The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-06-27


secession from the British Empire of three
millions of colonists IN l776, ue do not
see achy 1t 1ould not JUSTIFY the accession
Of Fire lHiHions of .Southerons from the
Federal Uaion IN 1861. If we are mis-
taken on this point why does not some
one attempt to show wherein and why :?
For our own part, while we deny the
right of shareholders to hold slaves
against the will of the latter. ace cannot
see hoao t.oeaty millions Of people can
raghttully hold ten, or erea Jtre, m q de-
tested Union aoith them, ty military force
If seven or eight contiguous States
shall present themselves authentically at
Washington, saying eve hate the Fed
eral Union We have withdrawn from it
we give you the choice between acquiesc-
| ing and Arranging anicably all incident
al questions on the one hand, and at
tempting to subdue US on the other. y
aoe could not stand up for coercion, for
| su31agation, for aoe do not think at 1ooutd
bs jast, We hold the right Of selfg gov
ernment sacred, even when INVOKED in
behalf of those who deny it to others. /"
Further along in the same article we
may sec him invoking the incoming ad
miristration. to precipitate itself against
'Juoitiue slave,' and now it is expected
by some that he will receive the negro
vote with grateful acclama.ion, He
says:
1--WE fully realize that the dilemma Of
the incoming Administration will be a
critical one. 1t must endeavor to up
hold and enforce the laws, as we'll against
rebellious slave holders as fugitiUe slaves.
The President must fulfill the obliga-
tions assumed in his Inauguration oath,
'seuen or eight ,Stdtes' send agents. to
Washington to say, g. zoe a0dnt to go out
ofthe Union," a1e shall feel constrained
by oar deuotion to human liberty to sag,
Let them go And we do not see how
we could take the other side without
coming in direct conflict with those
rights of man which we hold paramount
to all political arrangements, however
convenient and advantageous.
One week later, December %, 1860,
Mr.. Greeley poured out his soul with a
philanthrophy at which JEFF. Davis and
his yet unrepentant followers may clap
their hands and hail brother secesionist.
He says:
Most certainly we believe that Gov
erDments are made for peoples, not peo-
piles for Governments-that the latter
derive their just power from the con
sent of the governed ;" and whenever a
portion of this Union, large enough to
form an independent, self-subsisting ma
ton, shall see fit to say authentically, to
the residue, 'We want to 60 away from
you, we shall say-and we trust self
respest, if not regard for the principles
of self government, will consrain the resi-
due of the American people to say
go !" We never yet had SO poor an
opinion of ourselves or our neighbors as
to wish to hold others in a hated connec-
ton with u.s. Bnt the dissolution Of a
government cannot be effected in the time
reqnired for knocking down a house Of
cards. Let the cotton States or any six
or more States, say, unequlvocal!y, ''H e
want to get out of sEe Unionr and pro-
pose to effect their end peacefully and
inoffensively, and we will dc our best to
help them out-not that We want them
to go, but that We loathe the idea OF
compelling them to stay"
Five days after the inauguration as
President of the Confederate States, of
that distinguished citizen who was sub
sequently bailed with such alacrity by
Mr.. Greeley, the latter in the Tribune
Of Fubruary %, 1861, spoke thus:
We have repeatedly said and we once
more insist, that that great principle em-
bodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of
| American Independence, that G over
ments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed, is sound and just !;
and that If the slave States, the cotton
States, or the Gulf States only, choose
to form an independent nation, they haze
q clear and moral right to do so : We
have said, and still maintain. that. pro-
vided the Cotton States have fully and
deinitivclv made up their minds to 20
by themselves. there IS no need of.E9htng
about 1T; for they have only to exercise
reasonable patience and they will be let
off il peace and good will. Whenerer 1t
shall be clear that the great body of the
| Southern people, are coaclusiUely aienated
from the Union and anxious to escape
from 1t, a0e aosU do our best to torUdrd
| thear Ulelcs
AS men and even philosophers, not
unfrequently persist in opinions which
appear preposterons to the majority of
mankind, so our statesman, continued to
repeat his previous declarations. In the
Tribune of September 26, 1862 in letter
to FL. McChesney, Of Troy, n. Y; Mr.
Greeley says:
''But | shall insist that. if it had been
proved that the people ofthe slave States
or even of the Gotten States alone-had
already desired to dissolve the Union,
and peacefully, deliberately and author
itatively expressed that wish, zoe should
have assented to it. At all events, 1
should
These extracts show that Greeley might
be styled secessionistI as we'll as any Sou
thern fire-eater of the rebellion. IF we
contrast him with Lincoln dnring this
period, it is Hyperion to a Satyr. And
yet when Mr.. Lincoln had been nomin-
ated, when certain discontended Repub-
licans had held convention at Cleveland,
and Cochrane, when the fortunes of tie
republic were in most critical condition,
and our patriotic president needed all
possible aid and assistance, this Tribune
secessionist treacherously and secretly
stabbed Mr. Lincoln by sending out the
following letter as private and con6den-
tial:
New YORK. Sept. 2, 1864,
lion.
Your EXcELLENCY The undersigned
have been requested by body of infu-
entail Unionists to communicate with the
loyal Governors, for the purpose of elici-
ting replies to the following queries: