The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Arnold)/Chapter XV

The bestowal of freedom upon the negro race, by military edict, had long been considered, and was now to be decided upon by the President. The dream of his youth, the aspiration of his life, was to be the liberator of the negro race. But in his wish to promote alike the happiness of white and black, he hesitated before the stupendous decree of immediate emancipation. He wished the change to be gradual, as he said in his appeal to the border states, "he wished it to come gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking anything."

The people were watching his action with the most intense solicitude. Every means was used to influence him, alike by those who favored, and those who opposed, emancipation. Thousands of earnest men believed that the fate, not only of slavery, but of the republic, depended upon his decision. The anxiety of many found expression in daily prayers, sent up from church, farm-house, and cabin, that God would guide the President to a right conclusion. The friends of freedom across the Atlantic sent messages urging the destruction of slavery. Many of the President's friends believed that there could be no permanent peace while slavery existed. "Seize," cried they, "seize the opportunity, and hurl the thunderbolt of emancipation, and shatter slavery to atoms, and then the republic will live. Make the issue distinctly between liberty and slavery, and no foreign nation will dare to intervene in behalf of slavery."

It was thus that the friends of liberty impeached slavery before the President, and demanded that he should pass sentence of death upon it. They declared it the implacable enemy of the republic. "A rebel and a traitor from the beginning, it should be declared an outlaw." "The institution now," said they, "reels and totters to its fall. It has by its own crime placed itself in your power as Commander in Chief. You cannot, if you would, and you ought not, if you could, make with it any terms of compromise. You have abolished it at the national capital, prohibited it in all the territories. You have cut off and made free West Virginia. You have enlisted, and are enlisting, negro soldiers, who have bravely shed their blood for the Union on many a hard fought battle-field. You have pledged your own honor and the national faith, that they and their families shall be forever free. That pledge you will sacredly keep. Here then you stand on the threshold of universal emancipation. You will not go back, do not halt, nor hesitate, but strike, and slavery dies."

On the 19th of August, Horace Greeley published, under his own name, in the New York Tribune, a letter addressed to the President, urging emancipation. With characteristic exaggeration, he headed his long letter of complaint: "The Prayer of Twenty Millions of People!" It was full of errors and mistaken inferences, and written in ignorance of many facts which it was the duty of the President to consider.

On the 22d of August, the President replied. He made no response to its "erroneous statements of facts," its "false inferences," nor to its "impatient and dictatorial tone," but in a calm, dignified, and kindly spirit, as to "an old friend, whose heart he had always supposed to be right," he availed himself of the opportunity to set himself right before the people.

The letter was as follows:

Executive Mansion, Washington, Friday, Aug. 22, 1862.

Hon. Horace Greeley:

DEAR SIR: I have just read yours of the 19th instant, addressed to myself, through the New York Tribune.

If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.

If there be any inferences which I believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them.

If there be perceptible in it, an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

As to the policy "I seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest 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, I do not agree with them.

If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them.

My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery.

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeing some, and leaving others alone, I would also do that.

What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

I shall do less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and shall do more, whenever I believe doing more will help the cause.

I shall try to correct errors, when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views, so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

I have here stated my purpose, according to my view of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish, that all men everywhere could be free.

Yours, A. LINCOLN.

To this letter Mr. Greeley, on the 24th of July, replied through the Tribune, and his tone and spirit may be inferred from a single paragraph: "Do you," said the editor of the paper to the President of the United States, "Do you propose to do this (save the Union) by recognizing, obeying, and enforcing the laws, or by ignoring, disregarding, and, in fact, defying them?" Such was the insolent language of this "old friend."

On the other hand, the Union men of the border states were urging the President not to interfere with slavery, and from the headquarters of the army on the Potomac, General McClellan wrote to him, under date of July 7th, warning him by saying that a "declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies." To be thus menaced by the general commanding, and notified that the measure he had under consideration would "rapidly destroy the armies in the field," was a very grave matter.

There were at this time in Congress two distinguished men, who well represented the two contending parties into which the friends of the Union were divided--John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, and Owen Lovejoy, of Illinois. Both were sincere and devoted personal friends of the President. Each enjoyed his confidence, each was honest in his convictions, and each, it is believed, would have cheerfully given his life to save the republic. Lovejoy, the ultra-abolitionist, was one of Lincoln's confidential advisers. Crittenden had been in his earlier days--in those days when the President was a Henry Clay whig--his ideal of a statesman. Lincoln and Crittenden were both natives of Kentucky, old party associates, and life long personal friends. Crittenden--a man whom everyone loved--now old, his locks whitened by more than seventy years, yet still retaining all his physical and mental vigor, had been a distinguished Senator, Governor of his state, and Attorney General of the United States. Now, in his extreme old age, he had accepted a seat in Congress that he might aid in preserving the Union. His tall and venerable form, his white head, which a member said "was like a Pharos on the sea to guide our storm-tossed and storm-tattered vessel to its haven," made him a conspicuous figure on the floor of the House. He was a courtly, fascinating, genial gentleman of the old school. He would often relieve the tedium of routine business by stories and anecdotes of western life, and characteristic incidents of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Benton, and Jackson, with whom he had served many years in public life. Of Lovejoy and his relations to the President we have already spoken.

When the question of emancipation became the engrossing topic, the border state members of Congress, with wise sagacity, selected Mr. Crittenden to make on the floor of the House a public appeal to the President that he withhold the proclamation, which they believed would lead to disaster and ruin. None who witnessed can ever forget the eloquent and touching appeal which this venerable statesman and great orator made. He said:

"'I voted against Mr. Lincoln, and opposed him honestly and sincerely; but Mr. Lincoln has won me to his side. There is a niche in the temple of fame, a niche near to Washington, which should be occupied by the statue of him who shall save his country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if he will, to step into that niche. It is for him to be but a President of the people of the United States, and there will his statue be. But if he chooses to be in these times, a mere sectarian and a party man, that niche will be reserved for some future and better patriot. It is in his power to occupy a place next to Washington-- the founder and the preserver, side by side. Sir, Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing what the Constitution forbade him to do, and what all our institutions forbade him to do, is no proof of cowardice.'"

Lovejoy made an impassioned impromptu reply to Crittenden. He said: "There can be no union until slavery is destroyed... We may bind with iron bands, but there will be no permanent, substantial Union, and this nation will not be homogeneous, and be one in truth as well as in form, until slavery is destroyed."

"The gentleman from Kentucky says he has a niche for Abraham Lincoln. Where is it?" and Lovejoy turned to Crittenden, who raised his hand and pointed upwards, whereupon Lovejoy resuming said:

"He points towards Heaven. But, sir, should the President follow the counsels of that gentleman, and become the defender and perpetuator of human slavery, he should point downward to some dungeon in the temple of Moloch, who feeds on human blood, and is surrounded with fires, where are forged manacles and chains for human limbs; in the crypts and recesses of whose temple woman is scourged, and man tortured, and outside the walls are lying dogs gorged with human flesh, as Byron describes them, stretched around Stamboul. That is a suitable place for the statue of one who would defend and perpetuate human slavery...

"I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lincoln, but it is in freedom's holy fane, and not in the blood-besmeared temple of human bondage; not surrounded by slaves, fetters, and chains, but with the symbols of freedom; not dark with bondage, but radiant with the light of liberty. In that niche he shall stand proudly, nobly, gloriously, with shattered fetters, and broken chains, and slave whips at his feet. If Abraham Lincoln pursues the path evidently pointed out for him in the providence of God, as I believe he will, then he will occupy the proud position I have indicated. That is a fame worth living for; ay, more, that is a fame worth dying for, though that death led through the blood of Gethsemane, and the agony of the accursed tree.  That is a fame which has glory, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life. Let Abraham Lincoln make himself, as I trust he will, the emancipator, the liberator, as he has the opportunity of doing, and his name shall not only be enrolled in this earthly temple, but it will be traced on the living stones of the temple which rears itself amidst the thrones and hierarchies of heaven, whose top-stone is to be brought in with shouting of 'Grace, grace unto it.'"

Such were the appeals addressed to the President. One party promised him a niche beside Washington, if he would not issue the proclamation, and the other that "his name should be enrolled in heaven," among the benefactors of the world, if he would issue it.

To his personal friends of the Illinois delegation in Congress, who conferred with him on the subject, he said that in his letter to Greeley, he meant that he would proclaim freedom to the slaves, just as soon as he felt assured he could do it effectively and that the people would sustain him, and when he felt sure that he would strengthen the Union cause thereby.

On the 13th of September, a delegation of the clergy of nearly all the religious organizations of Chicago waited upon him at the Executive Mansion, and presented a memorial urging immediate and universal emancipation. For the purpose of drawing out their views, in accordance with his old practice as a lawyer, he started various objections to the policy they urged, he himself stating the arguments against emancipation by proclamation, a rough draft of which he had already made. This he did to see what answer they would make to these objections. After a free and full discussion, he said:

"'I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and by religious men who are certain they represent the Divine Will... I hope it will not be irreverent in me to say, that if it be probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me... If I can learn His will, I will do it. These, however, are not the days of miracles, and I suppose I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, and learn what appears to be wise and right... Do not misunderstand me, because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties which have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of emancipation, but hold the matter in advisement. The subject is in my mind by day and by night. Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do.'"

What were the feelings of the negroes during these days of suspense? They knew, many of them, and this knowledge was most widely and mysteriously spread about, that their case was being tried in the mind of the President. Long had they prayed and hoped for freedom. The north star had often guided the panting fugitive to liberty. They saw armies come forth from the North and fight their masters. The starry flag they now hoped was to be the emblem of their freedom as well as that of the white man. They had welcomed the Union soldiers with joy, and given them food, and guidance, and aid, to the extent of their limited and humble means. The hundreds of thousands of these slaves, from the Shenandoah and the Arkansas, to the rice swamps of the Carolinas and the cane brakes of Louisiana, believed their day of deliverance was at hand. In the corn and sugar fields, in their cabins, and the fastnesses of swamps and forests, the negro prayed that "Massa Linkum and liberty" would come. Their hopes and prayers were happily expressed by the poet Whittier:

"We pray de Lord; he gib us signs Dat some day we be free; De Norf wind tell it to de pines, De wild duck to de sea.

"We tink it when de church bell ring, We dream it in de dream; De rice bird mean it when he sing, De eagle when he scream.

"De yam will grow, de cotton blow, We'll hab de rice and corn; Oh nebber you fear if nebber you hear De driver blow his horn!

"Sing on, poor heart! your chant shall be Our sign of blight or bloom-- The vala-song of liberty, Or death-rune of our doom."

With these considerations and under these influences, as early as July, the President, without consulting the Cabinet, made a draft of the proclamation. In August, he called a special meeting of his Cabinet, and said to them that he had resolved to issue the proclamation, that he had called them together, not to ask their advice, but to lay the matter before them, and he would be glad of any suggestions after they had heard the paper read. After it had been read, there was some discussion. Mr. Blair deprecated the policy, fearing it would cause the loss of the approaching fall elections. But this had been considered by the President, and it did not at all shake his purpose. Mr. Seward then said: "Mr. President, I approve of the proclamation, but I question the expediency of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public mind consequent upon our repeated reverses is so great, that I fear the effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted government--a cry for help; the government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government, Now, while I approve the measure, I suggest, sir, that you postpone its issue until you can give it to the country supported by military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon. the great disasters of war." Mr. Lincoln was impressed by these considerations, and resolved to delay the issuing of the proclamation for the time. These events had been occurring in the darkest days of the summer of 1862, made gloomy by the disastrous campaigns of McClellan and Pope.

Meanwhile General Lee was marching northwards towards Pennsylvania, and now the President, with that tinge of superstition which ran through his character, "made," as he said, "a solemn vow to God that if Lee was driven back he would issue the proclamation." The following interesting account of the proclamation is from Carpenter's "Six Months in the White House." "It had got to be," said he, "midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game!  I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy; and without consultation with, or the knowledge of the Cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the proclamation, and, after much anxious thought, called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject.  This was the last of July, or the first part of the month of August, 1862.  (The exact date he did not remember.)  "This Cabinet meeting took place, I think, upon a Saturday. All were present, excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General, who was absent at the opening of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the Cabinet that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a proclamation before them; suggestions as to which would be in order, after they had heard it read. Mr. Lovejoy," said he, "was in error when he informed you that it excited no comment, excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were offered. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger in reference to the arming of the blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the policy, on the ground that it would cost the administration the fall elections. Nothing, however, was offered that I had not already fully anticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. He said in substance: 'Mr. President, I approve of the proclamation, but I question the expediency of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted government, a cry for help; the government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government.' His idea," said the President, "was that it would be considered our last shriek, on the retreat."  (This was his precise expression.)  "'Now,' continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the measure, I suggest, sir, that you postpone its issue, until you can give it to the country supported by military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest disasters of the war!'"  Mr. Lincoln continued: "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State struck me with very great force. It was an aspect of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked. The result was that I put the draft of the proclamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory. From time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of Pope's disaster as Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally, came the week of the battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home (three miles out of Washington.) Here I finished writing the second draft of the preliminary proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published the following Monday."

At the final meeting of September 20th, another interesting incident occurred in connection with Secretary Seward. The President had written the important part of the proclamation in these words:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to suppress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." "When I finished reading this paragraph," resumed Mr. Lincoln, "Mr. Seward stopped me, and said, 'I think, Mr. President, that you should insert after the word "recognize," and "and maintain." I replied that I had already fully considered the import of that expression in this connection, but I had not introduced it, because it was not my way to promise what I was not entirely sure that I could perform, and I was not prepared to say that I thought we were exactly able to 'maintain' this."

"But," said he, "Seward insisted that we ought to take this ground; and the words finally went in!" Then came news of the battle of Antietam, fought on the 17th of September. "I was," said Lincoln, "when news of the battle came, staying at the Soldiers' Home. Here I finished writing the second draft. I came to Washington on Saturday, called the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published on the following Monday, the 22d of September, 1862." It was the act of the President alone. It exhibited far-seeing sagacity, courage, independence, and statesmanship. The words "and maintain," after "recognize," were added at the suggestion of Mr. Seward, and Secretary Chase wrote the concluding paragraph in the final proclamation: "And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God." In this paragraph the words "upon military necessity," were inserted by the President. The proclamation of September 22, 1862, is in these words:

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-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 practically restoring the constitutional relations 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 it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering 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 have then voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued.

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any state, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the people thereof, are not in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures following:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war, for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such.

"Article--. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.

"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage."

Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:

"Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the government of the Unites States; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves.

"Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave, escaping into any state, territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other state, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."

And I do hereby enjoin and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above recited.

And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respective states and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

The final proclamation of January 1, 1863, is as follows:

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any state, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-In-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

The final proclamation was issued on the 1st of January, 1863. In obedience to an American custom, the President had been receiving calls on that New Year's day, and for hours shaking hands. As the paper was brought to him by the Secretary of State to be signed, he said: "Mr. Seward, I have been shaking hands all day, and my right hand is almost paralyzed. If my name ever gets into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the proclamation those who examine the document hereafter, will say: 'He hesitated.'" Then resting his arm a moment, he turned to the table, took up the pen, and slowly and firmly wrote, Abraham Lincoln. He smiled as, handing the paper to Mr. Seward, he said: "That will do."

This edict was the pivotal act of his administration, and may be justly regarded as the great event of the century. Before the sun went down on the memorable 22d of September, the contents of this edict had been flashed by the telegraph to every part of the republic. By a large majority of the loyal people of the nation, it was received with thanks to its author, and gratitude to God. Bells rang out their joyous peals over all New England and over New York, over the mountains of Pennsylvania, across the prairies of the West, even to the infant settlements skirting the base of the Rocky Mountains. Great public meetings were held in the cities and towns; resolutions of approval were passed, and in thousands of churches thanksgiving was rendered. In many places the soldiers received the news with cheers, and salvos of artillery; in others, and especially in some parts of the army commanded by General McClellan, some murmurs of dissatisfaction were heard, but generally the intelligence gave gladness, and an energy and earnestness before unknown. The governors of the loyal states held a meeting at Altoona, on the 24th of September, and sent an address to the President, saying: "We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope the proclamation."

When the words of liberty and emancipation reached the negroes, their manhood was roused and many thousands joined the Union army, so that before the close of the war, nearly two hundred thousand were mustered into the service of the United States. The original draft of the proclamation was offered for sale at the Sanitary Fair held at Chicago, in the autumn of 1863. It was purchased by Thomas B. Bryan, Esq., and by him presented to the Chicago Historical Society, in whose hall it was burned at the time of the great fire of October, 1871. The following letters will show its history:

Washington, October 18, 1863.

To the President-- My Dear Sir: I take the liberty of inclosing to you the circular of the Northwestern Fair for the Sanitary Commission, for the benefit and aid of the brave and patriotic soldiers of the Northwest. The ladies engaged in this enterprise will feel honored by your countenance, and grateful for any aid it may be convenient for you to give them.

At their suggestion, I ask, that you would send them the original of your proclamation of freedom, to be disposed of for the benefit of the soldiers, and then deposited in the Historical Society of Chicago, where it would ever be regarded as a relic of great interest. This, or any other aid it may be convenient for you to render, would have peculiar interest as coming from one whom the Northwest holds in the highest honor and respect.

Very Respectfully Yours, ISAAC N. ARNOLD.

Executive Mansion, Washington, October 26, 1863.

Ladies having in charge the Northwestern Fair for the Sanitary Commission, Chicago, Illinois:

According to the request made on your behalf, the original draft of the emancipation proclamation is here inclosed. The formal words at the top, and the conclusion, except the signature you perceive, are not in my handwriting. They were written at the Sate Department, by whom I know not. The printed part was cut from a copy of the preliminary proclamation, and pasted on merely to save writing. I had some desire to retain the paper; but if it shall contribute to the relief or comfort of the soldiers, that will be better.

Your ob't serv't, A. LINCOLN.

It will be observed that the state of Tennessee was not included in the proclamation. It was omitted in deference to the opinions and wishes of Andrew Johnson, and other Union men of that state. The Union men of Tennessee themselves changed the constitution of that state, abolishing and prohibiting slavery.

Congress, on the 15th of December, 1863, by a very large majority, adopted a resolution sanctioning the edict. A bill was also, on the 14th of December, 1863, introduced into the House, by a member from Illinois, prohibiting the holding, or attempting to hold, as slaves, any persons declared free by the proclamation, or their descendants.

Along the path of the once feeble, obscure, and persecuted abolitionists, to this their crowning victory, are to be found the wrecks of many parties, and the names of great men who had fallen by placing themselves in the way of this great reform. Liberty and justice are mighty things to conjure with, and vain is the power of man when he tries to stay their advance. The timid and over-cautious were startled by the boldness and courage of this act of the President, and his opponents, and especially those who sympathized with the rebels, hoped to make it the means of the defeat and overthrow of his administration. They did not realize or appreciate the strength of a good cause, and the power of courage in behalf of a great principle. From the day of its promulgation to the final triumph of the Union cause, Lincoln grew stronger and stronger in the confidence of the people, and the tide of victory in the field set more and more in favor of the republic.

While congratulations came pouring in upon the President from the people of Great Britain, Lincoln rather expected that now the government of good old Mother England would pat him on the head and express its approval. Senator Sumner, whose social relations with many English members of Parliament had been most friendly and cordial, said to the President: "The British government cannot fail to hail your proclamation with fraternal congratulations. Great Britain, whose poets and whose orators have long boasted that

"'Slaves cannot breathe in England,'"

will welcome the edict of freedom with expressions of approval and good will;" yet, when the proclamation reached London, Lord John Russell, in a dispatch to the British minister at Washington, sneered at the paper "as a measure of a very questionable kind," "an act of vengeance on the slave owner." "It professes," said he, with cynical ill-nature, "it does no more than profess, to emancipate slaves, where the United States authorities cannot make emancipation a reality, but emancipates no one where the decree can be carried into effect."  Yet, without the good wishes of his lordship, or encouragement from the English government, the United States did make emancipation eventually a reality, and Lord Russell lived to see the decree of Mr. Lincoln carried into effect to the extent of freeing every slave in the republic. But for this result no thanks to him or to the government of which he was the organ.

Was this proclamation valid, and effectual in law to free the negroes? This question is not now, since the amendments to the Constitution of the United States and of the states, abolishing and prohibiting slavery, of very great practical importance. It did result, practically, in the destruction of slavery, and under its operation, as carried into effect by the President and military arid naval authorities of the United States, slavery ceased. Was it a legal and valid edict under the Constitution and laws of war?

The government of the United States possessed all the powers with reference to the Confederates in rebellion, and who were making war upon the republic, which any nation has with relation to its enemies in war. It had the clear right to treat them as public enemies, according to the laws of war. The emancipation of an enemy's slaves is a belligerent right, and it belongs exclusively to the President, as Commander in Chief, to judge whether he will exercise this right. The exercise of the tremendous power of enfranchising the slaves, and thereby weakening the public enemy and strengthening the government, is in accordance with the law of nations, and with the practice of civilized belligerents in modern times.

The able and learned lawyer and publicist, Alexander H. Stephens, in the passage already quoted, took it for granted that this power would be exercised by the Federal Government, and before hostilities commenced he warned the people of Georgia against it. He knew that in May, 1836, that learned jurist and statesman, John Quincy Adams, had declared on the floor of Congress that the President could legally exercise this power. Mr. Adams had concluded an exhaustive discussion of the question, by saying: "I lay this down as the law of nations, that in case of war, the President of the United States and the commander of the army has power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves."

The right was claimed and exercised by Great Britain, both in the war of the revolution and the war of 1812. Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Dunmore, and Lord Cornwallis all issued proclamations promising liberty to the slaves of the colonies. Jefferson says, in a letter to Dr. Gordon, that under Lord Cornwallis Virginia lost about thirty thousand slaves. Speaking of the injury to himself, he says: "He (Cornwallis) carried off about thirty slaves." "Had this been done to give them freedom, he would have done right." The English commanders in the war of 1812 invited, by proclamation, the slaves to join them, promising them freedom. The slaves who joined them were liberated and carried away. The United States, when peace was declared, demanded indemnity. The question was referred to the Emperor of Russia as umpire, who decided that indemnity should be paid to the extent to which payment had been stipulated in the treaty of peace, but for such as were not included in the treaty no payment should be made.

Justice Miller, of the Supreme Court of the United States, says: "In that struggle (to subdue the rebellion) slavery as a legalized social institution perished..." "The proclamation of President Lincoln expressed an accomplished fact as to a large portion of the insurrectionary districts, when he declared slavery abolished." In the state of Louisiana it has been judicially decided that the sale of a slave after the proclamation of emancipation was void. In the state of Texas it was held by the Supreme Court, in 1868, that the effect of the President's proclamation of January 1, 1863, was to liberate the slaves under the national control, that all slaves became free as fast as the nation obtained control, and that, on the final surrender, all slaves embraced in the terms of the edict became free. Judge Lindsey says: "The legal effect of the proclamation was eo instanti to liberate all slaves under control of the federal forces." "It was a proper measure, and made effectual by force of arms." Chief Justice Chase says: "Emancipation was confirmed rather than ordained by the amendment prohibiting slavery throughout the Union."

The proclamation of emancipation did not change the local law in the insurgent states, it operated on the persons held as slaves; "all persons held as slaves are and henceforth shall be free." The law sanctioning slavery was not necessarily abrogated, hence the necessity for the amendment of the Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States declared that: "When the armies of freedom found themselves upon the soil of slavery, they (and the President their commander) could do nothing less than free the poor victims whose enforced servitude was the foundation of the quarrel." Let then no impious hand seek to tear from the brow of Lincoln the crown so justly his due, as the emancipator of the negro race in America.