Such were the steps, from December, 1861, when the radical Sumner began his pressure for action, to September, 1862, when Lincoln’s pledge of emancipation was made.  Did these steps indicate, as British opinion unquestionably held, an intention to rouse a servile insurrection?  Was the Confiscation Bill passed with that purpose in view and had Lincoln decided to carry it into effect?  The failure of the slaves to rise is, indeed, the great marvel of the Civil War and was so regarded not in England only, but in America also.  It was the expectation of the North and the constant fear of the South.  But was this, in truth, the purpose of the emancipation proclamation?

This purpose has been somewhat summarily treated by American historians, largely because of lack of specific evidence as to motives at the time of issue.  Two words “military necessity” are made to cover nearly the entire argument for emancipation in September, 1862, but in just what manner the military prowess of the North was to be increased was not at first indicated.  In 1864, Lincoln declared that after the failure of successive efforts to persuade the border states to accept compensated emancipation he had believed there had arrived the “indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks[874].”  Repeatedly in later defence of the proclamation he urged the benefits that had come from his act and asserted that commanders in the field “believe the emancipation policy and the use of coloured troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion[875].”  He added:  “negroes, like other people, act upon motives.  Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them?  If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive, even the promise of freedom.”

There is no note here of stirring a servile insurrection; nor did Lincoln ever acknowledge that such a purpose had been in his mind, though the thought of such possible result must have been present—­was, indeed, present to most minds even without a proclamation of emancipation.  Lincoln’s alleged purpose was simply to draw away slaves, wherever possible, from their rebellious masters, thus reducing the economic powers of resistance of the South, and then to make these ex-slaves directly useful in winning the war.  But after the war, even here and there during it, a theory was advanced that an impelling motive with the President had been the hope of influencing favourably foreign governments and peoples by stamping the Northern cause with a high moral purpose.  In popular opinion, Lincoln came to be regarded as a far-visioned statesman in anticipating that which ultimately came to pass.  This has important bearing on the relations of the United States and Great Britain.