Pam, I was not looking for any particular answer. I simply asked which was more important to the CSA political leadership., their property or their independence? As you point out the property in question were slaves, so the question I asked was whether the CSA politicians willing to emancipate the large numbers of slave the military leadership thought was required, with unconditional emancipation for the slaves willing to fight.

It is not a question of morality it is a question of political priority, and military expediency.

You say they were holding fast to a principle of property rights, Pam. I can accept that. but what I'd wonder is, from your point of view, by your own thinking, what was uppermost in their minds, what was their highest priority at that point, in March 1865, their principle of property rights or their independence?