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 Republican journals of the North devoted considerable discussion to
the President's message and plan, which, in the main, were very
favorably received. Objection was made, however, in some quarters that
the proposition would be likely to fail on the score of expense, and
this objection the President conclusively answered in a private letter
to a senator.
"As to the expensiveness of the plan of gradual emancipation, with
compensation, proposed in the late message, please allow me one or two
brief suggestions. Less than one half-day's cost of this war would pay
for all the slaves in Delaware at four hundred dollars per head.
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