Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-12-21
gbe Ohio Gtate,s.,,rsal1rl 1. d
The EXP eaItlOn 60 shlp I.lana.

| # @~~S A<4KV0AtAVA ~ nAlD NUlun0a
The expedition to Ship Islend under com
mand Of Brigadier General Phelps, consisting
OF tho Massachusetts, Twenty. sixth, the Con.
nectiout Ninth and the Massachusetts Fourth
ARTILLERY, completed its landing at the place Of
destination on Saturday, Dec. 6.
rHooLAh4TioN OF BaloADIER-oENERAL PHELPS TC
THE REoPLE OF THE souTHwEUT. saT
HzApoUARrERs MIDDLrsEx BmoADE. .
| csd SHR ISLAND, Mics, Dec. 4, 1861 (
To Nal Loyal Citizens Of The SomhDsn:
Without any desire Of my own, but contrary
to my own private inclination, again And m v.
self among you as a military officer of the
Government A proper respect for my fellow.
conntrymen renders 1t not out of place that
l should make known TO you the motives and
principles by which my command will be gov.
erned. ~ -
| We believe that every State which has been
admitted as slave State into the Union, since
the adoption OF the Constitution, has been go
admitted In direct violation of that Cons.itu.
tion. ~ 30 al
We believe that the slave States which az
Isled as such at the adoption of the Constitution
are, by becoming parties to that compact, under
the highest obligations of honor and morality
10 abolish slavery. le hat' ao 2ias eu7 ~
Ills our conviction that monopolies are as
destructive as competition is Conservative of
the principles and vitalities OF republican gov.
eminent; that slave labor Is q monopoly which
excludes free labor and competition; that slaves
are Kept In comparative idleness and ease in q
fertile yhalf Of our arabic national territory,
while free white laborers, constantly augment.
Ing In numbers from Europe, are confined to
the other half, and are often distressed by want,
that the free labor of the North has more need
OF expansion into the Southern States, from
which IL 10 virtually excluded, than slavery had
Into Texas In 1886 that free labor Is essential
70 Tree Institutions; that thess institutions are
naturally better adapted and more onsenial to
the Anglo-Saxon race than are the despotic
tendencies of slavery; and fually, that the
dominant political principle of this North
American continent, 80 long as the Caucasian
race continues to How In upon US from Europe,
must needs be that OF free institutions and free
government
Any obstructions to the progress of that
form Of governments in the United States
must Inevitably be attended with discord and
war.
Slavery, from the condition Of a universally
recognized social and moral evil, has become
at length political institution, demanding Do
litioal recognition. 1t demands rights TO the
exclusion and annihilatlon of these rights which
are insured to Us BY the Consultation; and we
must choose between them which We will have
for We cannot have both.
The Constitution was made for freemep not
for slaves. Slavery as Q social evil might for
q time be tolerated and endured, but as a polt.
ical Institution II becomes imperious and exact
Ing, controlling, like dread necessity, all
whom circumstances have compelled TO live uu.
der lie sway, hampering their action, and thus
impeding our national progress .e
Al political institution 1t could not exist az
q coordinate part only Of two forms of govern
ment-vixi the despotic and the free; and it
could exist under o free government only where
public sentiment, In the most unrestricted exer-
else OF robust freedom, leading to extrava.
ganoe and licentiousness, had sWayed the
thoughts and habits of the people beyond the
bounds and limits of their own moderate con.
etitutlonal provisions. II could exist under q
frse government only where the people, in pc.
riod OF unreAsoLiDg extrayagance, had permit.
ted popular olamor TO overcome public reason,
and had attempted the impossibiIitY of setting
up permanently, as q political institution, a so.
oial evil which 10 opposed to moral law.
By revertiDg to the history OF the past, we
find that one of the most destructive wars on
record, that Of the French Revolution, was
originated by the attempt to give political char,
aoter TO an institution which was not susceptible
Of political character. n .s~i - IN
The Church, by being endowed with political
power, with tis convenSa, Its schools, its i'm
mense landed wealth, it's associations, secret
and open, became the ruling power of the State
and thus occasioned war Of more strife and
bloodshed probably than any other war which
CO, desolated the earth. Slavery Ia still less
susceptible of political character than was the
Church, II Is as ft, at this moment, for the
lumber-room of the past as was in 1893 the
monastery, the landed wealth, the exclusive
privilege, etc., Of the Catholic Church in
France.
IL behooves us to consider, as O self.govern.
Ing people, bred and reared aud practiced 10 the
habits OF self-government, whether we cannot,
whether we ought not, TO revolutionize slave.
~ out Of existence without the necessity of q
conflict Of arms like that of the French Revolu.
tion.
Indeed, We feel assured that the moment
slavery is abolished, from that moment our
Southern brethren--every ten of whom have
probably seven relatives in the North---would
begin to emerge from hateful delirium, From
that moment, relieved from imaginary terrors,
their days become happy and their nights peace.
ful and free from alarm; the aggregate amount
Of labor under the new stimulus of fair compe.
titon becomes greater day by day; property
rises In value, invigorating influences succeed
to stagnation, degeneracy and decay, and union,
harmony and peaoe-to which we have so long
been strangers-become restored, and bind us
again In the bonds Of fr .endship and amity, as
when we first began our national career under
our glorious government Of 1853.
Why do the leaders of the rebellion seek to
change the form Of your anolent government
10 1t because the growth Of the African ele.
ment OF your population has come at length to
render change necessary e
Will you permit the free Government under
which you have thus far lived, and which 10 90
well suited for the development of true man.
hood, 20 be altered TO o narrow and belittlinR
despotlsm, In order TO adapt it to the necessi.
ties OF Ignorant slaves, and the requirements OF
their proud and Aristooratic oWners2
VIII the lAboripg men of the South bind
their necks 70 the same yoke that Is suited TO
the slAge2 We think not. s.i-5-
We may safely answer that the time has
not arrived when our Southern brethren, for the
mere sake Of keeping Africans In slavery, will
abandon their ong-cherished free institutions,
and enslave themselves. .5er 4a.sos
II is the conviction of my command, as q
part Of the national forces of the United States,
that labor -manual labor-ia inherently noble;
that IL cannot be systematically degraded by
any nation without mining its peace, happiness,
and power; that free labor 10 the granite basis
on which free Institutions must rest; that It Is
the right, the capital, ths Inheritance, the hope
Of the poor man every where; that it is especi,
ely the right Of Ave millions Of our country.
men In the slave States. as well as Of the four
millions of Africans therei and ali our Efforts