ON the 22d of July, 1862, Lincoln sent word to the members of his
cabinet that he wished to see them. It so happened that Secretary Chase
was the first to arrive. He found Lincoln reading a book. Looking up
from the page, the President said: "Chase, did you ever read this book?"
"What book is it?" asked Chase. "Artemus Ward," replied Lincoln. "Let me
read you this chapter, entitled '_Wax Wurx in Albany_.'" And so he began
reading while the other members of the cabinet one by one came in. At
last Stanton told Mr. Lincoln that he was in a great hurry, and if any
business was to be done he would like to do it at once. Whereupon Mr.
Lincoln laid down the open book, opened a drawer, took out a paper and
said: "Gentlemen, I have called you together to notify you what I have
determined to do. I want no advice. Nothing can change my mind."
He then read the Proclamation of Emancipation. Chase thought there ought
to be something about God at the close, to which Lincoln replied: "Put
it in, it won't hurt it." It was also agreed that the President would
wait for a victory in the field before giving the Proclamation to the
world.
The meeting was over, the members went their way. Mr. Chase was the
last to go, and as he went through the door looked back and saw that Mr.
Lincoln had taken up the book and was again engrossed in the _Wax Wurx
at Albany._
This was on the 22d of July, 1862. On the 22d of August of the same
year--after Lincoln wrote his celebrated letter to Horace Greeley, in
which he stated that his object was to save the Union; _that he would
save it with slavery if he could_; that if it was necessary to destroy
slavery in order to save the Union, he would; in other words, he would
do what was necessary to save the Union.
This letter disheartened, to a great degree, thousands and millions of
the friends of freedom. They felt that Mr. Lincoln had not attained
the moral height upon which they supposed he stood. And yet, when this
letter was written, the Emancipation Proclamation was in his hands, and
had been for thirty days, waiting only an opportunity to give it to the
world.
Some two weeks after the letter to Greeley, Lincoln was waited on by a
committee of clergymen, and was by them informed that it was God's will
that he should issue a Proclamation of Emancipation. He replied to them,
in substance, that the day of miracles had passed. He also mildly and
kindly suggested that if it were God's will this Proclamation should
be issued, certainly God would have made known that will to him--to the
person whose duty it was to issue it.
On the 22d day of September, 1862, the most glorious date in the history
of the Republic, the Proclamation of Emancipation was issued.
Lincoln had reached the generalization of all argument upon the question
of slavery and freedom--a generalization that never has been, and
probably never will be, excelled:
"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free."
This is absolutely true. Liberty can be retained, can be enjoyed, only
by giving it to others. The spendthrift saves, the miser is prodigal.
In the realm of Freedom, waste is husbandry. He who puts chains upon the
body of another shackles his own soul. The moment the Proclamation was
issued the cause of the Republic became sacred. From that moment the
North fought for the human race.
From that moment the North stood under the blue and stars, the flag of
Nature, sublime and free.
In 1831, Lincoln went down the Mississippi on a flat-boat. He received
the extravagant salary of ten dollars a month. When he reached New
Orleans, he and some of his companions went about the city.
Among other places, they visited a slave market, where men and women
were being sold at auction. A young colored girl was on the block.
Lincoln heard the brutal words of the auctioneer--the savage remarks of
bidders. The scene filled his soul with indignation and horror.
Turning to his companions, he said, "Boys, if I ever get a chance to hit
slavery, by God I'll hit it hard!"
The helpless girl, unconsciously, had planted in a great heart the seeds
of the Proclamation.
Thirty-one years afterward the chance came, the oath was kept, and
to four millions of slaves, of men, women and children, was restored
liberty, the jewel of the soul.
In the history, in the fiction of the world, there is nothing more
intensely dramatic than this.
Lincoln held within his brain the grandest truths, and he held them as
unconsciously, as easily, as naturally, as a waveless pool holds within
its stainless breast a thousand stars.
In these two years we had traveled from the Ordinance of Secession to
the Proclamation of Emancipation.