Chapter XVI…

Chapter XVI

"COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."

Thus far the reader's eye has been able to review in their successive order some of the many difficulties and perplexities which beset the pathway of President Lincoln as he felt his way in the dark, as it were, toward Emancipation. It must seem pretty evident now, however, that his chief concern was for the preservation of the Union, even though all other things--Emancipation with them--had to be temporarily sacrificed.

Something definite, however, had been already gained. Congress had asserted its right under the War powers of the Constitution, to release from all claim to Service or Labor those Slaves whose Service or Labor had been used in hostility to the Union. And while some of the Union Generals obstructed the execution of the Act enforcing that right, by repelling and even as we have seen, expelling, from the Union lines all Fugitive Slaves--whether such as had or had not been used in hostility to us--yet still the cause of Freedom to all, was slowly and silently perhaps, yet surely and irresistibly, marching on until the time when, becoming a chief factor in the determination of the question of "whether we should have a Country at all," it should triumph coincidently with the preservation of the Republic.

But now a new phase of the Slave question arose--a question not involving what to do with Fugitive Slaves of any sort, whether engaged or not engaged in performing services hostile to the Union cause, but what to do with Slaves whom their panic-stricken owners had, for the time being, abandoned in the presence of our Armies.

This question was well discussed in the original draft of the report of the Secretary of War, December 1, 1861 in which Secretary Cameron said:

"It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done with the Slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into Southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina. The whole White population therein is six thousand, while the number of Negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their masters in wild confusion from their homes, leaves them in undisputed possession of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed in the field to fight against us, or shall their labor be continually employed in reproducing the means for supporting the Armies of Rebellion?

"The War into which this Government has been forced by rebellious Traitors is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property violently and treacherously seized upon by the Enemies of the Government, and to re-establish the authority and Laws of the United States in the places where it is opposed or overthrown by armed Insurrection and Rebellion. Its purpose is to recover and defend what is justly its own.

"War, even between Independent Nations, is made to subdue the Enemy, and all that belongs to that Enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory. This being true in respect to Independent Nations at war with each other, it follows that Rebels who are laboring by force of arms to overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all the consequences of War, and provoke the destruction merited by the worst of crimes. That Government would be false to National trust, and would justly excite the ridicule of the civilized World, that would abstain from the use of any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to overcome a rebellious and traitorous Enemy, by sparing or protecting the property of those who are waging War against it.

"The principal wealth and power of the Rebel States is a peculiar species of Property, consisting of the service or labor of African Slaves, or the descendants of Africans. This Property has been variously estimated at the value of from seven hundred million to one thousand million dollars.

"Why should this Property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of a rebellious War?

"It was the boast of the leader of the Rebellion, while he yet had a seat in the Senate of the United States, that the Southern States would be comparatively safe and free from the burdens of War, if it should be brought on by the contemplated Rebellion, and that boast was accompanied by the savage threat that 'Northern towns and cities would become the victims of rapine and Military spoil,' and that 'Northern men should smell Southern gunpowder and feel Southern steel.'

"No one doubts the disposition of the Rebels to carry that threat into execution. The wealth of Northern towns and cities, the produce of Northern farms, Northern workshops and manufactories would certainly be seized, destroyed, or appropriated as Military spoil. No property in the North would be spared from the hands of the Rebels, and their rapine would be defended under the laws of War. While the Loyal States thus have all their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent Rebels to carry on warfare against the Government in peace and security to their own property?

"Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that such should be; the policy of this Government, but demand, on the contrary, that, being forced by Traitors and Rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights and powers of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end.

"Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and Laws, against which they are in armed Rebellion; and as the labor and service of their Slaves constitute the chief Property of the Rebels, such Property should share the common fate of War to which they have devoted the property of Loyal citizens.

"While it is plain that the Slave Property of the South is justly subjected to all the consequences of this Rebellious War, and that the Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights and powers of War to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan for doing so, like all other Military measures, must, in a great degree, be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of other property belonging to the Rebels that becomes subject to our arms is governed by the circumstances of the case.

"The Government has no power to hold Slaves, none to restrain a Slave of his Liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use the voluntary service of Slaves liberated by War from their Rebel masters, like any other property of the Rebels, in whatever mode may be most efficient for the defense of the Government, the prosecution of the War, and the suppression of Rebellion. It is clearly a right of the Government to arm Slaves when it may become necessary, as it is to take gunpowder from the Enemy; whether it is expedient to do so, is purely a Military question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of War. The expediency must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the great object of overcoming the Rebels, reestablishing the Laws, and restoring Peace to the Nation.

"It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this War, or hope to maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all the rights and powers of War. As has been said, the right to deprive the Rebels of their Property in Slaves and Slave Labor is as clear and absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the Enemy in the possession of such property as forage and cotton and military stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness. It is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for war than forage, cotton, military stores. Such policy would be National suicide.

"What to do with that species of Property is a question that time and circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to repeat that they cannot be held by the Government as Slaves. It would be useless to keep them as prisoners of War; and self-preservation, the highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they should be disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that will tend most speedily to suppress the Insurrection and restore the authority of the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have been held by the Rebels as Slaves, are capable of bearing arms and performing efficient Military service, it is the right, and may become the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their services against the Rebels, under proper Military regulations, discipline, and command.

"But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters they should never again be restored to bondage. By the master's Treason and Rebellion he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his Slave; and the Slave of the rebellious master, by his service to the Government, becomes justly entitled to Freedom and protection.

"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the Country."

This original draft of the report was modified, at the instance of President Lincoln, to the following--and thus appeared in Secretary Cameron's report of that date, as printed:

"It is already a grave question what shall be done with those Slaves who were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into Southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The number left within our control at that point is very considerable, and similar cases will probably occur. What should be done with them? Can we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed against us, or used in producing supplies to sustain the Rebellion?

"Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the Enemy it lessens his Military resources, and withholding them has no tendency to induce the horrors of Insurrection, even in the Rebel communities. They constitute a Military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned over to the Enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them?

"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the Country.

SIMON CAMERON. "Secretary of War."

The language of this modification is given to show that the President, at the close of the year 1861, had already reached a further step forward toward Emancipation--and the sound reasoning upon which he made that advance. He was satisfying his own mind and conscience as he proceeded, and thus, while justifying himself to himself, was also simultaneously carrying conviction to the minds and consciences of the People, whose servant and agent he was.

That these abandoned Slaves would "constitute a Military resource" and "should not be turned over to the Enemy" and that "their labor may be useful to us" were propositions which could not be gainsaid. But to quiet uncalled-for apprehensions, and to encourage Southern loyalty, he added, in substance, that at the close of this War--waged solely for the preservation of the Union--Congress would decide the doubtful status of the Slaves of Rebels, while the rights of Union Slave-holders would be secured.

The Contraband-Slave question, however, continued to agitate the public mind for many months--owing to the various ways in which it was treated by the various Military commanders, to whose discretion its treatment, in their several commands, was left--a discretion which almost invariably leaned toward the political bias of the commander. Thus, in a proclamation, dated St. Louis, February 23, 1862, Halleck, commanding the Department of Missouri, said:

"Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms!

"The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging and marauding, the destruction of private property, and the stealing or concealment of Slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to the Military to decide upon the relation of Master and Slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil Courts. No Fugitive Slaves will therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the General Commanding. * * * "

And Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, in response to a communication on the subject from the Chairman of the Military Committee of the Kentucky Legislature, wrote, March 6, 1862:

"It has come to my knowledge that Slaves sometimes make their way improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has recovered his servant and taken him away."

Thus, while some of our Commanders, like Dix and Halleck, repelled or even expelled the Fugitive Slave from their lines; and others, like Buell and Hooker, facilitated the search for, and restoration to his master, of the black Fugitive found within our lines; on the other hand, Fremont, as we have seen, and Doubleday and Hunter, as we shall yet see, took totally different ground on this question.

President Lincoln, however, harassed as he was by the extremists on both sides of the Slavery question, still maintained that calm statesman-like middle-course from which the best results were likely to flow. But he now thought the time had come to broach the question of a compensated, gradual Emancipation.

Accordingly, on March 6, 1862, he sent to Congress the following message:

"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

"I recommend the adoption of a joint Resolution by your honorable bodies, which shall be substantially as follows:

"Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.

"If the proposition contained in the Resolution does not meet the approval of Congress and the Country, there is the end; but if it does command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject it, The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a measure, as one of the most efficient means of self preservation.

"The leaders of the existing Insurrection entertain the hope that this Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the Independence of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States North of such part will then say, 'the Union for which we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern Section.'

"To deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the Rebellion; and the initiation of Emancipation completely deprives them of it, as to all the States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating Slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate Emancipation; but that, while the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will the former ever join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say, 'initiation,' because in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden Emancipation, is better for all.

"In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the census tables and Treasury reports before him, can readily see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this War would purchase, at fair valuation, all the Slaves in any named State.

"Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.

"In the Annual Message last December, I thought fit to say, 'the Union must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed.' I said this, not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment of the National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come.

"The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned, than are the Institution, and Property in it, in the present aspect of affairs?

"While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my Country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the People to the subject.

"March 6, 1862."

In compliance with the above suggestion from the President, a Joint Resolution, in the precise words suggested, was introduced into the House, March 10, by Roscoe Conkling, and on the following day was adopted in the House by 97 yeas to 36 nays.

Of the 36 members of the House who voted against this Resolution, were 34 Democrats, and among them were Messrs. Crisfield of Maryland, and Messrs. Crittenden, Mallory, and Menzies of Kentucky. These gentleman afterward made public a report, drawn by themselves, of an interesting interview they had held with President Lincoln on this important subject, in the words following:

"MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER SLAVE-STATE REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 1862.

"'DEAR SIR:--I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to come to the White House to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, and bring such of your colleagues as are in town.'"

"'WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.

"Yesterday on my return from church I found Mr. Postmaster General Blair in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and verbally communicated the President's invitation; and stated that the President's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation of his Message of the 6th inst.

"This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town, assembled at the White House at the appointed time, and after some little delay were admitted to an audience.

"After the usual salutations and we were seated, the President said, in substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation with us in explanation of his Message of the 6th; that since he had sent it in, several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had avoided any allusion to the Message, and he therefore inferred that the import of the Message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as inimical to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would talk with us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion.

"The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or wound the sensibilities of the Slave States. On the contrary, his purpose was to protect the one and respect the other; that we were engaged in a terrible, wasting, and tedious War; immense Armies were in the field, and must continue in the field as long as the War lasts; that these Armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with Slaves in the States we represented and in other States as they advanced; that Slaves would come to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up; that he was constantly annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic complaints; on the one side, a certain class complained if the Slave was not protected by the Army; persons were frequently found who, participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the Slaveholder; on the other hand, Slaveholders complained that their rights were interfered with, their Slaves induced to abscond, and protected within the lines, these complaints were numerous, loud, and deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embarrassing to the progress of the War; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the Government in the States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates that at some day the Border States would unite with them, and thus tend to prolong the War; and he was of opinion, if this Resolution should be adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of irritation and these hopes would be removed, and more would be accomplished towards shortening the War than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved by Union Armies; that he made this proposition in good faith, and desired it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in the same patriotic spirit in which it was made; that Emancipation was a subject exclusively under the control of the States, and must be adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he did not claim nor had this Government any right to coerce them for that purpose; that such was no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood; that he did not expect us there to be prepared to give him an answer, but he hoped we would take the subject into serious consideration; confer with one another, and then take such course as we felt our duty and the interests of our constituents required of us.

"Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State, Slavery was not considered a permanent Institution; that natural causes were there in operation which would, at no distant day, extinguish it, and he did not think that this proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that, he and his friends felt solicitous as to the Message on account of the different constructions which the Resolution and Message had received. The New York Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must accept gradual Emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get something worse.

"The President replied, he must not be expected to quarrel with the New York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he would not anticipate events. In respect to Emancipation in Missouri, he said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating conduct to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the Confederates that Missouri would at some time range herself alongside of them, which, in his judgment, the passage of this Resolution by Congress, and its acceptance by Missouri, would accomplish.

"Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the refusal of the State to accept this proposal, and desired to know if the President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of this scheme.

"The President replied that he had no designs beyond the action of the States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it.

"Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was any power, except in the States themselves, to carry out his scheme of Emancipation?

"The President replied, he thought there could not be. He then went off into a course of remark not qualifying the foregoing declaration, nor material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning.

"Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon Slavery as a permanent Institution; and he did not know that they would be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss, and they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced into Emancipation, either by the direct action of the Government or by indirection, as through the Emancipation of Slaves in this District, or the Confiscation of Southern Property as now threatened; and he thought before they would consent to consider this proposition they would require to be informed on these points.

"The President replied that 'unless he was expelled by the act of God or the Confederate Armies, he should occupy that house for three years, and as long as he remained there, Maryland had nothing to fear, either for her Institutions or her interests, on the points referred to.'

"Mr. Crisfield immediately added: 'Mr. President, what you now say could be heard by the people of Maryland, they would consider your proposition with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined to do.'

"The President: 'That (meaning a publication of what he said), will not do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time;' and again intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the 'Greeley faction' was impending, he said, 'he did not wish to encounter it before the proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided.'

"Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the Constitutionality of his scheme.

"The President replied: 'As you may suppose, I have considered that; and the proposition now submitted does not encounter any Constitutional difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving such State pecuniary aid;' and he thought that the Resolution, as proposed by him, would be considered rather as the expression of a sentiment than as involving any Constitutional question.

"Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at all, it should be by the votes of the Free States, and come as a proposition from them to the Slave States, affording them an inducement to put aside this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected that members representing Slaveholding Constituencies should declare at once, and in advance of any proposition to them, for the Emancipation of Slaves.

"The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a fearful responsibility, and every gentleman must do as he thought best; that he did not know how this scheme was received by the Members from the Free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly; but for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been, and he could not tell how they would vote.

"And, in reply to some expression of Mr. Hall as to his own opinion regarding Slavery, he said he did not pretend to disguise his Anti-Slavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong and should continue to think so; but that was not the question we had to deal with now. Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the North, as of the South; and in any scheme to get rid of it, the North, as well as the South, was morally bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the Institution, wrong, and ought never to have existed; but yet he recognized the rights of Property which had grown out of it, and would respect those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property; that Property can exist, and does legally exist. He thought such a law, wrong, but the rights of Property resulting must be respected; he would get rid of the odious law, not by violating the right, but by encouraging the proposition, and offering inducements to give it up."

"Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by Mr. Crittenden's assuring the President that whatever might be our final action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere devotion to the happiness and glory of his Country; and with that conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he had made.

"After some conversation on the current war news we retired, and I immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper. "J. W. CRISFIELD."

"We were present at the interview described in the foregoing paper of Mr. Crisfield, and we certify that the substance of what passed on the occasion is in this paper, faithfully and fully given.

"J. W. MENZIES, "J. J. CRITTENDEN, "R. MALLORY. "March 10, 1862."

Upon the passage of the Joint-Resolution in the House only four Democrats (Messrs. Cobb, Haight, Lehman, and Sheffield) voted in the affirmative, and but two Republicans (Francis Thomas, and Leary) in the negative. On the 2nd of April, it passed the Senate by a vote of 32 yeas--all Republicans save Messrs. Davis and Thomson--to 10 nays, all Democrats.

Meantime the question of the treatment of the "Contraband" in our Military camps, continued to grow in importance.

On March 26, 1862, General Hooker issued the following order touching certain Fugitive Slaves and their alleged owners:

"HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER, "LOWER POTOMAC, March 26, 1862.

"To BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION:

"Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dummington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey, and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have Negroes supposed to be with some of the regiments of this Division; the Brigadier General commanding directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in search of their Property, and if found, that they be allowed to take possession of the same, without any interference whatever. Should any obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the Division, they will be at once reported by the regimental commanders to these headquarters.

"By command of Brigadier General Hooker;

"JOSEPH DICKINSON, "Assistant Adjutant General."

On the following day, by direction of General Sickles, the following significant report was made touching the above order:

"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND REGIMENT, EXCELSIOR BRIGADE. "CAMP HALL, March 27, 1862.

"LIEUTENANT:--In compliance with verbal directions from Brigadier General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occurrence at this camp on the afternoon of the 26th instant, I beg leave to submit the following:

"At about 3:30 o'clock P. M., March 26, 1862, admission within our lines was demanded by a party of horsemen (civilians), numbering, perhaps, fifteen. They presented the lieutenant commanding the guard, with an order of entrance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, Commanding Division (copy appended), the order stating that nine men should be admitted.

"I ordered that the balance of the party should remain without the lines; which was done. Upon the appearance of the others, there was visible dissatisfaction and considerable murmuring among the soldiers, to so great an extent that I almost feared for the safety of the Slaveholders. At this time General Sickles opportunely arrived, and instructed me to order them outside the camp, which I did, amidst the loud cheers of our soldiers.

"It is proper to add, that before entering our lines, and within about seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one of their number discharged two pistol shots at a Negro, who was running past them, with an evident intention of taking his life. This justly enraged our men.

"All of which is respectfully submitted.

"Your obedient servant, "JOHN TOLEN. "Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B.

"To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr., "A. D. C. and A. A. A. General."

On April 6, the following important dispatch, in the nature of an order, was issued by General Doubleday to one of his subordinate officers:

"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES, "NORTH OF THE POTOMAC, "WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862.

"SIR:--I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in answer to your letter of the 2d instant, that all Negroes coming into the lines of any of the camps or forts under his command, are to be treated as persons, and not as chattels.

"Under no circumstances has the Commander of a fort or camp the power of surrendering persons claimed as Fugitive Slaves, as it cannot be done without determining their character.

"The Additional Article of War recently passed by Congress positively prohibits this.

"The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude Negroes altogether from the lines. The General is of the opinion that they bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any other source. They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and other natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides. They also know and frequently have exposed the haunts of Secession spies and Traitors and the existence of Rebel organizations. They will not, therefore, be excluded.

"The General also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be obtained from the Commanding Officer for that purpose.

"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"E. P. HALSTED, "Assistant Adjutant General.

"Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHANE, "Commanding 76th Reg. N. Y. Vols."

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XVII. BORDER-STATE OPPOSITION

On April 3, 1862, the United States Senate passed a Bill to liberate all Persons of African descent held to Service or Labor within the District of Columbia, and prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the District except as a punishment for crime--an appropriation being made to pay to loyal owners an appraised value of the liberated Slaves not to exceed $300 for each Slave. The vote on its passage in the Senate was 29 yeas to 14 nays--all the yeas being Republican, and all but two of the nays Democratic.

April 11th, the Bill passed the House by 92 yeas to 39 nays--all the yeas save 5 being Republican, and all the nays, save three, being Democratic.

April 7, 1862, the House adopted a resolution, by 67 yeas to 52 nays --all the yeas, save one, Republican, and all the nays, save 12, Democratic--for the appointment of a Select Committee of nine, to consider and report whether any plan could be proposed and recommended for the gradual Emancipation of all the African Slaves, and the extinction of Slavery in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, by the people or local authorities thereof, and how far and in what way the Government of the United States could and ought equitably to aid in facilitating either of those objects.

On the 16th President Lincoln sent the following Message to Congress:

"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

"The Act entitled 'An Act for the release of certain Persons held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia,' has this day been approved and signed.

"I have never doubted the Constitutional authority of Congress to abolish Slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the National Capital freed from the Institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there has never been in my mind any question upon the subject except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances.

"If there be matters within and about this Act which might have taken a course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the Act.

"In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be presented within ninety days from the passage of the Act, 'but not thereafter;' and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane, or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and I recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or Supplemental Act.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN. "April 16, 1862."

Subsequently, in order to meet the President's views, such an amendatory or Supplemental Act was passed and approved.

But now, Major General Hunter having taken upon himself to issue an Emancipation proclamation, May 9, 1862, the President, May 19, 1862, issued a proclamation rescinding it as follows:

"Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures following, to wit:

"'HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, 'HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862. '[General Orders No. 11.]

'The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes a Military necessity to declare them under Martial Law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and Martial Law, in a Free Country, are altogether incompatible; the Persons in these three States--Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina-heretofore held as Slaves, are therefore declared forever Free.

'DAVID HUNTER, 'Major-General Commanding.

'Official: ED. W. SMITH, 'Acting Assistant Adjutant General.'

"And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding,

"Therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, proclaim and declare, that the Government of the United States had no knowledge, information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet any authentic information that the document is genuine. And further, that neither General Hunter, nor any other Commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the United States to make proclamations declaring the Slaves of any State Free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration.

"I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the Slaves of any State or States free, and whether, at any time, in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government, to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of Commanders in the field. These are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies and camps.

"On the sixth day of March last, by a Special Message, I recommended to Congress the adoption of a Joint Resolution to be substantially as follows:

"' Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.'

"The Resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic, definite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people most immediately interested in the subject-matter. To the people of those States I now earnestly appeal--I do not argue--I beseech you to make the argument for yourselves--you cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the times--I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes it contemplates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it.

"In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

"Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

"By the President. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

On June 5th, 1862, General T. Williams issued the following Order:

"HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, "BATON ROUGE, June 5, 1862. "[General Orders No. 46.]

"In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the troops, of harboring runaway Negroes, it is hereby ordered that the respective Commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several regiments, Second Brigade, turn all such Fugitives in their camps or garrisons out beyond the limits of their respective guards and sentinels.

"By order of Brigadier-General T. Williams:

"WICKHAM HOFFMAN, "Assistant-Adjutant General."

Lieutenant-Colonel D. R. Anthony, of the Seventh Kansas Volunteers, commanding a Brigade, issued the following order, at a date subsequent to the Battle of Pittsburg Landing and the evacuation of Corinth:

"HEADQUARTERS MITCHELL'S BRIGADE, "ADVANCE COLUMN, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, "GENERAL ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, "CAMP ETHERIDGE, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1862. "[General Orders No. 26.]

"1. The impudence--and impertinence of the open and armed Rebels, Traitors, Secessionists, and Southern-Rightsmen of this section of the State of Tennessee, in arrogantly demanding the right to search our camp for Fugitive Slaves, has become a nuisance, and will no longer be tolerated. "Officers will see that this class of men, who visit our camp for this purpose, are excluded from our lines.

"2. Should any such persons be found within our lines, they will be arrested and sent to headquarters.

"3. Any officer or soldier of this command who shall arrest and deliver to his master a Fugitive Slave, shall be summarily and severely punished, according to the laws relative to such crimes.

"4. The strong Union sentiment in this Section is most gratifying, and all officers and soldiers, in their intercourse with the loyal, and those favorably disposed, are requested to act in their usual kind and courteous manner and protect them to the fullest extent.

"By order of D. R. Anthony, Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Kansas Volunteers, commanding:

"W. W. H. LAWRENCE, "Captain and Assistant-Adjutant General."

Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony was subsequently placed under arrest for issuing the above order.

It was about this time, also, that General McClellan addressed to President Lincoln a letter on "forcible Abolition of Slavery," and "a Civil and Military policy"--in these terms:

"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, "CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA., July 7, 1862.

"MR. PRESIDENT:--You have been fully informed that the Rebel Army is in the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot but regard our condition as critical, and I earnestly desire, in view of possible contingencies, to lay before your Excellency, for your private consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the Rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this Army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These views amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and heart.

"Our cause must never be abandoned; it is the cause of Free institutions and Self-government. The Constitution and the Union must be preserved, whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood.

"If Secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen in the future. Let neither Military disaster, political faction, nor Foreign War shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of the Laws of the United States upon the people of every State.

"The time has come when the Government must determine upon a Civil and Military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble.

"The responsibility of determining, declaring, and supporting such Civil and Military policy, and of directing the whole course of National affairs in regard to the Rebellion, must now be assumed and exercised by you, or our Cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even for the present terrible exigency.

"This Rebellion has assumed the character of a War; as such it should be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a War looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither Confiscation of property, political executions of persons, territorial organizations of States, or forcible Abolition of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment.

"In prosecuting the War, all private property and unarmed persons should be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of Military operations; all private property taken for Military use should be paid or receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes; all unnecessary trespass sternly prohibited and offensive demeanor by the military towards citizens promptly rebuked.

"Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments, Constitutionally made, should be neither demanded nor received.

"Military Government should be confined to the preservation of public order and the protection of political right. Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of Servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband under the Act of Congress, seeking Military protection, should receive it.

"The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own service claims to Slave-labor should be asserted, and the right of the owner to compensation therefor should be recognized.

"This principle might be extended, upon grounds of Military necessity and security, to all the Slaves of a particular State, thus working manumission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is only a question of time.

"A system of policy thus Constitutional, and pervaded by the influences of Christianity and Freedom, would receive the support of almost all truly Loyal men, would deeply impress the Rebel masses and all foreign nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to the favor of the Almighty.

"Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our Struggle shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially upon Slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present Armies.

"The policy of the Government must be supported by concentrations of Military power. The National Forces should not be dispersed in expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies, but should be mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the Armies of the Confederate States. Those Armies thoroughly defeated, the political structure which they support would soon cease to exist,

"In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will require a Commander-in-chief of the Army, one who possesses your confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to execute your orders, by directing the Military Forces of the Nation to the accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place for myself, I am willing to serve you in such position as you may assign me, and I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior.

"I may be on the brink of Eternity; and as I hope forgiveness from my Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity towards you and from love for my Country.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, "Major-General Commanding.

"His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President."

July 12, 1862, Senators and Representatives of the Border Slave-holding States, having been specially invited to the White House for the purpose, were addressed by President Lincoln, as follows:

"GENTLEMEN:--After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall have no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that you of the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive, to make this appeal to you.

"I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my opinion, if you all had voted for the Resolution in the Gradual Emancipation Message of last March, the War would now be substantially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift means of ending it. Let the States which are in Rebellion see definitely and certainly that in no event will the States you represent ever join their proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the contest.

"But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the Institution within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have overwhelmingly done, and nothing daunted, they still claim you as their own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever before their faces, and they can shake you no more forever.

"Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the whole Country, I ask, 'Can you, for your States, do better than to take the course I urge?' Discarding punctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event?

"You prefer that the Constitutional relations of the States to the Nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the Institution; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect, under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be performed. But it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by War.

"The incidents of the War cannot be avoided. If the War continues long, as it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the Institution in your States will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion--by the mere incidents of the War. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already.

"How much better for you and for your people to take the step which at once shortens the War and secures substantial compensation for that which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event! How much better to thus save the money which else we sink forever in the War! How: much better to do it while we can, lest the War ere long render us pecuniarily unable to do it! How much better for you, as seller, and the Nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the War could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats!

"I do not speak of Emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to Emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people will not be so reluctant to go.

"I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned; one which threatens division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I hope still is, my friend. I value him none the less for his agreeing with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be freed. He proclaimed all men Free within certain States, and I repudiated the proclamation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure than I could believe would follow.

"Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can relieve the Country in this important point.

"Upon these considerations I have again begged your attention to the Message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss it among yourselves. You are Patriots and Statesmen, and as such I pray you consider this proposition; and, at the least, commend it to the consideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate popular Government for the best people in the World, I beseech you that you do in nowise omit this.

"Our common Country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of Government is saved to the World, its beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered inconceivable grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever."

The gentlemen representing in Congress the Border-States, to whom this address was made, subsequently met and discussed its subject matter, and made written reply in the shape of majority and minority replies, as follows:

THE MAJORITY REPLY:

"WASHINGTON, July 14, 1862.

"TO THE PRESIDENT:

"The undersigned, Representatives of Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and Maryland, in the two Houses of Congress, have listened to your address with the profound sensibility naturally inspired by the high source from which it emanates, the earnestness which marked its delivery, and the overwhelming importance of the subject of which it treats. We have given it a most respectful consideration, and now lay before you our response. We regret that want of time has not permitted us to make it more perfect.

"We have not been wanting, Mr. President, in respect to you, and in devotion to the Constitution and the Union. We have not been indifferent to the great difficulties surrounding you, compared with which all former National troubles have been but as the summer cloud; and we have freely given you our sympathy and support. Repudiating the dangerous heresies of the Secessionists, we believed, with you, that the War on their part is aggressive and wicked, and the objects for which it was to be prosecuted on ours, defined by your Message at the opening of the present Congress, to be such as all good men should approve.

"We have not hesitated to vote all supplies necessary to carry it on vigorously. We have voted all the men and money you have asked for, and even more; we have imposed onerous taxes on our people, and they are paying them with cheerfulness and alacrity; we have encouraged enlistments, and sent to the field many of our best men; and some of our number have offered their persons to the enemy as pledges of their sincerity and devotion to the Country.

"We have done all this under the most discouraging circumstances, and in the face of measures most distasteful to us and injurious to the interests we represent, and in the hearing of doctrines avowed by those who claim to be your friends, must be abhorrent to us and our constituents.

"But, for all this, we have never faltered, nor shall we as long as we have a Constitution to defend and a Government which protects us. And we are ready for renewed efforts, and even greater sacrifices, yea, any sacrifice, when we are satisfied it is required to preserve our admirable form of Government and the priceless blessings of Constitutional Liberty.

"A few of our number voted for the Resolution recommended by your Message of the 6th of March last, the greater portion of us did not, and we will briefly state the prominent reasons which influenced our action.

"In the first place, it proposed a radical change of our social system, and was hurried through both Houses with undue haste, without reasonable time for consideration and debate, and with no time at all for consultation with our constituents, whose interests it deeply involved. It seemed like an interference by this Government with a question which peculiarly and exclusively belonged to our respective States, on which they had not sought advice or solicited aid.

"Many of us doubted the Constitutional power of this Government to make appropriations of money for the object designated, and all of us thought our finances were in no condition to bear the immense outlay which its adoption and faithful execution would impose upon the National Treasury. If we pause but a moment to think of the debt its acceptance would have entailed, we are appalled by its magnitude. The proposition was addressed to all the States, and embraced the whole number of Slaves.

"According to the census of 1860 there were then nearly four million Slaves in the Country; from natural increase they exceed that number now. At even the low average of $300, the price fixed by the Emancipation Act for the Slaves of this District, and greatly below their real worth, their value runs up to the enormous sum of $1,200,000,000; and if to that we add the cost of deportation and colonization, at $100 each, which is but a fraction more than is actually paid--by the Maryland Colonization Society, we have $400,000,000 more.

"We were not willing to impose a tax on our people sufficient to pay the interest on that sum, in addition to the vast and daily increasing debt already fixed upon them by exigencies of the War, and if we had been willing, the Country could not bear it. Stated in this form the proposition is nothing less than the deportation from the Country of $1,600,000,000 worth of producing labor, and the substitution, in its place, of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount.

"But, if we are told that it was expected that only the States we represent would accept the proposition, we respectfully submit that even then it involves a sum too great for the financial ability of this Government at this time. According to the census of 1860:

Slaves Kentucky had ........... 225,490 Maryland ............... 87,188 Virginia ............... 490,887 Delaware ............... 1,798 Missouri ............... 114,965 Tennessee .............. 275,784

Making in the whole .. 1,196,112

At the same rate of valuation these would amount to ......... $358,933,500

Add for deportation and colonization $100 each ............... 118,244,533

And we have the enormous sum of ... $478,038,133

"We did not feel that we should be justified in voting for a measure which, if carried out, would add this vast amount to our public debt at a moment when the Treasury was reeling under the enormous expenditure of the War.

"Again, it seemed to us that this Resolution was but the annunciation of a sentiment which could not or was not likely to be reduced to an actual tangible proposition. No movement was then made to provide and appropriate the funds required to carry it into effect; and we were not encouraged to believe that funds would be provided. And our belief has been fully justified by subsequent events.

"Not to mention other circumstances, it is quite sufficient for our purpose to bring to your notice the fact that, while this resolution was under consideration in the Senate, our colleague, the Senator from Kentucky, moved an amendment appropriating $500,000 to the object therein designated, and it was voted down with great unanimity.

"What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the fruits of the promise held out; and on what ground could we, as fair men, approach them and challenge their support?

"The right to hold Slaves, is a right appertaining to all the States of this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the Institution, as their tastes or their interests may prompt, and no one is authorized to question the right or limit the enjoyment. And no one has more clearly affirmed that right than you have. Your Inaugural Address does you great honor in this respect, and inspired the Country with confidence in your fairness and respect for the Law. Our States are in the enjoyment of that right.

"We do not feel called on to defend the Institution or to affirm it is one which ought to be cherished; perhaps, if we were to make the attempt, we might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is enough for our purpose to know that it is a right; and, so knowing, we did not see why we should now be expected to yield it.

"We had contributed our full share to relieve the Country at this terrible crisis; we had done as much as had been required of others in like circumstances; and we did not see why sacrifices should be expected of us from which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see what good the Nation would derive from it.

"Such a sacrifice submitted to by us would not have strengthened the arm of this Government or weakened that of the Enemy. It was not necessary as a pledge of our Loyalty, for that had been manifested beyond a reasonable doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was not the remotest probability that the States we represent would join in the Rebellion, nor is there now, or of their electing to go with the Southern Section in the event of a recognition of the Independence of any part of the disaffected region.

"Our States are fixed unalterably in their resolution to adhere to and support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for Constitutional Liberty, but by its preservation. They will, under no circumstances, consent to its dissolution; and we do them no more than justice when we assure you that, while the War is conducted to prevent that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can muster a man, or command a dollar.

"Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern Confederacy. The bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in the custody of an association which has incorporated in its Organic Law the seeds of its own destruction.

"We cannot admit, Mr. President, that if we had voted for the Resolution in the Emancipation Message of March last, the War would now be substantially ended. We are unable to see how our action in this particular has given, or could give, encouragement to the Rebellion. The Resolution has passed; and if there be virtue in it, it will be quite as efficacious as if we had voted for it.

"We have no power to bind our States in this respect by our votes here; and, whether we had voted the one way or the other, they are in the same condition of freedom to accept or reject its provisions.

"No, Sir, the War has not been prolonged or hindered by our action on this or any other measure. We must look for other causes for that lamented fact. We think there is not much difficulty, not much uncertainty, in pointing out others far more probable and potent in their agencies to that end.

"The Rebellion derives its strength from the Union of all classes in the Insurgent States; and while that Union lasts the War will never end until they are utterly exhausted. We know that, at the inception of these troubles, Southern society was divided, and that a large portion, perhaps a majority, were opposed to Secession. Now the great mass of Southern people are united.

"To discover why they are so, we must glance at Southern society, and notice the classes into which it has been divided, and which still distinguish it. They are in arms, but not for the same objects; they are moved to a common end, but by different and even inconsistent reasons.

"The leaders, which comprehend what was previously known as the State Rights Party, and is much the lesser class, seek to break down National Independence and set up State domination. With them it is a War against Nationality.

"The other class is fighting, as it supposes, to maintain and preserve its rights of Property and domestic safety, which it has been made to believe are assailed by this Government. This latter class are not Disunionists per se; they are so only because they have been made to believe that this Administration is inimical to their rights, and is making War on their domestic Institutions. As long as these two classes act together they will never assent to a Peace.

"The policy, then, to be pursued, is obvious. The former class will never be reconciled, but the latter may be. Remove their apprehensions; satisfy them that no harm is intended to them and their Institutions; that this Government is not making War on their rights of Property, but is simply defending its legitimate authority, and they will gladly return to their allegiance as soon as the pressure of Military dominion imposed by the Confederate authority is removed from them.

"Twelve months ago, both Houses of Congress, adopting the spirit of your Message, then but recently sent in, declared with singular unanimity the objects of the War, and the Country instantly bounded to your side to assist you in carrying it on. If the spirit of that Resolution had been adhered to, we are confident that we should before now have seen the end of this deplorable conflict. But what have we seen?

"In both Houses of Congress we have heard doctrines subversive of the principles of the Constitution, and seen measure after measure, founded in substance on those doctrines, proposed and carried through, which can have no other effect than to distract and divide loyal men, and exasperate and drive still further from us and their duty the people of the rebellious States.

"Military officers, following these bad examples, have stepped beyond the just limits of their authority in the same direction, until in several instances you have felt the necessity of interfering to arrest them. And even the passage of the Resolution to which you refer has been ostentatiously proclaimed as the triumph of a principle which the people of the Southern States regard as ruinous to them. The effect of these measures was foretold, and may now be seen in the indurated state of Southern feeling.

"To these causes, Mr. President, and not to our omission to vote for the Resolution recommended by you, we solemnly believe we are to attribute the terrible earnestness of those in arms against the Government, and the continuance of the War. Nor do we (permit us to say, Mr. President, with all respect to you) agree that the Institution of Slavery is 'the lever of their power,' but we are of the opinion that 'the lever of their power' is the apprehension that the powers of a common Government, created for common and equal protection to the interests of all, will be wielded against the Institutions of the Southern States.

"There is one other idea in your address we feel called on to notice. After stating the fact of your repudiation of General Hunter's Proclamation, you add:

"'Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me and is increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can relieve the Country, in this important point,'

"We have anxiously looked into this passage to discover its true import, but we are yet in painful uncertainty. How can we, by conceding what you now ask, relieve you and the Country from the increasing pressure to which you refer? We will not allow ourselves to think that the proposition is, that we consent to give up Slavery, to the end that the Hunter proclamation may be let loose on the Southern people, for it is too well known that we would not be parties to any such measure, and we have too much respect for you to imagine you would propose it.

"Can it mean that by sacrificing our interest in Slavery we appease the spirit that controls that pressure, cause it to be withdrawn, and rid the Country of the pestilent agitation of the Slavery question? We are forbidden so to think, for that spirit would not be satisfied with the liberation of 100,000 Slaves, and cease its agitation while 3,000,000 remain in bondage. Can it mean that by abandoning Slavery in our States we are removing the pressure from you and the Country, by preparing for a separation on the line of the Cotton States?

"We are forbidden so to think, because it is known that we are, and we believe that you are, unalterably opposed to any division at all. We would prefer to think that you desire this concession as a pledge of our support, and thus enable you to withstand a pressure which weighs heavily on you and the Country.

"Mr. President, no such sacrifice is necessary to secure our support. Confine yourself to your Constitutional authority; confine your subordinates within the same limits; conduct this War solely for the purpose of restoring the Constitution to its legitimate authority; concede to each State and its loyal citizens their just rights, and we are wedded to you by indissoluble ties. Do this, Mr. President, and you touch the American heart, and invigorate it with new hope. You will, as we solemnly believe, in due time restore Peace to your Country, lift it from despondency to a future of glory, and preserve to your countrymen, their posterity, and man, the inestimable treasure of a Constitutional Government.

"Mr. President, we have stated with frankness and candor the reasons on which we forbore to vote for the Resolution you have mentioned; but you have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to 'consider it, and at the least to commend it to the consideration of our States and people.'

"Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved Country, in the hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the consideration and ultimate judgment of our own people.

"While differing from you as to the necessity of Emancipating the Slaves of our States as a means of putting down the Rebellion, and while protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial interference to induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of policy on a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them, yet, when you and our brethren of the Loyal States sincerely believe that the retention of Slavery by us is an obstacle to Peace and National harmony, and are willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our States and people for the inconveniences produced by such a change of system, we are not unwilling that our people shall consider the propriety of putting it aside.

"But we have already said that we regard this Resolution as the utterance of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume the shape of a tangible practical proposition, which would yield the fruits of the sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the same want of confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its present impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is, to them, of immense importance, and they ought not to be expected even to entertain the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it their just expectations will not be frustrated.

"We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to exercise an admitted Constitutional right in a particular manner, and yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical, efficient shape, as to command their confidence that its fruits are contingent only upon their acceptance. We cannot trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation.

"If Congress, by proper and necessary legislation, shall provide sufficient funds and place them at your disposal to be applied by you to the payment of any of our States, or the citizens thereof, who shall adopt the Abolishment of Slavery, either gradual or immediate, as they may determine, and the expense of deportation and colonization of the liberated Slaves, then will our States and people take this proposition into careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole Country. We have the honor to be, with great respect,

"C. A. WICKLIFFE, Ch'man, CHAS. B. CALVERT, GARRETT DAVIS, C. L. L. LEARY, R. WILSON, EDWIN H. WEBSTER, J. J. CRITTENDEN, R. MALLORY, JOHN S. CARLILE, AARON HARDING, J. W. CRISFIELD, JAMES S. ROLLINS, J. S. JACKSON, J. W. MENZIES, H. GRIDER, THOMAS L. PRICE, JOHN S. PHELPS, G. W. DUNLAP, FRANCIS THOMAS, WILLIAM A. HALL."

THE MINORITY REPLY.

"WASHINGTON, July 15, 1863.

"MR. PRESIDENT:--The undersigned, members of Congress from the Border States, in response to your address of Saturday last, beg leave to say that they attended a meeting, on the same day the address was delivered, for the purpose of considering the same. The meeting appointed a Committee to report a response to your address. That report was made on yesterday, and the action of the majority indicated clearly that the response, or one in substance the same, would be adopted and presented to you.

"Inasmuch as we cannot, consistently with our own sense of duty to the Country, under the existing perils which surround us, concur in that response, we feel it to be due to you and to ourselves to make to you a brief and candid answer over our own signatures.

"We believe that the whole power of the Government, upheld and sustained by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all Sections, and of all Parties, is essentially necessary to put down the Rebellion and preserve the Union and the Constitution. We understand your appeal to us to have been made for the purpose of securing this result.

"A very large portion of the People in the Northern States believe that Slavery is the 'lever-power of the Rebellion.' It matters not whether this belief be well-founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have to deal with things as they are, and not as we would have them be.

"In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking down this Institution through the exercise of Military authority. The Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and influence of the men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element called "Conservative" be withdrawn.

"Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the Border-State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making the first sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme men in the North to meet us half-way, in order that the whole moral, political, pecuniary, and physical force of the Nation may be firmly and earnestly united in one grand effort to save the Union and the Constitution.

"Believing that such were the motives that prompted your Address, and such the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our sense of duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding or querulousness over the things that are past.

"We are not disposed to seek for the cause of present misfortunes in the errors and wrongs of others who now propose to unite with us in a common purpose.

"But, on the other hand, we meet your address in the spirit in which it was made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the World that there is no sacrifice that we are not ready to make to save the Government and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though there may be, will permit no man, from the North or from the South, to go further than we in the accomplishment of the great work before us. That, in order to carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in our power, ask the people of the Border States calmly, deliberately, and fairly to consider your recommendations.

"We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now become history, that the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to abolish Slavery among them as a condition to foreign intervention in favor of their Independence as a Nation.

"If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely ask our people to consider the question of Emancipation to save the Union.

"With great respect, your obedient servants,

"JOHN W. NOELL, "SAMUEL L. CASEY, "GEORGE P. FISHER, "A. J. CLEMENTS, "WILLIAM G. BROWN, "JACOB B. BLAIR, "W. T. WILLEY."

[The following separate replies, subsequently made, by Representative Maynard of Tennessee, and Senator Henderson of Missouri, are necessarily given to complete this part of the Border State record.]

MR. MAYNARD'S REPLY.

"HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 16, 1862.

"SIR:--The magnitude and gravity of the proposition submitted by you to Representatives from the Slave States would naturally occasion diversity, if not contrariety, of opinion. You will not, therefore, be surprised that I have not been able to concur in view with the majority of them.

"This is attributable, possibly, to the fact that my State is not a Border State, properly so called, and that my immediate constituents are not yet disenthralled from the hostile arms of the Rebellion. This fact is a physical obstacle in the way of my now submitting to their consideration this, or any other proposition looking to political action, especially such as, in this case, would require a change in the Organic Law of the State.

"But do not infer that I am insensible to your appeal. I am not; you are surrounded with difficulties far greater than have embarrassed any of your predecessors. You need the support of every American citizen, and you ought to have it--active, zealous and honest. The union of all Union men to aid you in preserving the Union, is the duty of the time. Differences as to policy and methods must be subordinated to the common purpose.

"In looking for the cause of this Rebellion, it is natural that each Section and each Party should ascribe as little blame as possible to itself, and as much as possible to its opponent Section and Party. Possibly you and I might not agree on a comparison of our views. That there should be differences of opinion as to the best mode of conducting our Military operations, and the best men to lead our Armies, is equally natural. Contests on such questions weaken ourselves and strengthen our enemies. They are unprofitable, and possibly unpatriotic. Somebody must yield, or we waste our strength in a contemptible struggle among ourselves.

"You appeal to the loyal men of the Slave States to sacrifice something of feeling and a great deal of interest. The sacrifices they have already made and the sufferings they have endured give the best assurance that the appeal will not have been made in vain. He who is not ready to yield all his material interests, and to forego his most cherished sentiments and opinions for the preservation of his Country, although he may have periled his life on the battle-field in her defense, is but half a Patriot. Among the loyal people that I represent, there are no half-patriots.

"Already the Rebellion has cost us much, even to our undoing; we are content, if need be, to give up the rest, to suppress it. We have stood by you from the beginning of this struggle, and we mean to stand by you, God willing, till the end of it.

"I did not vote for the Resolution to which you allude, solely for the reason that I was absent at the Capital of my own State. It is right.

"Should any of the Slave States think proper to terminate that Institution, as several of them, I understand, or at least some of their citizens propose, justice and a generous comity require that the Country should interpose to aid in lessening the burden, public and private, occasioned by so radical a change in its social and industrial relations.

"I will not now speculate upon the effect, at home or abroad, of the adoption of your policy, nor inquire what action of the Rebel leaders has rendered something of the kind important. Your whole administration gives the highest assurance that you are moved, not so much from a desire to see all men everywhere made free, as from a higher desire to preserve free institutions for the benefit of men already free; not to make Slaves, Freemen, but to prevent Freemen from being made Slaves; not to destroy an Institution, which a portion of us only consider bad, but to save institutions which we all alike consider good. I am satisfied you would not ask from any of your fellow-citizens a sacrifice not, in your judgment, imperatively required by the safety of the Country.

"This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same spirit.

"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"HORACE MAYNARD.

"To the PRESIDENT."

SENATOR HENDERSON'S REPLY.

"WASHINGTON CITY, July 21, 1862.

"MR. PRESIDENT:--The pressure of business in the Senate during the last few days of the session prevented my attendance at the meeting of the Border-State members, called to consider your proposition in reference to gradual emancipation in our States.

"It is for this reason only, and not because I fail to appreciate their importance or properly respect your suggestions, that my name does not appear to any of the several papers submitted in response. I may also add that it was my intention, when the subject came up practically for consideration in the Senate, to express fully my views in regard to it. This of course would have rendered any other response unnecessary. But the want of time to consider the matter deprived me of that opportunity, and, lest now my silence be misconstrued, I deem it proper to say to you that I am by no means indifferent to the great questions so earnestly, and as I believe so honestly, urged by you upon our consideration.

"The Border States, so far, are the chief sufferers by this War, and the true Union men of those States have made the greatest sacrifices for the preservation of the Government. This fact does not proceed from mismanagement on the part of the Union authorities, or a want of regard for our people, but it is the necessary result of the War that is upon us.

"Our States are the battle-fields. Our people, divided among themselves, maddened by the struggle, and blinded by the smoke of battle, invited upon our soil contending armies--the one to destroy the Government, the other to maintain it. The consequence to us is plain. The shock of the contest upturns Society and desolates the Land. We have made sacrifices, but at last they were only the sacrifices demanded by duty, and unless we are willing to make others, indeed any that the good of the Country, involved in the overthrow of Treason, may expect at our hands, our title to patriotism is not complete.

"When you submitted your proposition to Congress, in March last, 'that the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system,' I gave it a most cheerful support, and I am satisfied it would have received the approbation of a large majority of the Border States delegations in both Branches of Congress, if, in the first place, they had believed the War, with its continued evils--the most prominent of which, in a material point of view, is its injurious effect on the Institution of Slavery in our States--could possibly have been protracted for another twelve months; and if, in the second place, they had felt assured that the party having the majority in Congress would, like yourself, be equally prompt in practical action as in the expression of a sentiment.

"While scarcely any one doubted your own sincerity in the premises, and your earnest wish speedily to terminate the War, you can readily conceive the grounds for difference of opinion where conclusions could only be based on conjecture.

"Believing, as I did, that the War was not so near its termination as some supposed, and feeling disposed to accord to others the same sincerity of purpose that I should claim for myself under similar circumstances, I voted for the proposition. I will suppose that others were actuated by no sinister motives.

"In doing so, Mr. President, I desire to be distinctly understood by you and by my constituents. I did not suppose at the time that I was personally making any sacrifice by supporting the Resolution, nor that the people of my State were called upon to make any sacrifices, either in considering or accepting the proposition, if they saw fit.

"I agreed with you in the remarks contained in the Message accompanying the Resolution, that 'the Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed. * * * War has been and continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment of the National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend and all the ruin which may follow it.'

"It is truly 'impossible' to foresee all the evils resulting from a War so stupendous as the present. I shall be much rejoiced if something more dreadful than the sale of Freedom to a few Slaves in the Border States shall not result from it.

"If it closes with the Government of our Fathers secure, and Constitutional Liberty in all its purity guaranteed to the White man, the result will be better than that having a place in the fears of many good men at present, and much better than the past history of such revolutions can justify us in expecting.

"In this period of the Nation's distress, I know of no human institution too sacred for discussion; no material interest belonging to the citizen that he should not willingly place upon the altar of his Country, if demanded by the public good.

"The man who cannot now sacrifice Party and put aside selfish considerations is more than half disloyal. Such a man does not deserve the blessings of good government. Pride of opinion, based upon Sectional jealousies, should not be permitted to control the decision of any political question. These remarks are general, but apply with peculiar force to the People of the Border States at present.

"Let us look at our condition. A desolating War is upon us. We cannot escape it if we would. If the Union Armies were to-day withdrawn from the Border States without first crushing the Rebellion in the South, no rational man can doubt for a moment that the adherents of the Union Cause in those States would soon be driven in exile from their homes by the exultant Rebels, who have so long hoped to return and take vengeance upon us.

"The People of the Border States understand very well the unfriendly and selfish spirit exercised toward them by the leaders of this Cotton-State Rebellion, beginning some time previous to its outbreak. They will not fail to remember their insolent refusal to counsel with us, and their haughty assumption of responsibility upon themselves for their misguided action.

"Our people will not soon forget that, while declaiming against Coercion, they closed their doors against the exportation of Slaves from the Border States into the South, with the avowed purpose of forcing us into Rebellion through fears of losing that species of Property. They knew very well the effect to be produced on Slavery by a Civil War, especially in those States into which hostile Armies might penetrate, and upon the soil of which the great contests for the success of Republican Government were to be decided.

"They wanted some intermediate ground for the conflict of arms-territory where the population would be divided. They knew, also, that by keeping Slavery in the Border States the mere 'friction and abrasion' to which you so appropriately allude, would keep up a constant irritation, resulting necessarily from the frequent losses to which the owners would be subjected.

"They also calculated largely, and not without reason, upon the repugnance of Non-Slaveholders in those States to a Free Negro population. In the meantime they intended persistently to charge the overthrow of Slavery to be the object of the Government, and hostility to this Institution the origin of the War. By this means the unavoidable incidents of the strife might easily he charged as the settled purposes of the Government.

"Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could not in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained, upon the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and every omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a new incentive to Rebellion.

"By these means the War was to be kept in the Border States, regardless of our interests, until an exhausted Treasury should render it necessary to send the tax-gatherer among our people, to take the little that might be left them from the devastations of War.

"They then expected a clamor for Peace by us, resulting in the interference of France and England, whose operatives in the meantime would be driven to want, and whose aristocracy have ever been ready to welcome a dissolution of the American Union.

"This cunningly-devised plan for securing a Gulf-Confederacy, commanding the mouths of the great Western rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Southern Atlantic ocean, with their own territory unscathed by the horrors of war, and surrounded by the Border States, half of whose population would be left in sympathy with them, for many years to come, owing to the irritations to which I have alluded, has, so far, succeeded too well.

"In Missouri they have already caused us to lose a third or more of the Slaves owned at the time of the last census. In addition to this, I can make no estimate of the vast amount of property of every character that has been destroyed by Military operations in the State. The loss from general depreciation of values, and the utter prostration of every business-interest of our people, is wholly beyond calculation.

"The experience of Missouri is but the experience of other Sections of the Country similarly situated. The question is therefore forced upon us, 'How long is this War to continue; and, if continued, as it has been, on our soil, aided by the Treason and folly of our own citizens, acting in concert with the Confederates, how long can Slavery, or, if you please, any other property-interest, survive in our States?'

"As things now are, the people of the Border-States yet divided, we cannot expect an immediate termination of the struggle, except upon condition of Southern Independence, losing thereby control of the lower Mississippi. For this, we in Missouri are not prepared, nor are we prepared to become one of the Confederate States, should the terrible calamity of Dissolution occur.

"This, I presume, the Union men of Missouri would resist to the death. And whether they should do so or not, I will not suppose for an instant, that the Government of the United States would, upon any condition, submit to the loss of territory so essential to its future commercial greatness as is the State of Missouri.

"But should all other reasons fail to prevent such a misfortune to our people of Missouri, there is one that cannot fail. The Confederates never wanted us, and would not have us. I assume, therefore, that the War will not cease, but will be continued until the Rebellion shall be overcome. It cannot and will not cease, so far as the people of Missouri are concerned, except upon condition of our remaining in the Union, and the whole West will demand the entire control of the Mississippi river to the Gulf.

"Our interest is therefore bound up with the interests of those States maintaining the Union, and especially with the great States of the West that must be consulted in regard to the terms of any Peace that may be suggested, even by the Nations of Europe, should they at any time unfortunately depart from their former pacific policy and determine to intervene in our affairs.

"The War, then, will have to be continued until the Union shall be practically restored. In this alone consists the future safety of the Border-States themselves. A separation of the Union is ruinous to them. The preservation of the Union can only be secured by a continuation of the War. The consequences of that continuation may be judged of by the experience of the last twelve months. The people of my State are as competent to pass judgment in the premises as I am. I have every confidence in their intelligence, their honesty, and their patriotism.

"In your own language, the proposition you make 'sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State limits,' referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.

"In this view of the subject I can frankly say to you that, personally, I never could appreciate the objections so frequently urged against the proposition. If I understood you properly, it was your opinion, not that Slavery should be removed in order to secure our loyalty to the Government, for every personal act of your administration precludes such an inference, but you believe that the peculiar species of Property was in imminent danger from the War in which we were engaged, and that common justice demanded remuneration for the loss of it.

"You then believe, and again express the opinion, that the peculiar nature of the contest is such that its loss is almost inevitable, and lest any pretext for a charge of injustice against the Government be given to its enemies, you propose to extend to the people of those States standing by the Union, the choice of payment for their Slaves or the responsibility of loss, should it occur, without complaint against the Government.

"Placing the matter in this light, (a mere remuneration for losses rendered inevitable by the casualties of War), the objection of a Constitutional character may be rendered much less formidable in the minds of Northern Representatives whose constituents will have to share in the payment of the money; and, so far as the Border States are concerned, this objection should be most sparingly urged, for it being a matter entirely of their 'own free choice,' in case of a desire to accept, no serious argument will likely be urged against the receipt of the money, or a fund for Colonization.

"But, aside from the power derived from the operations of war, there may be found numerous precedents in the legislation of the past, such as grants of land and money to the several States for specified objects deemed worthy by the Federal Congress. And in addition to this may be cited a deliberate opinion of Mr. Webster upon this very subject, in one of the ablest arguments of his life.

"I allude to this question of power merely in vindication of the position assumed by me in my vote for the Resolution of March last.

"In your last communication to us, you beg of us 'to commend this subject to the consideration of our States and people.' While I entirely differ with you in the opinion expressed, that had the members from the Border States approved of your Resolution of March last 'the War would now be substantially ended,' and while I do not regard the suggestion 'as one of the most potent and swift means of ending' the War, I am yet free to say that I have the most unbounded confidence in your sincerity of purpose in calling our attention to the dangers surrounding us.

"I am satisfied that you appreciate the troubles of the Border States, and that your suggestions are intended for our good. I feel the force of your urgent appeal, and the logic of surrounding circumstances brings conviction even to an unwilling believer.

"Having said that, in my judgment, you attached too much importance to this measure as a means for suppressing the Rebellion, it is due to you that I shall explain.

"Whatever may be the status of the Border States in this respect, the War cannot be ended until the power of the Government is made manifest in the seceded States. They appealed to the sword; give them the sword. They asked for War; let them see its evils on their own soil.

"They have erected a Government, and they force obedience to its behests. This structure must be destroyed; this image, before which an unwilling People have been compelled to bow, must be broken. The authority of the Federal Government must be felt in the heart of the rebellious district. To do this, let armies be marched upon them at once, and let them feel what they have inflicted on us in the Border. Do not fear our States; we will stand by the Government in this work.

"I ought not to disguise from you or the people of my State, that personally I have fixed and unalterable opinions on the subject of your communication. Those opinions I shall communicate to the people in that spirit of frankness that should characterize the intercourse of the Representative with his constituents.

"If I were to-day the owner of the lands and Slaves of Missouri, your proposition, so far as that State is concerned, would be immediately accepted. Not a day would be lost. Aside from public considerations, which you suppose to be involved in the proposition, and which no Patriot, I agree, should disregard at present, my own personal interest would prompt favorable and immediate action.

"But having said this, it is proper that I say something more. The Representative is the servant and not the master of the People. He has no authority to bind them to any course of action, or even to indicate what they will, or will not, do when the subject is exclusively theirs and not his.

"I shall take occasion, I hope honestly, to give my views of existing troubles and impending dangers, and shall leave the rest to them, disposed, as I am, rather to trust their judgment upon the case stated than my own, and at the same time most cheerfully to acquiesce in their decision.

"For you, personally, Mr. President, I think I can pledge the kindest considerations of the people of Missouri, and I shall not hesitate to express the belief that your recommendation will be considered by them in the same spirit of kindness manifested by you in its presentation to us, and that their decision will be such as is demanded 'by their interests, their honor, and their duty to the whole Country.'

"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"J. B. HENDERSON.

"To his Excellency, "A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT."

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XVIII. FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL

While mentally revolving the question of Emancipation--now, evidently "coming to a head,"--no inconsiderable portion of Mr. Lincoln's thoughts centered upon, and his perplexities grew out of, his assumption that the "physical difference" between the Black and White--the African and Caucasian races, precluded the idea of their living together in the one land as Free men and equals.

In his speeches during the great Lincoln-Douglas debate we have seen this idea frequently advanced, and so, in his later public utterances as President.

As in his appeal to the Congressional delegations from the Border-States on the 12th of July, 1862, he had held out to them the hope that "the Freed people will not be so reluctant to go" to his projected colony in South America, when their "numbers shall be large enough to be company and encouragement for one another," so, at a later date--on the 14th of August following--he appealed to the Colored Free men themselves to help him found a proposed Negro colony in New Granada, and thus aid in the solution of this part of the knotty problem, by the disenthrallment of the new race from its unhappy environments here.

The substance of the President's interesting address, at the White House, to the delegation of Colored men, for whom he had sent, was thus reported at the time:

"Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary observations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the colonization in some country of the people, or a portion of them, of African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time been his inclination, to favor that cause; and why, he asked, should the people of your race be colonized, and where?

"Why should they leave this Country? This is perhaps the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think. Your race suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffers from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated. You here are Freemen, I suppose?

"A VOICE--Yes, Sir.

"THE PRESIDENT--Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives. Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on any people. But even when you cease to be Slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the White race. You are cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free; but on this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It is a fact about which we all think and feel alike, I and you. We look to our condition.

"Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not recount to you the effects upon White men, growing out of the institution of Slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the White race. See our present condition--the Country engaged in War! our white men cutting one another's throats--none knowing how far it will extend--and then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your race among us there could not be War, although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, without the institution of Slavery, and the Colored race as a basis, the War could not have an existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated.

"I know that there are Free men among you who, even if they could better their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the Country as those who, being Slaves, could obtain their Freedom on this condition. I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be advanced by it. You may believe that you can live in Washington, or elsewhere in the United States, the remainder of your life; perhaps more so than you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign country.

"This is, (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our People, harsh as it may be, for you free Colored people to remain with us. Now if you could give a start to the White people you would open a wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not free at the beginning, and whose intellects are clouded by Slavery, we have very poor material to start with.

"If intelligent Colored men, such as are before me, could move in this matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we have men at the beginning capable of thinking as White men, and not those who have been systematically oppressed. There is much to encourage you.

"For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the White people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject to the hard usages of the World. It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.

"In the American Revolutionary War, sacrifices were made by men engaged in it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British subject, yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own.

"The Colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just been with me the first time I ever saw him. He says they have, within the bounds of that Colony, between three and four hundred thousand people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island, or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants. Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this Country. Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere, their offspring outnumber those deceased.

"The question is, if the Colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is that some of you would rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I do not know how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to them at all events.

"The place I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central America. It is nearer to us than Liberia--not much more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike Liberia, it is a great line of travel--it is a highway. The country is a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with your native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition.

"The particular place I have in view, is to be a great highway from the Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular place has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are harbors among the finest in the World. Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country. Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get ready to settle permanently in their homes.

"If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad show; and so, where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily bread as soon as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is the best thing I know of, with which to commence an enterprise.

"To return--you have been talked to upon this subject, and told that a speculation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know Whites, as well as Blacks, look to their self-interest. Unless among those deficient of intellect, everybody you trade with makes something. You meet with these things here and everywhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the question is, whether it cannot be made of advantage to you?

"You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on external help, as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for your self-reliance. I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you engaged, have provision made that you shall not be wronged. If you will engage in the enterprise, I will spend some of the money intrusted to me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money, but we cannot succeed unless we try; but we think, with care, we can succeed.

"The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that quarter; but it is true, all the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization, and want it; and are more generous than we are here. To your Colored race they have no objection. Besides, I would endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you should be the equals of the best.

"The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to go, when I present evidence of encouragement and protection. Could I get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children, and able to 'cut their own fodder' so to speak? Can I have fifty? If I could find twenty-five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and children--good things in the family relation, I think I could make a successful commencement.

"I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great importance--worthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an hour. I ask you, then, to consider seriously, not as pertaining to yourselves merely, nor for your race, and ours, for the present time, but as one of the things, if successfully managed, for the good of mankind--not confined to the present generation, but as:

"From age to age descends the lay To millions yet to be, Till far its echoes roll away Into eternity."'

President Lincoln's well-meant colored colonization project, however, fell through, owing partly to opposition to it in Central America, and partly to the very natural and deeply-rooted disinclination of the Colored free men to leave the land of their birth.

Meanwhile, limited Military Emancipation of Slaves was announced and regulated, on the 22d July, 1862, by the following Executive Instructions, which were issued from the War Department by order of the President--the issue of which was assigned by Jefferson Davis as one reason for his Order of August 1, 1862, directing "that the commissioned officers of Pope's and Steinwehr's commands be not entitled, when captured, to be treated as soldiers and entitled to the benefit of the cartel of exchange:"

"WAR DEPARTMENT, "WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 1862.

"First. Ordered that Military Commanders within the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands, for supplies, or for other Military purposes; and that while property may be destroyed for proper Military objects, none shall be destroyed in wantonness or malice.

"Second. That Military and Naval Commanders shall employ as laborers, within and from said States, so many Persons of African descent as can be advantageously used for Military or Naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor.

"Third. That, as to both property, and Persons of African descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such Persons shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases; and the several departments of this Government shall attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of these orders.

"By Order of the President:

"EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War."

On the 9th of August, 1862, Major General McClellan promulgated the Executive Order of July 22, 1862, from his Headquarters at Harrison's Landing, Va., with certain directions of his own, among which were the following:

"Inhabitants, especially women and children, remaining peaceably at their homes, must not be molested; and wherever commanding officers find families peculiarly exposed in their persons or property to marauding from this Army, they will, as heretofore, so far as they can do with safety and without detriment to the service, post guards for their protection.

"In protecting private property, no reference is intended to Persons held to service or labor by reason of African Descent. Such Persons will be regarded by this Army, as they heretofore have been, as occupying simply a peculiar legal status under State laws, which condition the Military authorities of the United States are not required to regard at all in districts where Military operations are made necessary by the rebellious action of the State governments.

"Persons subject to suspicion of hostile purposes, residing or being near our Forces, will be, as heretofore, subject to arrest and detention, until the cause or necessity is removed. All such arrested parties will be sent, as usual, to the Provost-Marshal General, with a statement of the facts in each case.

"The General Commanding takes this occasion to remind the officers and soldiers of this Army that we are engaged in supporting the Constitution and the Laws of the United States and suppressing Rebellion against their authority; that we are not engaged in a War of rapine, revenge, or subjugation; that this is not a contest against populations, but against armed forces and political organizations; that it is a struggle carried on with the United States, and should be conducted by us upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization.

"Since this Army commenced active operations, Persons of African descent, including those held to service or labor under State laws, have always been received, protected, and employed as laborers at wages. Hereafter it shall be the duty of the Provost-Marshal General to cause lists to be made of all persons of African descent employed in this Army as laborers for Military purposes--such lists being made sufficiently accurate and in detail to show from whom such persons shall have come.

"Persons so subject and so employed have always understood that after being received into the Military service of the United States, in any capacity, they could never be reclaimed by their former holders. Except upon such understanding on their part, the order of the President, as to this class of Persons, would be inoperative. The General Commanding therefore feels authorized to declare to all such employees, that they will receive permanent Military protection against any compulsory return to a condition of servitude."

Public opinion was now rapidly advancing, under the pressure of Military necessity, and the energetic efforts of the immediate Emancipationists, to a belief that Emancipation by Presidential Proclamation would be wise and efficacious as an instrumentality toward subduing the Rebellion; that it must come, sooner or later--and the sooner, the better.

Indeed, great fault was found, by some of these, with what they characterized as President Lincoln's "obstinate slowness" to come up to their advanced ideas on the subject. He was even accused of failing to execute existing laws touching confiscation of Slaves of Rebels coming within the lines of the Union Armies. On the 19th of August, 1862, a letter was addressed to him by Horace Greeley which concluded thus:

"On the face of this wide Earth, Mr. President, there is not one disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union Cause who does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile--that the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year if Slavery were left in full vigor--that Army officers, who remain to this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the Union--and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union.

"I appeal to the testimony of your embassadors in Europe. It is freely at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the seeming subserviency of your policy to the Slaveholding, Slavery-upholding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair, of Statesmen of all parties; and be admonished by the general answer.

"I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you, is a frank, declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the Laws of the Land, more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives Freedom to the Slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any time inclose. We ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it.

"The Rebels are everywhere using the late Anti-Negro riots in the North --as they have long used your officers' treatment of Negroes in the South--to convince the Slaves that they have nothing to hope from a Union success--that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter Bondage to defray the cost of the War.

"Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous Bondmen, and the Union will never be restored--never. We can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies.

"We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and choppers, from the Blacks of the South--whether we allow them to fight for us or not--or we shall be baffled and repelled.

"As one of the Millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle, at any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our Country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a hearty and unequivocal obedience to the Law of the Land. "Yours, "HORACE GREELEY."

To this letter, President Lincoln at once made the following memorable reply:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, "WASHINGTON, Friday, August 22, 1862.

"HON. HORACE GREELEY

"DEAR SIR:--I have just read yours of the 19th inst. addressed to myself through the New York Tribune.

"If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.

"If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them.

"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution.

"The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be--the Union as it was.

"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them.

"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree, with them.

"My paramount object is to save the Union and not either to save or destroy Slavery.

"If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I would do it--and if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would do it--and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.

"What I do about Slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause.

"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

"I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. "Yours, "A. LINCOLN."

On the 13th of September, 1862, a deputation from all the religious denominations of Chicago presented to President Lincoln a memorial for the immediate issue of a Proclamation of Emancipation, to which, and the Chairman's remarks, he thus replied:

"The subject presented in the Memorial is one upon which I have thought much for weeks past, and I may even say, for months. I am approached with the most opposite opinions, and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps, in some respects, both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is, I will do it!

"These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct Revelation; I must study the plain physical aspects of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right!

"The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the other day, four gentlemen, of standing and intelligence, from New York, called, as a delegation, on business connected with the War; but, before leaving, two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general Emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them.

"You know also that the last Session of Congress had a decided majority of Anti-Slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is true of the religious people; why the Rebel soldiers are praying with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and expecting God to favor their side; for one of our soldiers, who had been taken prisoner, told Senator Wilson, a few days since, that he met nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case.

"What good would a Proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole World will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's Bull against the Comet! Would my word free the Slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single Court or Magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the Slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved and which offers protection and Freedom to the Slaves of Rebel masters who came within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single Slave to come over to us.

"And suppose they could be induced by a Proclamation of Freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more rations to the Slaves who have rushed to him, than to all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that is all; though it is true General Butler is feeding the Whites also, by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there.

"If, now, the pressure of the War should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that whenever the Rebels take any Black prisoners, Free or Slave, they immediately auction them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee river a few days ago.

"And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when, after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?

"Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a Proclamation as you desire? Understand, I raise no objections against it on legal or Constitutional grounds, for, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, in time of War, I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the Enemy, nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical War measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion.

* * * * * * * * *

"I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or, at least, its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act, but they would have been impotent without Slavery as their instrument. I will also concede that Emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine.

"Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the War, and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed, thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops.

"I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are 50,000 bayonets in the Union Army from the Border Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a Proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I do not think they all would--not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago--not so many to-day, as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the Rebels.

"Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have an important principle to rally and unite the People, in the fact that Constitutional Government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea going down about as deep as anything!

* * * * * * * * *

"Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire.

"I have not decided against a Proclamation of Liberty to the Slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do.

"I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I have not in any respect injured your feelings."

On the 22d day of September, 1862, not only the Nation, but the whole World, was electrified by the publication--close upon the heels of the Union victory of Antietam--of the Proclamation of Emancipation--weighted with consequences so wide and far-reaching that even at this late day they cannot all be discerned. It was in these words:

"I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the War will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the Constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.

"That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in Rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize Persons of African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there, will be continued.

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the Military and Naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the Freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual Freedom.

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not in Rebellion against the United States.

"That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled 'An Act to make an additional Article of War,' approved March 31, 1862, and which Act is in the words and figures following:

"'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional Article of War, for the government of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such.

"ARTICLE--All officers or persons in the Military or Naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning Fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.

"'SECTION 2.--And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect from and after its passage.'

"Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an Act entitled 'An Act to suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of Rebels, and for other purposes,' approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:

"'SEC. 9.--And be it further enacted, That all Slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in Rebellion against the Government of the United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the Army; and all Slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of the United States; and all Slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by Rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever Free of their servitude, and not again held as Slaves.

"'SEC. 10.--And be it further enacted, That no Slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming said Fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such Fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the Military or Naval service of the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such Person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."

"And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the Military and Naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the Act and sections above recited.

"And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the Rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the Constitutional relation between the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of Slaves.

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

"Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

"By the President: "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

This Proclamation, promising Freedom to an Enslaved race, was hailed with acclamations everywhere save in the rebellious Southern-Slave States, and in the Border-Slave States.

At a meeting of Governors of Loyal States, held at Altoona, Pennsylvania, to take measures for the more active support of the Government, an Address was adopted, on the very day that the Proclamation was promulgated, which well expressed the general feeling prevailing throughout the Northern States, at this time. It was in these patriotic words:

"After nearly one year and a half spent in contest with an armed and gigantic Rebellion against the National Government of the United States, the duty and purpose of the Loyal States and people continue, and must always remain as they were at its origin--namely to restore and perpetuate the authority of this Government and the life of the Nation. No matter what consequences are involved in our fidelity, this work of restoring the Republic, preserving the institutions of democratic Liberty, and justifying the hopes and toils of our Fathers, shall not fail to be performed.

"And we pledge, without hesitation, to the President of the United States, the most loyal and cordial support, hereto as heretofore, in the exercise of the functions of his great office. We recognize in him the chief Executive magistrate of the Nation, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, their responsible and constitutional head, whose rightful authority and power, as well as the Constitutional powers of Congress, must be rigorously and religiously guarded and preserved, as the condition on which alone our form of Government and the constitutional rights and liberties of the People themselves can be saved from the wreck of anarchy or from the gulf 'despotism.

"In submission to the laws which may have been or which may be duly enacted, and to the lawful orders of the President, cooperating always in our own spheres with the National Government, we mean to continue in the most rigorous exercise of all our lawful and proper powers, contending against Treason, Rebellion, and the public Enemies, and, whether in public life or in private station, supporting the arms of the Union, until its Cause shall conquer, until final victory shall perch upon its standard, or the Rebel foe will yield a dutiful, rightful, and unconditional submission. And, impressed with the conviction that an Army of reserve ought, until the War shall end, to be constantly kept on foot, to be raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for emergencies, we respectfully ask the President to call such a force of volunteers for one year's service, of not less than one hundred thousand in the aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall have led its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers and militia. We believe that this would be a Leasure of Military prudence, while it would greatly promote the Military education of the People.

"We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope the Proclamation of the President, issued on the 22nd instant, declaring Emancipated from their bondage all Persons held to Service or Labor as Slaves in the Rebel States, whose Rebellion shall last until the first day of January next ensuing.

"The right of any person to retain authority to compel any portion of the subjects of the National Government to rebel against it, or to maintain its Enemies, implies in those who are allowed possession of such authority the right to rebel themselves; and therefore, the right to establish Martial Law or Military Government in a State or Territory in Rebellion implies the right and the duty of the Government to liberate the minds of all men living therein by appropriate Proclamations and assurances of protection, in order that all who are capable, intellectually and morally, of loyalty and obedience, may not be forced into Treason as the unwilling tools of rebellious Traitors.

"To have continued indefinitely the most efficient cause, support, and stay of the Rebellion, would have been, in our judgment, unjust to the Loyal people whose treasure and lives are made a willing sacrifice on the altar of patriotism--would have discriminated against the wife who is compelled to surrender her husband, against the parent who is to surrender his child, to the hardships of the camp and the perils of battle, in favor of Rebel masters permitted to retain their Slaves. It would have been a final decision alike against humanity, justice, the rights and dignity of the Government, and against sound and wise National policy.

"The decision of the President to strike at the root of the Rebellion will lend new vigor to efforts, and new life and hope to the hearts of the People. Cordially tendering to the President our respectful assurances of personal and official confidence, we trust and believe that the policy now inaugurated will be crowned with success, will give speedy and triumphant victories over our enemies, and secure to this Nation and this People the blessing and favor of Almighty God.

"We believe that the blood of the heroes who have already fallen, and those who may yet give their lives to their Country, will not have been shed in vain.

"The splendid valor of our soldiers, their patient endurance, their manly patriotism, and their devotion to duty, demand from us and from all their countrymen the homage of the sincerest gratitude and the pledge of our constant reinforcement and support. A just regard for these brave men, whom we have contributed to place in the field, and for the importance of the duties which may lawfully pertain to us hereafter, has called us into friendly conference.

"And now, presenting to our National Chief Magistrate this conclusion of our deliberations, we devote ourselves to our Country's service, and we will surround the President with our constant support, trusting that the fidelity and zeal of the Loyal States and People will always assure him that he will be constantly maintained in pursuing, with the utmost vigor, this War for the preservation of the National life and hope of humanity.

"A. G. CURTIN, "JOHN A. ANDREW, "RICHARD YATES, "ISRAEL WASHBURNE, Jr., "EDWARD SOLOMON, "SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD, "O. P. MORTON,--By D. G. ROSE, his Representative, "WM. SPRAGUE, "F. H. PEIRPOINT, "DAVID TOD, "N. S. BERRY, "AUSTIN BLAIR."

Some two months after the issue of his great Proclamation of Liberty, President Lincoln (in his Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862), took occasion again to refer to compensated Emancipation, and, indeed, to the entire matter of Slavery and Freedom, in most instructive and convincing manner, as follows:

"On the 22d day of September last, a Proclamation was issued by the Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.

"In accordance with the purpose in the second paragraph of that paper, I now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called 'compensated Emancipation.'

"A Nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the Earth abideth forever.' It is of the first importance to duly consider and estimate this ever-enduring part.

"That portion of the Earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the People of the United States, is well adapted to be the home of one National family; and it is not well adapted for two, or more. Its vast extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advantage, in this age, for one People, whatever they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence, have brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united People.

"In the Inaugural Address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of Disunion, as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two Sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which, therefore, I beg to repeat:

"'One Section of our Country believes Slavery is right, and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The Fugitive Slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign Slave Trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the People imperfectly supports the law itself.

"The great body of the People abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the Sections, than before. The foreign Slave Trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one Section; while Fugitive Slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and each go out of the presence and beyond the reach of the other; but the different parts of our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them.

"'Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? suppose you go to War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.'

"There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a National boundary upon which to divide. Trace through, from East to West, upon the line between the Free and Slave Country, and we shall find a little more than one third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk back and forth without any consciousness of their presence.

"No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass, by writing it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary. The fact of separation, if it comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding Section, the Fugitive Slave clause, along with all other Constitutional obligations upon the Section seceded from, while I should expect no treaty stipulations would ever be made to take its place.

"But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded East by the Alleghanies, North by the British dominions, West by the Rocky Mountains, and South by the line along which the culture of corn and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten million people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not prevented by any political folly or mistake.

"It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United States-certainly more than one million square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than seventy-five million people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body of the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to it, the magnificent region sloping West, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, being the deepest and also the richest in undeveloped resources. In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is naturally one of the most important in the World.

"Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region which has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has no sea coast, touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one Nation, its people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco.

"But separate our common Country into two nations, as designed by the present Rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.

"And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed. Place it between the now Free and Slave country, or place it South of Kentucky, or North of Ohio, and still the truth remains, that none South of it can trade to any port or place North of it, and none North of it can trade to any port or place South of it except upon terms dictated by a Government foreign to them.

"These outlets, East, West, and South, are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this vast interior region. Which of the three may be the best, is no proper question. All, are better than either; and all, of right belong to that People, and to their successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that there shall be no such line.

"Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to and through them, to the great outside World. They too, and each of them, must have access to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the crossing of any National boundary.

"Our National strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the Land we inhabit; not from our National homestead. There is no possible severing of this, but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands Union, and abhors separation. In fact it would, ere long, force reunion, however much of blood and treasure the separation might have cost.

"Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of men; and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever--with the passing of one generation.

"In this view I recommend the adoption of the following Resolution and Articles Amendatory of the Constitution of the United States.

"'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses concurring). That the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures (or Conventions) of the several States, as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which Articles when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures (or Conventions) to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:

"'ARTICLE--Every State wherein Slavery now exists, which shall abolish the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States, as follows, to wit;

"'The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent. per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each Slave shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United States, said bonds to be delivered to such States by installments, or in one parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterward reintroducing or tolerating Slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon.

"'ARTICLE--All Slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the War at any time before the end of the Rebellion, shall be forever Free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of Slavery, but in such way that no Slave shall be twice accounted for.

"'ARTICLE--Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for colonizing Free Colored Persons, with their own consent, at any place or places within the United States.'

"I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed Articles at some length. Without Slavery the Rebellion could never have existed; without Slavery it could not continue.

"Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment and of policy in regard to Slavery, and the African race among us. Some would perpetuate Slavery; some would abolish it suddenly, without compensation; some would abolish it gradually, and with compensation; some would remove the Freed people from us; and some would retain them with us; and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these diversities, we waste much strength in struggles among ourselves.

"By mutual Concession we should harmonize and act together. This would be Compromise; but it would be Compromise among the friends, and not with the enemies of the Union. These Articles are intended to embody a plan of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed that Emancipation will follow, at least, in several of the States.

"As to the first Article, the main points are: first, the Emancipation; secondly, the length of time for consummating it--thirty-seven years; and, thirdly, the compensation.

"The Emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual Slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate their dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden derangement--in fact from the necessity of any derangement--while most of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never see it.

"Another class will hail the prospect of Emancipation, but will deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to the now living Slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate Emancipation in localities where their numbers are very great; and it gives the inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be Free forever.

"The plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish Slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time, or by degrees, extending over the whole or any part of the period; and it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for compensation,--and generally, the mode of making it. This, it would seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor perpetual Slavery, and especially of those who are to receive the compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay, and not to receive, will object. Yet the measure is both just and economical.

"In a certain sense, the liberation of Slaves is the destruction of Property--Property acquired by descent, or by purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true for having been often said, that the people of the South are not more responsible for the original introduction of this Property than are the people of the North; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar, and share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say that the South has been more responsible than the North for its continuance.

"If, then, for a common object, this Property is to be sacrificed, is it not just that it be done at a common charge?

"And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the War alone, is it not also economical to do it? Let us consider it then. Let us ascertain the sum we have expended in the War since compensated Emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether, if that measure had been promptly accepted, by even some of the Slave States, the same sum would not have done more to close the War than has been otherwise done. If so, the measure would save money, and, in that view, would be a prudent and economical measure.

"Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing; but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it before we are able. The War requires large sums, and requires them at once.

"The aggregate sum necessary for compensated Emancipation of course would be large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds, even, any faster than the Emancipation progresses. This might not, and probably would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At that time we shall probably have a hundred million people to share the burden, instead of thirty-one millions, as now. And not only so, but the increase of our population may be expected to continue, for a long time after that period, as rapidly as before; because our territory will not have become full.

"I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase which we have maintained, on an average, from our first National census in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a population of 103,208,415. And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that period?

"Our abundant room--our broad National homestead--is our ample resource. Were our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign born, as now, we should be compelled to send part of the Native-born away.

"But such is not our condition. We have two million nine hundred and sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not our Country at some time, average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural advantage?

"If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe, how soon? As to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present; as to when it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union.

"Several of our States are already above the average of Europe --seventy-three and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each, 80. Also two other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former having 63, and the latter 59. The States already above the European average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio, since passing that point, as ever before; while no one of them is equal to some other parts of our Country in natural capacity for sustaining a dense population.

"Taking the Nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows:

YEAR. POPULATION. RATIO OF INCREASE

1790 3,929,827

1800 5,305,937 35.02 Per Cent.

1810 7,239,814 36.45

1820 9,638,131 33.13

1830 12,866,020 33.49

1840 17,069,453 32.67

1850 23,191,876 35.87

1860 31,443,790 35.58

"This shows an average Decennial Increase of 34.69 per cent. in population through the seventy years from our first to our last census yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these seven periods, is either two per cent. below or two per cent. above the average; thus showing how inflexible, and, consequently, how reliable, the law of Increase, in our case, is.

"Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results:

YEAR. POPULATION.

1870 42,323,041

1880 56,967,216

1890 76,677,872

1900 103,208,415

1910 138,918,526

1920 186,984,335

1930 251,680,914

"These figures show that our Country may be as populous as Europe now is at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory, at seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain 217,186,000.

"And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the chance by the folly and evils of Disunion or by long and exhausting War springing from the only great element of National discord among us. While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of Secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population, civilization and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it would be very great and injurious.

"The proposed Emancipation would shorten the War, perpetuate Peace, insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of the Country. With these, we should pay all the Emancipation would cost, together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt without it.

"If we had allowed our old National debt to run at six per cent. per annum, simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary Struggle until to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest, each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it then; and this because our increase of men through the whole period has been greater than six per cent.; has run faster than the interest upon the debt. Thus, time alone, relieves a debtor Nation, so long as its population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its debt.

"This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly due, but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to pay now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the War, than will be a dollar for Emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both.

"As to the Second Article, I think it would be impracticable to return to Bondage the class of Persons therein contemplated. Some of them, doubtless, in the property sense, belong to loyal owners and hence provision is made in this Article for compensating such.

"The Third Article relates to the future of the Freed people. It does not oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in colonizing such as may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one hand or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing, unless by the mutual consent of the people to be deported, and the American voters, through their Representatives in Congress.

"I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against free Colored persons remaining in the Country which is largely imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.

"It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace White labor and White laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through Time and in Eternity.

"Is it true, then, that Colored people can displace any more White labor by being Free, than by remaining Slaves? If they stay in their old places, they jostle no White laborers; if they leave their old places, they leave them open to White laborers. Logically, there is neither more nor less of it.

"Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the wages of White labor, and, very surely would not reduce them. Thus, the customary amount of labor would still have to be performed; the freed people would surely not do more than their old proportion of it and, very probably, for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to White laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and consequently enhancing the wages of it.

"With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to White labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in the market-increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of Black labor by colonizing the Black laborer out of the Country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand for and wages of White labor.

"But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the whole Land! Are they not already in the Land? Will liberation make them any more numerous? Equally distributed among the Whites of the whole Country, there would be but one Colored, in seven Whites. Could the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven?

"There are many communities now, having more than one free Colored person to seven Whites; and this, without any apparent consciousness of evil from it. The District of Columbia, and the States of Maryland and Delaware, are all in this condition. The District has more than one free Colored to six Whites; and yet, in its frequent petitions to Congress I believe it has never presented the presence of free Colored persons as one of its grievances.

"But why should Emancipation South, send the freed people North? people of any color, seldom run, unless there be something to run from. Heretofore, Colored people, to some extent, have fled North from bondage, and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if gradual Emancipation and deportation be adopted, they will have neither to flee from.

"Their old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can be procured; and the freed men, in turn, will gladly give their labor for the wages, till new homes can be found for them, in congenial climes, and with people of their own blood and race.

"This proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And, in any event, cannot the North decide for itself, whether to receive them?

"Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been any irruption of Colored people Northward because of the abolishment of Slavery in this District last Spring? What I have said of the proportion of free Colored persons to the Whites in the District is from the census of 1860, having no reference to persons called Contrabands, nor to those made free by the Act of Congress abolishing Slavery here.

"The plan consisting of these Articles is recommended, not but that a restoration of the National authority would be accepted without its adoption.

"Nor will the War, nor proceedings under the Proclamation of September 22, 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both.

"And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provides by law for compensating any State which may adopt Emancipation before this plan shall have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly renewed. Such would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same arguments apply to both.

"This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but additional to, all others, for restoring and preserving the National authority throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its economical aspect.

"The plan would, I am confident, secure Peace more speedily, and maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force alone; while all it would cost, considering amounts, and manner of payment, and times of payment, would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of the War, if we rely solely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would cost no blood at all.

"The plan is proposed as permanent Constitutional Law. It cannot become such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and afterward, three-fourths of the Slave States. The requisite three-fourths of the States will necessarily include seven of the Slave States. Their concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally adopting Emancipation at no very distant day upon the new Constitutional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and save the Union forever.

"I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the Nation by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may seem to display.

"Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the War, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the National authority and National prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption; will not the good people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital objects; we can succeed only by concert.

"It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better?' but,'Can we all do better?' Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 'Can we do better? The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our Country.

"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

"We say we are for the Union. The World will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union.

"The World knows we do know how to save it. We even we here--hold the power, and bear the responsibility.

"In giving Freedom to the Slave, we assure Freedom to the Free-Honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which, if followed, the World would forever applaud, and God must forever bless.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

The popular Branch of Congress responded with heartiness to what Mr. Lincoln had done. On December 11, 1862, resolutions were offered by Mr. Yeaman in the House of Representatives, as follows:

"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate Concurring), That the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of date the 22d of September, 1862, is not warranted by the Constitution.

"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation as indicated in that Proclamation, is not calculated to hasten the restoration of Peace, was not well chosen as a War measure, and is an assumption of power dangerous to the rights of citizens and to the perpetuity of a Free People."

These resolutions were laid on the table by 95 yeas to 47 nays--the yeas all Republicans, save three, and the nays all Democrats save five.

On December 15, 1862, Mr. S. C. Fessenden, of Maine, offered resolutions to the House, in these words:

"Resolved, That the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of the date of 22d September, 1862, is warranted by the Constitution.

"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that Proclamation, is well adapted to hasten the restoration of Peace, was well chosen as a War measure, and is an exercise of power with proper regard for the rights of the States, and the perpetuity of Free Government."

These resolutions were adopted by 78 yeas to 52 nays--the yeas all Republicans, save two, and the nays all Democrats, save seven.

The Proclamation of September 22d, 1862, was very generally endorsed and upheld by the People at large; and, in accordance with its promise, it was followed at the appointed time, January 1st, 1863, by the supplemental Proclamation specifically Emancipating the Slaves in the rebellious parts of the United States--in the following terms:

"WHEREAS, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"'That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the Military and Naval Authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the Freedom of such Persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such Persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual Freedom.

"'That the Executive will, on the First day of January aforesaid, by Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in Rebellion against the United States.'

"Now, therefore, I ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed Rebellion against the authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary War measure for suppressing said Rebellion, do, on this First day of January, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, Order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in Rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafouche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans,) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this Proclamation were not issued.

"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do Order and declare that all Persons held as Slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, Free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the Military and Naval authorities thereof; will recognize and maintain the Freedom of said Persons.

"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be Free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

"And I further declare and make known that such Persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon Military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

"Done at the City of Washington, this First day of January, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

"By the President: "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

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XIX. HISTORICAL REVIEW

Let us now refresh recollection by glancing backward over the history of our Country, and we shall see, as recorded in these pages, that, from the first, there existed in this Nation a class of individuals greedily ambitious of power and determined to secure and maintain control of this Government; that they left unturned no stone which would contribute to the fostering and to the extension of African Slavery; that, hand in hand with African Slavery--and as a natural corollary to it--they advocated Free Trade as a means of degrading Free White labor to the level of Black Slave labor, and thus increasing their own power; that from the first, ever taking advantage of the general necessities of the Union, they arrogantly demanded and received from a brow-beaten People, concession after concession, and compromise after compromise; that every possible pretext and occasion was seized by them to increase, consolidate, and secure their power, and to extend the territorial limits over which their peculiar Pro-Slavery and Pro-Free-Trade doctrines prevailed; and that their nature was so exacting, and their greed so rapacious, that it was impossible ever to satisfy them.

Nor were they burdened with over-much of that high sense of honor--a quality of which they often vaunted themselves--which impelled others to stand by their agreements. It seemed as though they considered the most sacred promises and covenants of no account, and made only to be trampled upon, when in the way of their Moloch.

We remember the bitter Slavery agitation in Congress over the admission of the State of Missouri, and how it eventuated in the Missouri Compromise. That compromise, we have seen, they afterward trod upon, and broke, with as little compunction as they would have stepped upon and crushed a toad.

They felt their own growing power, and gloried in their strength and arrogance; and Northern timidity became a scoff and by-word in their mouths.

The fact is, that from its very conception, as well as birth, they hated and opposed the Union, because they disliked a Republican and preferred a Monarchical form of Government. Their very inability to prevent the consummation of that Union, imbittered them. Hence their determination to seize every possible occasion and pretext afterward to destroy it, believing, as they doubtless did, that upon the crumbled and mouldering ruins of a dissevered Union and ruptured Republic, Monarchical ideas might the more easily take root and grow. But experience had already taught them that it would be long before their real object could even be covertly hinted at, and that in the meantime it must be kept out of sight by the agitation of other political issues. The formulation and promulgation therefore, by Jefferson, in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, and by Madison, in the Virginia Resolutions of 1799, of the doctrine of States Rights already referred to, was a perfect "God-send" to these men. For it not only enabled them to keep from public view and knowledge their ultimate aim and purpose, but constituted the whip which they thenceforth everlastingly flourished and cracked over the shrinking heads of other and more patriotic people--the whip with which, through the litter of their broken promises, they ruthlessly rode into, and, for so long a period of years held on to, supreme power and place in the Land.

Including within the scope of States Rights, the threats of Nullification, Disunion and Secession--ideas abhorrent to the Patriot's mind--small wonder is it that, in those days, every fresh demand made by these political autocrats was tremblingly acceded to, until patience and concession almost utterly exhausted themselves.

Originally disturbing only South Carolina and Georgia to any extent, these ambitious men, who believed in anything rather than a Republic, and who were determined to destroy the Union, gradually spread the spirit of jealousy and discontent into other States of the South; their immediate object being to bring the Southern States into the closest possible relations the one with the other; to inspire them all with common sympathies and purposes; to compact and solidify them, so that in all coming movements against the other States of the Union, they might move with proportionately increased power, and force, and effect, because of such unity of aim and strength.

This spirit of Southern discontent, and jealousy of the Northern States, was, as we have seen, artfully fanned by the Conspirators, in heated discussions over the Tariff Acts of 1824, and 1828, and 1832, until, by the latter date, the people of the Cotton-States were almost frantic, and ready to fight over their imaginary grievances. Then it was that the Conspirators thought the time had come, for which they had so long and so earnestly prayed and worked, when the cotton Sampson should wind his strong arms around the pillars of the Constitution and pull down the great Temple of our Union--that they might rear upon its site another and a stronger edifice, dedicated not to Freedom, but to Free-Trade and to other false gods.

South Carolina was to lead off, and the other Cotton States would follow. South Carolina did lead off--but the other Cotton-States did not follow.

It has been shown in these pages how South Carolina declared the Tariff Acts aforesaid, null and void, armed herself to resist force, and declared that any attempt of the general Government to enforce those Acts would cause her to withdraw from the Union. But Jackson as we know throttled the treason with so firm a grip that Nullification and Secession and Disunion were at once paralyzed.

The concessions to the domineering South, in Clay's Compromise Tariff of 1833, let the Conspirators down easily, so to speak; and they pretended to be satisfied. But they were satisfied only as are the thirsty sands of Africa with the passing shower.

The Conspirators had, however, after all, made substantial gains. They had established a precedent for an attempt to secede. That was something. They had demonstrated that a single Southern State could stand up, armed and threatening, strutting, blustering, and bullying, and at least make faces at the general Government without suffering any very dreadful consequences. That was still more.

They had also ascertained that, by adopting such a course, a single Southern State could force concessions from the fears of the rest of the United States. That was worth knowing, because the time might come, when it might be desirable not only for one but for all the Southern States to secede upon some other pretext, and when it would be awkward, and would interfere with the Disunion programme, to have the other States either offer or make concessions.

They had also learned the valuable lesson that the single issue of Free-Trade was not sufficiently strong of itself to unite all the Southern States in a determination to secede, and thus dissolve the Union. They saw they must agitate some other issue to unify the South more thoroughly and justify Disunion. On looking over the whole field they concluded that the Slavery question would best answer their purpose, and they adopted it.

It was doubtless a full knowledge of the fact that they had adopted it, that led Jackson to make the declaration, heretofore in these pages given, which has been termed "prophetic." At any rate, thenceforth the programme of the Conspirators was to agitate the Slavery question in all ways possible, so as to increase, extend and solidify the influence and strength of the Slave power; strain the bonds uniting them with the Free States; and weaken the Free States by dividing them upon the question. At the same time the Free-Trade question was to be pressed forward to a triumphal issue, so that the South might be enriched and strengthened, and the North impoverished and weakened, by the result.

That was their programme, in the rough, and it was relentlessly adhered to. Free-Trade and Slavery by turns, if not together, from that time onward, were ever at the front, agitating our People both North and South, and not only consolidating the Southern States on those lines, as the Conspirators designed, but also serving ultimately to consolidate, to some extent--in a manner quite unlooked for by the Conspirators --Northern sentiment, on the opposite lines of Protection and Freedom.

The Compromise Tariff Act of 1833--which Clay was weak enough to concede, and even stout old Jackson to permit to become law without his signature--gave to the Conspirators great joy for years afterward, as they witnessed the distress and disaster brought by it to Northern homes and incomes--not distress and disaster alone, but absolute and apparently irreparable ruin.

The reaction occasioned by this widespread ruin having brought the Whigs into power, led to the enactment of the Protective-Tariff of 1842 and --to the chagrin of the Conspirators--industrial prosperity and plenty to the Free North again ensued.

Even as Cain hated his brother Abel because his sacrifices were acceptable in the sight of God, while his own were not, so the Southern Conspirators, and other Slave-owners also, had, by this time, come to hate the Northern free-thinking, free-acting, freedom-loving mechanic and laboring man, because the very fact and existence of his Godgiven Freedom and higher-resulting civilization was a powerful and perpetual protest against the--abounding iniquities and degradations of Slavery as practiced by themselves.

Hence, by trickery, by cajoling the People With his, and their own, assurances that he was in favor of Protection--they secured the election in 1844 of a Free-Trade President, the consequent repeal of the Protective-Tariff of 1842--which had repaired the dreadful mischief wrought by the Compromise Act of 1833--and the enactment of the infamous Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, which blasted the manufacturing and farming and trade industries of the Country again, as with fire.

The discovery of the great gold fields of California, and the enormous amount of the precious metal poured by her for many succeeding years into the lap of the Nation, alone averted what otherwise would inevitably have been total ruin. As it was, in 1860, the National credit had sunk to a lower point than ever before in all its history. It was confessedly bankrupt, and ruin stalked abroad throughout the United States.

But while, with rapid pen, the carrying out of that part of the Southern Conspirators' Disunion programme which related to Free-Trade, is thus brought again to mind, the other part of that programme, which related to Slavery, must not be neglected or overlooked. On this question they had determined, as we have seen, to agitate without ceasing--having in view, primarily, as already hinted, the extension of Slave territory and the resulting increase of Slave power in the Land; and, ulteriorly, the solidifying of that power, and Disunion of the Republic, with a view to its conversion into an Oligarchy, if not a Monarchy.

The bitterness of the struggle over the admission of Missouri as a Slave State in 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, was to be revived by the Conspirators, at the earliest possible moment.

Accordingly in 1836--only three years after the failure of Nullification in South Carolina, the Territory, of Arkansas was forced in as a Slave State, and simultaneously the Slave-owning henchmen of the Conspirators, previously settled there for the purpose, proclaimed the secession from Mexico, and independence, of Texas. This was quickly followed, in 1844, by Calhoun's hastily negotiated treaty of annexation with Texas; its miscarriage in the Senate; and the Act of March 2, 1845--with its sham compromise--consenting to the admission of Texas to the Union of States.

Then came the War with Mexico; the attempt by means of the Wilmot proviso to check the growing territorial-greed and rapacity of the Slave-power; and the acquisition by the United States, of California and New Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which brought Peace.

Then occurred the agitation over the organization of Territorial governments for Oregon, California, and New Mexico, and the strong effort to extend to the Pacific Ocean the Missouri-Compromise line of 36 30', and to extend to all future Territorial organizations the principles of that compromise.

Then came the struggle in 1850, over the admission of California as a State, and New Mexico and Utah to Territorial organization--ending in the passage of Clay's Compromise measures of 1850.

Yet still the Southern Conspirators--whose forces, both in Congress and out, were now well-disciplined, compacted, solidified, experienced, and bigotedly enthusiastic and overbearing--were not satisfied. It was not their intention to be satisfied with anything less than the destruction of the Union and of our Republican form of Government. The trouble was only beginning, and, so far, almost everything had progressed to their liking. The work must proceed.

In 1852-3 they commenced the Kansas-Nebraska agitation; and, what with their incessant political and colonizing movements in those Territories; the frequent and dreadful atrocities committed by their tools, the Border-ruffians; the incessant turmoil created by cruelties to their Fugitive-slaves; their persistent efforts to change the Supreme Court to their notions; these-with the decision and opinion of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case--together worked the Slavery question up to a dangerous degree of heat, by the year 1858.

And, by 1860--when the people of the Free States, grown sick unto death of the rule of the Slave-power in the General Government, arose in their political might, and shook off this "Old Man of the Sea," electing, beyond cavil and by the Constitutional mode, to the Presidential office, a man who thoroughly represented in himself their conscience, on the one hand, which instinctively revolted against human Slavery as a wrong committed against the laws of God, and their sense of justice and equity on the other, which would not lightly overlook, or interfere with vested rights under the Constitution and the laws of man--the Conspirators had reached the point at which they had been aiming ever since that failure in 1832 of their first attempt at Disunion, in South Carolina.

They had now succeeded in irritating both the Free and the Slave-holding Sections of our Country against each other, to an almost unbearable point; had solidified the Southern States on the Slavery and Free-Trade questions; and at last--the machinations of these same Conspirators having resulted in a split in the Democratic Party, and the election of the Republican candidate to the Presidency, as the embodiment of the preponderating National belief in Freedom and equality to all before the Law, with Protection to both Labor and Capital--they also had the pretext for which they had both been praying and scheming and preparing all those long, long years--they, and some of their fathers before them.

It cannot be too often repeated that to secure a Monarchy, or at least an Oligarchy, over which the leading Conspirators should rule for life --whether that Monarchy or that Oligarchy should comprise the States of the South by themselves, or all the States on a new basis of Union--was the great ultimate aim of the Conspirators; and this could be secured only by first disrupting the then existing Republican Union of Republican States.

The doctrine of the right of Secession had now long been taught, and had become a part of the Southern Slave-holders' Democratic creed, as fully as had the desirability of Slavery and Free-Trade--and even many of the Northern Democrats, and some Republicans as well, were not much inclined to dispute, although they cared not to canvass, the point.

The programme of action was therefore much the same as had been laid down in the first attempt in 1832:--first South Carolina would secede and declare her independence; then the other Slave States in quick succession would do likewise; then a new Constitution for a solid Southern Union; then, if necessary, a brief War to cement it--which would end, of course, in the independence of the South at least, but more probably in the utter subjugation and humiliation of the Free States.

When the time should come, during or after this War--as come, in their belief, it would--for a change in the form of Government, then they could seize the first favorable occasion and change it. At present, however, the cry must be for "independence." That accomplished, the rest would be easy. And until that independence was accomplished, no terms of any sort, no settlement of any kind, were either to be proposed or accepted by them.

These were their dreams, their ambitions, their plans; and the tenacious courage with which they stuck to them "through thick and thin," through victory and disaster, were worthy of a better cause.

While, therefore, the pretexts for Secession were "Slavery" and "Free-Trade"--both of which were alleged to be jeopardized in the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln--yet, no sooner had hostilities commenced between the seceding States and the Union, than they declared to the World that their fight was not for Slavery, but for Independence.

They dared not acknowledge to the World that they fought for Slavery, lest the sympathies of the World should be against them. But it was well understood by the Southern masses, as well as the other people of the Union, that both Slavery and Free-Trade were involved in the fight --as much as independence, and the consequent downfall of the Union.

President Lincoln, however, had made up his mind to do all he properly could to placate the South. None knew better than he, the history of this Secession movement, as herein described. None knew better than he, the fell purpose and spirit of the Conspirators. Yet still, his kindly heart refused to believe that the madness of the Southern leaders was so frenzied, and their hatred of Free men, Free labor, and Free institutions, so implacable, that they would wilfully refuse to listen to reason and ever insist on absolutely inadmissible terms of reconciliation.

From the very beginning of his Administration, he did all that was possible to mollify their resentment and calm their real or pretended fears. Nor was this from any dread or doubt as to what the outcome of an armed Conflict would be; for, in his speech at Cincinnati, in the Autumn of 1859, he had said, while addressing himself to Kentuckians and other Southern men: "Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as brave men as live; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man for man, as any other people living; that you have shown yourselves capable of this upon various occasions; but man for man, you are not better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us. You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in numbers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we were equal it would likely be a drawn battle; but being inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempting to master us."

And early in 1860, in his famous New York Cooper Institute speech he had said "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He plainly believed to the end, that "right makes might;" and he believed in the power of numbers--as also did Napoleon, if we may judge from his famous declaration that "The God of battles is always on the side of the heaviest battalions." Yet, so believing, President Lincoln exerted himself in all possible ways to mollify the South. His assurances, however, were far from satisfying the Conspirators. They never had been satisfied with anything in the shape of concession. They never would be. They had been dissatisfied with and had broken all the compacts and compromises, and had spit upon all the concessions, of the past; and nothing would now satisfy them, short of the impossible.

They were not satisfied now with Lincoln's promise that the Government would not assail them--organized as, by this time, they were into a so-called Southern "Confederacy" of States--and they proceeded accordingly to assail that Government which would not assail them. They opened fire on Fort Sumter.

This was done, as has duly appeared, in the hope that the shedding of blood would not only draw the States of the Southern Confederacy more closely together in their common cause, and prevent the return of any of them to their old allegiance, but also to so influence the wavering allegiance to the Union, of the Border States, as to strengthen that Confederacy and equivalently weaken that Union, by their Secession.

Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, of the Border States that were wavering, were thus gathered into the Confederate fold, by this policy of blood-spilling--carried bodily thither, by a desperate and frenzied minority, against the wishes of a patriotic majority.

Virginia, especially, was a great accession to the Rebel cause. She brought to it the prestige of her great name. To secure the active cooperation of "staid old Virginia," "the Mother of Statesmen," in the struggle, was, in the estimation of the Rebels, an assurance of victory to their cause. And the Secession of Virginia for a time had a depressing influence upon the friends of the Union everywhere.

The refusal of West Virginia to go with the rest of the State into Rebellion, was, to be sure, some consolation; and the checkmating of the Conspirators' designs to secure to the Confederacy the States of Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, helped the confidence of Union men. In fact, as long as the National Capital was secure, it was felt that the Union was still safe.

But while the Confederacy, by the firing upon Fort Sumter, and thus assailing that Government which Lincoln had promised would not assail the Rebels, had gained much in securing the aid of the States mentioned, yet the Union Cause, by that very act, had gained more. For the echoes of the Rebel guns of Fort Moultrie were the signal for such an uprising of the Patriots of the North and West and Middle States, as, for the moment, struck awe to the hearts of Traitors and inspired with courage and hopefulness the hearts of Union men throughout the Land.

Moreover it put the Rebels in their proper attitude, in the eyes of the World--as the first aggressors--and thus deprived them, to a certain extent, of that moral support from the outside which flows from sympathy.

Those echoes were the signal, not only of that call to arms which led to such an uprising, but for the simultaneous calling together of the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States in Extra Session--the Congress whose measures ultimately enabled President Lincoln and the Union Armies to subdue the Rebellion and save the Union--the Congress whose wise and patriotic deliberations resulted in the raising of those gigantic Armies and Navies, and in supplying the unlimited means, through the Tariff and National Bank Systems and otherwise, by which those tremendous Forces could be both created and effectively operated --the Congress which cooperated with President Lincoln and those Forces in preparing the way for the destruction of the very corner-stone of the Confederacy, Slavery itself.

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