North, in enormous preparations and fruitless undertakings, until the conjoint pressure of Conscription and Taxation, the impossibility of further borrowing, and the heart-sickness of hope deferred, should impel a majority to acquiesce in any adjustment or compromise that would restore Peace to the country. Such seems the only plausible explanation of his timid and dawdling military policy, his habitual doubling or trebling of the Rebel force confronting him, and of the signal incoherence and inconsequence, especially with regard to Slavery and negroes, of the lecture which, directly after his retreat from the Chickahominy to the James had been consummated, he found time to indite or at least to transcribe and dispatch-to his perplexed and sorely tried superior. It is as follows: "HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDIng, Va., July 7, 1862. "MR. PRESIDENT: You have been fully informed that the Rebel army is in the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our position or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I can not but regard our condition as critical; and I earnestly desire, in view of possible contingencies, to lay before your excellency, for your private consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the Rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These views amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and heart. Our cause must never be abandoned; it is the cause of free institutions and self-government. The Constitution and the Union must be preserved, whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood. If Secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen in the future. Let neither military disaster, political faction, nor foreign war, shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of the laws of the United States upon the people of every State. "The time has come when the Government must determine upon a civil and military policy, covering the whole ground of our national trouble. "The responsibility of determining, declaring, and supporting such civil and military policy, and of directing the whole course of national affairs in regard to the Rebellion, must now be assumed and exercised by you, or our cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even for the present terrible exigency. "This Rebellion has assumed the character of a war; as such it should be regarded; and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon populations but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither confiscation of property, political executions of persons, territorial organization of States, nor forcible abolition of Slavery, should be con templated for a moment. "In prosecuting the war, all private prop erty 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 toward citizens promptly rebuked. Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments, constitutionally made, should be neither demanded nor received. "Military government should be confined to the preservation of public order and the protection of political right. Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband, under the act of Congress, seeking military protection, should receive it. The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own service claims to slave labor should be asserted, and the right of the owner to compensation therefor should be recognized. This principle might be extended, upon grounds of military necessity and security, to all the slaves of a particular State, thus working manumission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is only a question of time. A system of policy thus constitutional, and pervaded by the influences of Christianity and freedom, would receive the support of almost all truly loyal men, would deeply impress the Rebel masses and all foreign nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to the favor of the Almighty. MR. GREELEY TO THE PRESIDENT. 249 "Unless the principles governing the fu- | and power over his slaves, or it will ture conduct of our struggle shall be made be seriously impaired-nay, utterly known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be almost hopeless. A defied and overthrown. In "redeclaration of radical views, especially upon pressing" the "disorder" certain to Slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our pres- arise in the premises, the commander ent armies. The policy of the Government must be supported by concentration of mili- must inevitably decide which to suptary power. The national forces should not port the master's assertion of auоссираbe dispersed in expeditions, posts of tion, and numerous armies, but should be thority, or the slave's claim to liberty. mainly collected into masses, and brought "Political rights" can receive "proto bear upon the armies of the Confederate tection" only when it has been deStates. Those armies thoroughly defeated, the political structure which they support termined where the right lies. The would soon cease to exist. "manumission," which Gen. M. foreshadowed in Missouri, West Virginia, and Maryland, was not merely "a question of time." It was a question of power as well; since he plainly contemplated its achievement, not by popular action, but by military force. Paying the "owner" might, indeed, modify his wrath; but could not affect the fundamental question of authority and right. 66 'In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will require a commander-in-chief of the army, one who possesses your confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to execute your orders, by directing the military forces of the nation to the accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place for myself. I am willing to serve you in such position as you may assign me, and I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior. "I may be on the brink of eternity; and, as I hope forgiveness from my Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity toward you and from love for my country. “Very respectfully, 66 "Your obedient servant, "GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Maj.-Gen. Commanding. "His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President." If Gen. M. had been asked to reconcile the precepts of this letter regarding Slavery-how "the relations of servitude," for example, could be preserved in a district subject to "military power," without a distinct recognition and support of those "relations" by the military authority there dominant; or in what manner he would have "disorder" repressed, when it was caused by the slave's asserting his right to control his own actions and the master's resisting it -he might have answered ingeniously, but to what purpose? Manifestly, the ruling authority, whether civil or military, must either support the slaveholder's claim of property in A letter addressed" to the President some weeks after this, entitled "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," and exhorting Mr. Lincoln-not to proclaim all the slaves in our country free, but to execute the laws of the land which operated to free large classes of the slaves of Rebels-concludes as follows: "On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one disinterested, deter mined, intelligent champion of the Union cause who does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile-that the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year if Slavery were left in full vigor-that army officers, who remain to this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the Union-and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union. I appeal to the testimony of your Embassadors in Europe. It is freely at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the seeming subserAug. 19, 1862. erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. 66 If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. "If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always "As to the policy I seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. "The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be the Union as it was. "If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them. "If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree with them. "I close as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you is a frank, declared, unqualified, ungrudg-supposed to be right. ing execution of the laws of the land, more especially of the Confiscation Act. That act gives freedom to the slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any time inclose-we ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it. The Rebels are everywhere using the late anti-negro riots in the North -as they have long used your officers' treatment of negroes in the South-to convince the slaves that they have nothing to hope from a Union success-that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter bondage to defray the cost of the war. Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous bondmen, and the Union will never be restored -never. We can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies. We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and choppers, from the Blacks of the South-whether we allow them to fight for us or not-or we shall be baffled and repelled. As one of the millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle at any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a hearty and unequivocal obedience to the law of the land. Yours, HORACE GREELEY." The President-very unexpectedly-replied to this appeal by telegraph in order, doubtless, to place before the public matter deemed by him important, and which had probably been prepared for issue before the receipt of the letter to which he thus obliquely responded: "EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, "Hon. HORACE GREELEY: The New York Tribune. "If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be 66 My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy Slavery. "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it-if I could save. it by freeing all the slaves, I would do itand if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. "What I do about Slavery and the Colored Race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. "I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause; and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. "I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. "I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Yours, A. LINCOLN." Many others called on or wrote to the President about this time, urging him to action in the spirit of Mr. Greeley's letter. He heard all withi courtesy, suggesting objections that were not intended for conclusions, but rather to indicate and enforce the grave importance of the topic, the peril of making a mistake upon it, and the difficulty of reaching the MR. LINCOLN TO THE EMANCIPATIONISTS. Blacks with any proffer of Freedom. | The slaveholders-especially those in the loyal States-would all hear of it forthwith, and be influenced by it; the slaves in the disloyal States would receive 'all tidings of it through hostile channels-from those interested in deceiving and misleading them with regard to it. Even if correctly and promptly advised, what could they do? Bayonets glittered on every side; arms were borne by nearly every able-bodied White; while the Blacks could oppose to these but their empty (and shackled) hands. What good, then, could be secured by an Abolition policy? "It is a Pope's bull against the comet," suggested the President. "It will unite the South and divide the North," fiercely clamored the entire Opposition. So the President-habitually cautious, dilatory, reticent-hesitated, and demurred, and resisted-possibly after he had silently resolved that the step must finally be taken. Mr. Lincoln was soon visited," among others, by a deputation from the various Protestant denominations of Chicago, Illinois, charged with the duty of urging on him the adoption of a more decided and vigorous policy of Emancipation. He listened to the reading of their memorial, and responded in substance as follows: "The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance: the other day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York called as a delegation on business connected with the war; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general Emancipation; upon which the other two at once attacked them. You know also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of anti-Slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is true of the religious people. Why, the Rebel soldiers are praying with a 251 great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our But we will talk "What good would a proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet. Would my word free the slaves, when I can not even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single court, or magistrate, or individual, that would be influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves lines? Yet I can not learn that that law has of Rebel masters who come within our caused a single slave to come over to us. And, suppose they could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and care for such a multitude? Gen. Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more rations to the slaves who have rushed to him than to all the White troops under his command. Gen. Butler is feeding the Whites also by They eat, and that is all; though it is true the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that ers, free or slave, they immediately auction them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee river a few days ago. And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when, after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do? whenever the Rebels take any Black prison 66 Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire? Understand: I raise no objections against it on legal or constitutional grounds; for, as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy 29 Sept. 13. in time of war, I suppose I have a right to | take any measure which may best subdue the enemy; nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion." The deputation responded, urging that an Emancipation policy would greatly strengthen us in Europe, and would justify us in appealing to the God of the oppressed and down-trodden for His blessing on our future efforts to crush the Rebellion. President rejoined: The "I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or at least its sine quá non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act; but they would have been im potent without Slavery as their instrument. will also concede that Emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something, more than ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine. Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the war; and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed, thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops. I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are 50,000 bayonets in the Union army from the Border Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I do not think they all would-not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago-not so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the Rebels. Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have an important principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea, going down about as deep as any thing.” The deputation again developed and enforced their views; and the President closed the conference with these pregnant words: "Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and by night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do. I trust that, in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views, I have not in any respect injured your feel ings." The deputation had scarcely returned to Chicago and reported to their constituents, when the great body of the President's supporters were electrified, while his opponents in general were only still farther alienated, by the unheralded appearance of the following proclamation: "I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and Commanderin-chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, for the object of practically restoring the as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States, and the people thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed. "That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued. "That, on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the |