The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-10-15

fully, Ain very sure that ~ ] do
not 90 away from here wiser man, !
shall go away a better man. for having
learned here what very poor sort OF
II man ! am" Afterwards, referring
20 what he called change Of heart,
be said he did not remember any pre-
else time when he passed through any
special change Of purpose, or OF heafti
but he would say that his own ele,e-
ton 10 office, and the crisis, immedi-
ately following, inanenftaliy deter
mined him 10 what BIG called a pro-
cess Of capitalization, then going 0h
IN his mind, Ketieent as he was, and
shV Of dige0nfsing much of his own
mental exercises, these few utteraneeH
now have q value with those who
knew him, which his dying words
would scarcely have possessed.
"'On an occasion shall never for
get, says the Hon, II q. Demingi Of
Connecticut, the conversation turned
upon religious subjects, and Mr., Lin
coin made this impressive remark =
u have never united myself 10 any
church, because have found difficult
~ ~ giving my assent, without men
tai reservation, 10 the long, compton
ted statements Of Christian doctrine
which characterize their Articles Of
Belief aud Confessions Of Faith
When any church will inaeribe over
its al tar, aA is sole qualification for
membership, he continued, the Sa
yior'a condensed statement Of the
substance Of both Law and Gospel,
Thou shalt love tile Lord thy God
with all thy heart, aud with all thy
soul, aud with all thy mind, and thy
neiehbof as thy self, that church viii
] join with all my heart and all my
soul. y
TINE EMAAefpATioN PRoeLAMATtoN,
Mr. LINCOLN related to Mr. Carpen.
tor the history of the Issue Of tho
Proclamation Of Emancipation, which
IL thus given In his own language
Il UT had got 10 be- said he, mid
euInmef, 1862. Things bad gone on
from bad 10 worse, until / felt that We
had reached the end OF our rope ON
the plan Of operations we had been
pufsusihg that we had about played
onr last card and must change our
tactics, or lose the game | now do
termined upon tho adoption Of the
emancipation policy; and, without
consultation with or the knowledge
Of the Cabinet, | prepared the oflgln-
al draft Of the proclamation, aud, after
much anxious thought, called i Cabi
act meeting upon the subject. This
WAS the last Of July, or the first part
Of tho mUnth Of August, 1862. frhe
exact date he did not femcmber)
This Cabinet meeting took place, /
think upon Saturday. All were
present, excepting Mr., Blair, the
Postmaster General, who was absent
at tho opening OF the discussion, but
came IA subsequently ] said to tho
Cabinet that ! had resolved upon this
Htup, aud had not called them t0eeth.
or 10 ask their advice, but to lay the
subject matter or proclamation be-
fore them, suggestions hA 60 which
would be in order, nfter they had
heard II read Mr., LoyeIoy,' said he,
wis IN error when he informed YOU
that IL excited no comment, excepting
on the part of Seo'y Seward Various
were offered Secretary
Chase wished the language stronger
in reference 10 the hrming of the
blacks Mr., Blair, after he came In,
deprecated the policy, on the ground
that i would cost the ADMINISTRATION
the Fall elections, Nothing, however,
was offered that | had not already
fully anticipated and settled ia my
own mind until Secretary Seward
spoke. lie said ia substance: Mr.. |
President, ] approve Of the proelama,
ton, but | question the expedency of
its issue at this junoture. The dc,
precision OF the public mind, consequent
upon our repeated reverses, IL so great,
that fear tho effect Of 40 important
a step II may ho viewed IA the last
measure Of an OK hansted Government
a cry for help; the Government
forth ita hands TO Ethiopia,
instead Of Ethiopia stretching forth |
is hands TO the Government. His
idea, said the President, was that il
would be considered our last. shrink
on tho retreat. This was his precise
exprcsaioh) :" Now, continued Mr.. |
Seward, while ! approve the mea-
sure, ! suggest, sir, that you post
pone Its issue, until you cnn
give Il 10 the country supported by
success, instead Of issuing
1t, as would be the case now, upon tho
greatest disasters Of the war; ~ Mr.,
Lincoln continued; the wisdom OF |
tho view of the Secretary Of State
struck me with very great force. II
was an aspect Of the case that, in all
my thoughts upon tho subject, had
entirely overlooked. The result was
that | put the draft of the proclaim
ton aside, aa you do your sketch for
q picture, waiting for victory. From
,tline TO time | added or changed
line, touching Il up here aud there,
epN'onSly Watching the progress Of
eyenta Well, the next news we had |
w oil Popes disaster, ut Bull Run.
Things looked darker than ever.