The Express.
London, England, 1862-03-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 21.

MILITARV successes, unequivocal and extensive,
have enabled President Liscour to propose a poli-
tical measure from which important consequences
may reasonably be expected. In a Message to
Coogran, he recommends the two Houses to agree
in a resolution to co-operate with the several
States, by pecuniary aid, foe the gradual emancipa-
tion of the slaves. Mr. laxcouc explains his views
and expectations with a frankness which some may
deem excessive, but which is very characteristic,
andel least leaves no excuse for misunderstanding

his meaning. At every crisis of the present con-
flict the ParsiDtST has declared that the first object
of the war was the preservation of the Union.
This was one side of his policy, that one which
was naturally brought into prominence by the
circumstances in which he was placed. The
other side, that which aims at the final ex-
tinction of slavery, has not been seen until now,
because hitherto no opportunity of displaying it
has arisen. Indeed, not only has this part of Mr.
Li:mix:es policy been concealed, but it has seemed
to be denied by facts. He was advised to adopt
the principle of abolition in all its naked abso-
lutism, and it is well known that he refused. He
would proceed to hie end legally and constitu-
tionally. Many of us thought that to may he would
only attain it in that way was equal to saying that
he gave it up altogether. But let justice be done.
Whatever merits are denied to Mr. LINCOLN as the
ruler of a great nation, the simplicity and sincerity
of his character will not be called in question.

The time has come when Mr. LINZ-out believes
he has found a political begs, • basis of fact, for
his policy of emancipation. And he seems
careful to make it plain that it is a thorough);
political measure which he proposes. He Mlle the
Federal Congress that the Federal Government
" would find its highest interest" in assisting the
States as proposed, "aa one of the most ethoient
means of self-preservation." He avows that
his immediate aim is to secure the Border States
to the Union. "The point," he says, "is not
" that all States tolerating slavery would very
" soon, if at all, initiate emancipation, but that
" while the offer is equally made to all, the more
" Northern States shall by such initiation make it'
" certain to the more Southern that in no event
" will the former ever join the latter In their pro-
" pored Confederacy. I say initiation' because,
" in my judgment, a gradual and not sudden
" emancipation is better for all."
Mr. i/SCOLN here seems to convey that he does
not hold the Gulf States in mach account. He
knows very well that they cannot exist as a sepa-
rate nation without the Border States ; that their
poverty and weakness would expose them to
general contempt, and make separate existence in-
tolerable. And although he will not permit them
on that account to secede, and so give a foothold to
ambitious and intriguing European Powers, he is not
much concerned about their opinion of his schema.
If the Federal Congress assents and the Border
States adopt it, slavery in North America is
doomed, and the Gulf States may be left to come
to their senses. Whenever they do so the Federal
Government will assist them in getting rid of a
curse.

Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee are wholly
or in part occupied by the Federal forces. In
those States as in others, Virginia., for example,
where the armies of the United States are not so
well established, but into which they hope soon to
advance, there exists, together with •shong Union
feeling, a fear that the Federal Government may
be induced, by policy or public sentiment, to
adopt measures adverse to the pecuniary in-
terest which a portion of their inhabitants
have in slavery. In Delaware, with only 1,700
slaves, this feeling is unimportant; but in Mary-
land, with 87,000, Missouri, with 114,000,
Kentucky, with 226,000, Tennessee, with
275,000, and Virginia, with 490,000 slaves, it
must be taken into account. In most of these
Stake the interest of the masters in their
slaves is simply a pecuniary interest, and
is, therefore, capable of commutation. The laws
of the State recognise property in slaves, and
certain persons hold such property without finding
it indispensable to their pursuits. But slavery,
although exercising a most baneful influence, has I
not become them, as it has in some of the southern-
most States, the substance of religion, politics,
and social education. The Uninnists of the
more northern slave States, with Mr. Lixeots's
plan in their hands, will be enabled to show their
alarmed neighbours that their fears are ungrounded,
and that the Federal Government will not do
injustice to those who are loyal to it.
Mr. Li!rilii.x.4 proposition appears to hare
startled the American public by its comprehen-
siveness, and we shall have to wait to learn whet
impression it will make on the country. The ex-
tracts we give from the New York papers can tell
us little. It is natural for us, accustomed as we
are to learn the state of public opinion in the
various countries of Europe from journals pub-
halted in capitals where government and public
life is centralised, to study the opinions published
'in • great ArMfaa city, and take them (or those
of the Union. This error has led us astray •
thousand times during the last twelve mouths.
But in truth there is no country in the world
where all that belongs to government is so com-
pletely decentralized as in the United Mass. In
looking at the probabilities of the situation we
must remember that Mr. Litn...oLe propounds
rather an aim than a plan. His proposition at
present is simply that Congress shall " &dare.
" that the United States ought to oolopersto with

" any State which may adopt s 'gradual abolish-
" ,sent of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary
" aid, to be used by such Slate ip its discretion, to
" compensate for the inceavessiesces, public end
" private, produced by such change of getups."
Should Congress adopt this resolution, it will pro-
claim a policy and assume a duty, but the means
sad mode of its execution will be left open to
deliberation. We do not gather from the Piss-
SIDER'S words that it is part of his plan that the
Federal Government should assume the burden
of the compensation to be paid to slaveowners
on the emancipation of their slaves, but rather
that the Federal Government should co-operate

for that purpose with the Govenunentsof the States.
The PRESII.VIT intimates gently, but plainly, that
the alavuowners of the Border States may fare
worse if they refuse his proposition. The
war ia, has been, and will be, one for the
preservation of the Union ; but it is impos-
sible to carry war into • Slave State without de-
preciating property in slaves. When the marten
are in trouble the blacks run away or become un-
profitable from the interruption of industry. Mr.
lancing says: "A practical reacknowledgment of
" the national authority would render the war
" unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If,
" however, resistance continues, the war must
" also continue, and it is impossible to foresee all
" the ineideats which may attend awl all the ruin
" which may follow it. Such ea may seem indis-
" pensable, or may obviously promise great effi-
" ciency toward ending the struggle, must and
" will come." Having said this to those who, in
the came supposed, would have to receive the
money, ho tells those who would be called to pay,
or at least raise it, that it is their interest to do so.
" In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any
" member of Congress, with the census tables and
" the treasury reports before him, can readily see
" for himself how soon the current expenditure of
" this War would purchase, at a fair valuation, all
" the slaves in any named State."
Such is the fair, moderate, and magnanimous
policy of the Government of the United States in
the hour of nooses. And what are the leaders of
secession doing I In the face of Mr. Dsvies ad-
mission that the Confederacy attempted more
than it could carry out when it undertook
to force secession on the Border States,
it has passed a resolution declaring—
" That the honour of the Government impera-
" tively demands that the existing war be prom-
" cuted until the enemy shall have been expelled
" from every foot of soil within each and every
" one of the Confederate States ; and no proposi-
" non of peace shall be considered which contain-
" plates, however remotely, the relinquishment by
" this Government of any portion of any of the
" Stake of this Confederacy." Mr. Li/400meg
mousse and the resolution of the Confederate
Senate aptly distinguish the character and circum-
stances of the two Governments..