The President's Special Message

iMRingfon, March 6. Tho President to-day tranamltted to ('i)ngress the following messngc : Fellow-ciltxcns of the Senate and Home of Representaties - 'I recommend the ndoption of a joint resotütion by your honorable bodie wliicb sliall bo substantully au folfoWü .' Resolved, That the Uuited States onglit to co opuratc with mv State which may adopt a gradual abolishnieiit of slavcry, giviug to such Stato pecuniary aid to be used by such State in its diieciion, to compénsate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such chango of system. lf the proposition contained in the ; resolution does not ineet the approval of Congrega and tho country, there ia tho end, but ïf it does cotnmand the ' va!, I deern it of importnnce that 'tlie States and peoplo imraediately interested should be at onoii bo distioctly notitiod of tho fact, so that they may begin to consider whethcr to accept or roject it. The j. -deral government would find its highest interest ia such a ineasuro s a one of the most efficiënt measuresof sclfpreservatiou. The leaders of the existing insmrection entertain the hope that the government will ultimately be forced to acknowlcdgo the iudependeuee of some part of the disaiFected región, and that all the slave States north of such parts will then say, the Union for which wo have struggled being already goue, ve uow choose to go with them. To deprive them of this hope substantially ends the rebellion, and the ïnitiatiou of emancipation complotely doprives them of it. As to all the States iuitiating, the point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate emaucipation, but that, while the offer is equally made to all, the more norlhem shall, by such initiation, makc it certa'm in the more southeru that in no event shall the fornier join tho latter in tho proposed Oonfederacy, I say initiation, becauüo, in my judgment, gradual aud not suduen eiuaucipatioii is bcltcr for all. Iu the more financial or pccuniary view, auy momber of Congress, with the census tables and the treasury reports bcforc hun, can readily see for himself how very soou the current expeuditures of the war wouïd purchase, at a fair valuation, all the slaves in any natned State. Such a propositiou on the part of the general goverument sets up no claim or right, by Federal authority, to interfere with slavcry vithin títate limita. Heferring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject iu each case to the State and lts people immediately inter ested, it is proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them. Iu the annual message, last December, I thought fit to say the Union must be preserved, and henee all indispensable means must be employed. I said this not hastily but deliberately. War has been and continúes to be an indespensable means to this end. A practical acknowledginent of the national authority would render the war unuecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance continúes, tho war must also continue, and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend and all the ruin which may follow. Such as may secm indispensable, or may 1 ly promise great efficiency towards ending the great struggle, must and will coaie. The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope may be esteemed uo offence to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered would uot be of more value to tho State and private persons coneerned than are the institutions and property in it in the present aspect of affairs. While it is truo that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is recotnmended in the hope that it would sooner lead to important results. In full view of rny responsibility to my God and to my country, I earncstly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the subject.