I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be the Union it was. * * * If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time _destroy slavery, I do not agree with them_. My paramount object in this struggle _is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery_. If I could save the Union _without_ freeing _any_ slave _I would do it_, and if I could save it by freeing _all_ the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. _What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union_; and what I forbear I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do _less_ whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do _more_ whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purposes according to my view of _official_ duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed _personal_ wish that all men, everywhere, should be free. Yours, A. LINCOLN Everything--humanity, justice, posterity--was placed upon the sacrificial altar of the Union, and the slave-power was repeatedly and earnestly invited to lay down its traitorous arms, be forgiven, and keep its slaves. With Mr. Lincoln, as President, it was the Union, first, last, and all the time. And he but echoed the prevailing opinions of his time. I do not question or criticise his _personal_ attitude; but what he himself called his "view of official duty" was to execute the will of the people, and that was _not_ to abolish slavery, at that time. As the politicians only took hold of the great question when they thought it would advance their selfish interests, they were prepared to abandon it or immolate it upon the altar of "expediency," when the great clouds of treason burst upon them in the form of gigantic rebellion. The politicians of that time, like the politicians of all times, were incapable of appreciating the magnitude of the questions involved in the conflict.