eard it
read."

It was on July 22 that the President read to his cabinet the draft of
this first emancipation proclamation, which, after announcing that
at the next meeting of Congress he would again offer compensated
emancipation to such States as chose to accept it, went on to order as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, that the
slaves in all States which should be in rebellion against the government
on January 1, 1863, should "then, thenceforward and forever be free."

Mr. Lincoln had given a hint of this intended step to Mr. Seward and
Mr. Welles, but to all the other members of the cabinet it came as a
complete surprise. One thought it would cost the Republicans the fall
elections. Another preferred that emancipation should be proclaimed
by military commanders in their several military districts. Secretary
Seward, while approving the measure, suggested that it would better
be postponed until it could be given to the country after a victory,
instead of issuing it, as would be the case then, upon the greatest
disasters of the war. "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State
struck me with very great force," Mr. Lincoln's recital continues. "It
was an aspect of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject,
I had entirely overlooked. The result was that I put the draft of the
proclamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a
victory."

The secrets of the administration were well kept, and no hint came
to the public that the President had proposed such a measure to his
cabinet. As there was at the moment little in the way of war news to
attract attention, newspapers and private individuals turned a sharp
fire of criticism upon Mr. Lincoln. For this they seized upon the
ever-useful text of the slavery question. Some of them protested
indignantly that the President was going too fast; others clamored as
loudly that he had been altogether too slow. His decision, as we know,
was unalterably taken, although he was not yet ready to announce it.
Therefore, while waiting for a victory he had to perform the difficult
task of restraining the impatience of both sides. This he did in very
positive language. To a man in Louisiana, who complained that Union
feeling was being crushed out by the army in that State, he wrote:

"I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the Christian terms
of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. Still, I must
save t