The National tribune., 1909-09-09

who was adding enormously to the
Presidents burdens by his intemperate
and injudicious urging that slavery be
at once abolished, received, the follow
ing open letter from the President,
which pictures forcibly the difficulties i'm
dealing with those questions by which
Mr.. Lincoln found himself surrounded:
Executive Mansion, Washington, Aug.
%, 1862.
Hon. Horace Greeley.
Dear Sir: / have just read yours of
the 18th inst, addressed to myself thru
the New York Tribune.
If there be in it any statements or
assumptions of facts which may know
to be erroneous / do not now and here
controvert them.
IF there be any inferences which
may believe to be falsely drawn, l do
not now and here argue against them
IF there be perceptible in it an i'm
patient and dictatorial tone, / waive it
in Difference to an old friend whose
heart / have always supposed to be
right.
'As to the policy seem to be pur-
suing as you say, / have not meant to
leave anyone in doubt. j would save
the Union. 1 would save it in the short
est way under the Constitution
The sooner the National authority
can be restored. the nearer the Union
Will be the Union as it was.
IF there be those who would not
save the Union unless they could at the
same time save slavery, do. not agree
with them.
save the Union unless they could at
the same time destroy slavery, I do not
agree with them. ...s-..--
My paramount object is to save the
Union, and not either save or destroy
slavery.
If l could save the Union without
freeing any slave. I would do it; if |
could save it by freeing all the slaves, 1
would do it, and if ! could do 1t by
| freeing some and leaving others alone
would also do that.
What / do about slavery and the
colOred race / do because / believe it
helps TO save this Union; and what i
forbear / forbear because l do not be-
lieve it would help to save the Union.
II shall do less whenever l shall be-
lieve what L am doing hurts the cause,
and shall do more whenever ] be-
lieve doing more will help the cause.
u shall try to correct errors when
shown to be errors, and shat adopt
new views SO fast as they shall appear
to be true views.
Il have here stated my purpose ac-
cording to my views of official duty, and
intend no modification of my oft
expressed personal wish that all men
everywhere could be free. Yours.
"A. Lincoln"
This wonderful letter is worthy of
the great fame of Abraham Lincoln. 1t
shows what an actual leader of his peo-
pie he was-a leader who kept his eyes
unswervingly upon the great pivotal is
sue the people had at heart--the pres
ervation of the Union. 1t was for this,
and this alone, that the song of the
country We're bravely fighting and dy-
ing. 1t was for this, ana this alone,
that the people were giving their sons
by the hundreds of thousands and their
money by the hundreds of millions.
taking Occasion by she Hand"
President Lincoln showed his marvel
Gus genius for knowing when to take
occasion by the hand IN his manage
ment of this vital question of the aboli-
ton of slavery. As seen in hisiletter to
Horace Greeley just quoted, The ana
lyzed the claim of the AboIitionists and
the vociferations of the Pro-SiaSery men
with the greatest exactneSs, and, disre-
garding both, kept pace with the devel-
opment of the sentiment I'm the army
and the country in its rising hostility
tG slavery in every aspect. Every SOL
dier who fell from the bullet of slave
holder, every young life that went out
as sacrifice upon the altar of National
unity, every wasted form that came
back to his home MANNED from the
battlefield or poisoned by the miasma
of the fever-breathing camps, was add
ing to the profound hostility of the
people toward the institution which had
caused all these sorrows. Those who
had sent their sons to the field, and
these sons who had met the legions of
the slave lords at Shiloh and on the
Peninsula, were having less and less
patience with any prattle about Con
lstitutional guarantees of slavery" or the
"sacredness" of one mans property in
another. The tens of thousands of
Democrats who had enlisted with the
strictest pledges of fighting only for
the preservation of the Union and mon
| interference with the domestic institu-
/ tiOns of the South,' soon became stren-
| uous advocates of making this IAN
abolition war" and tearing out the cause
of all the evil, root and branch.
The President marked the rising tide,
and at the right moment, as soon as
the soil of Maryland was free from the
| last armed Confederate, he issued his
| preliminary proclamation, the vital
parts o. which read:
II, Abraham Lincoln, President Of
the United States of America and Com
lmander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy
thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare
| that hereafter, as heretofore, the war
will be prosecuted for the object of prac-
| tically restoring the constitutional rela-
| ton between the United States and each
| of the States, and the people thereof,
| in which States that relation is or may
| be suspended or disturbed
That 1t is my purpose, upon the next
meeting of Congress, to again recon-
mend the adoption of practical meas
| ure rendering pecuniary aid to the free
| acceptance or rejection of all Slave
| States, so called, the people whereof
may not then be in rebellion against the
| United States, and which States may
then have voluntarily adopted, or there
| after may voluntarily adopt immediate
or gradual adjustment of slavery with.
in their respective limits, and that the
| effort to colonize persons of African
| descent, with their consent. upon this
continent or elsewhere, with the pre-
viously obtained consent of the Govern
ments existing there, will be continued.
That on the 1st day of January, in
| the year of our Lord 1863. all persons
| held as slaves in any State. or desig-
mated part of State, the people where
| of shall be in rebellion against the
| United States, shall be then, thencefor-
ward and forever free; and the Execu-
tive Government of the Emitted States,
| Including the military and naval au-
thority thereof, will recognize and
maintain the freedom of such persons,
and will do no act or acts to repress
such persons, or any ofc them, in any
efforts they may make, for their actual
| freedom. n ,ffl
THAT the Executive will on the 1st
day of January aforesaid. by 1proclama-
ton, designate the StaIes and parts of