White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1872-05-09
Mr.. Greeley i'm 1864,

The vagaries of MIR. Greeley in critial times
have shown that in his practical Judgment he is
one of the last men to be trusted i'm emergency
His speculative encouragement Of secession in
1S6061, accepting his explanations of it, was
ill-timet and mischievOus. His attempts to negO-
tiate with prominent rebels at Niagara Falls, at
a critical period of the war. are known to have
been patronized by Mr. Lincoln to avert worse
mischief threatened by the headstrong zealot of
the Tribune. His bailing of jeff. Davis was
harmless and proper enongh act in our Judgment,
and in his early advocacy of universal suffrage
and universal amnesty Mr.. Greeley's eccentric
wisdom happened to be not far astray. new
and pernicious element has too obviously entered
his busy brain of late, in the effect of the Presi-
dental temptation before which so many great
and small Americans have fallen. He is, there
fore less to be sworn by now than ever But
new disclosure of this gentleman's cometary char
acter has just been made by the New York Times,
and is presented rs "a chapter of unwriften his
tory by that Journal. The evidence is stated to
be correspondence copied from autograph manu-
script. Thence it appears that on the second of
September, 1854, two days after the adjourn
ment of the Chicago Democratic Convention,
declaring the war failure, six months after the
Baltimore Convention, at which Mr.. Lincoln had
been re-nominat-d, and about the same length of
time after the Cleveland Convention which nomi-
mated Fremont and Cochrane. while Grant was
checked at Petersburg, Sherman's snccess at At
lanta unlearned, and u call for another half mil
lion Of men more than half unanswered Mr.. Gree
ley addressed the following letter to the Cover
nors of the loyal States:
NEW YORK, Sept. 2, 1864.
Your ExCELLENCY: The undersigned have
been requested by bOiy of influential CuiOpists
to communicate with the loyal Governors for the
purpose Of eliciting replies to the following
queries:
!. In your Judgment, is the reelection of Mr..
Lincoln probability
2. In your Judgment can your own State he car
ried for Mr.. LncOlni
3. In your Judgment. do the interests of the
Union party, and 10 Of the country, require the
substitution of another candidate in the place of
Mr.. Lincolnf
In making these queries we giveno opinion of
our own. and request yours only for the most pri-
vate and confidential use.
Yonrs truly. HORACE GREELEY.
Editor of the Tribune, (and two others.)
What piece of insanity. was this! The sug-
gesti0n, six months after Mr.. Lincoln's upan-
mons nomination, Of the substitution Of another
candidate in his place! Anything may be said
and granted of Mr.. Greeley's apprehensons and
in defense of his motives, but what
must he Thought Of his jndgmentf 1t turned ont |
nat the denomination rrsnlting inthe reelection
Of Mr Lincoln was the heaviest blow dealt the |
reoeifion; Just as the denomination and re-eIee-
non OF Grant will be the annihilation of the par
ty OF the rebellion. Mr.. Gree'ey's increased years
snd Presidential aspirations have supplied no
Daiance-wheei to his erratic genius In fact,
lmong the most striking vagaries of his life will
,ersal.er oe noted his eager acceptance OF an
nSitatlon addressed tn free-traders and haters Of
An-kinx legislation he being best known a. a
profecfionist, and also well-known advocate Of
.ne hn,hiux laws; and this alteration VIII be
'cknowiedged to have been strangely heightened
" Mr. Gseeley's violent obliviousness in the
ace Of the widely published fact, of the intention
u the callers of the Cincinnati Convention TO
nominate q Presideut.-SG Lesis DeneTda y