" which persuades to "Union
and reconciliation" Mr.. Greeley was
80 beHildered by being confronted
with the sharp point Of his Pittsburg
speech, as to say:
0These remarks which / made
have been misrepresented; have
been, l think, converted into an ex
preston Of a present belief, present
conviction that any State has right
to dissolve this Union a. its own
good pleasure. Fellow citizens 1
utterly repudiate and condemn that
sentiment"
Never did q holly pursued hare
double more abruptly or less grace
fully. Never did q clumsy political
acrobat attempt tvo-horse act more
unsuccessfully. The people desire
Presidential candidate to be one
thing or the other,or nothing. They
want no timid lodging and doubling.
Either Mr.. Grealey believes in the
right of secession, ,as he has constant
ly proclaimed on various occasions
for 8 dozen years, and as he distinct
ly reafirmed only two days ago, or
else be does not. That is all there !
is of the issue we have with him.
That is The egg which contains all |