Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-04-28
Letter from PFssIdsnt LIneoln-A
Clear and Able k1pOblIion
~. EnNlAn..

=. OAeaE ana AbIe Expedition
The correspondence between President
Lincoln. Governor Bramlstte and others,
growing cut of the late enrolment cOntrO-
yersy in Kentucky, has been published.-
the following letter, by the President iG one
OF The ableSt productions of his pens
"ExEoUTIyH MANSION,
"WAsHIHsToE, April
"a. G.. HOSsG., Esq.. frankfort, KY:
"MY DEAR sIR-You ask me to put In
writing the substance Of what verbally
said, ths other day, in your presence, TO
Gov. Bramlette and Senator Dixon. 1t was
about as follows; 4laH.r
al am naturally anti slavery. ItslaVery
is not wrong, nothing is wrong. can not
remember when did not &c think and feel.
Add yet, have never understood that the
Presidency conferred upon mo an unre.
strleIed right To- act officially upon this
judgment aud feeling. 1t was in the oath
1 took, that would 70 the best of my AbiI-
ity, preserve, protect, and defend the Con-
situation of the United States. l could not
take the Office without taking the OATH
Nor was il my. view, that might take an
oath to get power, aud break the 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. l had publicly de-
clAred this many times, and in many Vays.
And aver that, to this day. have done
no official act IN mere Difference TO my ab-
stTAet judgment and feeling on slavery.
e 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 Indispensable means,
that GoVernment-thRt Nation, of which
that Constitution was the organic law
Was it possible to loSe't the Nation, aud yet
preserve the Constitution
by general Law, life and limb must bs
protected; yet often limb must be ampu.
lated 10 save life; but . life is never wise.
" given TO save limb. Ifeel that meas
nreS, otherwise wise aud constitutional
might become lawful, by becoming indis-
peusible to the preservation Of the CousIi.
Intion, through tho preservation OF the
nation. Right or wrong, assumed hi:
ground, and now aVOW it. could not fee
that to tbs best of my ability had ever
tried TO preserve the Constitution, If &c
save slavery or any minor matter, l should
permit the wreck Of Government, Country
aud Constitution, all together. When ear.
~ in the war General Fremont attempted
military emancipation, I forbadeit because
did not then think it an Indispensable
necessity When a iiuls later, Genera
Cameron, then Secretary Of War, suggest
ed the Srming of the blacks, l objected, DO
cause did not yet think 1t an indispensR'
BILE necessity. When, still later. Genera
Hunter attempted military emancipation,
again forbade it, because did not ye
think the, INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY had
come.
"Wbeu, in March. and May, and July
1869, made earnest aud successive Sp-
peals to the Border States, TO favor com.
penSGted emancipation, l believe the TO-
dispensable necessity for military emauei.
patton, and armipg the blacks would come
unless aTerted by that measure. They de.
clined the proposition, ADD l was, 10 my
best judgment, driven to the alternative
of either s1rrendering the Union, and with
it, the Constitution, or of laying strong
hand upon the eolored element. chose
the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for
greater gain than loss; but OF this was
not entirely confident. More than q year
OF trial nov shows no loss by il in our for
eign relations, none IN our home popular
sentiment; none in our white military
iOree-nO loss by II, anyhow or anywhere
On the contrary, it shows = gain OF quite {
hundred aud thirty thousand soldiers, sea-
men and lAoOrers. These are palpabl,
facts, about which, Gs facts, there can b
no caTiling. We have the men, and vi
could not have had them without thl
, measure. s'l
J, Aud nov, let any Union man, who com
/. plains of the measure, test himself, b,
. writing down in one line, that he is 70
subduing the rebellion by force Of arms
aud in the next, that he is for taking thes
hundred and thirty thousand men from Ih
Union side, and placing them where the,
: would be, but forthe measure he condemns
4 II be cannot face his cause so stated, il
]. only because be caunOt face the truth.
l add word, which WAS not in the yer
bal conversation. In telling this tale,
u attempt 40 compliment TO my own saga
II city. l claim not to have controlle
e events, but coufess plainly that event
!. have controlled me. Now at the end G
three years. struggle. the nations conditio
!. is not what any party or any man devise
or expected. God alone can claim IT.
d WHITTIER it Is tending seems plain. If Go
}. now Wills the removal of a great Wron
/. aud Wills that We Of the North, az we'll q
:. you Of tbs South, shall pay fairly for on
70 completely in that wrong, Impartial histor
will find therein new cause TO attest an
d revere the business and goodness of God
/. Yours. truly. a. LIScoLN."
End OF the Sword Contest at the N
q. sanitary 0Ir-GFant Beats Mo
ClRllnn FhffeRn