Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1862-07-25
The Presidents Appeal
70 rnE BORDER STATES.
fro,a The xationa' Iutrllisenecr.

I Il The Representatives and Senators OF the
Border Shve-holding States having, by
special invitation Of the President, beer
convented at the Executive Mansion on
Saturday morning last, Mr.. iineoln adj
dressed them as follows from writer
paper in his hands;]
GENTLEMEN After the Adjournment d
Congress, now near, shall have no oppcr'
tunity of seeing youfor several months. BE.
lieving that you of the Border States hold
more power for coed than any other equal
nuraber Of members, feel ii a duty which
csnnot justiliably waive to make this APP
peal to you.
| intend no rcproach or complaint when
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
viii the States you represent ever join their
proposed Confedcracy, and they cannot
much longer MAINTAIN the contest. But you
cannot divest them of their hope to Ultimate
ly have you with them so long as you show
determination to perpetuate the institu-
ton within your own States. Beat them
at elections, as you have overwhelmingly
done, and nothing daunted, they will claim
you as their own. You and know what
the lever of their power is. Break that le-
yer before their faces, and they can shake
you no more for ever.
Most Of you have treated me with kind
ness and consideration, ana trust you will
not now think improperly touch what is
exclusively your own, when for the sake of
the whole country, / ask, "Can you, for
your States, do better than to take the
course urge?' Discarding puactilio and
maxims adapted to more manageable times,
and looking only to the unprecedentedly
stern facts of our case, can you do better in
any possible event? You prefer that the
constitutional relations Of the States to the
nation shall be practically restored without
disturbances Of the institution and, if this
were done, my whole duty, in this respect,
under the Constitution and my oath of office,
would be performed. But it is not done,
and we are trying to accomplish it by war.
The incidents of the war cannot be avoided.
fthe war continues long, as it must if the
object be not sooner attained, the insiitu-
tion in your States will be extinguished by
mere friction and abrasion-by the mere
incidents of the war. 1t will be gone, and
you will have nothing valuable in lieu fit.
Much of its value is gone already. How
much better for you and for your people to
take the step which al 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 J How
much better for you, as seller and the nation,
as buyer, to sell out and buy out that with
out 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
Threats.
] do not speak of emancipation at once,
but of dicision at once to emancipation
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 encourage
ment for one another, the freed people will
not be SO reluctant to go.
! am pressed with difficulty not yet
mentioned-on which threatens division
among those who, united, are none too strong
An instance of it is known to you. Gen.
Hunter, is an honest man. He was, and
hope still is, my friend. valued him none
the less for his agreeing with me in the gem
eral wish tina: all men everywhere could be
freed. He proclaimed all men free within
certain States, and repudiated the procla-
nation. He expected more good and less
harm from the measure than could believe
would follow. Yet, in repudiating it, l 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 in
creasing. BY conceding what | now ask
you can relive me, and, much more, can re-
lieve the country in this important point.
Upon these considerations 1 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
l pray you consider this proposition; and
at the least commend it to the considera-
ton of your States and people. As you
would perpetutate popular government for
the best people in the world, beseech you
fhat ron 10 in No xp;ea omit ,I,;e ~ -,