Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1861-10-17

caly beneficial only whore the labOring class
is deprived of all political and civil rights, and
reduced to slavery. Their plan, their purpose
is, the reconstruction OF the federal govern
ment in accordance with this theory, not
merely to cut themselves loose from all com
paniOnship with the Don-slaveholding states oil
the north and northwest. They propose to
extend slavery over the whole Union, and, in
those states where negroes cannot be profitably
employed as laborerS, to reduce, perhaps
gradually, but ultimately and eflectualy, to
the condition OF slaves the present class of free
white Iahorers, who in the tree states are, to
great extent, Irish and Germans, by birth or
immediate descent.
Now, suppose we adopt che policy urged
upon us by the peacemakers, traitors, and
towards OF the loyal states consent to a peace.
iul division of the United States, and recor.
ME the southern cuntederacy as Il separate
ana independent nation, what would be the
result! Two comparatively equal independ-
eht republics, existing side by side ? Not at
all. Spread ont the map Of the United States
before you, and see which republic would have
the advantage i'll territory, soil climate, pro.
duetons, and all the sources of national
wealth, strength and material greatness. You
would give to the southern republic full three
iourths OF the whole territory of the Union ::
for the south would consent to no division
nov, chat did not include the states of Della.
ware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and all
the territory south of the liue running due
west from the northwest angle of Missouri to
the Pacific. You would give up to the south,
to what would then be foreign mower, the
whole Gulf coast, and the whole Atlantic
coast, except the narrow strip from the Penob.
scot to the Delaware. You would leave the
north majority OF the present population of
the country, and nOminaly the superiority in
wealth, 1t Is true; but, as the present superior
numbers and wealth OF the north depend
chiefly on our superiority in commerce and
manufactures. their superiority could not long
be maintained. Look at the question as we
will, we have now no alternative but to subdue
the rebels or be suhjugated by them. We
must either depOse that conlederacy, and en-
force the authority Of the federal government
over all the rebelIiOus states, or it will enforce
lis authority over the free states, and impose
upon them It's system of slave labor 1t it
eniorces Its authority over US, there may, per
haps be liberty for a class or caste, but our
laborng classes will no longer be freemeu;
they will be placed on a level with the nero
slave on southern plantation. For the chris.
tan commonwealth founded by our fathers,
toled for and bled for, we shall have re. estab.
llshed pagan republic, more hostile TO the
rights OF man and the rights of nations than
was ever pagan Greece or pagan Rome. We
put II TO oN christian cOuntrymen, if such is
the commonwealth they fought and suffered
through the long seven years war OF the Rev.
oluuon to establish, aud if they can he CON
tented TO let the hopes of liberty in the New
World set i'll night of blackness and de.
Spair,
We know very well that we have fallen far
below the virtues that founded this republic
and gained this New World to civilization: we
know that long career of uninterrupted pIos
perity and unbounded luxury has done much
to corrupt us we know that the labor in one.
nan OF the republic being performed by slaves,
and the greater part in the other part perform
ed by emigrantS from foreign countries, has
caused lamentahle torgettulneSs of those
OF liberty SO dear to our fathers.
ana produced among us a axity of principle,
IN indifference 10 law, disregard for personal
lights and personal independence, without
which no republic can long subsist and nEas.
Ier; but we are not yet iiiins " ,,rrupt. so
as ord prepared to submit
or the sake of gain, or of preserving our
without struggle, to the ill.,
lignities the southern coniederacy would heap
IpOn us, or the adoption of the base and in
human principles on which that conlederacy
5 avowedly founded Ii we retain anything
If our manhood, or any memory OF the Chris
ian virtues of our ancestors we can never |
ubmit to se slaves ourselves, or take part in
educlng any portion or class Of our fellow |
men TO slavery. If there Is any virtue LETT in |
is, we must resolve that we will be free our
selves, and do all in our power to secure free
lom to all other men whether white or black,
yellow or copper colored.
Va H., oil
is to be made for the administration, in the
novel and unexpected position in which it has
been placed. With 10 preparation to meet Il
rebellion on a formidable scale, with doubts as
to how far the patriotism of the loyal states
could be relied on, with the army and navy
filled with traitors or with officers at best in.
different to the cause of the Union. surrounded
by weak, timid and corrupt politicians, and
the important, though subaltern officers Of the
various departments of the civil government
filled with men desiring success to the rebels
and ready to use all the opportunities afforded
by their position to secure that success, the
may be excused for having
hesiated, before feeling the public pulse, to
adopt the bold, energetic, and decisive mea-
sures the crisis demanded it was embarrassed
by the legacy left it by its predecessor, and
also by the fears, timidites, hopes, and advice
begged it not to be preciptate, lest it should
plunge those states also into open secession.
This fear of driving the border states into
secession has been from the first the bugbear
Of the administration, and its chief embarrass
nent 1t prevented it from taking, at the out
set, those bold and decisive measures which
would have torestalled the rebels, and confined
the rebellion to South Carolina, Georgia, and
the gulf states. lis efforts since to organize
and strengthen Union party in Western Vir-
ginia and Eastern Tennessee have impeded
rather than aided its military operations, and
lost it campaign without gaining it any real
additional strength.
There is only one way Of dealing with the
rebels it is for the government to be prompt,
to strike quick, and strike hard. If it hest
tates, if it seems to conciliate, or shows that it
fears to strike lest tie blow recoil upon its own
head, it is only by a miracle that it can be
saved. Its policy will be set down either to
weakness or to conscious wrong
and the rebels moi only gain time, but what is
even more important To them, they gain conf
dence in their own cause, which more than
doubles their forces, while the friends of the
government are disheartened rendered timid,
if not alienated.
However attractive might be the dream of
a reconstructed Union on The basis of slavery
we could never hope TO realize it; for we could
never hope to preserve it for any consider
able length of time in its integrity. There
would soon be disaffection at the south there
would be disatiection at the north and there
would always be disaffection in the ccnscences
of all good men, of all true christians in all
sections, created and sustained by the moral
and social plague of slavery
The government, we insist had no alterna.
tive in the outset but to abdicate itself or re-
sist the rebellious movements with all the force
at its command 1t has no other alternative