Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-03-07
Message from President Lincoln.

WASHINGTON, March 6.-The President to
day transmitted to Congress the following
message:
FeIlO,O Citizens Of The Senate and House of Rep
Tesenfdtiues:
recommend the adoption OF Joint resoIu
tion by your honorable bodies, which shall b,
substantially as follows:
ResoIued, That the United States ought to 90
operate with any State which may adopt grad
ual abolishment of slavery, giving to such Stat
pecuniary aid, to be used by such State at it
discretion, TO compensate for the lncOnven
iences, public and private produced by sucl
change of system. 5 u
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 com
maud such approval, deem it Of Importance
that the States and people Immediately interest
ed should DO at once distinctly notified of the
fact, SO that they may begin to consider wheth-
er to accept or reject it. The Federal Govern.
ment would ind its highest interest in such O
measure, as one OF the most efficient measures
of self-preserYati ~sta
The leaders of the existing instruction en-
tertain the hope that the Government will ulti.
mately be forced to acknowledge the .independ-
ence Of some part of the disafected region, and
that all the slave States north of such parts will
then say, "the Union for which we have strug-
gled being already gone, we now choose to 90
with them" To deprive them OF this hope
substantially ends the rebellion, aud the initia-
tion of emancipation completely deprives them
of it. 's Ht 800 ~
AS to all the States initiating 1t, the point Is
not that all the States tolerating slavery would
very soon, II 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
shall the former join the latter in their proposed
Contederacy. say initiation, because in my
Judgment gradual and not sudden emancipation
Is better for all. i,E
In the mere financial point of view, any men,
ber 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, at q fair valuation,
all the slaves in any named State.
Such proposition on the part Of the general
government sets up no claim or right by federal
authority to interfere with slavery within State
limits, referring as 1t does the absolute control
of the subject in each case to the State and its
people Immediately interested. IL is proposed
as matter of perfectly free choice with them.
In the annual message last December,
thought fit to say the Union must be preserved,
and hence all indispensable means must be en-
ployed. said this not hastily, but deliberately.
War has been and continues to be, an indispens-
able means to this end. A practical reacknoWl.
edgement of the national authority would rem
der the war unnecessary, and it wonld q. 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 results which may follow. Such as may
seem indispensable, or may obviously promise
great efficiency toward ending the struggle, must
and VI come. F'1
hope II may be esteemed no oHsnse to ask
whether the pecuniary consideration rendered
would not be Of more value to the State and
private persons concerned, than are the inslitu-
tion and property in it, in the present aspect of
aifairs7
While it is true that the adoption Of the pro-
posed resolution would be merely initiatory,
and not within itself o practical measure, 1t ia
recommended in the>hope that It would sooner
Head to important results. In full view of my
great responsibility to my God aud to my coun-
try, earnestly beg the attention Of Congress
and the people to the snbject.
(signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.