The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1864-04-29
Presidents Ieitcr.
Executive Mansion.

verbally said, tho other dAv, in
your prcscn,c, TO Governor Bran
Iettc and Senator Dixon. It was
about as follows:
IL am naturally anti slavery If
slavery is not wrong, nothing Is
wrong. | can not remember when I
did not so'think and feel Aud yet,
I have never under TODD that the
Presidency conferred upon me an
right to- act officially up.
on this Judgment and feeling. 1t
was in the oath took. that I would
10 the best of my ability, preserve,
protect, and defend the. Constitution
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
breal; tho oath, in using the power.
understood, too, that, in ordinary
civil administration, this oath even
forbade me, TO practically indulge
my primary, abstract judgment on
the moral question Of slavery. I had
publicly declared this many times.
and in many ways. And aver that,
to this day, I have done no official
act in mere Difference to my abstract
Judgment and feeling on slavery.
my oath to preserve the Constitution
to the best Of my ability, imposed
upon me the duty of preserving, by
every indispensable means, that Gov
ernmcnt-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 liml
must be protected yet often limt
must be amputated to save life
but life is never wisely given tc
save limb. / felt that measures
otherwise unconstitutional, might be
come lawful, by becoming indispen.
sable TO the preservation Of the Con.
stitution, through the preservation Of
the Nation, Right or wrong, Iassum.
ed this ground. and now avow it.
could not feel that to the hest of my
ability | had even tried 10 preserve
the Constitution, if to save slavery ol
any minor matter. I should permit
the wreck o. G. vernmont, Coun'rv.
and Constitution, all together -
When early in the war General Ere
mont attempted military cmaucipa-
ton, ! forbade it because I did moi
then think it an indispensable ncces
sity. Whom q little later. General
Cameron, then Secretary Of War, sur.
gestcd the arming Of the blacks.
objected. because | dill not yet think
it az Indispensable neccs sitv. When
still later, General Hunter attempted
military emancipation. l again for.
babe It. because I did not vet thin';
the Indispensable necessity had
como
when, in March, anl MAJ. anil Ju.
", 1862, I made earnest and succes.
sive appeals to the Border States, tc
favor compensated emancipation. !
believe the Indispensable necessity
ffs riG'fMrRs w6ina' come. : unless
nverted by that measure. They do
clined the the proposition, and was,
in my best judging. driven to the nj.
tentative, of either surrendering the
Union and with it, the Constitution
or Of LAYING strong hand upon the
coiorcd element. | chose the latter.
In choosing it, hoped for greater
gain than loss ; hut of this was not
entirely confident, More than 2
year of trial now shows no loss by it,
in our foreign relations none in ON
home popular sentiment; mono in
our white military forcc--no loss by
ii, ANYHOW or anywhere. On tho
contrary, it shows gain Of quite Z
and thirty thousand soldiers
scamcn and lahorers. These are pal.
pahle facts, about which, rs facts,
there can be no cavilling. 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 him.
self, hv writing down in enc 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 thousand men from the Union
side, and placing them whore they
would bc, but for the measure he con.
dcmns. II he cannot face his cause
so stated, it is only because he can,
not face the truth.
Il add word, which was not in
the verbal conversation. In telling
this tale, l attempt no compliment tc
my own sagacity. l claim not tc
have controlled events, but confess
plainly that events have controlled
mo Now, at the end of three years
struggle, the nations condition, i
not what either party or any man de.
vised or expected. God alone car
claim it. Whithcrit is tending seems
plaia. If Cad now Wills the removal
of great wrong, and wills also that
we Of the North, as well rs you OF
the South, shall pay fairly for ON
completely in that wrong. Impartial
history will find therein new cause to
attest, and reverse the justice and
goodness Of God.
Yours truly, A, LyNcoLN.'
---------.. ..'~Ss-''--
Mortality Among Uaion Prisoners.
The Columbus (Ga,) Enquirer
says.