The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-08-03
NUMBER 81.


ident Lincoln, which seemed in an instant
! 10 Curdle the milk of human kindness in
, twenty millions OF American braas+s- Ar
once, inSidious efforts We're ser on foot 70
turn the fury thus engendered against me
because of my pertinacious advocacy of nner-
cy TO the vanQuished. CHANGING to enter tho
clubhouse the next Saturday evening. |
received full broadside of your scowls, ere
we listened to a clerical harangue intended
TO prove that Mr.. Lincoln had been provi-
dentially removed, because of his notorious
leanlnCS toward clemency, in order to make
way for successor who would give the reb-
els Il full measure of stern justice. / was
soon made to comprehend that had no sym
pathizers-or none who dared seem such-in
your crowded aSSc1nblaCe. And some NAL
adroit admirer having, few days afterward
made the club present of my portrait its
bare reception was resisted in a speech from
the chair 10y Your then President-a speech
whose vigorous invecJiye was justified solely
by my pleadingS for leuity TO the rebels At
once-a concerted howl of denuncition and
rage was sent up from every side against me
by the little creatures whom God for some
lnscrutable purpose, permits to edit a major
ity OF the minor journals, echoed by veil of
stop my paper - from thousands of inner
tectly instructed readers of the Tribune One
4 impertinent puppy wrote me TO answer cate
gorlcally whether I was or was not in favor
of hanging JEFF Davis. adding that must
stop his paper if [ was not. Scores volun-
I teered assurances that I was defying public
oplnIOn-that most Of my readers We're against
meas if I colild be induced to write what
! they wished said rather than what they need
ed to he told. never before realized so
vividly the baseness of the editorial vocation
according to the vulgar conception of it
The din raised about my ears now is nothing
10 that then endured and despised / am
humiliated by the reflection that it is Cor was)
in the power of such insects to annoy me,
even by pretending to discover with sur
prise something that l have for years been
publicly, emphatically proclaiming-
l must hurry over mu, II that deserves n
paragraph, to call yonr attention distinctly
TO occurrences ia November last. Upon the
Republicans having by desperate effort,
handsomely carried our State against a for
midable looking combination of recent and
Venomous apostates with our natural adver-
Saries, a cry arose from several quarters that
L ought to be chosen United States Senator.
At once, kind, discreet friends swarmed
about me, whispering, ''Only keep still about
universal amnesty, and your election is GER
tdin. Just he quiet a few weeks, and YOU
can say what yon please thereafter NOu
have no occasion to speak now" l slept on
the well-meant suggestion, and deliberately
concluded that l could not, in Justice to my
self, defer to il. could not purchase office bV
ere1' 97GSS5tp, llegdttJc dtSSiEllfIdtiOp. No man
should be enabled to say TO me, in truth, IF
L had supposed You would persist in your
rejected, condemned amnesty hobby, L would
not have given you my vote So L wrote
and published, on the 9th of that month,
my manifesto entitled ''The true basis of re-
construction, wherein, repelling the idea
that / proposed dicker with the ex-rebels
L 1eXplicitly said: 81 am for universal arnnes-
ty-so far an immunity from fear of punish
mcnt or COnfiSCatiOn. is cOnCerned-cVen
though Impartial Suffrage should for the
present, be defeated. L did not think it de
sirable that jefferson Davis should be ar
ragined and tried for treason; and IT still
seems to me that this might property have
been done many months ago But it was
not, done then, and now I believe it would
result in far more evil than good. 1t would
rekindle passions that have nearly burned
out or been huShed to sleep; Il Would fear
fully cOnvulse and agitate the South; it
would arrest the progress of reconciliation
and kindly feeling there it would cast =
large sum directly and far larger indirect
ly; and-unleSS the iIT1v We're standalously
packed-it would result in n non-ac-reement
or no verdict l can imagine no good end to
be subServed by such trial; and. holding
Davis neither better nor worse than several
others, would have him treated as they are. -
Is it conceivable that men who can read and
who were made aware of this declaratiOh-
FOR most of you were present and shouted
approval of Mr.. Fessenden's condemnation
of my views at the club, two or three even
ings thereafter-can now pretend that my
aiding to have Davis bailed, is something
novel and uneXpected2
Gentlemen, l shall not attend your meet
| ing this evening. have an engagement out
of town, and shall keep it. 1 do not recog-
nize you as capable of Judging, or even fully
| apprehending me. You eUideEtly regard me
freak SeIltjmentdlist, Dtisled by a nldltdIils
! pbjlOSOphY. GT'rdig1 UoH as 71drrotr-glli nded
| btOckleddS, 1cbO aCOJtId ike to be 1LScfUl to @
! great and good cause but don't k1lO1c hoIC.-
| Your attempt to base great enduring paITu
on the Hdte and IcrdtH necessarily engeHered 6B
q bloody Ctrlt IrQr, as as utOUqh UOH should UlHTt
q colony on 1ceberg lChich had SOBlehOlC
drlfted i3itO a tropical ocean. I tell you here
| that, out of a life earnestly devoted TO the
good of humankind, your children will
seIect my going to Richmond and signing
that bail bond as the wiSest act and will feel
that 1t did more for freedom and humanity
than all of you were competent TO do, though
! you had lived to the age of Methusaleh. L
/ ask nothing OF You, then, but that you pro
| ceed to your end 10y direct, frank manly
way. Don't sidle OFF into a mild resolution
! or censure, but move the expulsion which
/ you purposed, and which deserve if /
| deserve any reproach whatever. All I
| care for is, that You make this a square,
! stand-up fight; and record your judgment by
! yeas and nays. l care not how few vote
! with me, nor how many vote against me for
| L know that the latter will repent it in dust
! and ashes before three years have passed
! Understand, once for all, that dare and defU
yOu and that propose to fight Il out on the line
that hare held from the ddyof Lees SURRENDER
! So long as any man was seeking TO overthrow
our government, he my enemy; from
| the hour in which he laid down his arms,
| he was my formerly erring countryman. So
| long as any is at heart opposed to the
national unity, the federal authority. or 10
! that assertion of the equal rights of all men
] which has become practically identified with
! loyalty and nationality, L shall do my best
| 10 deprive him of power but, whenever
| he ceases TO be thus, l demand his restora-
ton TO all the privileges of American citizeIi-
| ship.
L give You fair notice that I shall urge tho
! re-cnfrancIIisement of those now prescribed
! for rebellion as soon as shall feel confident
| that this course is consistent with the free
dom of the blacks and the unity. OF the re
! public. and that shall demand recall of
/ All now in exile only for participating in the
/ rebellion. whenever the country shall have
been so thoroughly pacifed that its safety
/ gentlemen, hoping that You will henceforth
! Comprehend me somewhat better than you
/ have done, remain, yours,
| HORACE GREELEY
| New York, May %, 1867.