belonged to" their "respective States, 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