What did Lincoln say about colonizing freed slaves?

The record on this is plain enough, for I spoke at some length on the subject — and I will not pretend the words were comfortable ones. On August 14, 1862, I invited a committee of free Black men to the White House — the first such meeting of its kind — and urged upon them the cause of colonization. I told them directly that “Your race suffer very greatly, many of them, by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence”. That was my stated reasoning: that the presence of two races on this continent, bound together by the institution of slavery, was a source of suffering on both sides. I went further and acknowledged the wrong done to them, saying in that same address that “Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on any people” Yet I pressed on regardless and urged separation. The colony I most particularly had in mind was in Central America — nearer than Liberia, on a great highway of trade, and suited, I argued, to the climate men of African descent were accustomed to. I called upon the intelligent free men before me to lead the way, framing it as a sacrifice for the good of those still in bondage. I will say plainly, by inference, that my thinking on this subject shifted over the course of the war. The colonization projects themselves largely failed — through corruption, diplomatic resistance, and the simple fact that free men had little reason to leave the country of their birth. Whether I had fully abandoned the idea by the spring of 1865, I cannot say with certainty from my documented record alone.