WASHINGTON,
July 21, 1864.
Editors
of the Enquirer:
Since I
closed my letter at noon, a new sensation has appeared on the political
board. The word Peace has been uttered this afternoon as if had some insignificance. We find that two prominent friends of the
Administration have, with the direct approval and aid of Mr. Lincoln, visited
Richmond, held conferences with Jeff. Davis and his Secretary of War, and
returned highly pleased with the courtesy with which they were received and
treated at the Confederate Capital. Then
on the other side, we have the correspondence between certain Confederate
gentlemen, Horace Greely and the President in relation to a restoration of the
Union by means of peace. No other talk
has been heard this afternoon, except about these two missions. Though neither of the quasi commissioners—those from the North to Richmond, nor those at
Niagara had official authority, yet
each acted with the consent of its respective government; and that is a mode
often resorted to by belligerent parties, to ascertain the sentiments of the
other preliminary to regulate authorized negotiations.
The
Commissioners to Richmond were Colonel Jos. F. Jaques, of the 73rd Illinois
volunteers, and Mr. Edward Kirke, a gentleman of some literary pretentions and
merit. They have returned to the city,
and it is well understood they went to Richmond to ascertain, if the war could
not be stopped by a return of the seceded states on terms alike honorable to
both parties. They were in Richmond
three days, had free Conference with Mr. Davis and his Secretary, Mr. Benjamin,
on the subject of their visit, were treated like gentleman, and returned in
good spirits.
You
have doubtless read the result of the attempt made by the Southern
Commissioners, at Niagara, to obtain an interview with Mr. Lincoln. It was a
failure. The contrast between the
conduct of the authorities, at Richmond, towards Messrs. Jaques and Kirke, and
that of Lincoln to Messers. Clay and Holcomb, is a painful one to the people of
the North. It shows there are gentleman
at the head of the government at Richmond, and a boor at the head of the
government at Washington. The former are
not afraid to be talked to on the subject of our difficulties by even
unofficial visitors, while the latter seems to think that not only his own
dignity, but the cause of the North itself, would be compromised by a conference
with gentlemen from the Confederacy.
Humanity and civilization will
accord to the authorities at Richmond the mood of the praise for their
willingness to listen to any within their lines, by permission of the President
of the United States.
Mr.
Lincoln lays down a finality, which,
will preclude any conference for a settlement.
That finality is the unconditional abolishment of slavery. He will not listen to peace on any other
terms. He will not hear what the South
may have to say. He closes all avenues
of conciliation except through that one door.
He says the war shall not stop until the blacks are all freed. He says that this is not a war for the Union,
but a war for the negro. He says that he
orders conscriptions, that men are torn from their families, their relatives
and friends not to restore the Union, but to free the negro. He admits that we are making an enormous public
debt, that will bring untold sorrow upon toil and labor, not for our liberty or
the protections of our government, or the preservation of our national life, but
to make the negro like the white man. He
sets up a condition precedent, which must be performed before the seceded
States can return to the union, and which he has no authority to impose. This war is to be continued for no other
object than the abolition of slavery. Mr. Lincoln gives that to be distinctly
understood. The country will know
hereafter precisely, what the war is continued for. Every solder will know what he is fighting
for, and every one that is killed will lose his life not for the Union, the
Stars and Stripes, but for the negro.
CLEVELAND.
SOURCE:
The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati,
Ohio, Monday, July 25, 1864, p. 2; Maysville
Weekly Bulletin, Maysville, Kentucky, Thursday, July 28, 1864, p. 2.
