St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-08-02
A Leaf from History.

nal letter. now in the hands of the
government. written 10y Jacob Ihump
son. the secret agent of the late con
fedcrate government. to J. =. Benjamin,
the secretary of State. 1t is dated at
Toronto, Canada. Dec. g. l-Gl, and re
vealS the entire plans of The Confectionery
for organizing in>urrrctiom in the North
ern States, burning their principal cities.
releasing rebel prisoners. together with
whose assistance WAS expected, and the
treason of some leading northern demo
/ Gratis.
/ At this time, when Thompson WAS
/ planning these nctaliouS schemes. he.
with Colorad" ,Icwctt and Geo. n
Saunders, WAS i'll correspondence with
/ Horace Greeley. the editor of the T,-ib-
me. now democratic candidate tnr Pres
ident.
These WORTHLESS met at niagara Falls
in the summer of l-6l. Thompson. ~
he himself ttStiti"S. was At this time
paving ont large >IIm~ of money to get
up peace meetings. at Springfield. and
Peoria. and other places. all of which
he assures Us. were Il decided success.
1.-THE multitude who attended seeming
t" he >waycd only 10y one leading idea. =
The plots and intriSur> of Thompson
and his band of inccndialirS and would
he murd,rrr> we've 50 successful that
the political Vamc of the IribHHr office
ever ready To he turned hN every breeze
of diSloNalt> that swept the country.
readily fell into their schemes and
opened Il correspondence with them
which every sensible man 1T the time
condemned as the height of folly. cal
culatrd only To strengthen the hands of
the enemy and to Weaken our armies
III the field. 50 kctmll WAS the disaster
which Nh. Greeley brought upon ON
cauSe felt. 10y the statesmen who were
BATTLING against thc gigantic treason of
these men and THEN r"nt,dcIaic>. that
Mr. stanton proposed to Mr. Lincoln. T."
arrest Nh. GrrclcN. and send him To
Fort Lafayette. for h"ldim" trca>"mahlc
correspondence with the. enemy.
The history of the notorious peace
negotiations of the clique mentioned
above, shows that Greeley WAS from
first to last. u mi~'hicNnu> intermediates
and he supplemented his ''On to Rich
m"nd cry with equally ludi,Iou> di~
plays of his ability a> Il peace buyer.
But there i another point t" The en-
tire affair. namely his >r;iudal"u> treat
mcmt of Nh. Lincoln. With Il >,lli>hmc>>
that WAS only exceeded hN it, umpntriut
ism. he put Nh. Lincoln in Il false posi-
ton before the country. and to save
himself from the humiliation and ridi-
Guile that would inevitably hr hcapcd
upon him when all The facts were known.
persisted in shielding himself and III
directing popular wrath upon Mr.. Lin
colin and his administration. T." Mr.
Lnc"ln's request. when the 'ucgutia-
tiom> had closed. that all the cuIIc>-
poudrmrc. emitting such portions ~
were calculated tn weaken the Union
cause. should hc printed. Nh. GIcrlr,
steadily refused t" acccdc.
In II" single episode, of his life. do thu,
patriotism. t"rlcarlncc and >agacitN OF
the MARTYR President stand ont in more
brilliant c"l"l>. since history has told
its story. than in this connection. For
the sake of the general safety hr bore
without rcnun>trancc, the torrent of
abuse 50 uniu>tly turned upon him.
while the honest editor of the TiibHnc
SklIlkcd i'll his office and pocketcd like
Il thief the praises of his patriotism he
slowed 10y those who We're ignorant of
the true state of affairs.
Mr.. Lincoln felt Mr.. GrcclcN~ imiu>-
tice krtnlN. and placed the entire cor
re>pondcncc in the hands of the lat,
Henry j. Raymond. with 1t red pencil
mark drawn over those parts that he
considered II unWi>c To publish. together
with Il letter. of which the follow ing is
an extract Il have concluded that it
Is better for me to submit. for the time
To the consequences of the false position
in which | consider he Mr.. Grrclev.)
has placed me. than to subject the
cO"htty t" the consequences of publish
ing these di>c"uraging and injurious
parts. send You this and the accom-
panying copy. not for publication. but
merely to explain to You. and that Nnu
may preserve them until their proper
time shall come.
The correspondence proves GrcclrV'S
intimacy with the rebel leaders and
their emissarir>. while they We're plot
tin" the destruction of the cities of the
North. If he did not >ympathizc with
them fully. he WAS glad To have their
aid i'll throwing Lincoln and his admin
i>tration into disgrace. After the close
of the ''ncgotiati"Ils" for peace. the
Democratic press and ro>trIm hurled
unmraSurcd abuse at Mr.. Lincoln. and
Nr. Greeley 10y his refusal to omit from
the correspondence that he had with
tn" President those portions. that if
printed. would in urc the national cause.
worked into the hands of Thompson.
and aided III the most effective WAY
that it could he then aided. the cause
of Secession.
Greeley WAS not only dishonest. but
i'll the opinion of Mr.. stanton. he WIS
also di>loyal. and he did a> much AZ
Thompson i'll weakening the efforts of
our armies and turning public sentiment
against the Administration.
This record he cannot blot ont bN
Years of loyal Labor. and il hehoultS
him To hc less sweeping in his charges
against those " ho saved the nation in
its hour of peril. and T." think with Snr-
row of his own part in giving aid and
comfort the enemy.
= The Bellows Falls Times desires
that the congressional contest in this
district, hr postponed until after the
state election. ''Thc republican party
of Vermont passed through Il very Wig
orolIs AMI unprecedented contest in the
governor campaign. and it seems to lis
now. that the best We can I'LL do. i to
unite i'll solid front against the common
enemy for the State. election in ScptcIn-
Der. especially since Congressman this
year are not to he chosen till Novem-
her" Ii further says. however. that it