UXITED STATES. 





protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters 

 who come within our lines ? Yet I cannot learn that 

 that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. 

 And suppose they could be induced by a proclamation 

 of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, 

 what should we do with them? How can we teed and 

 care for such a multitude? Gen. Butler wrote me a 

 few days since that he was issuing more rations to the 

 slaves "who have rushed to him than to all the white 

 troops under his command. They eat, and that is all ; 

 though it is true Gen. Butler is feeding the whites also 

 by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine 

 there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off 

 our forces from New Orleans to defend some other 

 point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing 

 the blacks to slavery again ; for I .am told that when- 

 ever the rebels take" any black prisoners, free or slave, 

 they immediately auction them off! They did so with 

 those they took from a boat that was aground in the 

 Tennessee river a few days ago. And then I am very 

 ungenerously attacked for it ! For instance, when, 

 after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedi- 

 tion went out from Washington under a flag of truce 

 to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the 

 rebels seized the blacks who went along to help and 

 sent them into slavery, Horace Greeley said in his 

 paper that the Government would probably do nothing 

 about it. What could I do ! 



Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible re- 

 sult of good would follow the issuing of such a procla- 

 mation as you desire ? 



The conference continued for an hour and 

 then closed with the following remarks by the 

 President : 



Do not misunderstand me, because I have mentioned 

 these objections. They indicate the difficulties that 

 have thus far prevented my action in some such way 

 as you desire. I have not decided against a proclama- 

 tion of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under 

 advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on 

 my mind, by day and night, more than any other. 

 Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do. 



On the 22d of September, nine days after the 

 preceding conference, the President issued his 

 proclamation, declaring " that hereafter, as 

 heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the 

 object of practically restoring the constitutional 

 relation between the United States and each of 

 the States and the people thereof in which States 

 that relation is or may be suspended or dis- 

 turbed ;" that at the next session of Congress 

 the proposition of emancipation with compen- 

 sation in the Union slaveholding States would 

 be again recommended ; and that on January 

 1st, 1863, " all persons held as slaves within 

 any State or designated part of a State the peo- 

 ple whereof shall then be in rebellion against 

 the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, 

 and forever free ; and the Executive Govern- 

 ment of the United States, including the mili- 

 tary and naval authority thereof, will recog- 

 nize and maintain the freedom of such persons, 

 and will do no act or acts to repress such per- 

 sons, or any of them, in any efforts they may 

 make for their actual freedom." (See PUBLIC 

 DOCUMENTS). 



This declaration was received with great joy 

 by the anti-slavery portion of the people. 

 Those of different views took decided grounds 

 against the measure. Their views were ex- 

 pressed at the State conventions held in the 

 different States preparatory to an approaching 



election. (See the Bt fa t ho 



Confederate States attempts . 

 some to use this act for the j 

 perating the spirit of the Sutitl.. .-. but 



there were others who derlun.-d it 

 fulmen, which had been exacted of i 

 Government, and powerless to injure i 

 The Administration was now coinj,l,.t..'.y .,u u u 

 anti-slavery platform. The extreme abolition- 

 ists hadirrown from a small handful to an. 

 host, and held the sword and the purse of the 

 nation in their hands. The republi 

 as such, could only follow the footsteps of their 

 leader, and give to his measures their hearty 

 support. Or, rather, the fact was that the Pres- 

 ident followed the footsteps of the party. As 

 is usual, in all parties the men of extreme 

 views finally rule, unless they are seasonably 

 sloughed off. So the republican party fur- 

 nished no exception. They were in advance 

 of the President in adopting extreme anti- 

 slavery views. On the 13th of March, Con- 

 gress passed an act making an additional 

 '* article of war," which practically made all 

 the camps of the army "cities of refuge" to 

 the flying slave. On the 17th of July it passed 

 another act, declaring forever free the slaves 

 of all disloyal persons who escaped or came 

 under the control of the Federal Government, 

 &c. These acts were expressive of the views 

 of the citizens by whom the members of Con- 

 gress were elected. They show the change of 

 views which had taken place in the minds of 

 a majority of the members, when it is remem- 

 bered that the same body of men iu July, 

 1861, adopted a resolution, a part of which was 

 as follows : " That this war is not prosecuted 

 upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor 

 for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor 

 for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering 

 with the rights or established institutions of 

 those States : but to defend and maintain the 

 supremacy of the Constitution and all laws 

 made in pursuance thereof, and to piv 

 Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights 

 of the several States unimpaired," &c. The 

 vote in favor of the resolution, in the Senate, 

 was, ayes 30, noes 4; in the House, ayes 117, 

 noes 2. On the same day on which the procla- 

 mation was issued a convention of governors 

 from most of the free States assembled in Al- 

 toona, in Pennsylvania. The sessions of this 

 extraordinary assemblage were held in secret, 

 and its designs and proceedings were never 

 directly known. It was charged that their 

 purpose was to press the Administration 

 to place in the hands of persons of strict anti- 

 slavery views the execution of military affairs. 

 However this may have been, an addre> 

 prepared and presented in person to the Presi- 

 dent, which thus spoke of the emancipation 

 proclamation : 



We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope 

 the proclamation of the President, issued on the 22d 

 instant, declaring emancipated from their bondage all 

 persons held to service or labor as slaves iu the rebel 



