The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-04-29

On subsequent occasion, III con-
versation with Mr.. Lincoln, Col Hodges
remarked, that he was satisfied that the
President was greatly misunderstood By
many of the citizens of Kentucky, and
that he would greatly oblige him if he
would write out the remarks made to
Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon,
in order that with the Presidents per-
mission, they might be published in the
Commonwealth; that if published
the Colonel doubted not, they would
remove mach of the prejudice which
was attempted to be created, against the
President in Kentucky.
The President took the matter into
consideration; and shortly. after his re-
turn home the Colonel received the fol-
lowing, which we would recommend to
the deliberate consideration Of the pa
triotic people Of Kentucky:
EXECUTIVE MANSION, ,
WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864. J
4. G. Hodges, Esq, Frankfort KY
Ny DEAR SIR,-You ask me to put in
writing the substance of what verbally
said, the other day, in your presence, to
Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon
1t was about as follows
Il am naturally anti-slavery. If
slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong
cannot remember when l did not so
think and feel And yet, I have never
understood that the Presidency con-
ferred upon me an unrestricted right
to act officially upon this judgment and
{ g, 2 - L, I l. I,
would to the best Of my ability, pre-
serve, protect, and defend the Constitu-
ton of the United States l could not
take the Office without taking the oath
Nor was it my view, that | might take
an oath to get power, and break the
oath in using the power. l understood,
too, that, in ordinary civil administra-
ton, this oath even forbade me to prac-
tically indulge my primary abstract
Judgment on the moral question of
slavery. l had publicly declared this
many times, and in many ways. And
l aver that, to this day, have done no
official act in mere Difference to my
abstract judgment and feeling on
slavery.
81 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 indis-
pensable means, that Government, that
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 a limb must be
amputated to save a life; but life is
never wisely given to save a limb. /
felt that measures, otherwise uncOnsti-
tutional, might become lawful by be-
coming indispensable to the preservation
Of the Constitution through the preser-
vatiOn of the nation Right or wrong,
I assumed this ground, and now avow
it. could not feel that, to the best Of
my ability, l had even tried to preserve
the Constitution, if to save slavery, or
any minor matters, should permit the
wreck of Government country and
Constitution, all together. When, ear
ly in the war, Gen Fremont attempted
military emancipation, forbade it, be-
cause / did not think it an indispens-
able necessity. When, a little later,
Gen. Cameron, then Secretary of War,
suggested the arming Of the blacks, l
objected, because | did not yet think
it an indispensable necessity. When,
still later, Gen. Hunter attempted mill
tary emancipation, l again forbade it,
because l did not yet think the indis-
pensable necessity had come.
"When, in March, and May, and July,
1862, Imade earnest and successive ap-
peals to the Border States, to favor com
pensated emancipation, believed the
indispensable necessity for military
emancipation, and arming the blacks
would come, unless averted by that
measure. They declined the PROPOSE
tion and l was, in my best judgment,
driven to the alternative, of either sur
rendering the Union, and with it the
Constitution, or of laying strong hand
upon the colored element l chose the
latter In choosing it, / hoped for
greater gain 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 popular sentiment; none in our
anyhow, or anywhere. On the contra
ry, it shows q gain.of quite a hundred
and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen
and laborers. These are palpable facts.
about which, as facts, there can be no
caviling. We have the men; and we
could not have had them without the
measure
"And now, let any Union man, who
complains of the measure test himself,
by writing down in one line, that he is
for subduing the rebellion by force Of
arms, and in the next, that he is for
taking these hundred and thirty thous-
and men from the Union side and plac-
ing them where they would be, but for
the measure he condemns. If he can
not face his cause 50 stated, it is only
because he cannot face the truth"
l add a word which was not in the
verbal conversation. In telling the
tale, 1 attempt no compliment to my
own sagacity. 1 claim not to have con-
trolled events, but confess plainly that
events have controlled me. Now, at
the end of 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. GoD now wills
the removal Of a great wrong, and wills
also that we of the North, as well as
you of the South, shall pay fairly for
our completely in that wrong, impartial
history will find therein new cause to
attest and revere the justice and good
ness Of God.
Yours, truly, \. LINCOLN.
The French are nothing If not funny