Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-10-15
DottrmaI att0 &tatesnau,
The War for the Union.
SLAVERY AND THE WAR.
A CATHOLIC
VIEW OF THE QUESTION.
How Peace and Union may be Secured
VIEW OF THE QUESTION.
How Peace and Union may be Secured
From Brown On's Review for oetober.l

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= i
The question of the abolition of Slavery s h
coming with us practical question in sense
has never before been. The rebellion of Il
Slave States which has for its object, NOT 5
much the dissolution of the Union, or the pepa
ration of tie South from the North, as the re
construction Of the Union on the basis of Slave
! ry; or, as the Vice Prhsident of the Confederat
states has it, with Slavery as its corner stone;
and therefore the extension of Slayery over III
whole country, cannot inil to force this question
upon the grave attention Of every citizen of In
Loyal States, who loves his country and believe
IN the practieability of Freedom The SLly
States, by their rebellion and war on th,
Union, are compelling us 10 regard this ques
tlon as one which must soon be practically met
and are forcing all loyal citizens to make the
election between the preservation of the Uni0l
and the preservation Of Slavery. This, whatever
the Federal Administration, whatever iudiyidu-
as or parties in Inc Free States with. or with.
out Southern or Pro Slavery prochvities, ma,
wish or desire, is pretty sUun to be the iDeyita
BILE issue of the terrible struggle in which onl
| glorious amt hitherto peaceful Republic is nov
engaged. Perhaps, vt The moment we write. III,
last ol August, majority Of the people of tho
Free States may not only shrink from this issue
but even honestly believe it possible to avert il
| altogether. The bare suggestion of the abolition
| "A Ri"fShJ Hh4 shuVhs peruupS eHTuge them, Htll
events march, and men who mean TO be success
ful, or not to be loft behind, must march with
them. Another disaster, like that Of Bull Run
! or another uns lccessful action like that of vii.
/ son IS Greek, where the brave and noble hearted
! Lyon fell, martyr u tho cause Of his country
and victim TO tho failure Of his Government Ia
send him timely mid, will do much TO change the
ieelings anu convictions of the loyal citizens Of
| the Free States and, perhaps, force them Ia
pp nttnI,t t.,G
| both the Union and the institution of Slavery.
Il requires, however chary our public mon may
| be even OF whispering il, no extraordinary sagn-
city or foresight to perceive that if tho present
war is to be continued, and the integrity of the
nation restored and maintained, the war can
hardly tni to become n war of liberation, or that
the Northern blood and treasure which it Dc
mands for its successful prosecutions will de
| mand in return, as their Naturalization The
emancipation Of the slave, and the universal
adoption for the South as well as the North of
our free labor system.
We need not say, for the fact is we'll known to
our readers, that no man, according to his abili.
~ and opportunity, has, siuce April, 1888, more
stIenuously opposed the Abolition movement in
the Free States than We have; not because we
loved Slavery, or had any sympathy with that
hateful institution, but because We loved the
Constitution of the Union, and because we be-
lieved that liberty at home and throughout the
world was far more interested in preserving the
Union of these States under the federal Cousti-
tion, thnn in nhpshing Slavery as il existed in
the Southern section Of our common country -
But we believe, and always have believed, that
liberty, the cause OF free institutions, the hopes
of phanthropists and Christians, both Mt home
and abroad, are more interested in preserving
the urion aud the integrity of the nation. than
they are or can be in maintaining negro Slavery.
Ii we have opposed Abolition heretofore because
we would preserve the Union, we must, a fortiori.
oppose Slavery whenever, in our Judgment, its
continuance becomes incompatible with the
maintenance of the Union, or OF our nation MS "a
free republican State.
Certainly we said, in our last Review, the
North has not taken up arms for the destruction
of negro Slavery, but for the maintenance of the
Federal Government, the enforcement Of the
laws, and the preservation Of the Union This
is true. The liberation of the slave is not the
purpose and the end of the war in which we are
now engaged. The war is Il war against rebel
lion, an unprovoked and wicked rebellion, en-
gagged in by the Rebels for the purpose Of max
ing this u great slaveholling Republic, in which
the labor Of the country shnll be performed by
| slaves, either black or whites and if, to defeat
the rebellion, the destruction of Slavery be rem
dered necessary, and be actually effected, il will
change nothing in the character or purpose oil
the war. 1t will have been necessitated by the
rebellion, and the Rebels will have only them
selves to thank for the destruction or abolition
they force us TO adopt in defense Of liberty, the
Union, and the authority of the Government
The real question now before the loyal Stntes
is not, whether the Rebellion shall be suppressed
by force of arms, or peaceful division of the
country into two separate and independent Re
Publics submitted to. Any one who has any
knowledge Of the plans and purposes of the Re-
bells, knows well, that the division of the terrific
ry of the Union iuto two independent Republics
is far short of what they lre aiming at. The
leaders of the Rebellion, they who planned it,
they who have stirred it up, and armed it against
the Union, have worked themselves into the con-
viction that Slavery is not to be looked upon us
an evil, under certain circumstances to be lue-
rated, but ns q good to be desired, which religion
and humanity require not only to be perpetuated
but extended the hrthest possible. Their doc
trine is, that liberty is not practicable for
whole people, that it is practicable only for n
class or II race; and that Republicanism can sub.
sisl and be practically beneficial, only where the
aboring class is deprived of all political aud
civil rights, and reduced to Slavery. Their pnn,
their purpose is, the reconstruction of the Fcde-
raj Goycrn.hent in accordance with this theory
not merely to cut themselves loose from nil com
panionshp with the non Slavcholdng States Of
the North and North West. They propose to ex
tend Slavery over the Union, and, in those States
aborcrs, to reduce, perhaps gradually, but uti-
mately and etiectualy, to the condition of slaves
the present class Of free white laborers, who in
the Free States are, to a great extent, Irish and
Germans, by birth or immediate descent
The reeonstruction Of the Union on the basis
of Slavery is the real aim of the chiefs of the
Southern Rebellion, which reconstruction would
give them government similar in its essential
features to that of ancient pagan Rome, and a
government, if the States held together, prepar-
ed for future conquest. The Union reconstruct
ed, it could proceed TO the conquest Of Mexico
and Central America, and reduce their negro
and colored populations to Slavery, which would
be counted their Amerieanization This done.
it could proceed, beginning with Cuba, to the an-
ntxation, one after another, of the West India
Islands. 1t then could extend its power over
the whole continent of South America, and
threaten an advance upon Eastern Asia, and the
annexation of oil the cotton producing countries
aud tropical regions of the globe, and through
the monopoly of cotton, rice, and tropical pro-
ductons in general to obtain the control Of the
commerce and credit of ull nations Such, to n
greater or less extent, is the dream which South.
crn statesmen have indulged, ond which they
have taken the first step toward realizing. In
its full extent no sane man supposes the dream
practicable; but its praciicability, up to q Ger
tain point, has been demonstrated by the sue
cess which has hitherto attended the rebellion,
for, up to the present, successful II undenably
has been The COnfederates have brought into
the field a more effective, if not larger force
than the Federal Government has thus far
brought against them; and, from the Potomac TO
the Mississippi, they hold the strategic lines, and
can be met by the Federal forces only at great
disadvantage, As yet not one of those lines has
been wrested from them.