With such views he came to the presidency. Here he was an executive
officer, bound by the Constitution, and charged with its maintenance
and defense. He was to take the nation as the people placed it in his
hands, rule it under the Constitution and surrender it unbroken to
his successor. Accordingly he made to the Southern States all
conceivable propositions for peace. Slavery should be left without
federal interference. They madly rejected all. War came. He saw at
the outset that slavery was our bane. It confronted each regiment,
perplexed each commander. It was the Southern commisariat, dug
Southern trenches and piled Southern breastworks.

But certain Border States maintained a quasi loyalty and clung to
slavery. They were in sympathy with rebellion, but wore the semblance
of allegiance and with consequential airs assumed to dictate the
policy of the President. He was greatly embarrassed. He made them
every kind and conciliatory offer, but all was refused. Slavery on
the gulf and on the border, in Charleston and in Louisville, was the
same intolerant, incurable enemy of the Union. He struck it at last.
The Proclamation of Emancipation came, followed in due time by the
recommendation that the Constitution be so amended as forever to
render slavery impossible in State or Territory. For these acts, he
was arraigned before the American people on the 8th of last November,
and received their emphatic approval.

In a letter written to a citizen of Kentucky, the President gave an
exposition of his policy so transparent, that I reproduce it in this
place. It is his sufficient explanation and vindication.