I'll test this question right here--will the three Committeemen from Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland stand up for a minute? [_The three Committeemen rise._] Will the gentleman from Kentucky tell me what would have been the effect if I had included his state in my proclamation freeing the slaves----? THE KENTUCKY COMMITTEEMAN The state would have seceded from the Union, sir. LINCOLN Just so, and in Missouri? THE MISSOURI COMMITTEEMAN The Legislature would have joined the Confederacy within twenty-four hours. LINCOLN And Maryland----? THE MARYLAND COMMITTEEMAN Maryland would have promptly cut the railroads leading into Washington, isolated the Capital and joined the South. LINCOLN And with the loss of our Capital, Europe, eager to strike, would have recognized the Confederacy, would they not? THE MARYLAND COMMITTEEMAN Undoubtedly, sir---- LINCOLN So I hold---- THE MARYLAND COMMITTEEMAN Our State believed you when you said in your Inaugural: "I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists!" LINCOLN Then you three gentlemen, at least, are with me on this issue? ALL THREE Yes--! Yes--! Yes--! LINCOLN I thought so---- [_To Raymond._] What next? RAYMOND Your plan to _colonize_ the Negro race as expressed in your Proclamation of Emancipation and in the bill which you have had passed through Congress has hurt your best friends---- LINCOLN And why should it? My views on that subject were known to all men before you nominated me first in Chicago, four years ago. I said then that I believed there is a sharp physical difference between the white and black races, and I have always linked colonization with freedom. The Negro cannot remain in a free democracy unless we absorb him into our social and political life. Therefore, we must colonize him. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to future generations--above all, we owe it to the Negro himself. He was brought here by cruel force. At our own expense, therefore, we should return him to the home of his fathers, and build there a free republic for his children. We should give him our language and our ideals, and we should give him millions of our money, until he can stand alone. We must face this problem squarely now. RAYMOND Yet you compromise on other issues. LINCOLN