interests which conflict with the welfare, safety, and rights or interests
of any other nation. Their own prosperity, happiness, and aggrandizement
are sought most safely and advantageously through the preservation not
only of peace on their own part, but peace among all other nations. But
while the United States are thus a friend to all other nations, they do
not seek to conceal the fact that they cherish especial sentiments of
friendship for, and sympathies with, those who, like themselves, have
founded their institutions on the principle of the equal rights of men;
and such nations being more prominently neighbors of the United States,
the latter are co-operating with them in establishing civilization and
culture on the American continent. Such being the general principles which
govern the United States in their foreign relations, you may be assured,
sir, that in all things this government will deal justly, frankly, and, if
it be possible, even liberally with Peru, whose liberal sentiments toward
us you have so kindly expressed.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS RECOMMENDING COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION.
March 6, 1862
FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:--I recommend
the adoption of a joint resolution by your honorable bodies which shall be
substantially as follows:
"Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which
may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary
aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to compensate for the
inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system."
If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the approval
of Congress and the country, there is the end; but if it does command such
approval, I deem it of importance that the States and people immediately
interested should be at once distinctly 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 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 offense 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.
A. LINCOLN.
INDORSEMENT ON LETTER FROM GOVERNOR YATES.
STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., March 1, 1862
HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D. C.
SIR:--The government at my special request a few months since contracted
for fourteen batteries of the James rifled gun, 6-pounder calibre, and a
limited quantity of the James projectiles, weighing about fourteen pounds
each. The reports showing the superiority of this gun and projectile, both
as regards range, accuracy, and execution, for field service over that of
all others at the battle of Fort Donelson, leads me to request that there
be furnished to the State of Illinois in the shortest time practicable
seven batteries of 12-pounder calibre James rifled guns, with carriages,
harness, implements, etc., complete and ready for field service, together
with the following fixed ammunition to each gun, viz., 225 shells, 225
canister, and 50 solid projectiles, weighing about 24 pounds each, and
also 200 shells, 100 canister, and 100 solid projectiles for each of the
guns of the fourteen batteries named above, weighing about 14 pounds each,
all to be of the James model.
Very respectfully,
RICHARD YATES, Governor of Illinois.
[Indorsement.]
March 8, 1862.
The within is from the Governor of Illinois. I understand the seven
additional batteries now sought are to be 6-gun batteries, and the object
is to mix them with the fourteen batteries they already have so as to make
each battery consist of four 6-pounders and two 12-pounders. I shall be
very glad to have the requisition filled if it can be without detriment to
the service.
A. LINCOLN.
PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER NO.2.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON
March 8, 1862.
Ordered: 1. That the major-general commanding the Army of the Potomac
proceed forthwith to organize that part of the said army destined to enter
upon active operations (including the reserve, but excluding the troops to
be left in the fortifications about Washington) into four army corps, to
be commanded according to seniority of rank, as follows:
First Corps to consist of four divisions, and to be commanded by
Major-General I. McDowell. Second Corps to consist of three divisions, and
to be commanded by Brigadier-General E. V. Sumner. Third Corps to consist
of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General S. P.
Heintzelman. Fourth Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be
commanded by Brigadier-General E. D. Keyes.
2. That the divisions now commanded by the officers above assigned to
the commands of army corps shall be embraced in and form part of their
respective corps.
3. The forces left for the defense of Washington will be placed in command
of Brigadier-General James S. Wadsworth, who shall also be military
governor of the District of Columbia.
4. That this order be executed with such promptness and dispatch as not
to delay the commencement of the operations already directed to be
underwritten by the Army of the Potomac.
5. A fifth army corps, to be commanded by Major general N. P. Banks,
will be formed from his own and General Shields's (late General Lander's)
divisions.
A. LINCOLN.
PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER NO.3.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, MARCH 8,1862
Ordered: That no change of the base of operations of the Army of the
Potomac shall be made without leaving in and about Washington such a force
as in the opinion of the general-in-chief and the commanders of all the
army corps shall leave said city entirely secure.
That no more than two army corps (about 50,000 troops) of said Army of
the Potomac shall be moved en route for a new base of operations until the
navigation of the Potomac from Washington to the Chesapeake Bay shall
be freed from enemy's batteries and other obstructions, or until the
President shall hereafter give express permission.
That any movements as aforesaid en route for a new base of operations
which may be ordered by the general-in-chief, and which may be intended to
move upon the Chesapeake Bay, shall begin to move upon the bay as early
as the 18th day of March instant, and the general-in-chief shall be
responsible that it so move as early as that day.
Ordered, That the army and navy co-operate in an immediate effort to
capture the enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washington and the
Chesapeake Bay.
A. LINCOLN
INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER SLAVE STATE
REPRESENTATIVES, BY HON. J. W. CRISFIELD.
MEMORANDUM
"DEAR SIR:--I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to come
to the White House tomorrow morning, at nine o'clock, and bring such of
your colleagues as are in town."
WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.
Yesterday, on my return from church, I found Mr. Postmaster-General Blair
in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and
verbally communicated the President's invitation, and stated that the
President's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations of
Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation of
his message of the 6th instant.
This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town, assembled
at the White House at the appointed time, and after some little delay were
admitted to an audience. Mr. Leary and myself were the only members from
Maryland present, and, I think, were the only members of the delegation at
that time in the city. I know that Mr. Pearoe, of the Senate, and Messrs.
Webster and Calvert, of the House, were absent.
After the usual salutations, and we were seated, the President said, in
substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation
with us in explanation of his message of the 6th; that since he had sent
it in several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had
avoided any allusion to the message, and he therefore inferred that the
import of the message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as inimical
to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would talk with
us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion.
The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or wound
the sensibilities of the slave States. On the contrary, his purpose was to
protect the one and respect the other; that we were engaged in a terrible,
wasting, and tedious war; immense armies were in the field, and must
continue in the field as long as the war lasts; that these armies must,
of necessity, be brought into contact with slaves in the States we
represented and in other States as they advanced; that slaves would come
to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up; that he was constantly
annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic complaints: on the one side a
certain class complained if the slave was not protected by the army;
persons were frequently found who, participating in these views, acted
in a way unfriendly to the slaveholder; on the other hand, slaveholders
complained that their rights were interfered with, their slaves induced
to abscond and protected within the lines; these complaints were numerous,
loud and deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embarrassing to the
progress of the war; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the government
in the States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates
that at some day the border States would unite with them, and thus tend
to prolong the war; and he was of opinion, if this resolution should be
adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of irritation
and these hopes would be removed, and more would be accomplished toward
shortening the war than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved
by Union armies; that he made this proposition in good faith, and desired
it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in the same patriotic
spirit in which it was made; that emancipation was a subject exclusively
under the control of the States, and must be adopted or rejected by each
for itself; that he did not claim nor had this government any right to
coerce them for that purpose; that such was no part of his purpose in
making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood; that
he did not expect us there to be prepared to give him an answer, but he
hoped we would take the subject into serious consideration, confer
with one another, and then take such course as we felt our duty and the
interests of our constituents required of us.
Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State slavery was not considered
a permanent institution; that natural causes were there in operation which
would at no distant day extinguish it, and he did not think that this
proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that, he and his
friends felt solicitous as to the message on account of the different
constructions which the resolution and message had received. The New York
Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must accept gradual
emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get something worse.
The President replied that he must not be expected to quarrel with the New
York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he
would not anticipate events. In respect to emancipation in Missouri, he
said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the
operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating conduct
to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the Confederates that
Missouri would at some time merge herself alongside of them, which, in his
judgment, the passage of this resolution by Congress and its acceptance by
Missouri would accomplish.
Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the refusal
of the State to accept this proposal, and he desired to know if the
President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of this
scheme.
The President replied that he had no designs beyond the actions of the
States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to
accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it.
Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was
any power except in the States themselves to carry out his scheme of
emancipation.
The President replied that he thought there could not be. He then went
off into a course of remarks not qualifying the foregoing declaration nor
material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning.
Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon
slavery as a permanent institution; and he did not know that they would
be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss and
they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced
into emancipation, either by the direct action of the government or by
indirection, as through the emancipation of slaves in this District, or
the confiscation of Southern property as now threatened; and he thought
before they would consent to consider this proposition they would require
to be informed on these points. The President replied that, unless he was
expelled by the act of God or the Confederate armies he should occupy
that house for three years; and as long as he remained there Maryland had
nothing to fear either for her institutions or her interests on the points
referred to.
Mr. Crisfield immediately added: "Mr. President, if what you now say could
be heard by the people of Maryland, they would consider your proposition
with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined to
do."
The President: "That [meaning a publication of what he said] will not
do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time "; and,
again intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the "Greeley
faction" was impending, he said he did not wish to encounter it before the
proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided.
[The Greely faction wanted an immediate Emancipation Proclamation. D.W.]
Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the
constitutionality of his scheme.
The President replied: "As you may suppose, I have considered that;
and the proposition now submitted does not encounter any constitutional
difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving such
State pecuniary aid"; and he thought that the resolution, as proposed by
him, would be considered rather as the expression of a sentiment than as
involving any constitutional question.
Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at all
it should be by the votes of the free States, and come as a proposition
from them to the slave States, affording them an inducement to put aside
this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected that members
representing slaveholding constituencies should declare at once, and in
advance of any proposition to them, for the emancipation of slavery.
The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a
fearful responsibility, and every gentleman must do as he thought best;
that he did not know how this scheme was received by the members from the
free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly; but
for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been, and he
could not tell how they would vote. And in reply to some expression of Mr.
Hall as to his own opinion regarding slavery, he said he did not pretend
to disguise his anti-slavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong, and
should continue to think so; but that was not the question we had to deal
with now. Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the North
as of the South; and in any scheme to get rid of it the North as well as
the South was morally bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the
institution wrong and ought never to have existed; but yet he recognized
the rights of property which had grown out of it, and would respect those
rights as fully as similar rights in any other property; that property can
exist and does legally exist. He thought such a law wrong, but the rights
of property resulting must be respected; he would get rid of the odious
law, not by violating the rights, but by encouraging the proposition and
offering inducements to give it up.
Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by
Mr. Crittenden's assuring the President that, whatever might be our final
action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere
devotion to the happiness and glory of his country; and with that
conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he
had made.
After some conversation on the current war news, we retired, and
I immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper. J. W.
CRISFIELD.
We were present at the interview described in the foregoing paper of
Mr. Crisfield, and we certify that the substance of what passed on the
occasion is in this paper faithfully and fully given.
J. W. MENZIES, J. J. CRITTENDEN, R. MALLORY.
March 10, 1862.
PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDER NO.3.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 11, 1862.
Major-General McClellan having personally taken the field at the head of
the Army of the Potomac, until otherwise ordered he is relieved from the
command of the other military departments, he retaining command of the
Department of the Potomac.
Ordered further, That the departments now under the respective commands of
Generals Halleck and Hunter, together with so much of that under General
Buell as lies west of a north and south line indefinitely drawn through
Knoxville, Tenn., be consolidated and designated the Department of the
Mississippi, and that until otherwise ordered Major General Halleck have
command of said department.
Ordered also, That the country west of the Department of the Potomac and
east of the Department of the Mississippi be a military department, to
be called the Mountain Department, and that the same be commanded by
Major-General Fremont.
That all the commanders of departments, after the receipt of this order by
them, respectively report severally and directly to the Secretary of War,
and that prompt, full, and frequent reports will be expected of all and
each of them.
A. LINCOLN.
FROM SECRETARY STANTON TO GENERAL MCCLELLAN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, March 13, 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN:
The President, having considered the plan of operations agreed upon by
yourself and the commanders of army corps, makes no objection to the same
but gives the following directions as to its execution:
1. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely certain
that the enemy shall no repossess himself of that position and line of
communication.
2. Leave Washington entirely secure.
3. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base
at Fortress Monroe or anywhere between here and there, or, at all events,
move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy by some
route.
EDWARD M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
SPEECH TO A PARTY OF MASSACHUSETTS GENTLEMAN
WASHINGTON, MARCH 13, 1862
I thank you, Mr. Train, for your kindness in presenting me with this truly
elegant and highly creditable specimen of the handiwork of the mechanics
of your State of Massachusetts, and I beg of you to express my hearty
thanks to the donors. It displays a perfection of workmanship which I
really wish I had time to acknowledge in more fitting words, and I might
then follow your idea that it is suggestive, for it is evidently expected
that a good deal of whipping is to be done. But as we meet here socially
let us not think only of whipping rebels, or of those who seem to think
only of whipping negroes, but of those pleasant days, which it is to be
hoped are in store for us, when seated behind a good pair of horses we can
crack our whips and drive through a peaceful, happy, and prosperous land.
With this idea, gentlemen, I must leave you for my business duties. [It
was likely a Buggy-Whip D.W.]
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON CITY, March 20, 1862.
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved December 21, 1861, provides:
"That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the retired
list of the navy for the command of squadrons and single ships such
officers as he may believe the good of the service requires to be thus
placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the recommendation of
the President of the United States they shall receive a vote of thanks cf
Congress for their services and gallantry in action against an enemy, be
restored to the active list, and not otherwise."
In conformity with this law, Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, of the navy, was
nominated to the Senate for continuance as the flag-officer in command of
the squadron which recently rendered such important service to the Union
in the expedition to the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Believing that no occasion could arise which would more fully correspond
with the intention of the law or be more pregnant with happy influence as
an example, I cordially recommend that Captain Samuel F. Du Pont receive a
vote of thanks of Congress for his service and gallantry displayed in the
capture since the 21st December, 1861, of various ports on the coasts of
Georgia and Florida, particularly Brunswick, Cumberland Island and Sound,
Amelia Island, the towns of St. Mary's, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville
and Fernandina.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, MARCH 31, 1862
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN.