I Confess I Hate To

A Majority Held In Restraint By Constitutional Checks And Limitations...is The Only True Sovereign Of A Free People. Whoever Rejects It Does Of Necessity Fly To Anarchy Or To Despotism.

Towering Genius Distains A Beaten Path.

The Case Of Andrews Is Really A Very Bad One, As Appears By The Record Already Before Me. Yet Before Receiving This I Had Orderedhis Punishment Commuted To Imprisonmentand Had So Telegraphed. I Did This, Not On Any Merit In The Case, But Because I Am Trying To Evade The Butchering Business Lately.

In Using The Strong Hand, As Now Compelled To Do, The Government Has A Difficult Duty To Perform. At The Very Best, It Will By Turns Do Both Too Little And Too Much. It Can Properly Have No Motive Of Revenge, No Purpose To Punish Merely For Punishment's Sake. While We Must, By All Available Means, Prevent The Overthrow Of The Government, We Should Avoid Planting And Cultivating Too Many Thorns In The Bosom Of Society.

I Am Greatly Obliged To You, And To All Who Have Come Forward At The Call Of Their Country.