to be merely passengers--deadheads at that--to be carried snug and dry
throughout the storm, and safely landed right side up. Nay, more: even
a mutineer is to go untouched, lest these sacred passengers receive an
accidental wound. Of course the rebellion will never be suppressed in
Louisiana if the professed Union men there will neither help to do it nor
permit the government to do it without their help. Now, I think the true
remedy is very different from what is suggested by Mr. Durant. It does not
lie in rounding the rough angles of the war, but in removing the necessity
for the war. The people of Louisiana who wish protection to person and
property have but to reach forth their hands and take it. Let them in good
faith reinaugurate the national authority, and set up a State government
conforming thereto under the Constitution. They know how to do it and can
have the protection of the army while doing it. The army will be withdrawn
so soon as such State government can dispense with its presence; and the
people of the State can then, upon the old constitutional terms, govern
themselves to their own liking. This is very simple and easy.

If they will not do this--if they prefer to hazard all for the sake
of destroying the government--it is for them to consider whether it is
probable I will surrender the government to save them from losing all. If
they decline what I suggest, you scarcely need to ask what I will do. What
would you do in my position? Would you drop the war where it is? Or would
you prosecute it in future with elder-stalk squirts charged with rose
water? Would you deal lighter blows rather than heavier ones? Would you
give up the contest, leaving any available means unapplied? I am in no
boastful mood. I shall not do more than I can, and I shall do all I can,
to save the government, which is my sworn duty as well as my personal
inclination. I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast
for malicious dealing.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

TO LOYAL GOVERNORS.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.,

July 28, 1862.

GOVERNORS OF ALL LOYAL STATES:

It would be of great service here for us to know, as fully as you can
tell, what progress is made and making in recruiting for old regiments
in your State. Also about what day the first regiments can move with you,
what the second, what the third, and so on. This information is important
to us in making calculations. Please give it as promptly