The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1862-03-12
Special Message III the President.


Feiloo Citizens Of the Senate and House
of Representatives.
recommend the adoption Of joint res
oluton by your honorable bodies which
shall be substantially as follows:
Reeclred, That the United State ought to
cooperate with any State which may adopt
a gradual adjustment Of slavery, giving to
such State pecunary aid to be used by such
State in its discretion to compensate for the
inconvenience, public and private, produced
by such change Of system.
If the proposition contained in the reso.
luton does not meet the approval Of Con-
gress and the country, there is the end !;
but il it does command such approval, |
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 ac-
Dept or reject it. The Federal Governm, mt
would find its highest interest in such a
measure as one Of the most efficient meas
ures Of representation. The leaders OF
the existing instruction entertain the hope
that the Government will ultimately be
forced to acknowledge the independence of
some part of the disatlected region, and
will then say the Union for which we have
struggled being already gone, We now
choose to 60 with them. To deprive them
of this hope, substantially ends the rebel
lion, and the initiation of emancipation
completely dcprivcs them of it as to all the
States initiating. The point is not that all
the States toleratng slavery would very
soon, if 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 Confederacy.
say "initiation," because in nv iuds-
mcnt gradual, and not sudden, cmancipa.
ton is better for all. In the. mere financial
or pecuniary view, any member Of Con-
grcss, with the census tables and the Treas
ury reports before him, can readily see for
himself how very soon the current expen-
diures Of the war would purchase, at a
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 it
| does, the absolute control Of the subject in
each case to the State and its people immc-
diately interested. 1t is proposed as a mat,
ter of perfectly free choice with tlnm. In
| the annual message last December, | tho't
| fit to say the Union must he preserved, and
| hence all indispensable means must be c,n.
ployed. said this not hastily, but delib.
eratcly. War has been, and continues to
be, an indispensable means to this end. A
| practical re. acknowledgment Of the nation.
al authority would render the war unnec.
essary, and it would at once cease. IT.
however, resistance continues, the wal
muct also continue; and it is impossible to
ioresce all the incidents which may attend
and all the ruin which may follow. Such
as may seem indispensable. or may obvi
ously premise greater efficiency towards
ending the struggle, must and will come.
| The proposition now made is an Offer
only. | hope it may be esteemed no offense
to ask whether 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 prcscn aspect Of affairs? While it is
true that the adoption Of the proposed res
olution would be merely intiatory, and moi
within itself practicable measure, it is
recommended in the hope that it woud
sooner lead to important results
In full view of my great responsibility t.
my God and to my country, earnestly beg
the attention Of Congress and the people t,
the subject = aI
(SigneD ABRAHAM LINCOLN.