There Is Nothing Left To Do But

Frequently The More Trifling The Subject, The More Animated And Protracted The Discussion.

In A Body [like Congress] Where There Are More Than One Hundred Talking Lawyers, You Can Make No Calculation Upon The Termination Of Any Debate.

I Speak Of The War As Fruitless; For It Is Clear That, Prosecuted Upon The Basis Of The Proclamations Of September 22d And September 24th, 1862, Prosecuted, As I Must Understand These Proclamations, To Say Nothing Of The Kindred Blood Which Has Followed, Upon The Theory Of Emancipation, Devastation, Subjugation, It Cannot Fail To Be Fruitless In Every Thing Except The Harvest Of Woe Which It Is Ripening For What Was Once The Peerless Republic.

The Revenue Of The Country, Levied Almost Insensibly To The Taxpayer, Goes On From Year To Year, Increasing Beyond Either The Interests Or The Prospective Wants Of The Government.

Readily And, I Trust, Feelingly Acknowledge The Duty Incumbent On Us All . . . To Provide For Those Who, In The Mysterious Order Of Providence, Are Subject To Want And To Disease Of Body Or Mind; But I Cannot Find Any Authority In The Constitution For Making The Federal Government The Great Almoner Of Public Charity Throughout The United States . . . .