SAINT CATHERINES, CANADA WEST,
August 11, 1864.
Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State Confed. States of America, Richmond, Va.:
SIR: I deem it due
to Mr. Holcombe and myself to address you in explanation of the circumstances
leading to and attending our correspondence with Hon. Horace Greeley,* which
has been the subject of so much misrepresentation in the United States, and, if
they are correctly copied, of at least two papers in the Confederate States.
We addressed a joint
and informal note to the President on this subject, but as it was sent by a
messenger under peculiar embarrassments it was couched in very guarded terms
and was not so full or explicit as we originally intended or desired to make
it. I hope he has already delivered it and has explained its purpose and
supplied what was wanting to do us full justice.
Soon after the
arrival of Mr. Holcombe, Mr. Thompson, and myself in Canada West it was known
in the United States and was the subject of much speculation there as to the
object of our visit. Some politicians of more or less fame and representing all
parties in the United States came to see Mr. Holcombe and myself—Mr. Thompson
being at Toronto and less accessible than we were at the Falls—either through curiosity
or some better or worse motive.
They found that our
conversation was mainly directed to the mutual injury we were inflicting on
each other by war, the necessity for peace in order to preserve whatever was
valuable to both sections, and probability of foreign intervention when we were
thoroughly exhausted and unable to injure others, and the dictation of a peace
less advantageous to both belligerents than they might now make if there was an
armistice of sufficient duration to allow passion to subside and reason to
resume its sway.
In the meantime Mr.
George N. Sanders, who had preceded us to the Falls, was addressing, directly
or indirectly, his ancient and intimate party friends and others in the United
States supposed to be favorably inclined, assuring them that a peace mutually
advantageous to the North and the South might be made, and inviting them to
visit us that we might consider and discuss the subject. He informed us that
Mr. Greeley would visit us if we would be pleased to see him. Believing from
his antecedents that he was a sincere friend of peace, even with separation if
necessary, we authorized Mr. Sanders to say that we would be glad to receive
him. Mr. Greeley replied, as we were told, through Mr. Jewett, who had been an
active and useful agent for communicating with citizens of the United States,
that he would prefer to accompany us to Washington City to talk of peace, and
would do so if we would go. We did not then believe that Mr. Greeley had
authorized this proposal in his name, for neither we nor Mr. Sanders had seen
it in any telegram or letter from Mr. Greeley, but had it only from the lips of
Mr. Jewett, who is reported to be a man of fervid and fruitful imagination and
very credulous of what he wishes to be true. Notwithstanding, after calm
deliberation and consultation we thought that we could not in duty to the
Confederate States decline the invitation, and directed Mr. Sanders to say that
we would go to Washington if complete and unqualified protection was given us.
We did not feel
authorized to speak for Mr. Thompson, who was absent, and we moreover deemed it
necessary that he or I should remain here to promote the objects that the
Secretary of War had given us and another in charge.
Mr. Sanders
responded in his own peculiar style, as you have seen, or will see by the
inclosed copy of the correspondence, which was published under my supervision.† We did not expect to hear from Mr. Greeley
again upon the subject, and were greatly surprised by his note from the U.S.
side of the Falls, addressed to us as “duly accredited from Richmond as the
bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace.”
How or by whom that
character was imputed to us we do not know. We suspect, however, that we are
indebted for the attribution of the high and responsible office to Mr. Jewett,
or to that yet more credulous and inventive personage, Dame Rumor. Certainly we
are not justly chargeable with having assumed or affected that character, or
with having given any one sufficient grounds to infer that we came clothed with
any such powers. We never sought or desired a safe-conduct to Washington, or an
interview with Mr. Lincoln. We never proposed, suggested, or intimated any
terms of peace to any person that did not embrace the independence of the
Confederate States. We have been as jealous of the rights, interest, and power
of our Government as any of its citizens can be, and have never wittingly
compromised them by act, word, or sign. We have not felt it our duty to declare
to all who have approached us upon the subject that reunion was impossible
under any change of the Constitution or abridgment of the powers of the Federal
Government. We have not dispelled the fond delusion of most of those with whom
we have conversed—that some kind of common government might at some time
hereafter be re-established. But we have not induced or encouraged this idea.
On the contrary, when obliged to answer the question—“Will the Southern States
consent to reunion?”—I have answered:
Not now. You have
shed so much of their best blood, have desolated so many homes, inflicted so
much injury, caused so much physical and mental agony, and have threatened and
attempted such irreparable wrongs, without justification or excuse, as their
believe, that they would now prefer extermination to your embraces as friends
and fellow-citizens of the same government. You must wait till the blood of our
slaughtered people has exhaled from the soil, till the homes which you have
destroyed have been rebuilt, till our badges of mourning have been laid aside,
and the memorials of our wrongs are no longer visible on every hand, before you
propose to rebuild a joint and common government. But I think the South Will
agree to an armistice of six or more months and to a treaty of amity and
commerce, securing peculiar and exclusive privileges to both sections, and
possibly to an alliance defensive, or even, for some purposes, both defensive
and offensive.
If we can credit the
asseverations of both peace and war Democrats, uttered to us in person or
through the presses of the United States, our correspondence with Mr. Greeley
has been promotive of our wishes. It has impressed all but fanatical
Abolitionists with the opinion that there can be no peace while Mr. Lincoln presides
at the head of the Government of the United States. All concede that we will
not accept his terms, and scarcely any Democrat and not all the Republicans
will insist on them. They are not willing to pay the price his terms exact of
the North. They see that he can reach peace only through subjugation of the
South, which but few think practicable; through universal bankruptcy of the
North; through seas of their own blood as well as ours; through the utter
demoralization of their people, and destruction of their Republican Government;
through anarchy and moral chaos—all of which is more repulsive and intolerable
than even the separation and independence of the South.
All the Democrat
presses denounce Mr. Lincoln's manifesto in strong terms, and many Republican
presses (and among them the New York Tribune) admit it was a blunder. Mr.
Greeley was chagrined and incensed by it, as his articles clearly show. I am
told by those who profess to have heard his private expressions of opinion and
feeling, that he curses all fools in high places and regards himself as
deceived and maltreated by the Administration. From all that I can see or hear,
I am satisfied that the correspondence has tended strongly toward consolidating
the Democracy and dividing the Republicans and encouraging the desire for
peace. Many prominent politicians of the United States assure us that it is the
most opportune and efficient moral instrumentality for stopping the war that
could have been conceived or exerted, and beg us to refrain from any
vindication of our course or explanation of our purposes.
At all events, we
have developed what we desired to in the eyes of our people—that war, with-all
its horrors, is less terrible and hateful than the alternative offered by Mr.
Lincoln. We hope that none will hereafter be found in North Carolina, or in any
other part of the Confederate States, so base as to insist that we shall make
any more advances to him in behalf of peace, but that all of our citizens will
gird themselves with renewed and redoubled energy and resolution to battle
against our foes until our utter extermination, rather than halt to ponder the
terms which he haughtily proclaims as his ultimatum. If such be the effect of
our correspondence, we shall be amply indemnified for all the misrepresentations
which we have incurred or ever can incur.
Mr. Greeley's
purpose may have been merely to find out our conditions of peace, but we give
him credit for seeking higher objects. While we contemplated and desired
something more, yet it was part of our purpose to ascertain Mr. Lincoln's
condition of peace. We have achieved our purpose in part; Mr. Greeley has
failed altogether. He correctly reports us as having proposed no terms. We
never intended to propose any until instructed by our Government. We have
suffered ourselves to be falsely reported as proposing certain terms—among them
reunion—for reasons that our judgment approved, hoping that we would in due
time be fully vindicated at home.
If there is no more
wisdom in our country than is displayed in the malignant articles of the
Richmond Examiner and Petersburg Register, approving of the ukase of Mr.
Lincoln, the war must continue until neutral nations interfere and command the
peace. Such articles are copied into all the Republican presses of the United
States, and help them more in encouraging the prosecution of the war than
anything they can themselves utter.
If I am not
deceived, the elements of convulsion and revolution existing in the North have
been greatly agitated by the pronunciamento of the autocrat of the White House.
Not only Democrats, but Republicans are protesting against a draft to swell an
army to fight to free negroes, and are declaring more boldly for State rights
and the Union as it was. Many say the draft cannot and shall not be enforced.
The Democracy are beginning to learn that they must endure persecution,
outrage, and tyranny at the hands of the Republicans, just as soon as they can
bring back their armed legions from the South. They read their own fate in that
of the people of Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland. They are beginning to lean
more on the side of our people as their natural allies and as the champions of
State rights and of popular liberty. Many of them would gladly lock arms with
our soldiers in crushing their common enemy, the Abolitionists. Many of them
would fall into our lines if our armies occupied any States north of the Ohio
for a month, or even a week. Many of them are looking to the time when they
must flee their country, or fight for their inalienable rights. They are
preparing for the latter alternative.
The instructions of
the Secretary of War to us and the officer detailed for special service have
not been neglected. We have been arranging for the indispensable co-operation.
It is promised, and we hope will soon be furnished. Then we will act. We have
been disappointed and delayed by causes which I cannot now explain.
I fondly trust that
our efforts will not be defeated or hindered by unwise and intemperate
declarations of public opinion, by newspaper editors or others who are regarded
as its exponents.
We have a difficult
role to play, and must be judged with charity until heard in our own defense.
I am much indebted
to Mr. Holcombe, Mr. Sanders, and Mr. Tucker for the earnest and active aid
they have given me in promoting the objects of Mr. Thompson's and my mission.
Mr. Thompson is at
Toronto and Mr. Holcombe is at the Falls. If here, or if I could delay the
transmission of this communication, I should submit it to them for some
expression of their opinions.
As I expect this to
reach the Confederate States by a safe hand, I do not take the time and labor
necessary to put it in cipher—if, indeed, there is anything worth concealing
from our enemies.
I have the honor to be, &c.,
C. C. CLAY, JR.
_______________
* See Series III, Vol. IV.
† Not found.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series IV, Volume
3 (Serial No. 129), p. 584-7
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