, 1865-06-20
THE EN- SANCaPATlDN PRO.
ElAA1IA a r1O%.
Gntert sting Sketch Of Its Ut*tory ey the
Art3HIs Cnrprutcr.

-Aas As Ot NoA PCulElf kuC HCA kuuWN A4L-
1T, contributes to the Independent sketch Of
tie history Of the Emancipation PfocIama-
tsop, as given 10 him by Aif. Lincoln hlms Ill,
while he Was painting the picture illustrative
OF its consideration By the Cabinet. Mr. Car
Penser quotes pessage from Mr., Lsncoiu's
letter to Colonel Hodges, Of Kentucky, and
says:
1now take up the history of.the proclana-
NATION 1tseli, 80 MF: Lincoln gave It to 1ae.
On the OCCASION Of our first interview. as
written down By myself soon atterwara
"1t bad got to be, !" said be, :" mid-su1nmer,
1869. Things had gone on f.om bad to worse,
until felt that we Ind reached the cnd OF
our rope en- the plan Of operations We had
our lsst card, and must change onr t.r'tca, nr
leso The game! I nnw determined upon the
adoption OF the emancipation policy and,
~ithout consultation with, Or the knowledge
oi the Cabinet, pEepa,td the original draft
Of the Proclamation, and after much anxious
thought, called q C:binct meeting upon the
ent1ect. This was the last Of july OF the
lrss part Of the nonth OF August, 1862"
The exact date he did not semember.)
This Cabinet mteting took place, thiuk,
upon Saturday. All were present, except
ing AF. Blair the Postmaster General, VINO
but CAME In subsequently,. I said to the Cab.
met that had 1esol7ed upon this step, and
had not called them together to ask their
advice, but to lay tho subject matter Of
proclamation before them suggestions as to
which wou'd be in order after they had 1t
read: Mr. LoVejo5." said be. vas in error
when he informed you that It excited NO COM
mens, excepting on the part Of Secretary
Seward. Various suggestions we're offered.
Secretary Chase wished the language strong
es in reference to the armlng Of The blacks.
nj: Blair, after he canc In, deprecated the
policy, on the ground that Ii would cost the
administration the 'all elections. Nothing,
however. was offered that 1aa not already
anticipated AID settled In my own mind, M
FL secreraty Sewn spike. Eaid he: "Mr.
President. ToppTos~ Of Nt proclamation, but 7
QUESTION Me exo.ditzey Of Us lss.e At tbis }ant-
fuT1. The depression Of the public mind,
CONSEQUENT @ upon e oaf Tepeatsa Eeyerses, Is so.
step. Il may be Eie~ed us tbs last mea su:e
Of an exhausted gore' nment-a ery for h n,
the governmen: etretchIng 70. u rs hrnds T.
e. En.aEs ,"sts.a r. Of sthloa s,r.te3ing totth
said the President, ''was That 1t
would be considered our last Shrek, on the
Ttt.eat," This was bis precist e1pressiou.}
"Now,n contlnued Mr.. Seward, "wnitc ap-
prove the measure, suggest, Sir, that you
postpone Its ,ssuc, until you can give It to
instead Of issuing 1t. 81 would be ths case
nov, upon the greatest disaster OF the waf r.
said Mr.. Lincoln ~ The wisdom Of ths yisA
Of the Secretary Of State Struck me with Sery
great force. It was cur aspect ofthe case that,
entirely overlooked. The result was that I
put the draft Of the proclamation aside, as
you do your sketch for picture, waiting Tor q
victory. From time TO time added or
changed line, toucaing 1t up here and there,
wait'pg Tie P1ogress Ps Of eEsnts; Well. thf
Bull Run Things looked dAIker than ever,
Finally ,lcame the week Of the bsttle'of An
sietam. determined to Wa!tno longer. Tho
news came, think, on Wednesday, tha: the
advantage was on our side. was then stay
tng At the soldieEs' Home three miles out
Of Washington:l Here tiotshed writing the |
second drafl Of the preliminary
prt clamatson game up cn 9atu1day; called |
the Cabinet together to hear it. and It Was |
pabllshee tho following morning"
II was somewhat remarkable fact, be
d1td days between the dates Of The Two
rsoe'amations, issued upon the :s2d Of Sep
nade the calculation At the tln1e.'' I
At the final meeting on Saturday another
interesting incident occurred In connection
with sectetaty Sewatd. The President had
written the important part Of the proclama-
tton IN these words.
''That on the first day of January, In the
year Of onr Lord one thousand eight hum
dred ind slxty-three, All persons held as
etaves within nny State ordesigna.ed part Of
a State, the people whereof stall then be In
rebellion against the United States, shalt l,e
1ht n. thcaccfOtWard and forever free and
the Executive Government Of the Unitcd
States, including the military and naval
au'holity. tAeseofE will RECOGNIZES the
fsetdom OF such persons. and will do 10 act
or acts 10 rep7ess such persons, or any Of
them, in any efforts they may make 70. their
actual ftecdom,'' '.When finished reading
this paragraph" resumed Mr. Lincoln, MI.
Seward stepped forward and said: - think,
Mr.. President, that you should insert after the
" Tacoaai:e," In that sentence the words
u end sndiakdin." replied that had already
fully considered the Import Of that express
sion in this connection, but had not intro,
duced It because It is not my way to PROMISE
what I am rot entirely sure can per-
form, and was not prepared to FAY taat l
thoucht We were e1hct1y able to maintain
this But" said he, "Mr. Seward insisted
that We ought to take this ground, and the
words finally went in. l.
In February Inst, a few days after the pasf
taee of tie .Constisutionai Amendment ~
was IN Washington and vas cc.yed b Z Mf.
Lincoln with The kindness aud fss.na!lty
which had characterized our pre;1ous ntel-
course. sald to him one dI Ina. vas
very prcud to have been 1hp~a1ts ~ nave
ti1st conceived Of the dessxn o. paifoTrnS TS
picture commemorative Of the ACT OF Enaan-
cIpatJon-skat snbscquent occurrences had
oply confirmed my own fist jnd dsmeut Of
tAnt ACT a. the most sublime 1nasA eyant In
our hlstory; : Yes,' said he, abd never do
= remember to have noticed in him mare eat
ues.ut s6 of eKrreseion or manner as at14rs
laye turned it is tho central act OF ng ad.