If anybody believes that now any word or act of conciliation, any forbearance on our part, any hesitation in exercise of the sternest Rights of War, will help us to victory or contribute to put down the Rebellion, let me not enter into…

I find that they who talk most against coercion of Rebels and coercion of States are indifferent to the coercion of four million people, men, women, and children, to work without wages under discipline of the lash.

Without hesitation I say that the Rebels must be subdued,--call it coercion or subjugation, whichever you please: our war has this direct object.

To obtain victory, two things are needed: first, a precise comprehension of the case, and, secondly, vigor of conduct.

It will not be enough to comprehend the case, unless you are ready to treat it with corresponding vigor.

And it will not be enough to have vigor, unless you discern clearly how the case shall be treated.

To this end there must be statesmen as well as generals.

The first duty of the good physician is to understand the condition of his patient,--whether it is a case of medicine or surgery, of cutaneous eruption or deep-seated cancer.

And since all that he does must be precisely according to his judgment of the case, error here must be equally fatal.

Next to comprehension of the case is vigor in conduct, which is more needful in proportion as the case becomes desperate.

This must be not only in the field, but also in council,--not only against the serried front of the enemy, but against those more fatal influences that come from lack of comprehension or lack of courage.

The same vigor we require in our generals must be required also in our statesmen,--the same spirit must animate both.

It is easy to see that this is required in the field; but it is no less required in every sphere of the Government, from President to paymaster.

They are content to forego victory, if they can escape defeat, forgetting that Fabius was only a defender and not a conqueror, that a policy fit at one time may be unfit at another, that a war waged in an enemy’s country cannot be…

Every month, every week, every day is an ally.

The elder Pitt, who was only a civilian, infused his own conquering soul into the British arms, making them irresistible; and the French Carnot, while a member of the Committee of Public Safety, was said to have organized victory.

They are no common hirelings, mere food for powder, but generous citizens, who have determined that their country shall be saved.

But, better than gratitude even, we owe them the protection which comes from good generals and courageous counsels.

O God! let them not be led to useless slaughter like sheep, nor be compelled to take the hazard of death from climate and exposure, as well as from ball and bayonet, without giving them at once all the allies which can be rallied to their…

In the name of humanity, and for the sake of victory, I make this appeal.

Wherever I turn in this war, I find the African ready to be our saviour.

If you ask for strategy, I know nothing better than that of the slave, Robert Small, who brought the Rebel steamer Planter with its armament out of Charleston, and surrendered it to our Commodore as prize of war.

If you ask for successful courage, I know nothing better than that of the African, Tillman, who rose upon a Rebel prize-crew, and, overcoming them, carried the ship into New York.

And if you ask for evidence of desire for freedom, you will find it in the little slave-girl, journeying North, whom Banks took up on his cannon.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.