796 



UNITED STATES. 



At the annual meeting of the British and 

 Foreign Unitarian Association, the following 

 motion was offered by Dr. Bache, of Birming- 

 ham, for the purpose of defining the doctrinal 

 standpoint of English Unitarians : 



That, v>Aerea, since the last annual meeting of this 

 association, the terms Christ, Christian, Christianity, 

 have been employed by some Unitarian writers and 

 in some Unitarian publications as consistent either 

 with clearly -implied or distinctly-avowed repudiation 

 of the special and immediate divine origin and au- 

 thority of the Christian revelation ; and whereas an 

 ambiguity has thereby been occasioned in the terms 

 which at present define the principles and objects of 

 this Unitarian Association, the committee for the en- 

 suing year be instructed to take measures for the re- 

 moval of that ambiguity, and so to express the prin- 

 ciple and objects of the Association that no reasona- 

 ble doubt may remain respecting them. 



The motion was rejected. 



UNITED STATES. The dawn of the year 

 1865 found the Northern States more vigor- 

 ously engaged in the prosecution of the war 

 than at any previous time. A new levy of 

 men had been called in December, and the 

 greatest activity prevailed to make up the quota 

 of cities, towns, and counties, before the 15th 

 of February, when a draft was ordered to take 

 place to fill the deficiencies. At the same time 

 there was no cessation of hostilities ; the armies 

 kept the field, and vigorously pressed the enemy 

 at every point. The earnestness of all these 

 efforts wa inspired by the belief on the part of 

 the Government and people that the end was 

 near, and a complete victory on their side al- 

 most within grasp. Equal exertions were made 

 to consummate those civil and political meas- 

 ures supposed to be indispensable upon the suc- 

 cess of the Federal arms. The antislavery 

 amendment of the Constitution, which had failed 

 in the House at the previous session of Con- 

 gress, was reconsidered by that body immedi- 

 ately after it convened in December, and passed 

 in January ensuing. This action of that body 

 was made the occasion for a serenade of Presi- 

 dent Lincoln and others. On addressing the as- 

 semblage on the evening of January 31st, the 

 President said : 



He supposed the passage through Congress of the 

 constitutional amendment for the abolishment of 

 slavery throughout the United States was the occa- 

 sion to which ne was indebted for the honor of this 

 call. The occasion was one of congratulation to the 

 country and the whole world. But there is a task 

 yet before us to go forward and have consummated 

 by the votes of the States that which Congress had 

 so nobly begun yesterday. He had the honor to in- 

 form those present that Illinois had already to-day 

 done the work. Maryland was about half through, 

 but he felt proud that Illinois was a little ahead. He 

 thought the measure was a very fitting, if .not an in- 

 dispensable adjunct to the winding up of this great 

 difficulty. He wished the reunion of all the States 

 perfected, and so effected as to remove all cause of 

 disturbance in the future ; and to attain this end it 

 was necessary that the original disturbing cause 

 sto ild, if possible, be rooted oat. 



He thought all would bear him witness that he had 

 never shrunk from doing all that he could to eradi- 

 cate slavery, by issuing an emancipation proclama- 

 tion. But that proclamation falls far short of what 

 the amendment will be when fully consummated. A 



question might be raised whether the proclamation 

 was legally valid. It might be argued that it only 

 aided those who came into our lines, and that it was 

 inoperative as to those who did not give themselves 

 up; or that it would have no effect upon the children 

 of slaves born hereafter ; in fact, it would be urged 

 that it did not meet the evil. But this amendment is 

 a king's cure-all for all the evils. It winds the whole 

 thing up_. He would repeat thai it was the fitting, if 

 not the indispensable, adjunct to the consummation 

 of the great game we are playing. He could not but 

 congratulate all present, himself, the country, and 

 the whole world, upon this great moral victory. In 

 conclusion, he thanked those present for the call. 



The proceedings of the Government relative 

 to peace resulted in an interview at Fortress 

 Monroe between President Lincoln and Secre- 

 tary Seward, on the one side, and Messrs. A. H. 

 Stephens, Campbell, and Hunter, on the other ; 

 they are stated in full in the ANNUAL CYCLOPAE- 

 DIA, vol. iv., for 1864, pp. 71 0, etc. This interview 

 was followed by an excited meeting at Rich- 

 mond (see CONFEDERATE STATES), and subse- 

 quently by the adoption, in the Congress assem- 

 bled there, of measures for arming the slaves. 

 The views of President Lincoln on putting the 

 slaves into the army were expressed on March 

 17th to an Indiana regiment, upon the occasion 

 of the presentation of a captured Confederate 

 flag to the Governor of that State. Mr. Lincoln 

 being present, thus addressed the assemblage : 



Fellow-citizens : It will be but a very few words 

 that I shall undertake to say. I was born in Ken- 

 tucky, raised in Indiana, and !. ; ve in Illinois, and I 

 now am here, where it is my business to be, to care 

 equally for the good people of all the States. I am 

 glad to see an Indiana regiment on this day able to 

 present this captured flag to the Governor of the 

 State of Indiana. I am not disposed, in saying this, 

 to make a distinction between the States, for all have 

 done equally well. 



There are but few views or aspects of this great 

 war upon which I have not said or written some- 

 thing whereby my own views might be made known. 

 There is one, the recent attempt of our erring breth- 

 ren, as they are sometimes called, to employ the 

 negro to fight for them. I have neither written nor 

 made a speech upon that subject, because that was 

 their business and not mine ; and if I had a wish upon 

 the subject, I had not the power to introduce it or 

 make it effective. 



The great question with them was, whether the 

 negro, being put into the army, will fight for them. 

 I do not know, and therefore cannot decide. They 

 ought to know better than we, and do know. I have 

 in my lifetime heard many arguments why the negro 

 ought to be a slave ; but if they fight for those who 

 would keep them in slavery, it will be a better argu- 

 ment than any I have yet heard. He who will fight 

 for that, ought to be a slave. They have concluded, 

 at last, to take one out of four of the slaves and put 

 him in the army ; and that one out of four, who will 

 fight to keep the others in slaverv, ought to be a slave 

 himself, unless he is killed in a fight. While I have 

 often said that all men ought to be free, yet I would 

 allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to 

 be ; and next to them those white men who argue in 

 favor of making other people slaves. I am in favor 

 of giving an opportunity^ to such white men to try it 

 on for themselves. I will say one thing with regard 

 to the negro being employed to fight for them that I 

 do know. I know he cannot fight and stav at home 

 and make bread too ; apd as one is about as important 

 as the other to them, I don't care which they do. I 

 am rather in favor of having them try them as sol- 

 diers. They lack one vote of doing that, and I wish 



