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By John Logan</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify} + P { + text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 95% } + .figleft {float: left;} + .figright {float: right;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + // --> +</style> + + +</head> +<body> + +<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 4</h2> + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + + <a href="p3.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p5.htm">Next Part</a> + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + +<br><br><br><br><br><br> + + + + + + +<center><h1><br> + + THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br> +<br> + Its Origin and History<br> +<br><br><br> + Part 4.<br> + <br><br> + by John Logan</h1> +<br> +<br> + <h2> + +<br><br><br><br><br> +<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692"> +<br><br><br><br><br> +<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665"> +<br><br><br><br><br> + +<br> +<br><br><br> +CONTENTS + +</h2></center> +<br> +<br> + + + <h2><a href="#ch14">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br> + THE COLORED CONTRABAND.<br></h2> +<br> +THE KNELL OF SLAVERY—THE "IMPLIED POWERS" OF CONGRESS IN THE +CONSTITUTION—PATRICK HENRY'S PREDICTION—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S +PROPHECY—JOHN SHERMAN'S NON-INTERFERENCE—WITH-SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS—JOHN Q. ADAMS +ON EMANCIPATION—POWERS OF CONGRESS AND MILITARY COMMANDERS—GENERAL +MCCLELLAN'S WEST VIRGINIA PROCLAMATION OF NONINTERFERENCE WITH +SLAVES—GENERAL BUTLER'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL SCOTT AND SECRETARY +CAMERON—CAMERON'S REPLY—MILITARY TENDERNESS FOR THE DOOMED +INSTITUTION—CONGRESS, AFTER BULL RUN—CONFISCATION, AND EMANCIPATION, +OF SLAVES USED TO AID REBELLION—RINGING WORDS OF TRUMBULL, WILSON, +MCDOUGALL, AND TEN EYCK, IN THE SENATE—ROMAN COURAGE OF THE +HOUSE—CRITTENDEN'S STATEMENTS—WAR RESOLUTIONS—BRECKINRIDGE'S TREASONABLE +SPEECH UPON "THE SANCTITY" OF THE CONSTITUTION—BAKER'S GLORIOUS +REPLY—HIS MATCHLESS APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM—HIS SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION AND +HEROIC DEATH AT BALL'S BLUFF +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch15">CHAPTER XV.</a><br> + FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.<br></h2> +<br> +THADDEUS STEVENS'S STARTLING UTTERANCES—CAPTURED SLAVES MUST BE FREE +FOREVER—"NO TRUCES WITH THE REBELS"—HIS PROPHECY AS TO ARMING SLAVES +TO FIGHT REBELLION—SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TOUCHING FUGITIVES FROM +SERVICE—GENERAL FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION OF CONFISCATION AND +EMANCIPATION—ITS EFFECT NORTH AND SOUTH—JEFF. THOMPSON'S SAVAGE +PROCLAMATION OF RETALIATION—PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S EMBARRASSMENT—HE +PRIVATELY SUGGESTS TO FREMONT CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS—FREMONT DEFENDS HIS +COURSE—"STRONG AND VIGOROUS MEASURES NECESSARY TO SUCCESS"—THE +PRESIDENT PUBLICLY ORDERS THE MODIFICATION OF FREMONT'S +PROCLAMATION—THE MILITARY MIND GREATLY CONFUSED—GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE +WAR DEPARTMENT—GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN'S PORT ROYAL PROCLAMATION—GENERAL +WOOL'S SPECIAL AND GENERAL ORDERS AS TO EMPLOYMENT OF +"CONTRABANDS"—GENERAL DIX'S PROCLAMATION FOR REPULSION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES FROM HIS +LINES—HALLECK ORDERS EXPULSION AS WELL AS REPULSION—HIS LETTER OF +EXPLANATION TO FRANK P. BLAIR—SEWARD'S LETTER TO MCCLELLAN ON +"CONTRABANDS" IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch16">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br> + "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."<br></h2> +<br> +PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE—SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM—ASSERTION BY +CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS—THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM SLOWLY +"MARCHING ON"—ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.—SECRETARY CAMERON +FAVORS ARMING THEM—THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES—HE MODIFIES +CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT—THE MILITARY MIND, ALL "AT +SEA"—COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS—HALLECK'S ST. LOUIS +PROCLAMATION, 1862—BUELL'S LETTER—CONTRARY ACTION OF DIX AND HALLECK, +BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY—LINCOLN'S MIDDLE COURSE—HE +PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION—INTERVIEW +BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES—INTERESTING +REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT—MR. LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES—VIEWS, ON +COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES, +WICKLIFFE, AND HALL—ROSCOE CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH +HOUSES—HOOKER'S "CAMP BAKER" ORDER—MARYLAND FUGITIVE—SLAVE HUNTERS +PERMITTED TO SEARCH THE CAMP—UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED—SICKLES ORDERS THE +SLAVE HUNTERS OFF—DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING HIS +LINES—TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS" +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch17">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br> + BORDER—STATE OPPOSITION.<br></h2> +<br> +APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL +EMANCIPATION—DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT—THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE +OF APPROVAL—GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION—PRESIDENT LINCOLN +PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION—HIS SOLEMN AND IMPASSIONED APPEAL +TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES—HE BEGS THEIR CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL +COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION—GEN. WILLIAMS'S ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY +NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE—LIEUT.-COL. ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING +FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"—GEN. MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS +"HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT—"FORCIBLE ABOLITION OF +SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"—SLAVEHOLDING BORDER-STATE +SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE—PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S +ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862—GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE +THEME—COMPENSATION AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT—THE ABOLITION PRESSURE +UPON THE PRESIDENT INCREASING—HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE +HIM AND THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL—THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES +<br> +<br> + +<br><br><br> +<h3>PORTRAITS.</h3> +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + +<a href="#crittenden">J. J. CRITTENDEN</a><br> +<a href="#wigfall">LOUIS T. WIGFALL</a><br> +<a href="#hunter">DAVID HUNTER</a><br> +<a href="#henry">PATRICK HENRY</a><br> + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + +<br><br><br><br><br> +<a name="crittenden"></a> +<center> +<img alt="p154-crittenden.jpg (69K)" src="images/p154-crittenden.jpg" height="842" width="588"> +</center> +<br><br><br><br><br> + +<center><h2> +<a name="ch14"></a> +<br> +<br> + CHAPTER XIV.<br> +<br> + THE COLORED CONTRABAND.<br></h2></center> + + +<p>When the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, its sullen echoes sounded +the funeral knell of Slavery. Years before, it had been foretold, and +now it was to happen. Years before, it had been declared, by competent +authority, that among the implications of the Constitution was that of +the power of the General Government to Emancipate the Slaves, as a War +measure. Hence, in thus commencing the War of the Rebellion, the South +marched with open eyes upon this, as among other of the legitimate and +logical results of such a War.</p> + +<p>Patrick Henry, in opposing the ratification by Virginia of the Federal +Constitution, had declared to the Slaveholders of that State that "Among +ten thousand implied powers" which Congress may assume, "they may, if we +be engaged in War, liberate every one of your Slaves, if they please, * +* * Have they not power to provide for the General Defense and Welfare? +May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May +they not pronounce all Slaves Free? and will they not be warranted by +that power? * * * They have the power, in clear, unequivocal terms, +and will clearly and certainly exercise it."</p> + +<p>So, too, in his great speech of May 25, 1836, in the House of +Representatives, John Quincy Adams had declared that in "the last great +conflict which must be fought between Slavery and Emancipation," +Congress "must and will interfere" with Slavery, "and they will not only +possess the Constitutional power so to interfere, but they will be bound +in duty to do it, by the express provisions of the Constitution itself." +And he followed this declaration with the equally emphatic words: "From +the instant that your Slave-holding States become the theatre of +War—civil, servile, or foreign—from that instant, the War powers of +Congress extend to interference with the Institution of Slavery in every +Way by which it can be interfered with."</p> + +<p>The position thus announced by these expounders of the Constitution—the +one from Virginia, the other from Massachusetts—was not to be shaken +even by the unanimous adoption, February 11, 1861, by the House of +Representatives on roll call, of the resolution of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, +in these words:</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That neither the Congress of the United States nor the people +or governments of the non-Slaveholding States have the Constitutional +right to legislate upon or interfere with Slavery in any of the +Slaveholding States in the Union."</p> + +<p>Ex-President J. Q. Adams's cogent exposition of the Constitution, +twenty-five years before, in that same House, demonstrating not only +that Congress had the right but the Constitutional power to so +interfere—and his further demonstration April 15, 1842, of his +statement that under the laws of War, "when a Country is invaded, and +two hostile armies are set in martial array, the Commanders of both +Armies have power to Emancipate all the Slaves in the invaded +territory"—as not to be overcome by a mere vote of one House, however +unanimous. For the time being, however, it contributed, with other +circumstances, to confuse the public mind and conscience. Indeed as +early as May of 1861, the attitude of our Government and its troops +toward Negro Slaves owned or used by Rebels in rebellious States, began +to perturb the public, bother the Administration, and worry the Military +officers.</p> + +<p>For instance, in Major-General McClellan's proclamation to the Union men +of West Virginia, issued May 26, 1861, he said:</p> + +<p>"The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have +made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the river. They +come as your friends and brothers—as enemies only to armed Rebels, who +are preying upon you; your homes, your families, and your property are +safe under our protection. All your rights shall be religiously +respected, notwithstanding all that has been said by the Traitors to +induce you to believe our advent among you will be signalized by an +interference with your Slaves. Understand one thing clearly: not only +will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on the +contrary, with an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrection on their +part."</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the very next day, May 27, 1861, Major-General +Butler, in command of the "Department of A Virginia," wrote to +Lieutenant-General Scott as follows:</p> + +<p>"Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to Slave property +is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia +are using their Negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send the +women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and +a squad has come in this morning to my pickets bringing their women and +children. Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which +I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might +come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my +last dispatch. I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of +Property.</p> + +<p>"Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with +their children, entire families, each family belonging to the same +owner. I have, therefore, determined to employ, as I can do very +profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food +for the support of all, and charging against their services the expense +of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and +accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditure, having +the worth of the services, and the cost of the expenditure, determined +by a Board of Survey, to be hereafter detailed. I know of no other +manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected +therewith.</p> + +<p>"As a matter of Property to the Insurgents, it will be of very great +moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what, +in good times, would be of the value of sixty thousand dollars. Twelve +of these Negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the batteries on +Sewall's Point, which, this morning, fired upon my expedition as it +passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the +Enemy's hands, these Negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last +importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at +least for many weeks.</p> + +<p>"As a Military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity to +deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a +political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the +services of a father and mother, and not take the children? Of the +humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no +right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment, +and as the questions have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I +trust I am not wrong in so doing, to duplicate the parts of my dispatch +relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War."</p> + +<p>In reply to the duplicate copy of this letter received by him, Secretary +Cameron thus answered:</p> + +<p> "WASHINGTON, May 30, 1861.</p> + +<p>"SIR: Your action in respect to the Negroes who came within your lines +from the service of the Rebels is approved. The Department is sensible +of the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting Military +operations in a State by the laws of which Slavery is sanctioned.</p> + +<p>"The Government cannot recognize the rejection by any State of the +Federal obligations, nor can it refuse the performance of the Federal +obligations resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations, +however, none can be more important than that of suppressing and +dispersing armed combinations formed for the purpose of overthrowing its +whole Constitutional authority.</p> + +<p>"While, therefore, you will permit no interference by the persons under +your command, with the relations of Persons held to Service under the +laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State, +within which your Military operations are conducted, is under the +control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged +masters any Person who may come within your lines.</p> + +<p>"You will employ such Persons in the services to which they may be best +adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value +of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their +final disposition will be reserved for future determination.</p> + +<p> "SIMON CAMERON,<br> + + "Secretary of War.</p> + +<p>"To Major General BUTLER."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +Great tenderness, however, was exhibited by many of the Union Generals +for the doomed Institution. On June 3, 1861, from Chambersburg, Pa., a +proclamation signed "By order of Major General Patterson, F. J. Porter, +Asst. Adj. General," was issued from "Headquarters Department of +Pennsylvania," "To the United States troops of this Department," in +which they are admonished "that, in the coming campaign in Virginia, +while it is your duty to punish Sedition, you must protect the Loyal, +and, should the occasion offer, at once suppress Servile Insurrection."</p> + +<p> +"General Orders No. 33," issued from "Headquarters Department of +Washington," July 17, 1861, "By command of Brigadier General Mansfield, +Theo. Talbot, Assistant Adjutant General," were to this effect: +"Fugitive Slaves will under no pretext whatever, be permitted to reside, +or be in any way harbored, in the quarters or camps of the troops +serving in this Department. Neither will such Slaves be allowed to +accompany troops on the march. Commanders of troops will be held +responsible for a strict observance of this order." And early in August +a Military order was issued at Washington "that no Negroes, without +sufficient evidence of their being Free or of their right to travel, are +permitted to leave the city upon the cars."</p> + +<p>But Bull Run did much to settle the Military as well as public mind in +proper grooves on this subject.</p> + +<p>Besides employing Negro Slaves to aid Rebellion, by the digging of +ditches, the throwing up of intrenchments, and the erection of +batteries, their Rebel masters placed in their hands arms with which to +shoot down Union soldiers at the Battle of Bull Run, which, as we have +seen, occurred on Sunday, July 21, 1861—and resulted in a check to the +Union Cause.</p> + +<p>The terror and confusion and excitement already referred to, that +prevailed in Washington all that night and the next day, as the +panic-stricken crowd of soldiers and civilians poured over the Long Bridge, +footsore with running, faint with weariness, weak with hunger, and +parched with thirst and the dust of the rout, can hardly be described.</p> + +<p>But, however panicky the general condition of the inhabitants of the +National Capital, the Congress bravely maintained its equanimity.</p> + +<p>In the Senate, on the day following the disaster, a bill touching the +Confiscation of Property used for insurrectionary purposes being up for +consideration, the following amendment was offered to it:</p> + +<p>"And be it further enacted, That whenever any person claiming to be +entitled to the Service or Labor of any other Person under the laws of +any State, shall employ such Person in aiding or promoting any +Insurrection, or in resisting the Laws of the United States, or shall +permit him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such Service +or Labor, and the Person whose Labor or Service is thus claimed shall be +thenceforth discharged therefrom, any law to the contrary +notwithstanding."</p> + +<p>This amendment, emancipating Slaves employed by their masters to aid +Rebellion, was adopted by 33 yeas to 6 nays.</p> + +<p>As showing the feeling expressed right upon the very heels of what +seemed to be a great disaster, and when rumor, at any rate, placed the +victorious Enemy at the very gates of the Capital City, a few lines from +the debate may be interesting.</p> + +<p>Mr. Trumbull said: "I am glad the yeas and nays have been called to let +us see who is willing to vote that the Traitorous owner of a Negro shall +employ him to shoot down the Union men of the Country, and yet insist +upon restoring him to the Traitor that owns him. I understand that +Negroes were in the fight which has recently occurred. I take it that +Negroes who are used to destroy the Union, and to shoot down the Union +men by the consent of Traitorous masters, ought not to be restored to +them. If the Senator from Kentucky is in favor of restoring them, let +him vote against the amendment."</p> + +<p>Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "I shall vote with more heart +than I vote for ordinary measures, for this proposition. I hope the +Senate and the House of Representatives will sustain it, and that this +Government will carry it out with an inflexibility that knows no change. +The idea that men who are in arms destroying their Country shall be +permitted to use others for that purpose, and that we shall stand by and +issue orders to our Commanders, that we should disgrace our Cause and +our Country, by returning such men to their Traitorous masters, ought +not longer to be entertained. The time has come for that to cease; and, +by the blessing of God, so far as I am concerned, I mean it shall cease.</p> + +<p>"If there is anybody in this Chamber that chooses to take the other +path, let him do it; let him know what our purpose is. Our purpose is +to save this Government and save this Country, and to put down Treason; +and if Traitors use bondsmen to destroy this Country, my doctrine is +that the Government shall at once convert these bondsmen into men that +cannot be used to destroy our Country. I have no apologies to make for +this position, I take it proudly.</p> + +<p>"I think the time has come when this Government, and the men who are in +arms under the Government, should cease to return to Traitors their +Fugitive Slaves, whom they are using to erect batteries to murder brave +men who are fighting under the flag of their Country. The time has come +when we should deal with the men who are organizing Negro companies, and +teaching them to shoot down loyal men for the only offence of upholding +the flag of their Country.</p> + +<p>"I hope further, Sir, that there is a public sentiment in this Country +that will blast men who will rise, in the Senate or out it, to make +apologies for Treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine that +this Government is bound to protect Traitors in converting their Slaves +into tools for the destruction of the Republic."</p> + +<p>Senator McDougall, of California, said: "I regard this as a Confiscation +for Treason, and I am for the proposition."</p> + +<p>Mr. Ten Eyck, said: "No longer ago than Saturday last I voted in the +Judiciary Committee against this amendment, for two reasons: First, I +did not believe that persons in Rebellion against this Government would +make use of such means as the employment of Persons held to Labor or +Service, in their Armies; secondly, because I did not know what was to +become of these poor wretches if they were discharged. God knows we do +not want them in our Section of the Union. But, Sir, having learned and +believing that these persons have been employed with arms in their hands +to shed the blood of the Union-loving men of this Country, I shall now +vote in favor of that amendment with less regard to what may become of +these people than I had on Saturday. I will merely instance that there +is a precedent for this. If I recollect history aright, General +Jackson, in the Seminole War, declared that every Slave who was taken in +arms against the United States should be set Free,"</p> + +<p>So, too, in the House of Representatives, the retrograde of a badly +demoralized Army, its routed fragments still coming in with alarming +stories of a pursuing Enemy almost at the gates of the city, had no +terrors for our legislators; and there was something of Roman dignity, +patriotism, and courage, in the adoption, on that painfully memorable +Blue Monday, (the first—[Offered by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky]—with +only two dissenting votes, on a yea and nay vote; and, the +second—[Offered by Mr. Vandever, of Iowa.]—with entire unanimity) of the +following Resolutions:</p> + +<p>"Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United +States, That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the +Country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against +the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; that in +this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere +passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole +Country; that this War is not waged on their part in any spirit of +oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of +overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established Institutions +of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the +Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, +and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these +objects are accomplished, the War ought to cease."</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of +the Union, and the enforcement of the Laws, are sacred trusts which must +be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample +performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the Country and the +World, the employment of every resource, National and individual, for +the suppression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms."</p> + +<p>The first of these Resolutions was intended to calm the fears of the +Border States—excited by Rebel emissaries; the second, to restore +confidence and courage to the patriot hearts of Union-men, everywhere. +Both were effectual.</p> + +<p>And here it will hardly be amiss to glance, for an instant, toward the +Senate Chamber; and especially at one characteristic incident. It was +the afternoon of August the 1st, 1861,—scarce ten days since the check +to the Union arms at Bull Run; and Breckinridge, of Kentucky, not yet +expelled from the United States Senate, was making in that Body his +great speech against the "Insurrection and Sedition Bill," and upon "the +sanctity of the Constitution."</p> + +<p>Baker, of Oregon,—who, as Sumner afterward said: "with a zeal that +never tired, after recruiting men drawn by the attraction of his name, +in New York and Philadelphia and elsewhere, held his Brigade in camp, +near the Capitol, so that he passed easily from one to the other, and +thus alternated the duties of a Senator and a General," having reached +the Capitol, direct from his Brigade-camp, entered the Senate Chamber, +in his uniform, while Breckinridge was speaking.</p> + +<p>When the Kentucky Senator "with Treason in his heart, if not on his +lips," resumed his seat, the gray-haired soldier-Senator at once rose to +reply. "He began,"—said Charles Sumner, in alluding to the +incident—"simply and calmly; but as he proceeded, his fervid soul broke forth in +words of surpassing power. As on a former occasion he had presented the +well-ripened fruits of study, so now he spoke with the spontaneous +utterance of his own mature and exuberant eloquence—meeting the +polished Traitor at every point with weapons keener and brighter than +his own."</p> + +<p>After demolishing Breckinridge's position touching the alleged +Unconstitutionality of the measure, and characterizing his other +utterances as "reproof, malediction, and prediction combined," the +Patriot from the Far-West turned with rising voice and flashing eye upon +the gloomy Kentuckian:</p> + +<p>"I would ask him," said he, "what would you have us do now—a +Confederate Army within twenty miles of us, advancing, or threatening to +advance, to overwhelm your Government; to shake the pillars of the +Union, to bring it around your head, if you stay here, in ruins? Are we +to stop and talk about an uprising sentiment in the North against the +War? Are we to predict evil, and retire from what we predict? Is it +not the manly part to go on as we have begun, to raise money, and levy +Armies, to organize them, to prepare to advance; when we do advance, to +regulate that advance by all the laws and regulations that civilization +and humanity will allow in time of battle? Can we do anything more? To +talk to us about stopping, is idle; we will never stop. Will the +Senator yield to Rebellion? Will he shrink from armed Insurrection? +Will his State justify it? Will its better public opinion allow it? +Shall we send a flag of Truce? What would he have? Or would he conduct +this War so feebly, that the whole World would smile at us in derision?"</p> + +<p>And then cried the orator-his voice rising to a higher key, penetrating, +yet musical as the blast from a silver trumpet: "What would he have? +These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the Land, what clear distinct +meaning have they? Are they not intended for disorganization in our +very midst? Are they not intended to dull our weapons? Are they not +intended to destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to animate our +enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished Treason, even +in the very Capitol of the Nation?</p> + +<p>"What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in another +Republic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as grave, not more +eloquent or dignified than the Senator from Kentucky, yet with the Roman +purple flowing over his shoulder, had risen in his place, surrounded by +all the illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that the cause of +advancing Hannibal was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in +terms of peace? What would have been thought if, after the battle of +Cannae, a Senator there had risen in his place and denounced every levy +of the Roman People, every expenditure of its treasure, and every appeal +to the old recollections and the old glories?"</p> + +<p>The speaker paused. The sudden and intent silence was broken by another +voice: "He would have been hurled from the Tarpeian rock."</p> + +<p>"Sir," continued the soldier-orator, "a Senator, himself learned far +more than myself in such lore, [Mr. Fessenden,] tells me, in a voice +that I am glad is audible, that he would have been hurled from the +Tarpeian Rock! It is a grand commentary upon the American Constitution +that we permit these words [Senator Breckinridge's] to be uttered.</p> + +<p>"I ask the Senator to recollect, too, what, save to send aid and comfort +to the Enemy, do these predictions of his amount to? Every word thus +uttered falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear. +Every sound thus uttered is a word, (and, falling from his lips, a +mighty word) of kindling and triumph to a Foe that determines to +advance.</p> + +<p>"For me, I have no such word as a Senator, to utter. For me"—and here +his eyes flashed again while his martial voice rang like a clarion-call +to battle—"amid temporary defeat, disaster, disgrace, it seems that my +duty calls me to utter another word, and that word is, bold, sudden, +forward, determined, WAR, according to the laws of War, by Armies, by +Military Commanders clothed with full power, advancing with all the past +glories of the Republic urging them on to conquest!</p> + +<p> * * * * * *</p> + +<p>"I tell the Senator," continued the inspired Patriot, "that his +predictions, sometimes for the South, sometimes for the Middle States, +sometimes for the North-East, and then wandering away in airy visions +out to the Far Pacific, about the dread of our people, as for loss of +blood and treasure, provoking them to Disloyalty, are false in +sentiment, false in fact, and false in Loyalty. The Senator from +Kentucky is mistaken in them all.</p> + +<p>"Five hundred million dollars! What then? Great Britain gave more than +two thousand million in the great Battle for Constitutional Liberty +which she led at one time almost single-handed against the World. Five +hundred thousand men! What then? We have them; they are ours; they are +the children of the Country; they belong to the whole Country; they are +our sons; our kinsmen; and there are many of us who will give them all +up before we will abate one word of our just demand, or will retreat one +inch from the line which divides right from wrong.</p> + +<p>"Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that sense. All the +money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well bestowed in such a cause. +When we give them, we know their value. Knowing their value well, we +give them with the more pride and the, more joy. Sir, how can we +retreat? Sir, how can we make Peace? Who shall treat? What +Commissioners? Who would go? Upon what terms? Where is to be your +boundary line? Where the end of the principles we shall have to give +up? What will become of Constitutional Government? What will become of +public Liberty? What of past glories? What of future hopes?</p> + +<p>"Shall we sink into the insignificance of the grave—a degraded, +defeated, emasculated People, frightened by the results of one battle, +and scared at the visions raised by the imagination of the Senator from +Kentucky on this floor? No, Sir! a thousand times, no, Sir! We will +rally—if, indeed, our words be necessary—we will rally the People, the +Loyal People, of the whole Country. They will pour forth their +treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure. The +most peaceable man in this body may stamp his foot upon this Senate +Chamber floor, as of old a warrior and a Senator did, and from that +single tramp there will spring forth armed Legions.</p> + +<p>"Shall one battle determine the fate of empire, or a dozen?—the loss of +one thousand men, or twenty thousand? or one hundred million or five +hundred million dollars? In a year's Peace—in ten years, at most, of +peaceful progress—we can restore them all. There will be some graves +reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection. There will be +some privation; there will be some loss of luxury; there will be +somewhat more need for labor to procure the necessaries of life. When +that is said, all is said. If we have the Country, the whole Country, +the Union, the Constitution, Free Government—with these there will +return all the blessings of well-ordered civilization; the path of the +Country will be a career of greatness and of glory such as, in the olden +time, our Fathers saw in the dim visions of years yet to come, and such +as would have been ours now, to-day, if it had not been for the Treason +for which the Senator too often seeks to apologize."</p> + +<p>This remarkable speech was the last utterance of that glorious and +courageous soul, in the National Senate. Within three months, his +lifeless body, riddled by Rebel rifle balls, was borne away from the +fatal field of Ball's Bluff—away, amid the lamentations of a +Nation—away, across land and ocean—to lie beside his brave friend Broderick, +on that Lone Mountain whose solemn front looks out upon the calm +Pacific.</p> + +<p>He had not lived in vain. In his great speech at the American Theatre +in San Francisco, after his election by Oregon (1860) to represent her +in the United States Senate, he had aroused the people to a sense of +shame, that, as he said: "Here, in a land of written Constitutional +Liberty it is reserved for us to teach the World that, under the +American Stars and Stripes, Slavery marches in solemn procession; that, +under the American flag, Slavery is protected to the utmost verge of +acquired territory; that under the American banner, the name of Freedom +is to be faintly heard, the songs of Freedom faintly sung; that, while +Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel, every great and good man in the World, +strives, struggles, fights, prays, suffers and dies, sometimes on the +scaffold, sometimes in the dungeon, often on the field of battle, +rendered immortal by his blood and his valor; that, while this triumphal +procession marches on through the arches of Freedom—we, in this land, +of all the World, shrink back trembling when Freedom is but mentioned!"</p> + +<p>And never was a shamed people more suddenly lifted up from that shame +into a grand frenzy of patriotic devotion than were his auditors, when, +with the inspiration of his matchless genius, he continued:</p> + +<p>"As for me, I dare not, will not, be false to Freedom. Where the feet +of my youth were planted, there, by Freedom, my feet shall ever stand. +I will walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her strength. I have +watched her in history struck down on an hundred chosen fields of +battle. I have seen her friends fly from her; her foes gather around +her. I have seen her bound to the stake; I have seen them give her +ashes to the winds. But when they turned to exult, I have seen her +again meet them face to face, resplendent in complete steel, brandishing +in her strong right hand a flaming sword, red with Insufferable light! +I take courage. The People gather around her. The genius of America +will, at last, lead her sons to Freedom."</p> + +<p>Never were grander utterances delivered by man in all the ages; never +was there exhibited a more sublime faith; never a truer spirit of +prophecy; never a more heroic spirit.</p> + +<p>He was then on his way to Washington; on his way to perform the last +acts in the drama of his own career—on his way to death. He knew the +time had come, of which, ten years before, he had prophetically spoken +in the House of Representatives, when he said: "I have only to say that, +if the time should come when Disunion rules the hour, and discord is to +reign supreme, I shall again be ready to give the best blood in my veins +to my Country's Cause. I shall be prepared to meet all antagonists with +lance in rest, to do battle in every land, in defense of the +Constitution of the Country which I have sworn to support, to the last +extremity, against Disunionists, and all its Enemies, whether of the +South or North; to meet them everywhere, at all times, with speech or +hand, with word or blow, until thought and being shall be no longer +mine." And right nobly did he fulfil in all respects his promise; so +that at the end—as was afterward well said of him by Mr. Colfax—he had +mounted so high, that, "doubly crowned, as statesman, and as warrior—</p> + +<p> 'From the top of Fame's ladder he stepped to the Sky!'"</p> +<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> +<p> [This orator and hero was a naturalized Englishman, and commanded + an American regiment in the Mexican War.]</p> +</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> +<br><br><br><br><br> +<a name="wigfall"></a> +<center> +<img alt="p180-wigfall.jpg (70K)" src="images/p180-wigfall.jpg" height="844" width="580"> +</center> +<br><br><br> +<a name="ch15"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2> + CHAPTER XV.<br><br> + + FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.<br> +</h2> +</center> + +<p>On the day following Baker's great reply to Breckinridge, another +notable speech was made, in the House of Representatives—notable, +especially, in that it foreshadowed Emancipation, and, coming so soon +after Bull Run, seemed to accentuate a new departure in political +thought as an outgrowth of that Military reverse. It was upon the +Confiscation Act, and it was Thaddeus Stevens who made it. Said he:</p> + +<p>"If we are justified in taking property from the Enemy in War, when you +have rescued an oppressed People from the oppression of that Enemy, by +what principle of the Law of Nations, by what principle of philanthropy, +can you return them to the bondage from which you have delivered them, +and again rivet the chains you have once broken? It is a disgrace to +the Party which advocates it. It is against the principle of the Law of +Nations. It is against every principle of philanthropy. I for one, +shall never shrink from saying when these Slaves are once conquered by +us, 'Go and be Free.' God forbid that I should ever agree that they +should be returned again to their masters! I do not say that this War +is made for that purpose. Ask those who made the War, what is its +object. Do not ask us. * * * Our object is to subdue the Rebels.</p> + +<p>"But," continued he, "it is said that if we hold out this thing, they +will never submit—that we cannot conquer them—that they will suffer +themselves to be slaughtered, and their whole country to be laid waste. +Sir, War is a grievous thing at best, and Civil War more than any other; +but if they hold this language, and the means which they have suggested +must be resorted to; if their whole country must be laid waste, and made +a desert, in order to save this Union from destruction, so let it be. I +would rather, Sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole country +is to be re-peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate the +destruction of this People through our agency. I do not say that it is +time to resort to such means, and I do not know when the time will come; +but I never fear to express my sentiments. It is not a question with me +of policy, but a question of principle.</p> + +<p>"If this War is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the +free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers +and neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by Rebels, +with arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be +our friends, and to help us in subduing them; I for one, if it continues +long, and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it, +let it horrify the gentleman from New York (Mr. Diven) or anybody else. +That is my doctrine, and that will be the doctrine of the whole free +people of the North before two years roll round, if this War continues.</p> + +<p>"As to the end of the War, until the Rebels are subdued, no man in the +North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the People, and I +believe they are, there will be no bargaining, there will be no +negotiation, there will be no truces with the Rebels, except to bury the +dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, disbanded his +organization, submitted himself to the Government, and sued for mercy. +And, Sir, if those who have the control of the Government are not fit +for this task and have not the nerve and mind for it, the People will +take care that there are others who are—although, Sir, I have not a bit +of fear of the present Administration, or of the present Executive.</p> + +<p>"I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing +might think politic, but I have spoken just what I felt. I have spoken +what I believe will be the result; and I warn Southern gentlemen, that +if this War is to continue, there will be a time when my friend from New +York (Mr. Diven) will see it declared by this free Nation, that every +bondman in the South—belonging to a Rebel, recollect; I confine it to +them—shall be called upon to aid us in War against their masters, and +to restore this Union."</p> + +<p>The following letter of instruction from Secretary Cameron, touching the +Fugitive Slave question, dated seven days after Thaddeus Stevens' +speech, had also an interesting bearing on the subject:</p> +<br> +<p> "WASHINGTON, August 8, 1861.</p> + +<p>"GENERAL: The important question of the proper disposition to be made of +Fugitives from Service in States in Insurrection against the Federal +Government, to which you have again directed my attention in your letter +of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration.</p> + +<p>"It is the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all the +States, be fully respected and maintained. The War now prosecuted on +the part of the Federal Government is a War for the Union, and for the +preservation of all Constitutional rights of States, and the citizens of +the States, in the Union. Hence, no question can arise as to Fugitives +from Service within the States and Territories in which the authority of +the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of Judicial +proceeding, which must be respected by Military and Civil authorities +alike, will suffice for the enforcement of all legal claims.</p> + +<p>"But in States wholly or partially under Insurrectionary control, where +the Laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they +cannot be effectually enforced, it is obvious that rights dependent on +the execution of those laws must, temporarily, fail; and it is equally +obvious that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which +Military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to +the Military exigences created by the Insurrection, if not wholly +forfeited by the Treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this +general rule, rights to Services can form no exception.</p> + +<p>"The Act of Congress, approved August 6, 1861, declares that if Persons +held to Service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the +right to their services shall be forfeited, and such Persons shall be +discharged therefrom. It follows, of necessity, that no claim can be +recognized by the Military authorities of the Union to the services of +such Persons when fugitives.</p> + +<p>"A more difficult question is presented in respect to Persons escaping +from the Service of Loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws +of the State, under which only the services of such fugitives can be +claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly, suspended, as to +remedies, by the Insurrection and the Military measures necessitated by +it. And it is equally apparent that the substitution of Military for +Judicial measures for the enforcement of such claims must be attended by +great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries.</p> + +<p>"Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the substantial +rights of Loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such +fugitives, as well as fugitives from Disloyal masters, into the service +of the United States, and employing them under such organizations and in +such occupations as circumstances may suggest or require.</p> + +<p>"Of course a record should be kept showing the name and description of +the fugitives, the name and the character, as Loyal or Disloyal, of the +master, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of +the circumstances of each case after tranquillity shall have been +restored. Upon the return of Peace, Congress will, doubtless, properly +provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union, +and for just compensation to Loyal masters. In this way only, it would +seem, can the duty and safety of the Government and the just rights of +all be fully reconciled and harmonized.</p> + +<p>"You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your +future action, in respect to Fugitives from Service, by the principles +here stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in +each month, your action in the premises to this Department.</p> + +<p>"You will, however, neither authorize, nor permit any interference, by +the troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens in +house or field; nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to +leave the lawful Service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases +where the Public Safety may seem to require, prevent the voluntary +return of any Fugitive, to the Service from which he may have escaped."</p> + +<p>"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p> "SIMON CAMERON,<br> + "Secretary of War.</p> + +<p>"Major-General B. F. BUTLER,<br> +"Commanding Department of Virginia,<br> +"Fortress Monroe."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +Whether or not inspired by the prophetic speech of Thaddeus Stevens, +aforesaid, the month of August was hardly out before its prophecy seemed +in a fair way of immediate fulfilment. Major-General John Charles +Fremont at that time commanded the Eastern Department—comprising the +States of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Kentucky—and he startled the +Country by issuing the following Emancipation proclamation:</p> +<br> +<p> + "HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT.</p> + +<p> "St. Louis, August 30, 1861.</p> + +<p>"Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it +necessary that the commanding general of this Department should assume +the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the +helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and +the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who +infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the +public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify +private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they +find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily +increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and +ruining the State.</p> + +<p>"In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms +require unity of purpose, without let or hinderance, to the prompt +administration of affairs.</p> + +<p>"In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now +practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the +persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare +established Martial Law throughout the State of Missouri.</p> + +<p>"The lines of the Army of Occupation in this State are for the present +declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson +City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river.</p> + +<p>"All persons who shall betaken with arms in their hands within these +lines shall be tried by Court-Martial, and if found guilty will be shot.</p> + +<p>"The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of +Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall +be directly proven to have taken an active part with their Enemies in +the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their +Slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared Free men.</p> + +<p>"All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the +publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, +shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.</p> + +<p>"All persons engaged in Treasonable correspondence, in giving or +procuring aid to the Enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults, +in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false +reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that +they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.</p> + +<p>"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required +to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient +cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.</p> + +<p>"The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the Military +authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and +to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of War demand. But this +is not intended to suspend the ordinary Tribunals of the Country, where +the Law will be administered by the Civil officers in the usual manner, +and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably +exercised.</p> + +<p>"The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public Welfare, +and in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the +acquiescence, but the active support of the Loyal People of the Country.</p> + +<p> "J. C. FREMONT,<br> + "Major-General Commanding."</p> +<br> +<p> +Fremont's Proclamation of Confiscation and Emancipation, was hailed with +joy by some Patriots in the North, but was by others looked upon as rash +and premature and inexpedient; while it bitterly stirred the anger of +the Rebels everywhere.</p> + +<p>The Rebel Jeff. Thompson, then in command of the Rebel forces about St. +Louis, at once issued the following savage proclamation of retaliation:</p> + +<p> + "HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, M. S. G.</p> + +<p> 'St. Louis, August 31, 1861.</p> + +<p>"To all whom it may concern:</p> + +<p>"Whereas Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of +Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare +Martial Law throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any +citizen-soldier found in arms within certain limits; also, to Confiscate +the property and Free the Negroes belonging to the members of the +Missouri State Guard:</p> + +<p>"Therefore, know ye, that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier-General of +the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the Military +authority of Brigadier-General, but certain police powers granted by +Acting-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward by Governor +Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri +State Guard, or soldier of our allies, the Armies of the Confederate +States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of +General Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham +Lincoln.</p> + +<p>"While I am anxious that this unfortunate War shall be conducted, if +possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare—and +every order that I have issued has been with that object—yet, if this +rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our Enemies) I +intend to exceed General Fremont in his excesses, and will make all +tories that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was +adopted by their leaders.</p> + +<p>"Already mills, barns, warehouses, and other private property have been +wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the Enemy in this district, while +we have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely +necessary. Should these things be repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold, +so help me God!"</p> + +<p> "M. JEFF. THOMPSON,<br> + "Brigadier-General Commanding."</p> + +<br><br> + +<p>"President Lincoln, greatly embarrassed by the precipitate action of his +subordinate, lost no time in suggesting to General Fremont certain +modifications of his Emancipation proclamation—as follows:</p> + +<p>"[PRIVATE.] + "WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861.</p> + +<p>"MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me +some anxiety:</p> + +<p>"First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the +Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands, in +retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my +order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without +first having my approbation or consent.</p> + +<p>"Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in +relation to the Confiscation of Property, and the liberating Slaves of +Traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them +against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, +modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections +of the Act of Congress entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for +Insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, a copy of which Act +I herewith send you.</p> + +<p>"This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure.</p> + +<p>"I send it by a special messenger, in that it may certainly and speedily +reach you.<br> + "Yours very truly,<br> + "A. LINCOLN.</p> + +<p>"Major-General FREMONT."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +General Fremont replied to President Lincoln's suggestions, as follows:</p> + +<p> "HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,<br> + "St. Louis, September 8, 1861.</p> + +<p>"MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the second, by special +messenger, I know to have been written before you had received my +letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid developments +of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter. +I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the +incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory +accounts; and secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid +before you would demand too much of your time.</p> + +<p>"Trusting to have your confidence, I have been leaving it to events +themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here +according to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington +and St. Louis generally involves two days, and the employment of two +days, in time of War, goes largely toward success or disaster. I +therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the result of +my movement to justify me with you.</p> + +<p>"And so in regard to my proclamation of the thirtieth. Between the +Rebel Armies, the Provisional Government, and the home Traitors, I felt +the position bad, and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the +proclamation and the form of it—I wrote it the next morning and printed +it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one, +acting solely with my best judgment to serve the Country and yourself, +and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be +thought due, if I had made a false movement.</p> + +<p>"This is as much a movement in the War, as a battle, and, in going into +these, I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before +me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection, your better judgment +still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the Liberation +of Slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the +correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always +should the reprimand of his chief.</p> + +<p>"If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself +thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the +gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full +deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure +right and necessary, and I think so still.</p> + +<p>"In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I +desire to say that I do not think the Enemy can either misconstrue or +urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The +shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an Army in the Military +occupation of a Country, is merely a necessary measure of defense, and +entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does +not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our Enemies have no +grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the +ordinary advantages which the usages of War allow to us.</p> + +<p>"As promptitude is itself an advantage in War, I have also to ask that +you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the +proclamation in this respect.</p> + +<p>"Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong +and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our +Arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,</p> + +<p> "I am, with respect and regard, very truly yours,<br> + "J. C. FREMONT.</p> + +<p>"THE PRESIDENT."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +President Lincoln subsequently rejoined, ordering a modification of the +proclamation. His letter ran thus:</p> + +<p>"WASHINGTON, September 11, 1861.</p> + +<p>"SIR: Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d instant, is just +received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the +necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing +your Proclamation of August 30th, I perceived no general objection to +it.</p> + +<p>"The particular clause, however, in relation to the Confiscation of +Property and the Liberation of Slaves, appeared to me to be +objectionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the +6th of last August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you +expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly.</p> + +<p>"Your answer, just received, expresses the preference, on your part, +that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very +cheerfully do.</p> + +<p>"It is therefore Ordered, that the said clause of said proclamation be +so modified, held, and construed as to conform to, and not to transcend, +the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress +entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary +Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and that said Act be published at +length with this Order.</p> + +<p> "Your obedient servant,<br> + "A. LINCOLN.</p> + +<p>"Major-General JOHN C. FREMONT."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +In consequence, however, of the agitation on the subject, the extreme +delicacy with which it was thought advisable in the earliest stages of +the Rebellion to treat it, and the confusion of ideas among Military men +with regard to it, the War Department issued the following General +Instructions on the occasion of the departure of the Port Royal +Expedition, commanded by General T. W. Sherman:</p> + +<p> + "WAR DEPARTMENT, October 14, 1861.</p> + +<p>"SIR: In conducting Military Operations within States declared by the +Proclamation of the President to be in a State of Insurrection, you will +govern yourself, so far as Persons held to Service under the laws of +such States are concerned, by the principles of the letters addressed by +me to Major-General Butler on the 30th of May and the 8th of August, +copies of which are herewith furnished to you.</p> + +<p>"As special directions, adapted to special circumstances, cannot be +given, much must be referred to your own discretion as Commanding +General of the Expedition. You will, however, in general avail yourself +of the services of any Persons, whether Fugitives from Labor or not, who +may offer them to the National Government; you will employ such Persons +in such services as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary +employees, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other +capacity with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as +you deem most beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a +general arming of them for Military service.</p> + +<p>"You will assure all Loyal masters that Congress will provide just +compensation to them for the loss of the services of the Persons so +employed.</p> + +<p>"It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the +substantial rights of Loyal masters, and the benefits to the United +States of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while +it avoids all interference with the social systems or local Institutions +of every State, beyond that which Insurrection makes unavoidable and +which a restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the +Constitution, will immediately remove. + "Respectfully,<br> + "SIMON CAMERON,<br> + "Secretary of War.</p> + +<p>"Brigadier-General T. W. SHERMAN,<br> +"Commanding Expedition to the Southern Coast."</p> +<br> +<p> +Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, acting upon his own interpretation +of these instructions, issued a proclamation to the people of South +Carolina, upon occupying the Forts at Port Royal, in which he said:</p> + +<p>"In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of +America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National +troops. The dictates of a duty which, under these circumstances, I owe +to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among +whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to +proclaim that we have come amongst you with no feelings of personal +animosity, no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or +interfere with any of your lawful rights or your social or local +Institutions, beyond what the causes herein alluded to may render +unavoidable."</p> + +<p>Major-General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, where he had succeeded General +Butler, likewise issued a Special Order on the subject of Contrabands, +as follows:</p> + +<p> +"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,<br> +"FORT MONROE, October 14, 1861.<br> +"[Special Orders No. 72.]</p> + +<p>"All Colored Persons called Contrabands, employed as servants by +officers and others residing within Fort Monroe, or outside of the Fort +at Camp Hamilton and Camp Butler, will be furnished with their +subsistence and at least eight dollars per month for males, and four +dollars per month for females, by the officers or others thus employing +them.</p> + +<p>"So much of the above-named sums, as may be necessary to furnish +clothing, to be decided by the Chief Quartermaster of the Department, +will be applied to that purpose, and the remainder will be paid into his +hands to create a fund for the support of those Contrabands who are +unable to work for their own support.</p> + +<p>"All able-bodied Colored Persons who are under the protection of the +troops of this Department, and who are not employed as servants, will be +immediately put to work in either the Engineer's or Quartermaster's +Department.</p> + +<p>"By command of Major-General Wool:</p> + +<p>"[Signed] WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,<br> +"Assistant Adjutant General."</p> +<br> +<p> +He subsequently also issued the following General Order:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,<br> +"FORT MONROE, November 1, 1861.<br> +"[General Orders No. 34.]</p> + +<p>"The following pay and allowances will constitute the valuation of the +Labor of the Contrabands at work in the Engineer, Ordnance, +Quartermaster, Commissary, and Medical Departments at this Post, to be +paid as hereinafter mentioned;</p> + +<p>"Class 1st.—Negro man over eighteen years of age, and able-bodied, ten +dollars per month, one ration and the necessary amount of clothing.</p> + +<p>"Class 2d.—Negro boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and sickly and infirm +Negro men, five dollars per month, one ration, and the necessary amount +of clothing.</p> + +<p>"The Quartermaster will furnish all the clothing. The Department +employing these men will furnish the subsistence specified above, and as +an incentive to good behavior (to be withheld at the direction of the +chiefs of the departments respectively), each individual of the first +class will receive $2 per month, and each individual of the second class +$1 per month, for their own use. The remainder of the money valuation +of their Labor, will be turned over to the Quartermaster, who will +deduct from it the cost of the clothing issued to them; the balance will +constitute a fund to be expended by the Quartermaster under the +direction of the Commanding officer of the Department of Virginia for +the support of the women and children and those that are unable to work.</p> + +<p>"For any unusual amount of Labor performed, they may receive extra pay, +varying in amount from fifty cents to one dollar, this to be paid by the +departments employing them, to the men themselves, and to be for their +own use.</p> + +<p>"Should any man be prevented from working, on account of sickness, for +six consecutive days, or ten days in any one month, one-half of the +money value will be paid. For being prevented from laboring for a +longer period than ten days in any one month all pay and allowances +cease.</p> + +<p>"By command of Major-General Wool:</p> + +<p>"[Signed] "WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,<br> +"Assistant Adjutant General."</p> +<br> +<p> +On November 13, 1861, Major-General Dix, in a proclamation addressed to +the people of Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., ordered the +repulsion of Fugitive Slaves seeking to enter the Union lines, in these +words:</p> + +<p>"The Military Forces of the United States are about to enter your +Counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and +with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to +become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property. +On the contrary, your Laws, your Institutions, your Usages, will be +scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any +fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by +yourselves.</p> + +<p>"Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition +of any Person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be +no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresent action, Commanders of +Regiments and Corps have been instructed not to permit any such Persons +to come within their lines."</p> + +<p>On the 20th of November, 1861, Major General Halleck issued the +following Genera., Order—which went even further, in that it expelled, +as well as repelled Fugitive Slaves from our lines:</p> + +<p> +"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI,<br> +"St. Louis, November 20, 1861.<br> +"[General Orders No. 3.]</p> + +<p>"I. It has been represented that important information respecting the +number and condition of our Forces, is conveyed to the Enemy by means of +Fugitive Slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy +this evil, it is directed that no such Persons be hereafter permitted to +enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march; and that any +now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom."</p> + +<p>This Order was subsequently explained in a letter, of December 8, 1861, +from General Halleck to Hon. F. P. Blair, in which he said:</p> + +<p>" * * * Order No. 3 was in my mind, clearly a Military necessity. +Unauthorized persons, black or white, Free or Slaves, must be kept out +of our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the Enemy everything +we do or intend to do. It was a Military and not a political order. I +am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to Fugitive +Slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which +Congress may pass. But I cannot make law, and will not violate it. You +know my private opinion on the policy of Confiscating the Slave Property +of Rebels in Arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I +shall enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of Rebels and +their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day +(December 4, 1861), your letter was written, as I could now describe +it."</p> + +<p>It may be well also to add here, as belonging to this period of +doubtfulness touching the status of escaped Slaves, the following +communication sent by Secretary Seward to General McClellan, touching +"Contrabands" in the District of Columbia:</p> + +<p> +"DEPARTMENT OF STATE,<br> +"WASHINGTON, December 4, 1861.</p> + +<p>"To Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Washington:</p> + +<p>"GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the +following subject:</p> + +<p>"Persons claimed to be held to Service or Labor under the laws of the +State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the +Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the +Enemy's Forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the +Potomac.</p> + +<p>"This Department understands that such Persons afterward coming into the +city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon +the presumption, arising from color, that they are Fugitives from +Service or Labor.</p> + +<p>"By the 4th section of the Act of Congress approved August 6, 1861, +entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary +purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer +to any further claim to Service or Labor. Persons thus employed and +escaping are received into the Military protection of the United States, +and their arrest as Fugitives from Service or Labor should be +immediately followed by the Military arrest of the parties making the +seizure.</p> + +<p>"Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of +Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any +collision between the Civil and Military authorities may be avoided.</p> + +<p>"I am, General, your very obedient,</p> + +<p> "WILLIAM H. SEWARD."</p> + +<br><br><br><br><br> +<a name="hunter"></a> +<center> +<img alt="p312-hunter.jpg (63K)" src="images/p312-hunter.jpg" height="771" width="577"> +</center> +<br><br><br> +<a name="ch16"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVI.<br><br> + + "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION.".<br> +</h2> +</center> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Why should this Property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of +a rebellious War?</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>SIMON CAMERON.<br> +"Secretary of War."</p> +<br> +<p> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms!</p> + +<p>"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. * * * "</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, on March 6, 1862, he sent to Congress the following +message:</p> + +<p>"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:</p> + +<p>"I recommend the adoption of a joint Resolution by your honorable +bodies, which shall be substantially as follows:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"March 6, 1862."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> +<br> +<p> +"MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER +SLAVE-STATE REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 1862.</p> + +<p>"'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.'"</p> + +<p> +"'WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the +Constitutionality of his scheme.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"After some conversation on the current war news we retired, and I +immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper.<br><br> + "J. W. CRISFIELD."</p> +<br> +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"J. W. MENZIES,<br> +"J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br> +"R. MALLORY.<br> +"March 10, 1862."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +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.</p> + +<p>Meantime the question of the treatment of the "Contraband" in our +Military camps, continued to grow in importance.</p> + +<p>On March 26, 1862, General Hooker issued the following order touching +certain Fugitive Slaves and their alleged owners:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER,<br> +"LOWER POTOMAC, March 26, 1862.</p> + +<p>"To BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"By command of Brigadier General Hooker;</p> + +<p>"JOSEPH DICKINSON,<br> +"Assistant Adjutant General."</p> +<br> +<p> +On the following day, by direction of General Sickles, the following +significant report was made touching the above order:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND REGIMENT, EXCELSIOR BRIGADE.<br> +"CAMP HALL, March 27, 1862.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p> "All of which is respectfully submitted.</p> + +<p> "Your obedient servant,<br> + "JOHN TOLEN.<br> + "Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B.</p> + +<p>"To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr.,<br> +"A. D. C. and A. A. A. General."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +On April 6, the following important dispatch, in the nature of an order, +was issued by General Doubleday to one of his subordinate officers:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES,<br> +"NORTH OF THE POTOMAC,<br> +"WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"The Additional Article of War recently passed by Congress positively +prohibits this.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p>"E. P. HALSTED,<br> +"Assistant Adjutant General.</p> + +<p>"Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHANE,<br> +"Commanding 76th Reg. N. Y. Vols."</p> + +<br><br><br><br><br> +<a name="henry"></a> +<center> +<img alt="p344-henry.jpg (75K)" src="images/p344-henry.jpg" height="784" width="587"> +</center> +<br><br><br> +<a name="ch17"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVII.<br><br> + + BORDER-STATE OPPOSITION.<br> +</h2> +</center> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On the 16th President Lincoln sent the following Message to Congress:</p> + +<p>"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.<br> +"April 16, 1862."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +Subsequently, in order to meet the President's views, such an amendatory +or Supplemental Act was passed and approved.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"'HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,<br> +'HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862.<br> +'[General Orders No. 11.]</p> + +<p>'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.</p> + +<p>'DAVID HUNTER,<br> +'Major-General Commanding.</p> + +<p>'Official:<br> +ED. W. SMITH,<br> +'Acting Assistant Adjutant General.'</p> +<br> +<p> +"And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding,</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"' 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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of +the United States to be affixed.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"By the President. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.</p> + +<p>"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +On June 5th, 1862, General T. Williams issued the following Order:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE,<br> +"BATON ROUGE, June 5, 1862.<br> +"[General Orders No. 46.]</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"By order of Brigadier-General T. Williams:</p> + +<p>"WICKHAM HOFFMAN,<br> +"Assistant-Adjutant General."</p> +<br><br> + +<p> +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:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS MITCHELL'S BRIGADE,<br> +"ADVANCE COLUMN, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION,<br> +"GENERAL ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,<br> +"CAMP ETHERIDGE, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1862.<br> +"[General Orders No. 26.]</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"2. Should any such persons be found within our lines, they will be +arrested and sent to headquarters.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"By order of D. R. Anthony, <br> +Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Kansas Volunteers, commanding:</p> + +<p>"W. W. H. LAWRENCE,<br> +"Captain and Assistant-Adjutant General."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony was subsequently placed under arrest for +issuing the above order.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,<br> +"CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA., July 7, 1862.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"The time has come when the Government must determine upon a Civil and +Military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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,</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p>"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,<br> +"Major-General Commanding.</p> + +<p>"His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President."</p> +<br><br> +<p> +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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> +<br><br> +<p>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:</p> + +<p>THE MAJORITY REPLY:</p> + +<p>"WASHINGTON, July 14, 1862.</p> + +<p>"TO THE PRESIDENT:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<center> +<table summary=""> + + + + + <tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> Slaves</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> Kentucky had </td><td>225,490</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> Maryland </td><td>87,188</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> Virginia </td><td>490,887</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>Delaware </td><td>1,798</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>Missouri </td><td>114,965</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>Tennessee </td><td>275,784</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> + <tr><td> </td><td>Making in the whole </td><td>1,196,112</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>At the same rate of valuation these would</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>amount to </td><td>$358,933,500</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>Add for deportation and colonization $100 each</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td>$118,244,533</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> + <tr><td> </td><td> And we have the</td></tr> + <tr><td> </td><td> enormous sum of </td><td>$478,038,133</td></tr> + + +</table> +</center> + +<p> +"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"'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,'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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,</p> + +<p>"C. A. WICKLIFFE, Ch'man,<br> +CHAS. B. CALVERT,<br> +GARRETT DAVIS,<br> +C. L. L. LEARY,<br> +R. WILSON,<br> +EDWIN H. WEBSTER,<br> +J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br> +R. MALLORY,<br> +JOHN S. CARLILE,<br> +AARON HARDING,<br> +J. W. CRISFIELD,<br> +JAMES S. ROLLINS,<br> +J. S. JACKSON,<br> +J. W. MENZIES,<br> +H. GRIDER,<br> +THOMAS L. PRICE,<br> +JOHN S. PHELPS,<br> +G. W. DUNLAP,<br> +FRANCIS THOMAS, +WILLIAM A. HALL."</p> + + +<br><br> +<p> +THE MINORITY REPLY.</p> + +<p>"WASHINGTON, July 15, 1863.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"With great respect, your obedient servants,</p> + +<p>"JOHN W. NOELL,<br> +"SAMUEL L. CASEY,<br> +"GEORGE P. FISHER,<br> +"A. J. CLEMENTS,<br> +"WILLIAM G. BROWN,<br> +"JACOB B. BLAIR, +"W. T. WILLEY."</p> + +<br><br> +<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> +<p> + [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.]</p> +</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> +<p> MR. MAYNARD'S REPLY.</p> + +<p>"HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 16, 1862.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same +spirit.</p> + +<p>"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p> "HORACE MAYNARD.</p> + +<p>"To the PRESIDENT."</p> + +<br><br> + +<p> SENATOR HENDERSON'S REPLY.</p> + +<p>"WASHINGTON CITY, July 21, 1862.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p> "J. B. HENDERSON.</p> + +<p>"To his Excellency,<br> +"A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT."</p> + + + + +<br> +<br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + + <a href="p3.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p5.htm">Next Part</a> + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + +</body> +</html> + + + + |