Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1864-05-10

ble meaus that Goverom that Nation,
Of which that Consti,u ution was the organic
Law. Was it possible to lose the Nation
aud yet preserve the Constitution ?
BY general law, life and limb mnst be
protected yet often limb must be ampu-
ta'ed to save q life but life is never
wisely given to save limb. | feel that
measures, otherwise unconstitutional,
might become lawful, by becoming indis-
peusahle to the preservation of the Con-
s'i'u'ion, through the preservation Of the
Nation. Right or wrong, assumed this
grouod, 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 Government,
Country, aud Constitution, all together,
When early 10 the war General Fremont
attempted military emancipation, forbade
Ii because did not then thiuk it an in-
dispensabIe necessity. When q little la.
ter, Gen. Cameron, then Secretary Of war,
suggested the srming Of the blacks, OBJ
jected, bee Use did not yet think it an
indispensable necessity. When, still Ia
ter, Gen. Hunter attempted military
emancipation, l again forbade it, because
did not yet think the indispensable ne-
cessity had come.
When, 10 March, and May, and July,
1862, made earnest and successive appeals
to the Border States to favor compensated
emancipation, | believed the indispensa.
BILE necessity for military emancipation,
and armiog the blacks would come, uu-
less averted by that measure. They de-
clined the proposition, and | was, 10 my
best jud gment. driven to the alternative,
of either surrendering the Union, and
with it, the Constitution, or Of laying
stroog hand upon the colored element. |
chose the latter. Ia choosing it, hoped
for greater gain than loss; but Of this l
was not entirely confident. More than a
year Of trial now shows no loss BY it, in
our foreign relations; none in our home
popular sentiment none IN our white
force-uo loss BY it, uyhow or anywhere.
On the contrary, it shows gain Of quite
hundred aud thirty thousand soldiers
seamen aud laborers. These are palpable
facts, about which, as facts, there can be
DO caviling We have the men, and we
could not have had them without the
measure.
And now, let any Onion man, who com.
plains of the measure, test himself, BY
writing down in one line, that be is for
subduing the Rebellion BY force Of arms,
and in tho next, that be is for taking
these hundred and thirty thousand men
from the Union side and placing them
where they would be, bu. for the measure
he condemns. If be cannot face bis
cause SO stated, il is only because he can
not face the truth.
add a word, which Was not 10 the ver-
bal conversation. In telling this tale, l at.
tempt no compliment to my own ssgacity.
l claim not to have controlled events, but
confess plainly that events controlled me.
Now, at the end three years struggle,
the nations condition is not what either
party or any man devised or expected.
God alone can claim it. Whittier it is
tending seems plain. If God nov Wills
the removal of . great wrong, and wills
also that We Of the North, as well as you
Of the South, shall pay fairly for our COM
plicisy in that wrong, impartial history
will fiud therein new cause to attest aud
revere the justice and goodness Of God.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.