"'Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me and is increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can relieve the Country, in this important point,'
"We have anxiously looked into this passage to discover its true import, but we are yet in painful uncertainty. How can we, by conceding what you now ask, relieve you and the Country from the increasing pressure to which you refer? We will not allow ourselves to think that the proposition is, that we consent to give up Slavery, to the end that the Hunter proclamation may be let loose on the Southern people, for it is too well known that we would not be parties to any such measure, and we have too much respect for you to imagine you would propose it.
"Can it mean that by sacrificing our interest in Slavery we appease the spirit that controls that pressure, cause it to be withdrawn, and rid the Country of the pestilent agitation of the Slavery question? We are forbidden so to think, for that spirit would not be satisfied with the liberation of 100,000 Slaves, and cease its agitation while 3,000,000 remain in bondage. Can it mean that by abandoning Slavery in our States we are removing the pressure from you and the Country, by preparing for a separation on the line of the Cotton States?
"We are forbidden so to think, because it is known that we are, and we believe that you are, unalterably opposed to any division at all. We would prefer to think that you desire this concession as a pledge of our support, and thus enable you to withstand a pressure which weighs heavily on you and the Country.
"Mr. President, no such sacrifice is necessary to secure our support. Confine yourself to your Constitutional authority; confine your subordinates within the same limits; conduct this War solely for the purpose of restoring the Constitution to its legitimate authority; concede to each State and its loyal citizens their just rights, and we are wedded to you by indissoluble ties. Do this, Mr. President, and you touch the American heart, and invigorate it with new hope. You will, as we solemnly believe, in due time restore Peace to your Country, lift it from despondency to a future of glory, and preserve to your countrymen, their posterity, and man, the inestimable treasure of a Constitutional Government.
"Mr. President, we have stated with frankness and candor the reasons on which we forbore to vote for the Resolution you have mentioned; but you have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to 'consider it, and at the least to commend it to the consideration of our States and people.'
"Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved Country, in the hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the consideration and ultimate judgment of our own people.
"While differing from you as to the necessity of Emancipating the Slaves of our States as a means of putting down the Rebellion, and while protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial interference to induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of policy on a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them, yet, when you and our brethren of the Loyal States sincerely believe that the retention of Slavery by us is an obstacle to Peace and National harmony, and are willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our States and people for the inconveniences produced by such a change of system, we are not unwilling that our people shall consider the propriety of putting it aside.
"But we have already said that we regard this Resolution as the utterance of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume the shape of a tangible practical proposition, which would yield the fruits of the sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the same want of confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its present impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is, to them, of immense importance, and they ought not to be expected even to entertain the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it their just expectations will not be frustrated.
"We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to exercise an admitted Constitutional right in a particular manner, and yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical, efficient shape, as to command their confidence that its fruits are contingent only upon their acceptance. We cannot trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation.