ABRAHAM LINCOLN 271 to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion." Still, he assured them that he had not decided against a proclama tion of liberty to the slaves, but that the matter occupied his deepest thoughts. The retreat of Lee from Maryland after his de feat at Antietam seemed to the president to afford a proper occasion for the execution of his long- matured resolve, and on September 22 he issued his preliminary proclamation, giving notice to the states in rebellion that, on January 1, 1863, all per sons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof should then be in rebellion against the United States, should be then, thenceforward, and forever free. When con gress came together on December 1 he urged them to supplement what had already been done by con stitutional action, concluding his message with this impassioned appeal: "Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this ad ministration will be remembered in spite of our selves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or in dishonor to the latest generation. We even we here hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly
