The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-07-18
areelev,n War Recors


Lincoln and assist the rebels in dividing
the Union, while the rebellion was in
progress
The cowardly assertion by Mr.. Gree
ley OF the right Of secession, before the
war broke out, encouraged che rebels to
enter upon the war, if we may believe
the testimony of some of the most up
right and clear minded among them.
No sooner was the first ill-judged and
hasty blow struck on our side at Bull
Run--a blow which his own paper did
its best to precipitate--than Greeley
turned upon Mr.. Lincoln to induce, and,
SO far as his influence went, to constrain
him to give up the contest then and
there. He used every personal appeal
he could urge, and all the power of the
public confidence he was supposed to
command, to persuade the President
that that was the only course that was
left him. Not less frantic nor less pu-
sillanimous was the appeal he addressed
to Mr.. Lincoln when he issued his first
proclamation for three hundred thousand
volunteers. The act he thought unwise
and unfortunate, but as it was committed
and could not be receded from, his ad-
vice to the President was to make, as
the next best thing, only a single effort
with that army, and if that proved uu-
successful, then to give up the contest
and make the best terms he could with
the South.
MIR. Lincoln did not, we hardly need
say, even entertain such counsel as this,
whatever may have been its motive, was
counsel for which none but rebels could
be grateful. But private effort with the
President having thus failed, Mr.. Greely
thereafter made his appeal to the public
under the signature of his own initials
in his own paper. He urged a settle
ment at any cost of national honor, and
all the zeal of Colorado Jewett, and in
intimate, almost fraternal reations with
that remarkable patriot he proposed
that four hundred millions of dollars
should be paid to shareholders as the
price Of their slaves, and as an induce
ment to them to give up the war and
failing in these efforts, as he bad in 9TH
ers, to patch up peace and destroy con-
idence in Mr.. Lincoln's administration,
he endeavored to inveigle the President
into conference with such creatures as
George Sanders and others, pretending
to represent the rebels at Niagara, by
which they hoped to gain time and en-
barass the government. 1t did not In
crease Mr.. Greeley's complacency, which
in those times was SO rudely shaken, mol
check the deep hostility which he fell
toward Mr.. Lincoln, that these famous
efforts at peace making only covered it'
auther with ridicule. Then, at anothe
time he was actively interested in The
elder Blair's attempt to patch up peace
on the Potomac /; and at another time pu
himseifin correspondence with the Frencl
Minister at Washington, who hoped Il
induce his master, the Emperor Nap
oleon, to intercede between the Unite'
States and the Confederacy, and t
bring about the recognition of the lat
ter, ostensibly on the plea of humanity
but without regard to the fate of fou
millions of negroes, whose specia
champion Mr.. Greeley is now said t
have been.
Through the whole OF the war, il
short, from the firing upon Sumpter I
the capture of Richmond, the effort
and the influence OF Mr.. Greeley wer
exercised virtually on behalf of the rebels
inasmuch as they were constant and un
wearied to bring the war to an end, n
matter at what cost of honor or territory
This he was ready to do at any momen
at the instigation of the Northern friend
of the rebels, while he never went nea
Mr.. Lincoln to give him one word G
comfort or of cheer, to offer to sustai
him before the people, or to hold up tn
weary hands Of the man on whose firm
ness and judgement depended such trt
mendous issues. And, finally, when tn
war ended, when differences of opinio
: among ourselves, at least, should hav
, been forgotten, in view of the magnif
9 cent result of a Union preserved an
slavery abolished, the vindictiveness {
MIR. Greeley against a President wh
has scorned his advice that he migt
save his country, was still cherished 1
s virtue. In "The American Conflict
D "a book which some of our reade
may remember as written by Mr.. Gre
ley-though consisting of two lare
: volumes and ment to be an exhausti1
e history Of the war, the name of Abraha
Lincoln never appears except as it W
n absolutely necessary to use it in
-, official relations.
\ If the student of history hundr'
- years hence should resort to that wo
is If such case is supposable-for j
: formation in regard TO the war, he wou
II never gather from it that the Preside
10 had anything to do with its SUGGEST
termination that the people then a
posterity forever owned it to him me
y than to any other man that freedom h
as not veiled her face in sorrow, and @
h ilization had not turned her tootste
> backward in the establishment
personal servitude aud the triumph
political despotism.