Year: 1863

Washington, August 70, INo0.


Hon. james &. Conkling-My Dcal
Sir: Your letter inviting me To attend ;
mass meeting Of unconditional lnion men
10 be held a: the capital Of Illinois, on th'
3rd day of September, has been received
1t would be very agreeable to NE thus Il
meet nv old friends ut my own home; but
l can not Just now be absent from here st
long Ms a visit there would require


The meeting is to be of all those whc
maintain unconditional devotion to thl
Union and am sure that my old polti
cal friends will thank me for rendering. a,
| do, the nations gratitude to those other
noble men whom no partizan malice ~
partizau hope eau make false TO thc
nation life.


There are those who are dissatisfied
with me- To such would say: You
desire peace. and you blame me that We
do not baye it. But how can we attain
it? There are but three conceivable
ways: aIRsr, To suppress the Rebellion
by force of arms This am trying to do
Are you for it !! If you are, 50 far we arc
agreed. If you are not for it, a sIcoNU
way is to give up the Union. am
against this. Are you for it? If you
are, you should say so plainly.


If you are not for force, nor vet for
dissolution, there only remains some
imaginable compromise. do not believe
that any compromise, embracing the
maintenance of the Union, is now possible.
All that | learn, leads to directly oppo-
rite belief. The strength Of the REBEL
ion is its military, its army. That army
dominates all the country and all the peo-
pie within its range. Any offer Of terms
made by any man or men within that
range, in opposition to that army, is sim
ply nothing for the present, because such
man OF men have no power whatever to
enforce their side of a compromise, if one
were made with them.


To illustrate: Suppose refugees from
the South, aud peace men of the North,
get together in convention, and frame and
proclaim a compromise embracing resto-
ration of the Union. In what way can
that compromise be used to keep Lees
army out of Pennsylvania: I: Meade $
army can keep Lees army out of Penn
eylvania, and, | think, can ultimately
drive it out of existence. But no paper
compromise, to which the controllers of
Lee 5 army are not agreed, can at all affect
that army. In an effort at such compro-
mise, We would waste time, which the
enemy would improve to our disadvantage,
and that would be all.


A compromise, to be effective, must be
made either with those who control the
Rebel army, or with the people, first lib
Grated from the domination of that army,
10y the success of our own army Now,
allow ME to assure you that NO WORD OR
INTIMATIoN from the Rebel army, or
from any of the men controlling it, in
relation to any peace compromise, HAS
EVER COME TO MY KNOWLEDGE OR
BELIEF. All charges and insinuations to
the contrary, are deceptive, and ground
less. And | promise You, that, if any
such proposition shall hereafter come, it
shall not be rejected and kept a secret
from you. l freely acknowledge myself
to be the servant Of the people, according
to the bond of service, the United States
Constitution; and that, US such, l am
responsible to them.


But to be plain. You are dissatisfied
with me about the negro. Quite likely
there is difference of opinion between
you and myself upon that subject l
certainly wish that all men could be free,
while you, suppose, do not. Yet, L
have neither adopted nor proposed any
measure which is not consistent with even
Your view, provided that you are for the
.n'on. suggested compensated cman-
ciPation; to which you replied, you
wished not to be taxed to buy negroes.
But had not ASKED you to be taxed to
buy negroes, except in such a way as to
save you from greater taxation to save
the Union exclusively by other means.


You dislike the Emancipation Procla-
nation, and perhaps would have it rCtrac-
ted. You say it is unconstitutional. l
think differently. i think the Constitu-
ton invests its Commander-in-Chief with
the law of war in time of war. The most
that can be said, if so much, is, that
slaves are property. Is there, has there
ever been, any question, that, by
the law Of war, property, both of enc
mics and friends, may be taken when
needed! And is it not needed whenever
1t helps us and hurts the enemy. Ar
mies, the world over, destroy enemies
property when they can not use it and
even destroy their own to keep it from
the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all
IN their power to help themselves or
nurt the enemy, except few things
!esjrdCd as b3rh.rous and cruc1 4 tp,u,,