In April, 1862, it was known at Washington that the President was
considering the subject of emancipating the slaves as a war measure. The
Border States selected their ablest man, the venerable John J.
Crittenden, from Mr. Lincoln's native State, to make a public appeal to
him to stay his hand. The eloquent Kentuckian discharged the part
assigned him well. Never shall I forget the scene when, with great
emotion before Congress he said, that although he had voted against and
opposed Mr. Lincoln, he had been won to his side. "_And now_," said he,
"there is a niche near to Washington which should be occupied by him who
shall save his country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny! * * * He is no
coward, he may be President _of all the people_ and fill that niche, but
if he chooses to be in these times a mere sectarian and party man, that
place will be reserved for some future and better patriot." "It is in
his power to occupy a place next to Washington, the _founder_ and
_preserver_ side by side." It was understood the Border State men
everywhere were ready to crown him the peer of Washington if he would
not touch slavery.
It was OWEN LOVEJOY, the early abolitionist, who made an instantaneous,
impromptu reply, a reply the eloquence of which thrilled Congress and
the country, and is in my judgment among the finest specimens of
American eloquence.
Said he, "Let Abraham Lincoln make himself, as I trust he will, the
Emancipator, the liberator of a race, and his name shall not only be
enrolled in this earthly temple, but it will be traced on the living
stones of that Temple, which rears itself amidst the thrones of Heaven."
Alluding to what Crittenden had said, he added, "There is a niche for
Abraham Lincoln in Freedom's holy fane. In that niche he shall stand
proudly, gloriously, with shattered fetters, and broken chains and
slave-whips beneath his feet. * * This is a fame worth living for; ay,
more, it is a fame worth _dying_ for, even though (said he with
prophetic prescience) that death led through the blood of Gethsemane and
the agony of the accursed tree."
These two speeches were read to Mr. Lincoln in his library at the White
House, a room to which he sometimes retired. He was moved by the picture
which Lovejoy drew. The tremendous responsibilities growing out of the
slavery question, how he ought to treat those sons of "unrequited toil,"
were questions sinking deeper and deeper into his heart. With a purpose
firmly to follow the path of duty, as God should give him to see his
duty, he earnestly sought the divine guidance.
Speaking afterward of Emancipation, Mr. Lincoln said: "When, in March,
May, and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border
States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable
necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come,
unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition and I was
in my best judgment driven to the alternative of either surrendering the
Union or issuing the Emancipation Proclamation."[6]
[6] See Letter of the President to A. G. Hodges, dated April 4, 1864.
Before issuing the proclamation, he had appealed to the Border States
to adopt gradual emancipation. His appeal is one of the most earnest and
eloquent papers in all history. "Our country," said he, "is in great
peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy
relief; once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its
beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, and its future
fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand."
The appeal was received by some with apathy, by others with caviling and
opposition, and was followed by action on the part of none. Meanwhile
his friends urged emancipation. They declared there could be no
permanent peace while slavery lived. "Seize," cried they, "the
thunderbolt of Liberty, and shatter Slavery to atoms, and then the
Republic will live." After the great battle of Antietam, the President
called his cabinet together, and announced to them that "_in obedience
to a solemn vow to God_," he was about to issue the edict of Freedom.
The proclamation came, modestly, sublimely, reverently the great act was
done. "Sincerely believing it to be an act of justice, warranted by the
Constitution, upon military necessity, he invoked upon it the
considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God."
On the first of January, 1863, the Executive mansion, as is usual on New
Year's Day, was crowded with the officials, foreign and domestic, of the
National Capital; the men of mark of the army and navy and from civil
life crowded around the care-worn President, to express their kind
wishes for him personally, and their prayers for the future of the
country.
During the reception, after he had been shaking hands with hundreds, a
secretary hastily entered and told him the Proclamation (the final
proclamation) was ready for his signature. Leaving the crowd, he went to
his office, taking up a pen, attempting to write, and was astonished to
find he could not control the muscles of his hand and arm sufficiently
to write his name. He said to me, "I paused, and a feeling of
superstition, a sense of the vast responsibility of the act, came over
me; then, remembering that my arm had been well-nigh paralyzed by two
hours' of hand-shaking, I smiled at my superstitious feeling, and wrote
my name."
This Proclamation, the Declaration of Independence, and _Magna Charta_,
these be great landmarks, each indicating an advance to a higher and
more Christian civilization. Upon these will the historian linger, as
the stepping-stones toward a higher plane of existence. From this time
the war meant _universal liberty_. When, in June, 1858, at his home in
Springfield, Lincoln startled the country by the announcement, "this
nation can not endure half _slave_, and _half free_," and when he
concluded that remarkable speech by declaring, with uplifted eye and the
inspired voice of a prophet, "we shall not fail if we stand firm, _we
shall not fail_, wise councils may accelerate or mistakes delay, but
sooner or later the victory is sure to come," he looked to years of
peaceful controversy and final triumph through the ballot-box. He
anticipated no war, and he did not foresee, unless in those mysterious,
dim shadows, which sometimes startle by half revealing the future, his
own elevation to the presidency; he little dreamed that he was to be the
instrument in the hands of God to speak those words which should
emancipate a race and free his country!
I have not space to follow the movements of the armies; the long, sad
campaigns of the grand army of the Potomac under McClellan, Pope,
Burnside, Hooker, Meade; nor the varying fortunes of war in the great
Valley of the Mississippi under Freemont, and Halleck, and Buell. Armies
had not only to be organized, but educated and trained, and especially
did the President have to search for and find those fitted for high
command.
Ultimately he found such and placed them at the head of the armies. Up
to 1863, there had been vast expenditures of blood and treasure, and,
although great successes had been achieved and progress made, yet there
had been so many disasters and grievous failures, that the hopes of the
insurgents of final success were still confident. With all the great
victories in the South, and Southwest, by land and on the sea, the
Mississippi was still closed. The President opened the campaign of 1863
with the determination of accomplishing two great objects, first to get
control of and open the Mississippi; second to destroy the army of
Virginia under Lee, and seize upon the rebel capital. By the capture of
Vicksburg, and the fall of Port Hudson, the first and primary object of
the campaign was realized.
"The 'Father of Waters' again went unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the
great Northwest for it, nor yet wholly to them. Three hundred miles up
they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way
right and left. The army South, too, in more colors than one, lent a
helping hand."[7] While the gallant armies of the West were achieving
these victories, operations in the East were crowned by the decisively
important triumph at Gettysburg. Let us pass over the scenes of
conflict, on the sea and on the land, at the East and at the West, and
come to that touching incident in the life of Lincoln, the consecration
of the battle-field of Gettysburg as a National cemetery.
[7] See letter of Mr. Lincoln to State Convention of Illinois.