The Administration, during the early months of the war for the Union,
was greatly perplexed as to the proper mode of dealing with slavery,
especially in the districts occupied by the Union forces. In the
summer of 1862, when Mr. Lincoln was earnestly contemplating his
Proclamation of Emancipation, Horace Greeley, the leading Republican
editor, published in his paper, the New York Tribune, a severe article
in the form of a letter addressed to the President, taking him to task
for failing to meet the just expectations of twenty millions of loyal
people. Thereupon Mr. Lincoln sent him the following letter:--
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
AUGUST 22, 1862.