“During one of his welcome visits
to my office,” says Mr. Chittenden, “the
President seemed to be buried in thought over some
subject of great interest. After long reflection
he abruptly exclaimed that he wanted to ask me a
question.
“‘Do you know any energetic
contractor?’ he inquired; ’one who
would be willing to take a large contract
attended with some
risk?’
“’I know New England contractors,”
I replied, ’who would not be frightened by
the magnitude or risk of any contract. The element
of prospective profit is the only one that would
interest them. If there was a fair prospect
of profit, they would not hesitate to contract to
suppress the Rebellion in ninety days.”
“’There will be profit and
reputation in the contract I may propose,’
said the President. ’It is to remove the
whole colored race of the slave States into Texas.
If you have any acquaintance who would take that
contract, I would like to see him.’
“‘I know a man who would take
that contract and perform it,’ I
replied. ’I would be willing
to put you into communication with
him, so that you might form your own opinion
about him.’
“By the President’s direction
I requested John Bradley, a well-known Vermonter,
to come to Washington. He was at my office the
morning after I sent the telegram to him. I declined
to give him any hint of the purpose of my invitation,
but took him directly to the President. When
I presented him I said: ’Here, Mr. President,
is the contractor whom I named to you yesterday.’
“I left them together. Two
hours later Mr. Bradley returned to my office overflowing
with admiration for the President and enthusiasm
for his proposed work. ‘The proposition
is,’ he said, ’to remove the whole colored
race into Texas, there to establish a republic of
their own. The subject has political bearings
of which I am no judge, and upon which the President
has not yet made up his mind. But I have shown
him that it is practicable. I will undertake
to remove them all within a year.’”
It is unnecessary to state that the Black Republic
of Texas was a dream that never materialized.
LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION
Messrs. Nicolay and Hay, who were Mr. Lincoln’s
private secretaries during the time he was President,
and afterwards the authors of his most elaborate biography,
say: “The blessings of an enfranchised race
must forever hail him as their liberator.”
Says Francis Curtis in his History of the Republican
Party, in speaking of the President’s Emancipation
Proclamation: “On the 1st day of January,
1863, the final proclamation of freedom was issued,
and every negro slave within the confines of the United
States was at last made free.”
