ay the border States would unite with them, and thus tend
to prolong the war; and he was of opinion, if this resolution should be
adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of irritation
and these hopes would be removed, and more would be accomplished toward
shortening the war than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved
by Union armies; that he made this proposition in good faith, and desired
it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in the same patriotic
spirit in which it was made; that emancipation was a subject exclusively
under the control of the States, and must be adopted or rejected by each
for itself; that he did not claim nor had this government any right to
coerce them for that purpose; that such was no part of his purpose in
making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood; that
he did not expect us there to be prepared to give him an answer, but he
hoped we would take the subject into serious consideration, confer
with one another, and then take such course as we felt our duty and the
interests of our constituents required of us.

Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State slavery was not considered
a permanent institution; that natural causes were there in operation which
would at no distant day extinguish it, and he did not think that this
proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that, he and his
friends felt solicitous as to the message on account of the different
constructions which the resolution and message had received. The New York
Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must accept gradual
emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get something worse.

The President replied that he must not be expected to quarrel with the New
York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he
would not anticipate events. In respect to emancipation in Missouri, he
said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the
operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating conduct
to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the Confederates that
Missouri would at some time merge herself alongside of them, which, in his
judgment, the passage of this resolution by Congress and its acceptance by
Missouri would accomplish.

Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the refusal
of the State to accept this proposal, and he desired to know if the
President looke