"You then believe, and again express the opinion, that the peculiar
nature of the contest is such that its loss is almost inevitable, and
lest any pretext for a charge of injustice against the Government be
given to its enemies, you propose to extend to the people of those
States standing by the Union, the choice of payment for their Slaves or
the responsibility of loss, should it occur, without complaint against
the Government.
"Placing the matter in this light, (a mere remuneration for losses
rendered inevitable by the casualties of War), the objection of a
Constitutional character may be rendered much less formidable in the
minds of Northern Representatives whose constituents will have to share
in the payment of the money; and, so far as the Border States are
concerned, this objection should be most sparingly urged, for it being a
matter entirely of their 'own free choice,' in case of a desire to
accept, no serious argument will likely be urged against the receipt of
the money, or a fund for Colonization.
"But, aside from the power derived from the operations of war, there may
be found numerous precedents in the legislation of the past, such as
grants of land and money to the several States for specified objects
deemed worthy by the Federal Congress.
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