The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-08-13

The Slavery Question and the RcbeI-
! liOn-ImpOrtant Letter OF the Secretary
OF War.
We published yesterday an important letter
from Mr.. Cameron, Secretary of War, in reply
to communication of General Butler, which
will be found in our columns to-day.
| In consequence Of the evacuation of Hamp-
ton by the federal troops, which was rendered
necessary by the withdrawal of several regi-
ments from Fortress Monroe for the purpose Of
reinforcing the army at Washington, nine hun
dred negroes of the village fled across the creek
10 the fortress, three hundred of them being
able-bodied men, whom General Butler found
of the greatest service in making intrench-
ments and saving our troops from the heat of
the sun. The General desires to know what is
to be done with them-whether they are pro-
perty, and what has been the effect of the rebel
| lion and state Of war upon their political
| status. General Butler has no doubt that able
bodied negroes, lit to work in the trenches, are
| cOntraband of war, as being liable to be used
in aid of rebellion But in the case Of the sick,
| the old, the women and the children, the ques-
| ton assumes different shape.
| The Secretary of War replies in the states
manlike letter which we published yesterday.
| He is silent about the children and women, but
we presume they are included in the general
| scope of his answer, and that in the balancing
Of the account for services received on the one
| hand and for the maintenance of the women
! and children on the other, the govern
| lad tha fnr fha fotto
| from what it may owe for the former.
! General Cameron says it is the desire of the
President that all existing rights mall the States
| should be fully respected and maintained I" and
that ''the war now prosecuted on the part of the
federal government is war for the Union, for
the preservation of all constitutional rights of
! STATES and the citizens Of the States in the
Union" But Secretary Cameron draws dis
tinction between the rights of loyal and disloyal
citizens. He says in State in which military
\ operations are conducted the rights of all alike
must be subordinate to the military exigences
created by the insurrectioa; but that while, in
pursuance of the act Of Congress passed in the
late session, slaves or persons held to service If
employed in hostility to the United States, shall
| be discharged from service and their owners
forfeit their right to their labor, on the other
hand lOyA masters do not forfeit their fugitive
slaves, though, on account of the difficulty
arising from the absence of the federal courts
and the serious objection against substituting
military for judicial tribunals, to say nothing OF
the inconvenience, if not the im,possbility, in
many cases, Of making Satisfactory inquiry
about the loyalty or disloyaity of the owners
during the war, their substantial rights are best
protected by receiving. such fugitives into the
service Of the United States, as we'll as fugitives
from disloyal masters. And employing them as
circumstances may require, keeping register
or the harie and description of the fugitves
and 81 the name and the character as loyal
or disloyal, Of the master, as far as car
Lbe learned, in order that when peace
returns Congress may award just compen-
sation to the loyal masters at the same
time that it provides permanently for all the
slaves received into the service of the Union.
In the war Of the Revolution the slaves of the
disloyal tories We're forfeited; and in the war OF
1Sl2-l5 General Jackson pressed slaves into
the service OF the government to dig trenches
and perform other labor, and when peace was
restored they were manumitted, their loyal
owners being fully compensated for their value
These are precedents for the war now existing
But on no account shall the troops interfere
| with the negroes of peaceful citizens in house
| or field, nor in any way encourage them TO leave
the lawful service of their masters, nor prevent
the voluntary return Of any fugitives to the SER
| vice from which they may have escaped This
is careful wise and discriminating decision,
which will give general satisfaction throughout
| the country.
! Ever since the Inauguration Of Mr. Lincoln
there has been fierce struggle in the republi-
can party for the control of the war and the de-
termination of its character The organs and
leading politicians of the radical wing have in
sisted that its true object is and must be eman-
! cipation-a servile instruction and the exter-
mination of the white race after the plan of ST.
Domingo. These men, represented by Wendell
Phillips, Garrison, Greeley, and others of the
same type, care not for the Union, and would
! sacrifce it tomorrow for abolition. IF they
cannot achieve negro emancipation, the fanatics
!
unionists just as much as the South
ern secessionists. 1t was they who cried
'On to Richmond and if their counsels
are ever permitted to prevail in the future, then
we may bid a final farewell to the Union. 1t
was the moral poison which they sowed broad
cast over the land that so injuriously affected
our troops at Ball run. Consisting for the most
part Of democrats, the army had no other object
in embarking In the war than to save the Union
and the national capital. But when they began to
suspect from the language used by the leading
| journals of the republican party and by the
most prominent members of Congress, that the
military were to be used for the purpose Of
overthrowing the institution which is the basis
Of Southern civilization, they became demo-
rallied and lost all heart for the war. How
| otherwise can we account for the detection of
whole regiment the day before the battle, and
| of the retiring of an important battery lust as