The special Cabinet meeting to which Lincoln here refers was one of uncommon interest even in that day of heroic things.  An account of it is given by Secretary Welles, who was present.  “At the Cabinet meeting of September 22,” says Mr. Welles in his Diary, “the special subject was the Proclamation for emancipating the slaves after a certain date, in States that shall then be in rebellion.  For several weeks the subject has been suspended, but the President says never lost sight of.  In taking up the Proclamation, the President stated that the question was finally decided, the act and the consequences were his, but that he felt it due to us to make us acquainted with the fact and to invite criticism on the paper which he had prepared.  There were, he had found, not unexpectedly, some differences in the Cabinet, but he had, after ascertaining in his own way the views of each and all, individually and collectively, formed his own conclusions and made his own decisions.  In the course of the discussion on this paper, which was long, earnest, and, on the general principle involved, harmonious, he remarked that he had made a vow, a covenant, that if God gave us the victory in the approaching battle, he would consider it an indication of Divine will, and that it was his duty to move forward in the cause of emancipation.  It might be thought strange, he said, that he had in this way submitted the disposal of important matters when the way was not clear to his mind what he should do.  God had decided his questions in favor of the slaves.  He was satisfied it was right; and he was confirmed and strengthened in his action by the vow and the results.  His mind was fixed, his decision made, but he wished his paper announcing his course to be as correct in terms as it could be made without any change in his determination.  He read the document.  One or two unimportant amendments suggested by Seward were approved.  It was then handed to the Secretary of State to publish to-morrow.”

The discussion of Emancipation brought up at once the problem of what should be done with the freed negroes.  The very next day after the preliminary proclamation was issued (September 23, 1862), the President presented the matter to the assembled Cabinet.  Deportation was considered, and some of those present urged that this should be compulsory.  The President, however, would not consider this; the emigration of the negroes, he said, must be voluntary, and without expense to themselves.  It was proposed to deport the freedmen to Costa Rica, where a large tract of land (known as the Chiriqui Grant) had been obtained from the government of Central America.  Lincoln favored this in a general way.  He “thought it essential to provide an asylum for a race which we had emancipated but which could never be recognized or admitted to be our equals,” says Mr. Welles.  But there was some doubt as to the validity of the title to the Costa Rica lands, and the matter was dropped.