Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1862-03-14
- The Presidents Last Message.

mi1ico W Soukreos 'ho ioiio"inS message
FeOop Citizens of the Senate IS
r "a and ho,sse Of REPRESENTATIVES:
recommend the adoption of a joint
resolution by your honorable bodies,
which shall be substantially as follows
RESOLVED, the United States ought to
cooperate with any State which may adopt a
gradual adjustment of Slavery, giving to such
State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in
| its discretion, to compensate for the inconven-
fences, public and private, produced by such
change of system. al.
/ If the proposition contained in the res
olution does not meet the approval of Con-
gress and the country, there is the end
but if it does command such approval I
deem it of Importance that the States and
people Immediately interested should be
at once distinctly notified of the fact, so
that they may begin to consider whether
to accept or reject it. The Federal Gov
eminent would find its highest interest in
such measure as one of the most eff
Gent means of self preservation. The
leaders of the existing instruction enter
tain the hope that the Government will
ultimately be forced to acknowledge the
independence of some part of the disaf-
fected region, and that all the slave States
north of such parts will then say, 1.-The
Union for which we have struggled being
already gone, we now choose to go with
the southern section" To deprive them
Of this hope, substantially ends the re-
bellion, and the initiation Of emancipa-
ton completely deprives them of it as to
all the States initiating it.
The point is not that all the States toll
Grating slavery would very soon, if at all,
iniatiate 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 will the former ever join the latter
in their proposed confederacy. | say lin
itiation,"' because, in my Judgement, grad
ual, and not sudden emancipation is better
for all. In mere financial or pecuniary
view any member of Congress, with the
census tables and the treasury reports be-
fore him, can readily see for himself how
very soon the current expenditures of this
war would purchase, at 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 to interfere
with slavery within State limits, referring
as it does the absolute control of the sub
ject in each case to the State and its peo-
pie Immediately interested. 1t is pro-
posed as matter of perfectly free choice
with them. ..t...
In the annual message last December, |
thought fit to say: f" The Union must be
preserved, and hence all indispensable
means must be employed" | said this
not hastily, but deliberately. War has
been, and continues to be, an indispensa-
BILE means to this end. A practical re-ac-
acknowledgements of the Nationl authority
would render the war unnecessary, and it
would at once cease. If however, .resis-
lance continues, the war must also contin.
ue, and it is impossible to foresee all the
incidents which may attend, all the ruin
which may follow it. Such as my seem
Indispensable, or may obviously promise
great efficiency toward ending the strug.
gle, must and will come. The proposition
now made is an offer only, and hope il
may be esteemed no offense to ask wheth.
er the pecuniary consideration rendered
would not be of more value to the States
and private persons concerned than are
the institution and property in it, in the
i present aspect of Affairs. While it is true
that the adoption of the proposed resolu.
ton would be merely initiatory, and moi
within itself practical measure, it is
recommended in the hope that it would
soon lead to important results. In full
view of my great responsibility to my
God and to my country, | earnestly beg
the attention of Congress and the people
to the subject.
(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
A NEW Book FnR CurncuMEN-E Entitled