ond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can
they, by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
objects; we can succeed only by concert.

"It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better?' but,'Can we all do better?'
Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 'Can we do
better? The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise
with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act
anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our
Country.

"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and
this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of
us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor
or dishonor, to the latest generation.

"We say we are for the Union. The World will not forget that we say
this. We know how to save the Union.

"The World knows we do know how to save it. We even we here--hold the
power, and bear the responsibility.

"In giving Freedom to the Slave, we assure Freedom to the Free-Honorable
alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or
meanly lose, the last, best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed;
this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way
which, if followed, the World would forever applaud, and God must
forever bless.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

The popular Branch of Congress responded with heartiness to what Mr.
Lincoln had done. On December 11, 1862, resolutions were offered by Mr.
Yeaman in the House of Representatives, as follows:

"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate Concurring), That
the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of date the 22d
of September, 1862, is not warranted by the Constitution.

"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation as indicated in that
Proclamation, is not calculated to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
not well chosen as a War measure, and is an assumption of power
dangerous to the rights of citizens and to the perpetuity of a Free
People."

These resolutions were laid on the table by 95 yeas to 47 nays--the yeas
all Republicans, save three, and the nays all Democrats save five.

On December 15, 1862, Mr. S. C. Fessenden, of Maine, offered resolutions
to the House