notified of the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a measure, as one of the most efficient means of self-preservation. The leaders of the existing insurrection entertain the hope that this government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave States north of such part will then say, "The Union for which we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern section." To deprive them of this hope substantially ends the rebellion; and the initiation of emancipation completely deprives them of it as to all the States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation; but that while the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will the former ever join the latter in their proposed confederacy. I say "initiation" because, in my judgment, gradual and not sudden emancipation is better for all. In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the census tables and the treasury reports before him, can readily see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this war would purchase, at fair valuation, all the slaves in any named State. Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with slavery within State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them. In the annual message, last December, I thought fit to say, "The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed." I said this not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and continues to be, an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment of the national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the war must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend and all the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great efficiency, toward ending the struggle, must and will come. The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be esteemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned than are the institution and property in it, in the present aspect of affairs? While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the subject. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Washington, March 6, 1862. LETTER TO GENERAL G. B. MCCLELLAN Major-General McClellan, My dear Sir: Fort Monroe, Virginia May 9, 1862 I have just assisted the Secretary of War in framing part of a despatch to you, relating to army corps, which, despatch of course will have reached you long before this will. I wish to say a few words to you privately on this subject. I ordered the army corps organization, not only on the unanimous opinion of the twelve generals whom you had selected and assigned as generals of division, but also on the unanimous opinion of every military man I could get an opinion from (and every modern military book), yourself only excepted. Of course I did not on my own judgment pretend to understand the subject. I now think it indispensable for you to know how your struggle against it is received in quarters which we cannot entirely disregard. It is looked upon as merely an effort to pamper one or two pets and to persecute and degrade their supposed rivals. I have no word from Sumner, Heintzelman, or Keyes. The commanders of these corps are of course the three highest officers with you, but I am constantly told that you have no consultation or communication with them, -that you consult and communicate with nobody but General Fitz John Porter, and perhaps General Franklin. I do not say these complaints are true or just, but at all events it is proper you should know of their existence. Do the commanders of corps disobey your orders in anything? When you relieved General Hamilton of his command the other day, you thereby lost the confidence of at least one of your best friends in the Senate. And here let me say, not as applicable to you personally, that Senators and Representatives speak of me in their places without question, and that officers of the army must cease addressing insulting letters to them for taking no greater liberty with them. But to return. Are you strong enough are you strong enough even with my help to set your foot upon the necks of Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes, all at once? This is a practical and very serious question to you. The success of your army and the cause of the country are the same, and, of course, I only desire the good of the cause. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. LINCOLN AND RED TAPE Telegram to Governor Andrew War Department, Washington City, D. C. Governor Andrew, Boston, Mass.: August 12, 1862 Your despatch saying "I can't get those regiments off because I can't get quick work out of the U. S. disbursing officer and the paymaster" is received. Please say to these gentlemen that if they do not work quickly I will make quick work with them. In the name of all that is reasonable, how long does it take to pay a couple of regiments? We were never more in need of the arrival of regiments than now even to-day. A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY Horace Greeley (1811-1872) founded the New York Tribune in 1841, after a varied life of poverty; became an eminent figure by the ability of his editorial work, and exerted a strong influence throughout the country, but especially in the rural communities. In 1848-9 he was a member of Congress; in 1860 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention which nominated Lincoln. Greeley was at first opposed to declaring war upon the seceding States, but when it was declared stood by the government. He remained, however, an outspoken and troublesome critic. In August, 1862, in a letter entitled "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" which he addressed to Lincoln through the columns of the Tribune, Greeley urged the emancipation of the negroes, and indulged in sharp criticism of the President. The present letter is Lincoln's reply to that article. Executive Mansion, Washington Hon. Horace Greeley. - Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th, 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 in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and |