[21] "Mr. Bates was for compulsory deportation. The Negro would not," he said, "go voluntary." "He had great local attachment but no enterprise or persistency. The President objected unequivocally to compulsion. The emigration must be voluntary and without expense to themselves. Great Britain, Denmark and perhaps other powers would take them. I remarked there was no necessity for a treaty which had been suggested. Any person who desired to leave the country could do so now, whether white or black, and it was best to have it so--a voluntary system; the emigrant who chose to leave our shores could and would go where there were the best inducements." _Diary of Gideon Wells_, I, p. 152. [22] Cf. Account by Charles K. Tuckerman, _Magazine of American History_, October, 1886. [23] Joseph Henry said to Assistant Secretary of State, September 5, 1862: "I hope the government will not make any contracts in regard to the purchase of the Chiriqui District until it has been thoroughly examined by persons of known capacity and integrity. A critical examination of all that has been reported on the existence of valuable beds of coal in that region has failed to convince me of the fact." Chiriqui is described in report Number 148, House of Representatives, 37th Congress, Second Session, July 16, 1862, by John Evans, geologist. [24] "There was an indisposition to press the subject of Negro Emigration to Chiriqui at the meeting of the Cabinet against the wishes and remonstrances of the states of Central America." _Diary of Gideon Wells_, I, p. 162. [25] Manuscript Archives of the Department of the Interior. [26] Nicolay and Hay, _A History_, VI, p. 361. [27] Richardson, _Message and Papers of the President_, I, p. 167. [28] Nicolay and Hay, _A History_, VI, p. 362. [29] Complete records to substantiate this statement have not been discovered. [30] Lincoln addressed thus the Secretary of War, February 1, 1864: "Sir; You are directed to have a transport ... sent to the colored colony of San Domingo to bring back to this country such of the colonists there as desire to return. You will have a transport furnished with suitable supplies for that purpose and detail an officer of the quartermaster department, who under special instructions to be given shall have charge of the business. The colonists will be brought to Washington unless otherwise hereafter directed to be employed and provided for at the camps for colored persons around that city. Those only will be brought from the island who desire to return and their effects will be brought with them." [31] Nicolay and Hay, _Complete Works_, II, p. 477. [32] _Statutes at Large_, XIII, p. 352. [33] Butler's _Reminiscences_, pp. 903-904. LEMUEL HAYNES