"And therefore, gentlemen, I have written a few words in answer to this attack. I ask you to give it the same wide hearing you have accorded the assault. I'll read it to you: "'Dear Sir:--I have just read yours of the 19th instant addressed to myself through the _New York Tribune_. "'If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact, which I know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. "'If there be any influences which I believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. "'If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right. "'As to the policy I seem to be pursuing, as you say, I have not meant to leave anyone in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. "'The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be,--the Union as it was. "'If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them. "'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 is to save the Union, and not either to save or 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 believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more, whenever I 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 stated my purpose, according to my view of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft expressed personal wish, that all men everywhere could be free.'" A moment of death-like stillness followed the reading. The members of the committee had unconsciously pressed nearer. Some of them stood with shining eyes gazing at the rugged, towering figure as if drawn by a magnet. The stark earnestness and simplicity of his defense had found their hearts. The daring of it fairly took their breath. Senator Winter turned to his nearest neighbor and growled: "Bah! The trouble is Lincoln's a Southerner--born in the poisoned slave atmosphere of the South. He grew up in Southern Indiana and Illinois. His neighbors there were settlers from the South. He has never breathed anything but Southern air and ideals. It's in his blood. Only a man born in the South could have written that document----" The listener looked up suddenly: