[
168]
their substance.
The paper immediately after the defeat at
Bull Run took strong ground in favor of reorganizing the cabinet, and continued to support such a reorganization till September, when the
President declared that it was his firm belief that the public service could not be improved, and would be probably weakened by any change in the cabinet.
Thereupon the
Tribune changed its tone, and asserted that “the time and strength devoted to effecting a change in the cabinet might be more profitably employed.”
While it is not positively known who was responsible for this change of attitude, it was doubtless
Greeley.
On the other hand, a few days later, the paper published an editorial in which it sail, with all the foresight of a seer:
Our European advisers, who marvel that we do not let the revolted States go, and thus end the ruinous strife, are darkening counsel by words without knowledge.
There is no road to peace which does not lead across fields destined to be male memorable by battles yet unfought.
That this was
Dana's cannot be positively asserted, but as it lay within the province of the managing editor to insert it, the responsibility for it rested on him, even if he did not write it.
During the closing days of the year the
Tribune brought forward the proposition that the war could be ended within ninety days if the
President would issue his proclamation that
Slave-holding by rebels is not recognized by the government of the United States.
And this idea was reiterated at intervals till shortly after the
battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862), when
President Lincoln, in recognition of a growing demand from
