I ask you to give it the same wide hearing you have accorded the
assault. I'll read it to you:
"'Dear Sir:--I have just read yours of the 19th instant addressed to
myself through the _New York Tribune_.
"'If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact, which I know
to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.
"'If there be any influences which I believe to be falsely drawn, I do
not now and here argue against them.
"'If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I
waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always
supposed to be right.
"'As to the policy I seem to be pursuing, as you say, I have not meant
to leave anyone in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the
shortest way under the Constitution.
"'The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the
Union will be,--the Union as it was.
"'If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at
the same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them.
"'If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at
the same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree with them.
"'_My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or
destroy Slavery_.
"'If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it.
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