The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1903-02-01

the basis OF the slave population Of each
according TO the census Of 1850, and a proc
lamation to be Issued by himself, as presi.
passed by Congress.
There can be no possible controversy
among honest students % history on this
Rolnt That Mr. lincoln said 20 Mt
stephens; let me write Union az the tor
OF this page and you may write below i
Whatever else yoI please" Is preferable 20
ME. stephens statement made to many
bic persons stili living. But. thu, he medl.
tated the most liberal terms including pay.
ment for the slaves. rests neither upon con-
1eetnre nor hearsay, hut on indisputahle
that he could not have secured the adoption
o. any such plan, but Of his purpose, and
Us genu'neness there can be no question,
ana there ought to he no eQuivocation,
Indeed, payment for the slaves had been
an along In his mind He believed the North
equally guilty with the South for the orig
maj existence Of slavery, He clearly under
stood that the irrepressible conflict was
cohhict 81 systems, not a merely sectional
ana partisan quarrel He was Just man,
abhorrlng. prescription. He was CON
science whig, who stood IN awe Of the con
sutution aud his oath Of office. He wanted
70 leave the South no right to claim that
the North, finding slave labor Improbable
had sold It's negroes to the South and then
eatcd the property II had thus trafhcked.
lte fully recognized slavery ne property.
Ihe proclamation Of emancipation was ls-
sued as war measure. In his message TO
congress OF December, 1862 he proposed
payment for the slaves, celebrating a
scheme In detail and urging II with coplous
South" said he, addressing a war congress
az that moment In the throes ot bloody
( war with the South, ARE not more rcsnuu'
sible for the original Introduction Of this
4 property than are the people 81 the North,
/ and, when II is remembered how unhesitat-
| lngly we all use cotton and sugar and shar
I ihe PROFITS OF dealing In them. II may not
I be quite safe to say that the South has
| been more responsible than the North for
] Its continuance"
The years are gliding swiftly by. Only n
| little while, and there shall be no man Nv
/ Ing who saw service on either side Of that
great struggle OF systems and ideas, Its
/ passions long ago vanished from manlv
1 bosoms. That has come To pass within a
/ single generation In America which In Flu
/ rope required ages to accomplish. There Is
/ no disputing the verdict OF events Let us
/ relate them truly and iuternret them fair
I ly II we would have the North do iustic'
10 our heroes we must do Justice to Its he
/ roeS here render unto Caesar the things
7 that are Caesars, even Ms ! would rendei
unto God the things that are Gods. As
[ living men, standing erect IN the presence
| gray without being ashamed. Cnd w,
need not fear th7t history wi fai
70 yindcate our integrity. When those ar
gone that fought the battle, and posterit'
comes to strike the hnal balance sheet. 4
will he shown that tho makers of the con
stitutlon left the relation Of the states 4
the Federal government and Of the Federa
government to the States open 10 q douhl
construction.
II will he told how the mistaken notio'
that slave labor was requisite TO the prof
table cultivation Of sugar rice and cotton
raised a paramount property interest In tn
southern section Of the Union. whilst &
the northern section. responding 10 tn
trend Of modern thought and the quito
movements Of mankind there arose n grea
airt thus established. gradually hut surel
sectionaizlng party lines was a. 7"vitahl
as Ct was irrepressble II was ~nCht on
10 its bitter and logical conclusion Mt Az
pom8ttoT II fonnd MS a huddle ~ nett
soverciCntes held together by a rope
sand, II msde and II loft us a natlor
LstO pprpctuNi