The Abolition Of Slavery The Right Of The Government Under The War Power eBook
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But we have referred only to the slaves in the rebellious
States, and if it is, or if it becomes, a military
necessity to liberate all the slaves of the Union,
and to treat the whole present slave population as
freemen and citizens, it would be no more than just
and proper that, at the conclusion of the war, the
citizens of loyal States, or the loyal citizens of
loyal sections of the rebellious States, should be
indemnified at a reasonable rate for the slaves that
may have been liberated. The States and sections
of States named have not a large number of slaves,
and if the Union is preserved, it would not be a very
heavy burden on it to pay their ransom; and to paying
it, no patriot or loyal citizen of the free States
would raise the slightest objection. The objection
therefore urged, though grave, need not be regarded
as insuperable; and we think the advantages of the
measure, in a military point of view, would be far
greater than any disadvantage we have to apprehend
from it.
Whether the time for this important measure has come
or not, it is for the President, as Commander-in-Chief
of our armies, to determine. But, in our judgment,
no single measure could be adopted by the government
that would more effectually aid its military operations,
do more to weaken the rebel forces, and to strengthen
our own.
It seems to us, then, highly important, in every possible
view of the case, that the Federal Government should
avail itself of the opportunity given it by the Southern
rebellion to perform this act of justice to the negro
race; to assimilate the labor system of the South
to that of the North; to remove a great moral and political
wrong; and to wipe out the foul stain of slavery, which
has hitherto sullied the otherwise bright escutcheon
of our Republic. We are no fanatics on the subject
of slavery, as is well known to our readers, and we
make no extraordinary pretensions to modern philanthropy;
but we cannot help fearing that, if the government
lets slip the present opportunity of doing justice
to the negro race, and of placing our republic throughout
in harmony with modern civilization, God, who is especially
the God of the poor and the oppressed, will never give
victory to our arms, or suffer us to succeed in our
efforts to suppress rebellion and restore peace and
integrity in the Union.
THE NEW YORK HERALD ON THE WAR.
With the secession of Virginia, there is going to
be enacted on the banks of the Potomac one of the
most terrible conflicts the world has ever witnessed;
and Virginia, with all her social systems, will be
doomed, and swept away.—New York Herald,
April 19.
We must also admonish the people of Maryland that
we of the North have the common right of way through
their State to our National Capital. But let
her join the revolutionists, and her substance will
be devoured by our Northern legions as by an Arabian
cloud of locusts, and her slave population will disappear
in a single campaign.
