The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-08-30


turret, comprehended human chattel.
ism first, last, and all the time.
Horace Greeley does not possess
single claim to the character OF hui
manitarian. Heis essentially and solely
a coldambitious politician. He is also
undoubtedly philosopher. He philo-
sophized on the subject of secession,
and came TO the conclusion that as an
abstract political question 1T would be
unjust TO hold the South in the Union
against its will, and, in the presence of
this philosophic deduction, which he
pretended to draw from the Declara-
ton of Independence, every thought
and impulse on the subject OF human
slavery from a humanitarian point OF
view vanished from his mind and heart,
and he relegated the 100000 of bond
men to the tender mercles OF their
owners with as little conjunction as he
recently felt in abandoning the doctrine
Of protection to home industry to the
exieencies of his ambition for the
Presidency. It.
1t is true Mr.. Greeley labored in the
cause of antislavery indirectly as
Henry Clay Wing, but when 1t became
apparent that the abolition OF the
"sum of all villainies =" could only be
accomplished by the terrible alternative
of war, he surrendered all his convic-
tons of right and smothered every
humanitarian impulse in obedience to
the doctrine of political expediency.
Nor was he controlled By az ambition
common to great minds, to preserve
the integrity of the territory of dis coun.
try. The motives which recently ac-
tusted the German nation to fight fol-
the restoration of its boundaries, cur
tailed hundreds of years ago, and the
sentiment of humiliation which per
vaded all France at the loss of portion
of its territory, found no place in the
mind or heart of Mr.. Greeley. He was
an advocate of principles which could
hardly be expected TO prevail without
war; but when it loomed in the near
horizon as an inevitable necessity to the
freedom of the negro, he was a man of
peace, at the expense OF surrenderihg
the humanitarian views he had cher
ished simply as a visionary. He could
gain no laurels in war; and being only
an ambitious politician seeking office,
he was willing to bow low TO expedien-
cy, even at the sacrifice of all his orig
inal Abolitionism, at the sacrifice of the
principles of the party with which he
had labored, at the sacrifice OF the party
itself; and, finally, at the sacrifice of
the integrity of the national territory.
There is not redeeming passage in the
later history of Mr.. Greeley as an anti.
slavery man. Even in 1864, when
had become an accom-.
plished fact, when numerous victories
had crowned our arms, and the rebel
lion was on the very verge Of hopeless
collapse, Mr.. Greeley threw the whole
weight of his influence in favor of
of the independence of the
by declaring that when
ever it shall be clear that the great
body of the Southern people have be-
come conclusively alienated from the
Union and anxious to escape from it,
we will dc our best to forward their
views; )" thus coolly demanding 100000
Of colored men, among whom were
thousands Of Union soldiers who had
fought not only for their own individual
freedom, but for the integrity and per-
petuity of the Union, and been declared
free by the solemn act of the Govern
ment, to the horrors of endless slavery.
This is Mr.. Greeley's record as
and it is not utterly
heartless and devoid of principle, but
cowardly in the extreme. And yet, in
the face of this record of q mere trad
ng politician, which possesses no ele-
ment of disinterested friendship for the
colored race, Mr.. Sumner, with a disin-
genuousness entirely worthy of the SUBJ
ect Of his panegyric, ridiculous, be-
cause untrue, says: Horace Greeley,
rom early life, was earnest and constant
against slavery, full of sympathy with
,he colored race, and always foremost
n the great battle for their rights" and
adds, with the true spirit Of Jesuit,
| am so much Of Republican that /
wish to see in the Presidential chair
lifetime Abolitionist." Mr.. Greeley has
'ecently shown himself as much of
Republican as he formerly showed him
elf to be an Abolitionist. In 1859,
when human slavery was on the verge
If destruction, he abandoned the cause
# equal rights to fall into the arms of
he Southern oligarchy, becoming p
ampant secessionist. In 1871, when
lavery had been abolished, and the
south reconstructed on the basis of ex-
ct justice 10 all, he abandoned the
'arty of universal freedom and equal
lights, and for the bride of a nomination
o the Presidency, made a secret bar.
ain with the leaders of the Democratic
arty, by which he agreed to sacrifice
he fruits of five years of war and FIVE
ears OF reconstruction, and to surren-
er the control of the Government into
he hands of the men who raised their
reasonable hands against it in the hour
Its recent peril.
The more carefully Mr.. Greeley's
ecord is scanned, and the more crit.
ally the prominent acts of his life are
the more hollow and heart.
'ss appears his character. To strip
ON him every attribute of humanita-
so far as his record as an Adolf.
onist is concerned, it is only necessary
review the utterances of his news.
aper just previous to the breaking out
the rebellion. To become convinced
his insatiate thirst for office, it is
My necessary to read his letter to