world as a rebel and a traitor, the President was urged to declare it an outlaw under the Constitution and laws. He was reminded that there never had been a day since the existence of the Republic, when slavery was loyal to the Constitution and the Union. To day an open enemy striking at the heart of the Nation, as it had always heretofore been a secret, stealthy traitor, undermining the Constitution, and sapping the foundation of our liberties. His attention was called to the moral and material desolation caused by this institution; the extent to which it had retarded National growth, and retained in brutal ignorance, and reduced toward barbarism, the people of some of the fairest sections of our country, and a once noble race of men. The aggressions of the slave power were recalled to his mind. Before the war it had caused in one half of the Union, the destruction of liberty of speech and freedom of the press; its attempts to suppress the right of petition, its perfidious repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the story of its barbarous outrages in Kansas were recounted; he was reminded that slavery had, previous to 1860, revolutionized the Government, nullifying the great principles of magna charta and the Declaration of Independence, on which the Republic was based. Slavery was charged with all the treasure and blood-shed of the terrible war then pending. It had already dug the graves of the half million citizens, patriots, and rebels sacrificed in the struggle. "Pity and relieve," urged they, "the victims of unrequited toil." In the name of the dead, which slavery had caused to be slaughtered, in the name of the country which it had desolated, in the name of the Constitution, which it had sought to overthrow, in the name of liberty with which it was incompatible, in the name of God, whose justice it defied, he was urged to decree the final abolition of slavery. "Seize the thunderbolt of liberty," cried the advocates of emancipation, "and shatter slavery to atoms."

It was thus that the friends of freedom impeached slavery before Abraham Lincoln, and demanded that he should pass sentence of death upon it. It was affirmed that there could be no permanent peace while slavery lived. A truce there might be, but peace, never. "The implacable enemy of lib

erty and the Republic," they said to him, "now reels and staggers to its fall. It has by its own crime, placed itself in your power as military Commander-in-Chief. You cannot, if you would, and you ought not if you could, make any terms of permanent compromise with slavery. You have abolished it at the National Capital. You have prohibited it in all the territories. You will cause to be hung as a pirate, any man participating in the slave trade. You have carved off and made free West Virginia, from the slaveholding Old Dominion. You have enlisted and are enlisting negro soldiers, and they have carried your banner bravely in many a hard fought battle-field. You have pledged your faith to God, and to them, that they and their families shall be forever free. That promise having been made, none doubt you will sacredly keep. Here then we stand on the threshold of universal emancipation! You cannot retreat, and should not halt. Let slavery die!"

Why withhold the blow that shall strike down the cause of all this desolation, suffering and bloodshed? Why not let the suicide of slavery be consummated? "Annihilate," said they, "all rebel slaveholders by the emancipation of all slaves!"

Mr. Lincoln listened, not unmoved to such appeals, and seeking prayerfully the guidance of Almighty God, the proclamation of emancipation was prepared; it had been in fact, prepared in July, 1862. Late in that month, or early in August, Mr. Lincoln, in his own mind, and without consulting his Cabinet, resolved to issue the emancipation edict, and prepared a draft of the proclamation. He then called a meeting of his Cabinet, which at that time consisted of Seward, Stanton, Chase, Welles, Blair, Smith, and Bates. The President said to them, he had resolved upon his course, and he had called them together, not to ask their advice on this subject, but to lay the Proclamation before them. After it had been read, there was some discussion in the Cabinet. Mr. Blair expressed the fear that it would cause the loss of the fall elections. This did not at all shake the President's determination to issue it. Mr. Seward 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 greatest disasters of the 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.

We know that Mr. Lincoln now only waited for success to the National arms, pledging his vows to God, that with the next shouts of victory, should go forth the edict of liberty to the captive!

Immediately after the battle of Antietam, and just before the issuing of the proclamation, the President said to his Cabinet: "The time for the annunciation of the emancipation policy can no longer be delayed. Public sentiment will sustain it. Many of my warmest friends and supporters demand it; and I have made a solemn vow to God that I will do it." He said to a friend, "I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the proclamation of freedom to the slaves." The concluding words of the paper: "and upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, (and upon military necessity,) I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God," were written by Secretary Chase, except the words "upon military necessity," which were added by Mr. Lincoln. We know that Mr. Lincoln regarded the proclamation as the central pivot act of his administration, and the world has characterized it, as the great event of the nineteenth century.

PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.

295

Thus as an act, of almost divine inspiration, was sent forth this great State paper- an act which will live forever in history as one of those great events which measure the advance of the world. The historian will rank it alongside with the acquisition of magna charta and the Declaration of Independence.'

*The following statement of the history of the issuing of the proclamation is made by F. B. Carpenter, Esq., the artist who perpetuated upon canvass, the scene of the first reading of the proclamation by Mr. Lincoln, to his Cabinet. Mr. Carpenter spent several weeks at the White House, and became a favorite of the President. I will only add, what is not at all necessary by way of corroboration, that the same statement in substance, was made by Mr. Lincoln to other friends.

Mr. Lincoln said, "It had got to be 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 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. * * * 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 in my own mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. Said he, 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 was, that it would be considered one last shriek on the retreat. '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. 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 enlarged a line, touching it up here and there, waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had, was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally came the week of the battle of Antietam, and 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 one Saturday, called the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published the following Monday." But Mr. Lincoln, always reticent, as to his deepest sources of feeling, did not tell the young artist that which he learnt from a member of the Cabinet. "Mr. Chase told me, that at the Cabinet meeting immediately after the battle of Antietam, and just prior to the issue of the September proclamation, the President entered upon the business before them, by saying that the time for the annunciation of the emancipation policy could no longer be delayed. Public sentiment, he thought, would sustain it, many of his warmest friends and supporters demanded

It is indeed the magna charta of the negro race. Just men everywhere recognized it as a great act of humanity and justice. As a matter of State policy, its wisdom was speedily vindicated.

The following is the Proclamation of September 22d, 1862:

"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 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 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 then have 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 thous and 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 it, and he had promised his God that he would do it. The last part of this was uttered in a low tone, and appeared to be heard by no one but Secretary Chase, who was sitting near him. He asked the President if he correctly understood him? Mr. Lincoln replied, 'I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves,""