and insinuations to the contrary are
deceptive and groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition
shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you.
I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the people, according to
the bond of service, the United States Constitution, and that, as such, I
am responsible to them.

But, to be plain: You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite
likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon
that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while you,
I suppose, do not. Yet, I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure
which is not consistent with even your view, provided you are for the
Union. I suggested compensated emancipation; to which you replied you
wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed
to buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from greater taxation to
save the Union exclusively by other means.

You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have it
retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I think
the Constitution invests its commander-in-chief with the law of war in
time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are
property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that by the law of
war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And
is it not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the enemy? Armies, the
world over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot use it, and even
destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all
in their power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few things
regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the massacre of
vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and female.

But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it is
not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot be retracted,
any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you profess to
think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union, why better
after the retraction than before the issue? There was more than a year
and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the proclamation was
issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an explicit notice
that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt returning to their
allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favorably for