The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1864-05-05

bally said, the other day, in your pres
ence, ia. Governor Bramletto and Senator
Dixon. 1t was about as follows:
l am naturally anti.slavery. If slave
y is not wrong, nothing is wrong. l
cannot remember when did not 50
think and feel. And yet, | have never
understood that the Presidency conferred
upon me an unrestricted right to act
officially upon this judgment and feeling:
1t was in the oath I took, that l would
to the best Of my ability, preserve and
protect the constitution OF the United
States. could not take the office with
out taking the oath. Nor was it my view
that might take an oath to get power,
and break the oath in using the power
| understand, too, that in ordinary civil
administration this oath even forbade me
to practically indulge in primary, abstract
Judgment on the moral question OF slave
ry. l had publicly declared this many
times and in many ways. And l aver
that, to this day, I have done no Official
act in mere Difference to my abstract
judgment and feeling on slavery.
did understand, however, that my
oath to preserve the constitution to the
best of my ability imposed upon me the
duty of preserving, by every indispensi-
BILE means, that government-that nation
of which that constitution was the or
game law. Was it possible to lose the
nation, and yet preserve the constitu,
tion ?
BY general law, life and limb must be
protected; yet often limb must be am
putated to save life, but life is never
wisely given to save limb. l felt that
measures, otherwise unconstitutional,
might become lawful, by becoming in
dispensable to the preservation of the con-
stitution, through the preservation Of the
nation. Righ. or wrong, | assumed this
ground, and now svow it. l could not
feel, that to the best of my ability, had
even tried to preserve the constitution,
if, to save slavery, or any minor matter,
| should permit the wreck Of govern
ment, country and constitution alto
gether.
When early 10 the war Gen. Fremont
attempted military emancipation, I for
babe it, because | did not then think it
an indispensable necessity. When, lit
tie, later, Gen. Cameron, then Secretary
of War, suggested the arming of the
blacks, l objected; because l did not
think it an indispensable necessity. And
when, still later, Gen. Hunter attempted
military emancipation, l again forbade it;
because | did not yet think the indispen-
sible necessity had come,
When, in March, and May, and July,
1862, had earnest and successive ap-
peals to the border States to favor CON-
pensated emancipation, believed that
the indispensable necessity Of military
emancipation and arming the blacks
would come, unless averted by that meas
ure. They declined the proposition; and
| was, in my best Judgment, driven to
the alternative of either surrendering the
Union, and with it the constitution, OF
of laying strong hands upon the colorod
element. l chose the latter In choos
ing it, hoped for greater gain than loss
but of this I was not entirely conf.
dent. More than year of trial now
tons; mono in our home popular s efhIti
ments; none in our white military fore,
no loss by it, any how or any where
On the contrary, it shows gain of quit,
$50, 900 soldiers, seamcn and laborcrs.-
These are palpable facts, abou. which, q
facts, there can be no caviling. We hay,
the men, and could not have had then
without the measure.
Aud now let any Union man, VIII
complains of the measure, test himsel
BY writing down in one line, that he i
for subduing the rebellion by force O
arms, and in the next, that he is for ia,
king these $50, 900 men from the Unior
side, ana placing them where they woul
be but for the measure he condemns.
he cannot face his cause so stated, it j
only because he cannot face the truth.
| add a fact which was not in the yer
bal conversation. In telling this tale,
attempt no compliment to my own sagac
/ ity. | claim not to have controlled event
but confess plainly tina: events have cor
tro,led me. Now, at the end Of tire
years struggle, the nations condition
not what either party or any man devise
or expected. God alone can claim it,
Whittier it is tending SEEMS plain.
God now wills the removal Of gre:
wrong, and wills also that We of tn
North, as well as you CT the South, sha
pay fairly for our completely 10 tn;
wrong, impartial history will find therei
new causes to attest and revere the JUS
tice and goodness Of God,
s.s. Yours, truly,
\. LlNCoLN.
There appears to be no doubt of II
fact that an agreement has been arrive
at between Gen. Butler and the rph