Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-03-26
A MESSAGE FROM bINcoLN.

,WAsuINGroN, March 6, 1862.
EeThe President today Fmsbitted to Congress the
6llowfng measures s.; fES
FfL1ow crrizEss. 81 rue sssArE AND House or
RsPREsENTxTivEs.-
| recommend the adoption Of a Joint resolution
by your honorable bodies which shall be substan-
italy follows
ResoLeel Fiat the United States ought to coop,
crate with any State which may adopt a gradual
aboliShment of slavery, giving to such State pecu
mary aid TO he used by suc State in its discretion
to compensate for the Inconvenience, public ana
private, produced by such change OF system.
If the proposition contained in the resolution does
not meet the approval Of Congress and the country
there is Tho end; but if it docs command such APP
prevail ILecu, il Of importance that t,e STATES and
people Immediately Interested should be at once
distinctly Roiiijeg Of the fact that-they may be-
gin to consider whether to accept or reject 1t. The
federal goyernm.nt would find Its highest Iaterl ST
in Sucha measure as one of the most efficient means
of self preservation . H.. Z 4
The leaders OF the existing insurTection entertain
the hope that the government will ultimately, 6e
forced to ackn0wled the independents OF some
part Of the dSaectcd region and that all the shave
States north of such part will say, The Union, ior
which we have struggled, being already gone, we
now choose to 20 with the Southern section 10
deprive them OF this hope substantially ends the re-
bellion and the imitation Of emancipation complete
lY deprlves them Of it. As to all the States iniia-
ting it. the point is not that all the States teierang
slavery woGid very soon, If at ALL initiate enianclpa
tion but that while the offer is equally made to all,
the more northern shall by such initiation, make 1t
certain 10 the more southern that IN no event VIII
the former ever join The latter in their proposed
conf.dcracv. say Limitation" because, in my iudg
ment gradual and not sudden emancipation Is bet
ter for al.
In the mere financial or pecuniary view any
member Of Congress, with the census tables and
the Treasury reports before him. can readily see for
himself how very soon the current expenditures of
the war would purchase al fair valuation, all the
slaves in any named State. Such proposition on the
part Of the general government SETS up no claim OF
right by federal authority 10 interfere with slavery
within State limits, referring, it does the abso-
lutte control of the subject in each case TO the State
and its people Immediately interested IL is pro-
POSED as matter of perfectly free choice with them.
In the annual message last December thought tit
10 say -" The Union must he preserved and hence
all Indispensable means must be employed said
this not hastily but deliberately. War has been
and continues to be Indispensable means TO this
end \ practical acknowledgement Of the national
authority would ender the unnecessary, and it
wouli at once cease. IT. however, resistance con
Times, the war must also continue and it is impos
sIble to orc>ee all the incidents which may attend
and all the ruin which NAV follow it. Such a. may
seem indispensable may obviously promise great
efficiency towards ending The struggle must and
viii come.
The proposition now made, though an offer only,
| hope It msy bv esteemed no offence to ask wheth-
err the pecunlary consideration rendered would not
be Of more value to the States and private persons
concerned th1n the institution and property in
it, in the present aspect of affairs, While 1t is true
that the adoption of the proposed resolution would
be merely intiaIory and not within itself Practi-
cal measure, it is recommended in the hope that it
would soon lead TO important results.
In fu v,.,y Of Tny ShilitV to Tod
and 10 my country, earnestly beg The attention Of
Congress aud the people to the subject.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The resolution suggested above by Mr.. Lincoln,
passed the lower House Of Congress by large ma