Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-10-18

/ peace, union and prosperity.
ERASTUS FAIRBANKS.
oRESTES 4. BROWNSON on THE
REBELLION AND SLAVERY.
For many years OREsTEs \. BRowNsoN has
been one Of the most, probably quite the
most, vigorous writer in this country of the
Roman Catholic persuasion. In late num-
Der OF Bsownson's Quarterly Recielr, lie has
an article on the Rebellion and the relation
which Slavery sustains to it. lie argues with
great force that the war making power Of
the Nation must emancIpate the slaves, and
proclaim an end to slavery forever-this, not
as an end for which the Government took up
arms, but as a necessary mans 20 that enc
Uz to preserve the Government itself from
beng subverted, aud the light of liberty from
being gradually put out for all but wealthy
and powerful class, throughout the entire
nation The article is one Of uncommon
force, as the following extracts viii show
The North mas 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
"a .he Union. This IS true. Iae Liberation
Of the slave is not the purpose and end Of the
war in which we are now engaged The war
is a war against rcbellion-aa unproyoked
and wicke rebellion, engaged in by tue
Rebels for the purpose of N king this great
slaveholding Republic, in which the labor Of
the country snail be performed By slaves,
either black or white and if, 10 defeat the
rebellion the destruction OF Slavery be rem
dered Necessary, and Uo actually effected, It
viii change nothing in the character OF pur-
pose OF the war. 1t VIII have been ucceSsitated
10y the rebellion, and the Rebels Wi only
have themselves to thank for the des ruction
or abolition they force US to adopt in defense
OF Liberty, the Mon, and the authority Of
the Government.
The real question now before the loyal
States is not. whether the Rebellion shall be
suppressed by force of arms, or peaceful
division OF the country into two separate and
Independent Republics submitted to. Any
one who has any knowledge of the plans and
purposes of the Rebels, knows well, that the
division Of the territory into two independent
Republics is far short of what they are aim
ing at. The leaders Of the Rebellion-they
wiz planned it, they who have stirred it up,
and armed it against the Union, have work
ed themelve5 into the conviction, that Slavery
is not to be looked upon as an evil, under
certain circumstances to be tolerated, but as
good to be desired which religion and hu-
manity require not only to be perpetulted,
but extended the flrthest possible Their
doctrine Is, that Liberty is not practicable for
a Whole people, that 1t Is practicable only
for q class or a race; and that Republicanism
can subsist and be practically beneficial, only
where the Aboring class Is deprived of ali
political and civil rights, and reduced to
Slavery. Their plan, their purpose is, the
reconstruction OF the Federal Government IN
accordance with this theory, not merely to
cut themselves loose from all cOmpaniOnsEip
with the nUn-slaveholdlng States of the North
and Ne. ia west. They propose oextend Slave
ry Over the whole Union, and in those States
where negroes cannot be proftably employed
as laby4ers, to reduce, perhaps gradually, but
Ultimately and e1ectually, to the condition OF
slaves the presen, class OF free white laborers,
who II th3 Free States are, to agreat extent,
Irish and Germans, by birth or immediate
descent.
look at the question as We Will,
we have now no alternative but to sub
due the rebels or be subjugated by them.
We must either depose that coniederacy,
and enforce the authority Of the federal
goT rnment over all the rebelli0us States,
or it will enforce its authority over the free
States, and impose upon them ITS system OF
slave labor. If it enf0rces its authority over
Us there may still, perhaps. be liberty for u
class or caste, but oicr la50ring classes 1CIH no
longer be Jrecmen-they will be placed on a
level with the negro slave on Il southern
plantation. For the Christian common
wealth founded by our fathers, toiled for and
Nod for; we shall have re established pagan
republic more hostile to the rights OF man
aud the rights of nations than was ever pa
gan Greece or pagan Rome. We put it to
our Christian countrymcn, if such is the
comm onwealth their fathers fught and suE
Revolution To establish, ard if they can be
eontentcd TO let the hopes of liberty in the
New World set IN a night Of blackness and
despair.
y
hardly got through our heads that we are
really engaged in war, and 4 war involving
the very lite or death ef the nation. The
mass of those who really believe we are IN
war still think the war is one that NAV be
carried on without any serious detrment to
our ordinary avocations or pleasures, and
one not likely to come home to our own
bosoms and business. Very few OF us see
that every thing we hold dear in this world
is at stake, and that we have to struggle not
only to defeat foreign enemy, but to defend
our own fircsdes and affairs, our own wives
and children, and our own personal liberty.
Country gone, all is gone; and unless we
become more in earnest than We have hither-
70 been, and put forth civil and military
force and energy which we have not yet dis
played, nor Judged it necessary to display,
our country cannot be preserved.
We cheerfully concede that much allow
anco is to be made fer the Administration,
in the novel and unexpected position in
which it has been placed. With no prepa-
tion to meet q rebellion on formidable
scale, with doubts as to how far the patriot
Ism of the loyal States could be relied on,
with the army and navy filed with traitors,
| or with officers az best indifferent to the
J cause OF the mon, SurrOunueQ Dy weak,
timid and corrupt politicians, and the i'm
portant, though subaltern, offices Of the va
! rious departments Of the civil government
| filed with men desiring success to the Rebels,
and ready to use all the opportunities afford
| cd by their position to secure that success,
| the Administration may be excused for hav-
ing hesitatcd, before the public pulse, to
adopt the bold, energetic, and decisive meas
| ures the crisis demanded 1t was enbarras-
/ sed by the legacy left it by its predecessor,
and also by the fears timldities, hopes, and
advice of tae l Union rnen in the Border States,
who begged 1t not to be precipitate, lest il
should plunge those States also into opeu
Secession. This fear of driving the Border
States into Secession has been IRON the frsi
the bugbear of the Administration and
its chief embarrassment. 1t prevented
it from taking, at the outset, those
bold and decisive measures which would
have forestalled the Rebels, and confined
the rebellion to South Carolina, Georgia
and the Cult States Its effurts since to or