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the public something disclaiming all intention to interfere with slaves or slavery in the States; but, in my judgment, it would do no good.
I have already done this many, many times; and. it is in print, and open to all who will read.
Those who will not read or heed what I have already publicly said, would not read or heed a repetition of it. ‘If they hear not
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.’
”
To the editor of the Louisville Journal he wrote October 29:
For the good men of the South-and I regard the majority of them as such — I have no objection to repeat seventy and seven times.
But I have bad men to deal with, both North and South; men who are eager for something new upon which to base new misrepresentations; men who would like to frighten me, or at least to fix upon me the character of timidity and cowardice.
Alexander H. Stephens of
Georgia, who afterward became Confederate
Vice-President, made a strong speech against secession in that State on November 14; and
Mr. Lincoln wrote him a few lines asking for a revised copy of it. In the brief correspondence which ensued,
Mr. Lincoln again wrote him under date of December 22:
I fully appreciate the present peril the country is in, and the weight of responsibility on me. Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would, directly or indirectly, interfere with the slaves, or with them about the slaves?
If they do, I wish to assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears.
The South would be in no more danger in this respect than it was in the days of Washington.
I suppose,
