Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-10-15


the desired peac'. We are never morally Obliged
to meet the enemy on his own chosen ground,
or to fight him with an equality Of forces Or
weapons. We have the right to choose our own
time, place, and mode of attack, and to choose
such time, place, and mode as will he the most
inconvenient or distressing to him, aud the most
ell ctually cripple his resources, crush his power
and compel him to surrender. If be has weak
spot, one weaker than another, we have not only
the right, but in common prudence and common
humanity are bound to seek out that spot, aud
there strike our heaviest aud deadliest blow
Thus, II there is q disahected party in the enc
mys country, we have the right 10 encourage
and strengthen that party. Hence the Govern
ment has labored to strengthen and encourage
the Union men in Western Virginia, Eastern
Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.
and by 80 has prevented th,ss States and parte
OF States from joining openly in the rebellion.
On tue same principle it has n right to 60 fur.
ther, and make friends and allies of all classics
Of tho population OF the rebellious States that it
can influence, and that too, without reference
to tue condition in which they have heretofore
been placed by the laws or usages of those
States themselves.
This brings US to the question of the slave
population in the rebelous States In these
States there are over three millions of the popu-
laton held by the laws or usages of those States
AS slaves These people are an integral portion
of the people of the United States owe allegiance
TO The Federal Government and are entitled to
the protection Of thUt Government. The Govern
meat has the same right to make friends and
allies Of them, and to enroll and arm them
against the rebellion, that it has to make friends
aud allies, or to enroll and arm the white pOpu e
la,iou Of Western Virginia or of Eastern Tennes-
see II makes nothing against this that these
people have heretofore been slaves by the laws
or the usages Of the States In which they reside
for those laws or usages deprived of all force
against the Union by the very act of rebellion
Rebellion dissOlyes all laws for the protection
If the lie or property of the Rebels. By the
very act Of rebellion, the rebel forfeits to the
Government against which he rebels both his
property and his life, and holds henceforlh
neither, save nj its mercy or discretion. If ii
| were not so, the Government would have no right
to contiscate the property OF rebels, to attempt
to suppress rebellion by force of arms. Ii the
slaves held in the rebellious States are property
they are forfeited to the Government aud the
Government may conhscate them as cotton, rice
tobacco, or any other species of property found
in the hands of the Rebels. The same principl,
that gives to the Government the right to coniis s.
cate bale Of cotton owned by Rebel gives il
n right to confscate every negro slave claimct
by rebel master. This is perfectly clear, an,
is implied in the recent act of Congress ON III,
subject But if these people held as slaves ar,
not property, they are and should be rcgarde,
as citizens of the United States, owing allcgiunc,
to the Federal Government, liable to be callct
into the service of the Uuon in the way ant
manner it deems most advisable, and, IL loyal
entitled to the same protection from the Govern
ment rs any other class Of loyal citizens. No
body can pretend that the Federal Qoverninen
is obliged, by virtue of The laws or usages here
tofore existing in the Slave States to treat Thea,
people as property. Whatever might have beer
It's obligation before the rebellious acts of thOs,
States, that obligation is no longer in force
But if it be required to treat them us free ant
loyal citizens by the military operations for III,
preservation of the Union, or even to remove th,
causes of the present rebellion, the Government
is bound so TO treat them. The only doubt tha
eau arise is as TO the fact, whether il would OF
would not prove useful to this end. II must Ii,
objected to such IL measure that it would depriy,
us OF the aid of Western Virginia and Easter,
Tennessee, and drive into open hostility to th,
Union Maryland, Kentucky, aud Missouri. Thi
objection deserves grave consideration. But /
ls in substance the objection that has embar.
rassed the Government from the outset. nnt
compelled ii to take only halfway measures /,
suppress the rebellion. For ourselves, we can.
not respect the fear to which this obligation nm
peals. Fear is the worst possible counselor il
the world, and the G0vernu ent that hesitates /,
adopt the best policy for fear of alternating in
friends, is lost. Let the lines be ut once sbarpl,
drawn between our friends nnd our enemies Ii
n crisis like the present, lukewarm friends. OF
friends who will be our friends Ouly by virtue o
certain concessions to their interests or preiu.
dces. are more embarrassing than open enemies
and do more TO weaken our forces than it arrayed
in open hostility against us. II these Stnt ,s ara
Tor the Union they will insist on no conditions
Incompatible with the preservation of the Union :
they will make sacrifices for the Union, as well
as the other loyal States, and there is no renann
why they should not There is neither reason
or justice in Massachusetts, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the great States
northwest Of the Ohio, pouring out their blood
and treasure fer the qualification of the slave
holding pretensions OF Maryland Kentucky. M
Missouri. The citizens of these States who owr
slaves are as much bound, if the preservation nj
the Union requires it, to give up their pfopert,
IN slaves, as we at the farther North are TO pouI
out our blood and treasure to put down rebel
lion which threatens alike them and us. If they
love their few slaves more than thew do tht
Union, let them 60 out of the Union. We nrc
stronger to fight the battles of the Union with
out them than we are with them.
But we have referred only to the slaves in thr
rebellious States, and, il it is, or if il become,
military necessity to liheraie all the slaves oi
the Union, and to treat the whole present slnyo
population as frcemen aud citizens, il would he
no more than just and proper that, at the con-
clusion of the war, the citizens of loyal States
or the loyal citizens Of loyal sections of the re
bellious States, should be indempi6ed nj n
reasonable rate for the slaves that NAV have
been liberated. The States aud sectiona oS
States named have not q large number of slnyes
and, II the Union Is preserved, il would not he
very heavy burden on il to pay their ransom ..
and to paying it no patriot or loyal citizen nc
the Free States would raise the slightest oh-
Jectlon' The objection, therefore, urged, though
grave, need not be regarded rs 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 apnrebenJ
from ii.
Whether the time for this important mensure
has come or not, it ia for the President, as Com
mander-in-Chief of our armies, to determine :
| But, in our judgment no single measure couId
be adopted by the Government that would more
eiiectually aid its military operations, do more
to weaken the Rebel forces, and to strengthen
our own. Four millions Of people in the Slave
States, feeling that the suppression of The Re
bellion and the triumph OF the Union secures In
them and their children forever the status of free
| citizens, ore more than hundred thousand men
taken from the forces of the enemy. and tyira
that number added TO our own; for they would
not only compel the Rebels TO keep a large lorce
that might otherwise be employed, at home IN
protect their own wives and children. but wand
deprive them of the greater portion Of that labor
by which they now subsist their armies. Now
Slavery is to them source of strength; il would
then be to them source Of weakness. Its nbo-
lition would, in our judgment, be striking the
enemy at his most vulnerable point, precisely
where we can best sunder the sneWs of his
strength, and deal him the most fatal blow.
Moreover, ii would not only bring to the rs
sstance of the Federal arms the cooperation of
the whole colored race in the Union but would
secure us, what We now lack, the sympathy and
the moral aid of the whole civilized world, and
remove all danger of our coming into conflict
with either Erancn OF EnnlnnL ILn .rn, ......II