782 



UNITED STATES. 



and Holcombe to the Hon. H. Greelcy, and to that 

 gentleman an answer has been transmitted. 



Messrs. Holcombe and Clay to Mr. Greeley. 



CLIFTON HOUSE, NIAGARA. FALLS, ) 

 July 21, 18G1. j 

 To Hon. Horace Greeley : 



SIR : The paper handed to Mr. Holcombe on yes- 

 terday in your presence by Major Hay, Assistant 

 Adjutant-General, as an answer to the application in 

 our note of the 18th inst., is couched in the following 

 terms : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., ) 

 July 13th, ISCi S 



To whom it may concern : 



Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, 

 the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of 

 slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can 

 control the armies now at war against the United States, \vill 

 be received and considered by the Executive Government of 

 the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on other 

 substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers 

 thereof shall have safe conduct both ways. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



The application to which we refer was elicited by 

 your letter of the 17th instant, in which you inform 

 Mr. Jacob Thompson and ourselves that you were 

 authorized by the President of the United States to 

 tender us his safe conduct, on the hypothesis that we 

 were " duly accredited from Richmond as bearers of 

 propositions looking to the establishment of peace," 

 and desired a visit to Washington in the fulfilment 

 of this mission. This assertion, to which we then 

 gave, and still do, entire credence, was accepted by 

 us as the evidence of an unexpected but most grati- 

 fying change in the policy of the President a change 

 which we felt authorized to hope might terminate in 

 the conclusion of a peace mutually just, honorable, 

 and advantageous to the North and to the South, 

 exacting no condition but that we should be " duly 

 accredited from Richmond as bearers of propositions 

 looking to the establishment of peace!" 



Thus proffering a basis for conference as compre- 

 hensive as we could desire, it seemed to us that the 

 President opened a door which had previously been 

 closed against the Confederate States for a full" inter- 

 change of sentiments, free discussion of conflicting 

 opinions, and untrammelled effort to remove all causes 

 of controversy by liberal negotiations. We, indeed, 

 could not claim the benefit of a safe conduct which 

 had been extended to us in a character we had no 

 right to assume and had never affected to possess ; 

 but the uniform declarations of our Executive and 

 Congress, and their thrice repeated and as often re- 

 pulsed attempts to open negotiations, furnish a suf- 

 ficient pledge that this conciliatory manifestation on 

 the part of the President of the United States would 

 be met by them in a temper of equal magnanimity. 

 We had, therefore, no hesitation in declaring that if 

 this correspondence was communicated to the Presi- 

 dent of the Confederate States he would promptly 

 embrace the opportunity presented for seeking a 

 peaceful solution of this unhappy strife. 



We feel confident that you must share our pro- 

 found regret that the spirit which dictated the first 

 step toward peace had not continued to animate the 

 counsels of your President. Had the representatives 

 of the two Governments met to consider this ques- 

 tion the most momentous ever submitted to human 

 gtatesmanshin in a temper of becoming moderation 

 and equity, followed as their deliberations would 

 have been by the prayers and benedictions of every 

 patriot and 'Christian on the habitable globe, who i's 

 there so bold as to say that the frightful waste of in- 

 dividual happiness and public prosperity which is 

 daily saddening the universal heart might not have 

 oeen terminated, or if the desolation and carnage of war 

 must still be endured through weary years of blood 

 and suffering, that there mignt not at least have been 

 infused into its conduct something more of the spirit 

 which softens and partially redeems its brutalities? 



Instead of the safe conduct which we solicited, and 



which your first letter gave us p^ery reason to sup- 

 pose would be extended for the purpose of initiating 

 a negotiation in which neither Government would 

 compromise its rights or its dignity, a document has 

 been presented which provokes as much indignation 

 as'surprise. It bears no feature of resemblance to 

 that which was originally offered, and is unlike any 

 paper which e_ver before emanated from the constitu- 

 tional executive of a free people. Addressed " To 

 whom it may concern," it precludes negotiation, and 

 prescribes in advance the terms and conditions of 

 peace. It returns to the original policy of " no bar- 

 gaining, no negotiations, no truces with rebels, except 

 to bury their dead, until every man shall have laid 

 down his arms, submitted to the Government, and 

 sued for mercy." 



What may be the explanation of this sudden and 

 entire change in the views of the President, of this 

 rude withdrawal of a courteous overture for negoti- 

 ation at the moment it was likely to be accepted, of 

 this emphatic recall of words of peace just uttered, 

 and fresh blasts of war to the bitter end, we leave for 

 the speculation of those who have the means or in- 

 clination to penetrate the mysteries of his Cabinet, or 

 fathom the caprice of his imperial will. It is enough 

 for us to say that we have no use whatever for the 

 paper which has been placed in our hands. We could 

 not transmit it to the President of the Confederate 

 States without offering him an indignity, dishonoring 

 ourselves, and incurring the well-merited scorn of our 

 countrymen. 



Whilst an ardent desire for peace pervades the 

 people of the Confederate States, we rejoice to be- 

 lieve that there are few, if any, among them who 

 would purchase it at the expense of liberty, honor, 

 and self-respect. If it can be secured only by their 

 submission to terms of conquest, the generation is 

 yet unborn which will witness its restitution. If 

 there be any military autocrat in the North who is 

 entitled to proffer the conditions of this manifesto, 

 there is none in the South authorized to entertain 

 them. Those who control our armies are the ser- 

 vants of the people, not their masters; and the}- have 

 no more inclination than they have right to subvert 

 the social institutions of the sovereign States, to over- 

 throw their established constitutions, and to barter 

 away their priceless heritage of self-government. 



This correspondence will not, however, we trust, 

 prove wholly barren of good results. 



If there is any citizen of the Confederate States who 

 has clung to a hope that peace was possible with this 

 administration of the Federal Government it will 

 strip from his eyes the last film of such delusion ; or 

 if there be any whose hearts have grown faint under 

 the suffering and agony of this bloody struggle, it 

 will inspire them with fresh energy to endure and 

 brave whatever may yet be requisite to preserve to 

 themselves and their children all that gives dignity 

 and value to life or hope, and consolation to death. 

 And if there be any patriots or Christians in your land 

 who shrink appalled from the illimitable virtue of 

 private misery and public calamity which stretches 

 before them, we pray that in their bosoms a resolution 

 may be quickened to recall the abused authority and 

 vindicate the outraged civilization of their country. 



For the solicitude you have manifested to inaugu- 

 rate a movement which contemplates results the most 

 noble and humane, we return our sincere thanks, and 

 are, most respectfully and truly, your obedient ser- 

 vants, C. C. CLAY. Jit. 



JAMES P. HOLCOMBE. 



Messrs. Clay and Holcotnbe to Wm. C. Jewdt. 



CLIFTOX HOPSE, NIAGARA FALLS, July 20, 1864. 

 Col. W. C. Jewett, Cataract House, Niagara Falls : 



SIR : We are in receipt of your note admonishing 

 us of the departure of Hon. Horace Greeley from the 

 Falls, that he regrets the sad termination of the in- 

 itiatory steps taken for peace in consequence of the 

 change made by the President in his instructions to 



