We Meet This Evening, Not In Sorrow,

Must I Shoot A Simple-minded Soldier Boy Who Deserts, While I Must Not Touch A Hair Of The Wily Agitator Who Induces Him To Desert? I Think That In Such A Cse To Silence The Agitator And Save The Boy Is Not Only Constitutional But Withal A Great Mercy.

Now, I Confess Myself As Belonging To That Class In The Country Who Contemplate Slavery As A Moral, Social And Political Evil, Having Due Regard For Its Actual Existence Amongst Us And The Difficulties Of Getting Rid Of It In Any Satisfactory Way, And To All The Constitutional Obligations Which Have Been Thrown About It; But, Nevertheless, Desire A Policy That Looks To The Prevention Of It As A Wrong, And Looks Hopefully To The Time When As A Wrong It May Come To An End.

Neither Party Expected For The War, The Magnitude, Or The Duration, Which It Has Already Attained. Neither Anticipated That The Cause Of The Conflict Might Cease With, Or Even Before, The Conflict Itself Should Cease.

A Statesman Is He Who Thinks In The Future Generations, And A Politician Is He Who Thinks In The Upcoming Elections.

Why Should There Not Be A Patient Confidence In The Ultimate Justice Of The People? Is There Any Better Or Equal Hope In The World?