New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-09-19
TIE. SLAVES OF REBELS.

Before the breaking out of the great Pro-
Slavery Rebellion, its authors aud engineers had
developed in conversation their reliance on Slavery
to carry them safely through the ordeal which
they invited. They counted from The start upon
the adhesion of all who were hearty in their de-
vOtion to Slavery. ave can put 100000 men
into the field" said one Of the foremost of them,
without subtracting materially from the force
employed in our Agricultural Industry. Behind
" these 4OO, 900 white combatants stand 1000 900
" black slaves, nearly all producers of wealth,
Z" who will be blowing, tillihg, harvesting, while
" our Chiyalry ore fighting. We shall thus con-
" tinualy repair the rayage and waste OF War.
!" individuals must suffer; but our section, being
so prepondcranty Agricultural, can carry on
the war throughout ten or fifteen years, and
come out of it richer and more essentially in
+" dependent than it now is. What have we to
" fear 7"
And if the slaves are to remain docils and
obedent to their masters, mother seeking nor
desiring liberty, tho calculation was probably
well grounded. Hitherto, the slaves on the
Southern plantations have been as truly the base
of the rebel, military operations as the works
at Manassas Junction were the bases Of the rebel
operations at Bull Run. Slavery fomented the
rebellion made il, and has ever sustained It,
But for Slavery, no regiment would have been
mustered no cannon loaded, to resist the author
ity Of the United States between the Susque
hanna and tho Rio Grande in the year 1861.
Nobody pretends that the rebels have any griey.
ance, or suppose they have, apart from tho sub
Jet OF Slavery, which is just as much the
groundwork Of this rebellion as Whisky was
that Of Western Pennsylvania during the Admin
istraiion Of Gen. Washington.
Congress has enacted that slaves employed in
rebel camps and in rebel Notifications shall be
forfeited by their owners. No one can reasonably
dispute the justice of this net. The Federal
Government cannot recognize and uphold the
ownership of one man by another when the pre-
tended owner is rebel who is employing his
alleged slave in active furtherance OF tbs great
rebellion. But suppose that, instead OF sending
him into camp the master employs his ehattcl
in growing the Grain by which the rebel army
is fed, or tho Cotton, Rice, Tobacco, and Sugar,
which was TO be pledged or sold to the rebel gov
eminent rs the basis Of its Loan, is the slave
any less " cOntraband any less actively aud
effectively engaged iu unfolding and promoting
Go rebellion, than if he were employed in
constructing eartbwOiks below NewOrleans or
grooming Gen. Bsaurogard's horse at Fairfax
Court.House? Surely not.
The questions here stated are eminenlly prac.
teal They ignore all considerations of philan-
thrcpy or natural justice, They do not concern
what may be due to tho slave, but what is due
to the country Aud we say that it will be
found exceedingly difficult to put down the
Shareholders Rebellion with one hand and uphold
their Slavery with the other. Why did you
" bayOnet that dog angrily asked an officer
Of an Irish soldier who had pinned to the ground
a savage mastif who attacked him; "why not
I" strike him with the butt of your gun, instead
+" Aud so l wud, pase your honor" replied
Pat, " if tho haste had run at me with his tail"
The eternal fitness of things is not TO be safely
disregarded in pcrilouS emergency.
We are not censuring the course which the
President has seen it TO take with regard to
Gen. Fremont and bis energetic Proclamation.
In view of the critical condition of Kentucky
and OF Maryland the President has doubtless
done what appeared to him not only expedient
but urgently necessary. We have no desire to
precpitatc the march Of events. bearing ever in
mind that the Declaration of Independence,
which was timely and proper in l776, would
have been a stumbng.block and q source of
weakness and distraction two years earlier. 1t
ia our clear conviction, however, that the nation
cannot always stand meekly parrying the deadly
thrusts Of the Slave Power--it will at last be
compelled TO return them in the very temper in
which they are delivered. Slavery distinctly says
to the Union, Your life or mile !" and will
have to DO answered in the same spirit if her
assaults are 10 be successfully resisted. Had
this been distinctly made known to the planters
at the outset, We believe they would have put
down the briefess lawyers, discarded overseers,
bankrupt traders and miscellaneous neer-do-
wees who fomented aud melted the rebellion;
were it clearly understood by them now, wa sus-
pect that they would call parlcy and attempt
TO settle cur differences by negotiation. Never,