on which they had not sought
advice or solicited aid," throwing doubts upon the Constitutional power
of the General Government to give the financial aid, and undertaking by
statistics to prove that it would absolutely bankrupt the Government to
give such aid,--they insultingly declared, in substance, that they could
not "trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation," and
that Congress must "provide sufficient funds" and place those funds in
the President's hands for the purpose, before the Border-States and
their people would condescend even to "take this proposition into
careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
Country."

Very different in tone, to be sure, was the minority reply, which, after
stating that "the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to
abolish Slavery among them as a condition to Foreign Intervention in
favor of their Independence as a Nation," concluded with the terse and
loyal deduction: "If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we
can surely ask our people to consider the question of Emancipation to
save the Union."

But those who signed this latter reply were few, among the many.
Practically, the Border-State men were a unit against Mr. Lincoln's
proposition, and against its fair consideration by their people. He
asked for meat, and they gave him a stone.

Only a few days before this interview, President Lincoln--alarmed by the
report of McClellan, that the magnificent Army of the Potomac under his
command, which, only three months before, had boasted 161,000 men, had
dwindled down to not more than "50,000 men left with their colors"--had
been to the front, at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, and,
although he had not found things quite so disheartening as he had been
led to believe, yet they were bad enough, for only 86,000 men were found
by him on duty, while 75,000 were unaccounted for--of which number
34,4172 were afterward reported as "absent by authority."

This condition of affairs, in connection with the fact that McClellan
was always calling for more troops, undoubtedly had its influence in
bringing Mr. Lincoln's mind to the conviction, hitherto mentioned, of
the fast-approaching Military necessity for Freeing and Arming the
Slaves.

It was to ward this off, if possible, that he had met and appealed to
the Border-State Representatives. They had answered