Year: 1862

The Ref resentNtives and Senators of
the Border Slaveholding States having,
by special invitation of the President,
been convened at the Executive Mansion
on Saturday morning, the 10Th inst, Mr.
Lin coin addressed them as follows, from
written paper held in his hands:


GENTLEMEN After the adjournment
OF Congress, now near, l shall have no
opportunity of seeing you for several
months. Believing that you of the Bor-
der States hold more power for good
than any other equal number Of mem
bers, | feel it duty, which cannot JUS
tifiably waive, to make this appeal to you.


intend no reproach or complaint
when | assure you that, in my opinion,
if you had all voted for the resolution in
the gradual emancipation message Of
last March, the war would now be sub
stantally ended. And the plan therein
is yet one of the most potent aud swift
means OF ending it. Let the States which
are in the rebellion see definitely and GER
tainly that in no event will the States
you represent ever join the proposed Con
federacy, and they cannot much longer
maintain the contest But yon cannot
divest them of their hope to ultimately
have you with them SO long as you show
determination to perpetuatc the insti-
tntions within our own States. Beat
them at elections, as You have overwhel.
ming'y done, and nothing daunted, they
still claim you as their own. You and
| know what the lever of their power is.
Break the lever before their faces, and
they cannot shake you no more forever


Most of you have treated me with
kindness and consideration, and | trust
that you will not now think improperly
touch what is exclusively your own,
when, for the sake of the whole country,
| ask, "can you, for your States, do bet
ter than to take the course | urge? Dis
eardiug punctiiio and maxims adapted to
more manageable times, and looking only
to the nprecedentedly y stern facts of our
case, can you do better in any possible
event? You prefer that the constitutional
relation Of the States to the nation shall
be practically restored without disturb
ance Of the institution and if this were
done, my whole duty in this respect, I'M
der the Constitution and my oath of office,
would be performed. But it is not done,
and we are trying to accomplish it by
war. The incidents of the war cannot
be avoided. If the war continues long,
as it must, if the object be not sooner
attained, the institution in your States
will be extinguished by mere fraction and
abrasion-by the mere incidents of war.
1t will be gone, and you will have moth
ing valuable in lieu of it Much Of its
value is gone already. How much better
for you and for your people to take the
step which at once shortens the war, and
secures substantial compensation for that
which is sure to be wholly lost in any
other event How much better to do il
while you can, let the war ere long render
us pecuniarily unable to do it How much
better for you. as seller, and the nation
as buyer, to sell out and buy out that
without which the war could never have
been, than to sink both the thing to be
sold and the price of it in cutting one
another's throats


l do not speak Of emancipation at once,
but of decision to emancipate gradually
Room in South America for colonization
can be obtained cheaply, and in abund.
ance, and when numbers shall be large
enough to be company and encourage
ment for one another, the freed people
will not be so reluctant to go.


am pressed with difficulty not We.
mentioned-one which threatens division
among those who, united, are none toe
strong. An instance of it is known &c
you. General Hunter is an honest man
He was, and | still hope is, my friend,
valued him none the less for his agreeing
with me in the general wish that all mer
every where could be freed He proclaim
ed all men free within certain States, ant
| repudiated the proclamation. He ex
pected more good and less harm from tht
measure than l could believe would fol
low. Yet in repudiating it, gave dis
satisfaction, if not offense, to many who's,
support the country cannot afford t.
lose. And this is not the end of it. TIL
pressure in this direction is still upol
me, and. is increasing. By concedine
what now ask, you can relieve me, and
much more, can relieve the country il
this important point.


Upon these consideration | have agail
happad vcur affantion Ia tho ,ooe,ooo n