ss to issue a proclamation that might be as inoperative as the
Pope's bull against the comet. My duty, it has seemed to me, has been
to be loyal to a principle, and not to betray it by expressing it in
action at the wrong time. That is what I conceive statesmanship to be.
For long now I have had two fixed resolves. To preserve the Union, and
to abolish slavery. How to preserve the Union I was always clear, and
more than two years of bitterness have not dulled my vision. We have
fought for the Union, and we are now winning for the Union. When and
how to proclaim abolition I have all this time been uncertain. I am
uncertain no longer. A few weeks ago I saw that, too, clearly. So
soon, I said to myself, as the rebel army shall be driven out of
Maryland, and it becomes plain to the world that victory is assured
to us in the end, the time will have come to announce that with that
victory and a vindicated Union will come abolition. I made the promise
to myself--and to my Maker. The rebel army is now driven out, and I am
going to fulfil that promise. I do not wish your advice about the main
matter, for that I have determined for myself. This I say without
intending anything but respect for any one of you. But I beg you to
stand with me in this thing.

_Hook_: In my opinion, it's altogether too impetuous.

_Lincoln_: One other observation I will make. I know very well that
others might in this matter, as in others, do better than I can, and
if I was satisfied that the public confidence was more fully possessed
by any one of them than by me, and knew of any constitutional way in
which he could be put in my place, he should have it. I would gladly
yield it to him. But, though I cannot claim undivided confidence, I do
not know that, all things considered, any other person has more; and,
however this may be, there is no way in which I can have any other
man put where I am. I am here; I must do the best I can, and bear the
responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take.

_Stanton_: Could this be left over a short time for consideration?

_Chase_: I feel that we should remember that our only public cause at
the moment is the preservation of the Union.

_Hook_: I entirely agree.

_Lincoln_: Gentlemen, we cannot escape history. We of this
administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal
significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. In
giving freedom to the slave we assure fre