William Seward: “It remains for you only to transmit the same peerless legacy, unimpaired, to your children of the next succeeding age.”

Slavery therefore must be restrained, and, without violence or injustice, must be abolished.

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

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.

How long emancipation may be delayed, is among the things concealed from our knowledge, but not so the certain result.