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758 DOUGLAS MONTHLY. December, 1862 [[line]] [[3 columns]] [[column 1]] The gentleman from Egypt has proclaimed that if the rebels will lay down their arms they may come back and hold office as before, and hold their slaves as before. "To this complexon has it come at last." What would you have said of the London Times, had it recommended the Executive to override the Congress, and announce such a Proclamation? Has fair play ceased to be a jewel? From the Abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh——and see how true the Egyptian is to his first love, in that Proclamation. He commences by (for the thousandth time) repeating, that his object is to restore the Union as it was, and to compensate the owners of human flesh, and colonize the hated and outraged negro. And every red-mouthed, whisky, Democrate in the land, with all Weed and Seward and Scott Republicans thrown in——echoes and re-echoes the damned refrained——"away with the niggers"——"damn the niggers." Frederick Douglass! there is no use in your trying to uphold this monstrous government or people. Both are to be destroyed——and I can hardly think you desire their salvation without repentance. If you do, there the gulf of discrepancy between your and my desires is such that, that which separated Dives from Lazarus was a mere rill in comparison. The only hope of truth, justice and freedom in this land, is in the hands of Him who doeth all things well, and with whom a nation and a Sparrow are alike precious. Yours forever, W.O. Duvall. November 10th, 1862. [[line]] LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD. [[short line]] Newcastle-on-Tyne Oct. 16th, 1862. My Dear Friend, Frederick Douglas :——These are momentous times, and did we not believe in superintending Providence we might stand appalled at the events now passing in your country. All good men in England sincerely deplore the fratricidal strife between North and South, and many amongst us are painfully apprehensive that the bitter feeling which has to strangely sprung between England and the North may result in war. At present the evil latent, but how easily might some untoward event blow the sparks into a flame! It is clear to me in judging us you Americans do not make sufficient allowance for the force of circumstances, and that we, in estimating your actions, do not sufficiently consider the complicated features of the great struggle and the difficulties which are sure to attend those who, having committed a blunder or a wrong, are endeavouring to repair it. You are angry with England because you meet with so little sympathy from her in your efforts to put down the rebellion, but you seem to forget that so lately as when my father was a boy, you were all rebels l You revolted against the constituted authorities; and now when rebels fall out among themselves, how can you expect us to sympathise with either one side or the other? It is true that the war has arisen out of slavery. The election of a free-soil President made the Southeners tremble for their "peculiar institution," and they determined to set up a Republic for themselves, in which they should have liberty to "wallop their own niggers." And if the resistance of the North had been based upon genuine anti-slavery principle, rather than a desire to conquer the South and uphold the Union at the sacrifice, I believe [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] you would have had our very general sympathy, and our moral influence at least would have been thrown into the scale in your favor. But when we saw your Government tampering with Slavery, your Generals returning fugitive slaves, your politicians clamouring for the expulsion of free blacks, your President avowing his readiness to welcome both Slavery and the Union, if he could not have union without it, you need hardly be surprised if our sympathies never, perhaps very warm, have been at last cooled down to the freezing point. Even the late proclamation of the President, which we might have hoped would have produced a revulsion of feeling in your favor, is looked upon merely as a stroke of policy, an act of justice, wrung from him reluctantly, and too late to do any good. 2. We think in reprobating our sympathy for "Secessia," which is now, alas, unmistakable, you do not make allowance for the fact that we, ourselves, are suffering severely by your proceedings. We do not question your right to do what you have done, but the fact remains, nevertheless, that you have inflicted upon us a double injury. You have cut off our supply of cotton from the South, and closed the North against our manufactures To millions of our people cotton is synonymous with bread. They know you are keeping it from them, and thus sending want and destitution to thousands of English homes. What wonder then if hard feelings have sprung up against the hand that afflicts us? 3. We are still of opinion that in the Trent affair you mistook our motives, and judged us too harshly. Assuredly, as a nation, we had no desire to go to war with you. On this side the water, at least, there was and is an almost unanimous desire to maintain friendly relations. But you had touched us at very sensitive point——our naval reputation. On worldly principles, unless you had retracted, there would have been but one course, however much we might deprecate it. You had done an act which the whole civilised world condemned. You feted the perpetrator in your public halls, and one member of your Government, the Secretary of the navy, endorsed the deed. Many of us deeply regretted that your country delivered her polite request for redress, in so hostile an attitude, but others were conscientiously of opinion that it was the most likely means o prevent war. They saw, or thought they saw, that in the temper of your public mind there was imminent danger of the President giving his sanction to the act of his subordinate, and thus bringing matters to a dead fix, in which it would have been impossible for either side to yield. If our statesmen had only faith to believe that your rulers would do nothing hastily, but would wait for the verdict of foreign jurists on the question in dispute, they would, probably, never have resorted to threatening policy which your people, not without reason, have complained off. You seemed to think that we took the advantage of your internal dissensions to shake our fists at you, and would your honor. But it ought to be remembered that the difficulty was one which was only likely to arise in time for war, and that you, yourselves, only fifty years ago, made war upon us for a similar-cause, while our hands were engaged in a deadly struggle with the most formidable [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] military power in Christendom. However, the difficulty is now over. You made us an honorable reparation, and all we ask is, that in looking back upon the affair, however much you may blame our statesmen, you will give them credit for the honest conviction that the course they took was the one most likely to avert war. In making these remarks, I wish it to be understood that I neither approve of the conduct of our Government, in the Trent affair, nor of the present temper of the English people. I am still of opinion that war, root and branch, is entirely repugnant to spirit of the Gospel, and ought never to be resorted to by Christians on any pretext whatever. I merely suggest a few extenuating circumstances by way of explaining our late and present attitude, and if possible moderating the resentment to which it has given rise. We want some "Peter the Hermit" to make a progress through our country, and recall us to a sense of duty in word of thunder. As we cannot have that we think the next best thing would be for Frederick Douglass to employ his powerful pen in an earnest expostulation with that English public, by whom he is held in such high esteem. Convince theme that the most trusted representatives of the colored race deprecate their present-stand as hostile to liberty, and as an apostacy from those glorious principles which they have professed so long and upheld so nobly, and if we are not seriously mistaken, they might be brought to a better mind. I remain, with very kind regards, Your sincere friend, H. R. [[line]] THE PRESIDENT AND GEN. MCCLELLAN. [[short line]] George Wilkes, editor of the New York Spirit of the Times, in a letter from Washington to his paper, relates what purports to be substance of an interview between President Lincoln and Gen. McClellan, at Sharpsburg. He says :—— 'Thus impressed, [ie., with the belief that the delay was unnecessary,] the President, after consulting with the Cabinet, set out for harpsburg, to stir up the spell-bound commander with the unanimous desire of the Government that he should press forward after Lee. The President was graciously received by McClellan; he honored him with salvos of artillery, and when he passed with him alone into his tent, and the fallen canvas veiled the two great mysteries of the nation from vulgar eyes, a heavy line of guards preserved the sacred vicinity for forty yards around from any profane or impertinent intrusion There was no person present at the momentous interview by Mr. Lincoln and the Chief Marshal of the army; yet it so happens that we know, exactly, what transpired, and in great part, what was said. The President opened by communicating the decisions of the Cabinet, and the official requisition of the Govenment; and being, at last, well through with this strained task, he relaxed into his usual easy and happy and familiar manner. 'Now, McClellan,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'I want to say something to you for myself; something that is not from the Cabinet, and has not been prompted from any other sources.——I wish to call attention to the fault in your character——a fault which is the sum of my observation in you, in connection with this war——You merely get yourself ready to do a good thing——no man can do that better——you make all the necessary sacrifices of blood and treasure to secure a victory, but whether from timidity, self distrust, or some other motive inexplicable to me, you always stop short just on this side of results. Such has been your history throughout this war! This is my own remark, and I wish you when I am gone, to examine yourself, and see if this is not true.'" [[/column 3]]
