I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this his almost chosen people.

I am a little uneasy about the abolishment of slavery in this District of Columbia.

The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I am. None who would do more to preserve it.

I will do what I think is right and when I discover that it is wrong, I will change it.

There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed.

Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told; and as whatever of humilation there is in it, falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it.

While I have often said that all men out to be free, yet I would allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to be; and next to them those white persons who argue in favor of making other people slaves. I am in favor of giving an opportunity to such white men to try it on for themselves.