William Seward: “As George Washington, I would do this man any kindness in my power--as President of the United States, I can do nothing.”

Let it be remembered, that it has ever been the pride and the boast of America, that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human nature.

The perils of the enterprize are already passed--its difficulties have already been removed--when it shall have been accomplished it will be justly regarded as the last noble effort which rendered the Republic imperishable.

For the rest, the work of emancipation abides the action, whether it be slow or fast, of the moral sense of the American people.

That freedom and that security required that the nations of Europe should relax their grasp on the American Continent.