The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-07-04


After Mr.. Greeley had gone TO Rich
mond to become bail for Mr. Davis and
had signed his bond, he was met on
his return to New York by letter from
the President Of body of notorious rad
ical ruffians and idiots known as the
Union League Club, summoning him to
answer an arraignment of his conduct
over the signatures of thirty odd of these
fools and blackguards. He answered
them in this style after first demonstrating
the consistency of his course on the sub
iect of amnesty and the restoration of
friendly relations between the North and
the South, he thus continued:
On the following day wrote again:
I'VE entreat the
| President PROMPTLY to do and dare in the
cause of magnanimity. The Southern mind
/ is now open 10 kindness, and may be mag
netically affected by generosity. Let assu-
rance AT once be given that there Is to be
| General Amnesty and no general Contsca-
| tion. This is none the less the dictate OF
wisdom. because il is also the dictate of
mercy. What we ask is. that the President
say in effect Slavery having, through re-
bellion, committed suicide. let the North
| aud the South unite TO bury the carcass, and
/ then clasp hands across the grave.
| Il am for Universal AmneSty-SO Tar as
| immunity from fear of punishment or con-
tiscatioi is concerned-even though Impair
tial Suffrage should. for the present, be de-
| feated. | did think it desirable that Jetfer-
sou Davis should be arraigned and tried for
treason; and it still seems to me that this
might properly have been done many
months ago. But it was not done then
and now | believe it would result in far more
evil than good. 1t would reklndle passions
that have nearly burned out or been hush
ed to sleep; it would fearfully cOnVulse and
az itate the South; it would arrest the pro-
gress of reconciliation and kindly feeling
| there; it would cost a large sum directly
and a far larger sum indirectly; and, unle S
the Jury were scandalously packed-it
would result in a nos agreement or no YER
dict. | can imagine no good end to be sub
served by such a trial and-hOlding Davis
neither better nor worse than several Others
would have him treated as they are
l. it couceivab e that men who can read.
and who were made aware of this declara-
tion-for most of you were present and
shouted approval Of Mr. Essen Zen, ; con
domination of my views at the Club two or
three evenings thereafter-can now pretend
that my aiding to have Davis bail is some
thing novel and unexpected?
Gentlemen, | shall not attend your meet
ing this evening. | have an engagement out
of town, and shall keep it. do not recog-
niZe you as capable OF Judging. or even fully
experimenting me. You evidently regard
me as weak sentimentalist, misled by =
maudlin philosophy. / arragl you nara
row-minded blockReads, who would like to
be useful to great and good cause but
don't know how. Yong attempt to base a
great, enduring party on the hate and wrath
necessarily engendereG by blOoGy Civil
War, is as though you should plant a colony
on an iceberg which had somehow dritted
into a tropical ocean. / tell you here that,
out OF life earnestly devoted to the good
of human kind, your children will select
my going to Richmond and signing that
bail-bOnd us the WiSeSt act, and will feel
that it did more for Freedom and Humani-
ty than all of you were competent to do,
though you had lived to the age of Methu-
saleh.
ask nothing of you, then, but that you
proceed to your end by direct, frank. man
~ way. Don't sdle off into mild resOlu-
ton of censure, but move the expulsion
| which you purposed, and which deserve,
if | deserve 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, nor how many vote against
me; for know that the latter will repent
it in dust and ashes before three years have
| passed. Understand, once for all, that l
dare you and defy you, and that propose
| to fight it out on the line that | have held
from the DAY Of Lees surrender. So long
| as any man was seeking To overthrow our
| Government, he was my eneHly; from the
| hour in which he laid down his arms. he
was my former erring countryman. SO
long as any is at heart opposed 10 the Ma
tioHal unity, the Federal authority, or to
that assertion of the Equal Rights of all
men which has become practically identi-
fled with Loyaly and Nationally, | shall do
my best to deprive him OF power; but,
| whenever he ceases to be thus. | demand his
restoration to all the privileges of Ameri-
can citizenship. / give you fair notice that
| shall! urge the re-enfraHch iSement of
those now prescribed for Rebellion SO soon
as l shall feel confident that this course is
| consistent with the freedom of the Backs
and the unity of the Republic, and that |
shall demand recall OF all now in exile
only for participating in the Rebellion,
whenever the country shall have been 50
thoroughly pacified that its safety will not
thereby be endangered. And SO, gentlemen,
| hoping that you will henceforth compre
| bend me somewhat better than you have
| done, | remain.
Yours,
| HORACE GREELEY.
New York Nav % 1897