Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-07-15
TO BUY SLAVES FREEDOM.
Such Was Lincoln's Purpose Accord
ing to Henry Watterson.

Journal tomorrow morning an elab-
crate reply to Judge Reagan's denial
that MI. Lincoln contemplated pay |
ment for the slaves under certain
and that he said to Mr..
"Let me write union at
the top of this page and you may
write below it whatever you please."I
W~atterson sustains his position
by profuse documentary evidence.
He quotes Mr.. Stephens account of
the Fortress Monroe conference and
produces a joint resolution prepared
by MIR. Lincoln to prove that indem-
nifty for the slaves was contemplated.
He cites several creditable witnesses,
all of whom declare, as Mr.. Waiter
son declares himself, that MI. Steph-
n did make the statement ascribed
to him.
GAS far as Mr.. Watterson is con-
cerned," says the Courier Journal,
he has made no statement that admits
of any controversy whatever. The
suggestion which he did make cannot
be truthfully denied; that Mr.. Lincoln
did not merely contemplate, but pro-
posed a plan to appropriate s4OO, O00,-
600 to pay the Southern States for the
slaves as late as February, 1865; that
he did intimate this to the Confeder-
ate commissioners at Fortress Monroe
during the official interview; and that
at least Mr.. Stephens knew that union
and peace being conceded Mr.. Lin
coin was willing that he (Stephens)
should fill in pretty much whatever
details he pleased, Mr.. Lincoln feeling
that Mr.. Stephens was a wise, just
statesman who could be trusted to in
sert nothing unreasonable or ill-ad-
vised.
"With the South refusing to treat
except upon the recognition of the
independence of the Confederacy and
Mr.. Lincoln refusing to treat, except
on the basis of union, there could not
well be any progress made at the
Fortress Monroe conference"
In closing, the article says: "Mr.
Watterson regrets that Judge Reagan
has seen fit to recur to a question he
thought was settled. He was surprised
by the passage in Judge Reagan's
Nashville address; but he concluded
not to ev1ve an issue which, aside
from seeming ungracious to a frater-
nal occasion, cannot In the nature of
the case be very agreeable as a retro
spection, or profitable as a subject of
present discussion. The insistence of
Judge Reagan in keeping it alive and
in urging a view which is contradicted
by the best and amplest testimony,
leaves him no other alternative. He
is just as free from any just accusation
of a purpose to misreport any South
ern aspect of the history of the war as
Judge Reagan is>himself. But he has
no personal motive, as Judge Reagan
has, for making any special plea in
behalf of any particular view. 1t is a
fact that within less than sixty days
of its total collapse, the Confederacy
might have made honorable and ad-
vantageous terms of peace on the
basis of the restoration of the union,
and it is a fact that the commissioners
sent to Fortress Monroe were author
lied to treat on no other terms than
the recognition of the independence
of the Confederacy.
"Whether it was best to let the col
lapse come is another matter. That
1t was coming was in point of fact i'm
minent, was perfectly well known in
official circles at Richmond. That
within less than sixty days it actually
came is history. Whether it was best
for the Confederate President and
authorities to take time by the fore
lock and, with a full knowledge of the
impending disaster before their eyes,
to seek some other settlement than
that of the impossible recognition of
the independence of the Confederacy,
or to leave the bottom literally to drop
from the tub, the Confederate armies
at the mercy of Grant and Sherman,
the Confederate capital abandoned
and the Confederate government in
flight, belongs to a chapter of specu-
lative philosophy, and which we do
not care at present to explore"