I Am Asked If I Would Not

I Am A Radical In Thought (and Principle) And A Conservative In Method (and Conduct).

I Leave The Governor's Office Next Week, And With It Public Life[which] Has Been On The Whole A Pleasant One. But For Ten Years And Over My Salaries Have Not Equalled My Expenses, And There Has Been A Feeling Of Responsibility, A Lack Of Independence, And A Necessary Neglect Of My Family And Personal Interests And Comfort, Which Make The Prospect Of A Change Comfortable To Think Of.

These Semi-traitors [union Generals Who Were Not Hostile To Slavery] Must Be Watched. Let Us Be Careful Who Become Army Leaders In The Reorganized Army At The End Of This Rebellion. The Man Who Thinks That The Perpetuity Of Slavery Is Essential To The Existence Of The Union, Is Unfit To Be Trusted. The Deadliest Enemy The Union Has Is Slavery - In Fact, Its Only Enemy.

He [william Merritt Chase] Is, I Suspect, Getting A Very Truthful Likeness. I Would Like It Better If [it] Was Not So Gray, So Cramped About The Eyes, And Not Quite So Corpulent. But Is This Not Quarreling With Nature?

While I Am In Favor Of The Government Promptly Enforcing The Laws For The Present, Defending The Forts And Collecting The Revenue,i Am Not In Favor Of A War Policy With A View To The Conquest Of Any Of The Slave States; Except Such As Are Needed To Give Us A Good Boundary. If Maryland Attempts To Go Off, Suppress Her In Order To Save The Potomac And The District Of Columbia. Cut A Piece Off Of Western Virginia And Keep Missouri And All The Territories.