Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-04-29
MORNING LEADER.
FRTOAY 1IoRNTNG. APE. %. Iss4.a
THE PRESIDENT ON THE SLAVERY
OuEarION.
Letter from MIR. LIncoIu.
EXECUTIVE MAss1oK. /
WARRINGTON, April 4, 1868

MAeHIh0ToEi April a, 1868
A. G. Hodges, Esq, Frankfort, Kentucky.
My DEAR SIR-You ask me to put in
writing the substance Of what 1 verbally
said, the other day in, your presence, to
Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon
It was about as follows:
am naturally snti slavery. If slavery
is not wrong, nothing is wrong. 1 can
not remember when did not so think and
feel. And yet, 1 have never understood
thRt the Presidency conferred upon me an
restrained right to act officially upon this
judgment and feeling. 1t was in the oath
took, that 1 would, 10 the best Of my
ability, preserve, protect and defend the
constitution Of the United States. I could
not take the office without taking the oath.
Nor was it my view that l might tske an
oath TO get power, and break the oath, in
using the power. understood, too, that
in ordinary civil administration this oath
even forbade me to practically indulge in
primary, abstract judgment on the moral
question OF slavery. had publicly de-
clsred this many times, and in many ways.
And aver that to this day, have done
no official act in mere Difference to my sb-
stract judgment and feeling on slavery.
did understand, however, that nv oath
to preserve the constitution to the best Of
my ability, imposed upon me the duty OF
preserving, by every indispensable means,
that government-thst nation, Of which
that constitution was the organic law
Was it possible TO lose the nation, and yet
preserve the constitution
By general Law, life and limb must be
protected; yet often limb must be am
pudsted tosave life; but life is never
wisely given to save limb. felt that
measure, otherwise unconstitutional, might
become lawful, by becoming Indispensable
to the preservation Of the constitution,
through the preservation Of the nation
Right or wrong l assumed this ground, |
and now svow it. could not feel that to |
the best Of my ability ] had even tried to /
preserve the constitution, if, to save slsv-
cry, or any minor matter, 1 should permit |
the wreck of my government, country and |
constitution, altogether. When, early in
the war, Gen. Fremont attempted military
emancipation, l forbade il, because did not /
then think it an indispensable necessity.
When, little later, Gen. Cameron, then |
Secretary Of War, suggested the arming Of
the blacks, objected because / did not |
yet think it an indispensable necessity
When, still later, Gen. Hunter attempted |
military emancipation, again forbade it;
because did not yet think the iDdispens-
able necessity had come.
When, in March, snd May, and July, |
1862, l made earnest and successive sp- 1
peais to the border States to favor compen-
stated emancipation, believed the indis- |
pensable necessity for military emsnei- /
patton, and srming the blacs would come, !
unless aVerted by that measure. They de- |
clined the proposition and was, in my |
best judgment, driven TO the alternative Of /
either surTendering the Union, and with
it the constitution, or Of laying strong
hand upon the colored element 1 chose
the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for
greater pain than loss; but Of This was
not entirely confident. More than year
of trial now shows no loss By it, in our
foreign relations; none in our home popu-
lar sentiment; none in our white military
force-no loss by il, any how, or anywhere.
On the contrary, it shows gain Of quite
8 hundred and thirty thousand soldiers,
and lsborers. These are pslpsble
facts, about which, as facts, there can be
no csviling. We have the men, and we
could not have had them without the
measure.
And now, let any Union man, who COM
plains Of the measure, test himself, by
writing down in one line, that he is for
subduiDg the rebellion by force Of arms,
and in the next, that be is for taking these
hundred and thirty thousand men from the
Union side, and placing them where they
would be, but for the measure he condemns. |
II he cannot face his cause SO stated, it is
only because he cannot face the truth.
l add word, which Was not in the verb
al conversation. In telling this tale, I at
tempt no compliment to my own ssgseity. |
] claim not to have controlled events but |
confess plainly that events have controlled |
me. Now, at the end Of three years strug- |
gle, the nations condition is not what eth |
er party or any man devised or expected. |
God alone can claim il Whittier it is |
tending seems plain. If God now wills
the removal Of great wrong, aud wills |
also that we Of the North, as we'll as you
of the South, shall pay fsirly for our com
plicity in that wrong, impartial history |
will fsd therein new causes 10 attest, and |
revere the justice and goodness of God.
Yours, truly, A. LIEcoLE.