The Portland daily press., 1862-07-28
The Presidents Address to Border State
congressman.


On the 18th inst, by invitation, the Senators
holding States, met at the Executive Mansion,
and the President read TO them an address, of
which the following is a copy:
"Genttemen After the adjournment of Con-
gress, now near, / 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 men,
bers, / feel ii duty which / cannot justifiably
waive to make this appeal to you.
! intend no reproach or complaint when l
assure you that, in my opinion, if You had all
voted for the resolution in the gradual eman-
cipation 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 GER
tainly that in no event will the States YOU rep
resent ever join their proposed confederacy,
and they cannot much longer maintain the
contest But you cannot divest them of their
hope to ultimately have you with them so long
as you show determination to perpetuate the
institution within your own States. Beat them
at elections, as you have overwhelmingly DONE
and, nothing daunted, they will still claim YOU
as their own. You and l know what the lev
er of their power is. Break that lever before
their faces, and they can shake you no more
forever.
Most of you have treated me with kindness
and consideration, and / trust you will
not now think l 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 punctilio and
maxims adapted to more manageable times,
and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern
facts OF our case, can you do better in any
possible event? You prefer that the constitu-
tional relations of the States to the nation
should be practically restored without disturb
ance of the institution; and, if this were done.
my whole duty in this respect, under the con-
stitution and my oath of office, would be per-
formed. But 1t is not done, and we are trying
TO accomplish it by war. The incidents Of
the war cannot be avoided. If the war con-
tinues long, as it must if the object be not
sooner attained, the institution in your States
will be extinguished by mere friction aud alb
rasion-by the mere incidents of the war Ii
will be gone, and you will have nothing valua-
BILE In lieu OF 1t. Much of its value has gone
already. How much better for you and 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 1t! 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
anothers throats
do not speak Of emancipation at once, but
OF 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.
lam pressed with difficulty not yet mention
ed-one which threatens division among those
who, united. are not too strong. An instance
of it is known TO you. Gen. Hunter is an hon
est man. He was, and l hope still is, my friend
valued him none the less for his agreeing
with me in the general wish that all men eve
rywhere could be freed. He proclaimed all
men free within certain States, and repudiat-
ed the proclamation. He expected more good
and less harm from the measure than | could
believe would follow. Yet, in regulating il.
gave dissatisfaction, If not offence, to many
whose support the country cannot afford to
lose. And this is not The end of il. The press
ure in this direction is still upon me, and is in
creasDg. BY conceding what | now ask YOU
can relieve me, and much more, can relieve
the country in this important point.
Upon these considerations have again beg
ged your attention to the message of March
last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and
discuss 1t among yourselves. You are patri-
OTIS and statesmen, and as such pray you con-
slider this proposition; and at the least COM
mend it to the consideration of your State and
people. As you would perpetuate popular
government for the best people in the world, |
beseech you that you do in no wise omit this
Our common country is in great peril de-
manding the loftiest views and boldest action to
bring a speedy relief Once relieved. its form
of government is saved to the world: its be-
loved history and cherished memories are vim
Dictated, and its happy future fully assured and
rendered inconceiyably grand. To You, more