Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1862-09-05
The prayer Of rwonty rIlilions.


The Prayer OF Twcnty MILLIONS.
70 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President Of TIC U. States;
DEAR Sni ! do not intrude to tell you--for
| you must know already--that great portion of
those who triumphcd in your election, and ofall
Rebellion now desolating our country, are sore
/ ly disappointed aud deeply panied by the poll
cy you seem 10 be pursuing with regard TO the
slaves of Rebels. write only to set succinctly
and unmistakably before you what we require,
what we think we have a right TO expect, and OF
what we complain.
/ /. We require of you, as the first servant OF
the Republic, charged especially and preemi-
/ nently with this duty, that you EXECUTE THE
LAWS. Most emphatically do we demand that
such laws as have been recently enacted, which
therefore may fairly be presumed TO embodv
the present viii aud to be dictated by the pres
0nt needs of the Republic, and which, after due
consideration have received your personal sane
tion, shall by you be carried into full effect and
that you publicly and decisively instruct your
subordinates that such laws exist that they
are binding ON all functionaries aud citizens
and that they are to be obeyed to the letter.
H. Wothink you are strangely and disastrous
ly remiss in the discharge of vour official and
| imperative duty with regard TO the enlancipat-
ing provisions of the new ConfscatiOn Act
Those provisions were designed to fight Slavery
with Liberty. They prescribe that men loyal
to the Union, and willing to shed their blood in
her behalf shall no longer be held, with the Ma
tons consent, in bondage to persistent, malig-
nant traitors, who for twenty years have been
plotting and for sixteen months have been fight
! lug to divide and destroy our country. Why
these traitors should be treated with tenderness
by you, to the prejudice of the dearest rights of
loyal men, we cannot conceive.
III. We think you are unduly influenced by
! the counsels, the representations, the menaces,
of certain fossil politicians hailing from the Bor-
der Slave States. Knowing well that the heart
| lily, Internationally loyal portion of the White
citizens of those States do not expect nor desire
that Slavery shall be upheld to the prejudice of
the Union-(for the truth of which we appeal
not only to every Republican residing in those
States, but TO such eminent loyalsts as H. Win
ter Davis, Parson Brownlow, the Union Central
Committee Of Baltimore and TO The NdshV2le
! Onton I'VE ask you TO consider that Slavery is
everywhere the melting cause and sustaining
base OF treason: the most slaveholding sections
Maryland and Delaware being this day, though
under the Union flag in full sympathy with the
Rebellion, while the Free Labor portions of Ten
nessee and of Texas, though writhing under the
bloody heel of ofTreason, are unconquerably loyal
TO the Union. So emphatically is this the case,
that most intelligent Union banker of Balti-
more recently avowed his confident belief that
majority of the present Legislature of Maryland
though elected as and still protesting to be I'M
the jeff. Davis conspiracy; and when asked how
they could be won back to loyaly, replied-"On-
ly by the complete Abolition of Slavery" 1t
seems to us the most obvious truth that what
ever strengthens or fortifes Slavery in the Bor-
der States strengthens also Treason, and drives
home the wedge intended to divide the Union.
Had you from the first refused to recognize in
those States, as here, any other than uncondi-
oral oyaly, that which stands for the Union,
whatever may become of Slavery-those States
would have been, and would be- far more helpful
and less troublesome to the defenders of the I'm
ion than they have been, or now are.
| ". We think timid counsels in such crisis
calculated to prove perilous, and probably dis
astrous. 1t is the duty of Government Sc
wantonly, wickedly assailcd by rebellion as
ours has been to oppose force to force in def
ant, dauntless spirit. 1t cannot afford to tenn
pOrize with traitors nor with sem-traitors. II
/ must not bribe them 10 behave themselves, nor
make them fair promises in the hope of disarm- :
ing their causeless hostility. Representing a
brave and high-spirited people, it can afford to
forfeit any yhing else better than its own self-re-
spect their admiring confidence. For our
! Government even to seek, after war has been
made ON it, to dispel the affected apprchensions
of armed traitors that their cherished privileges
may be assailed by it, is to invite insult and en-
courage hopes Of its own downfall. The rush
to of Ohio, Indiana Illinois, is the true an
swer at once to the Rebel raids of John Morgan
and the traitorous sophistries of Beriah Magofin.
| V. We complain that the Union cause has
suffered, and is now suffering immensely, from
mistaken Difference to Rebel Slavery. Had you,
Sir, in your Inaugural Address, Enthusiastically
! given notice that, in the Rebellion already
commenced were persisted in and your efforts
to preserve the Union and enforce the laws should
be restricted by armed force you troUId recognize
no toyaI persons as rSgh5ty held iil SEdrery By a
traitor, we believe the Rebellion would therein
Il
that moment, according to the returns of the
most recent elections, the UniOnists were a large
majority of the voters of the Slave States. But
| they We're composed in good part of the aged,
the feeble, the wealthy, the tmid--the young,
the reckless, the aspiring the adventurous, had
already been largely lured by the gamblers and
negro traders, the politicians by trade and the
conspirators by instinct, into the tolls of Trea-
son. Had you then proclaimed that Rebellion
would strike the shackles from the slaves of
every traitor, the wealthy and the cautious would
have been supplied with powerful inducement
to remain loyal. AS it was, every coward in the
4 South soon became traitor from fear; for 10y
4 ty was perilous, while Treason seemed compara-
lively safe. Hence the boasted unaniInity o
the South-unanimity based on Rebel terrorism
and the fact that immunity and safety were found
on that side, danger and probably death on
ours The Rebels from the first have been
eager to cOnhscate, imprison, scourge and kill
We have fought wolves with the devices Ol
sheep. The result is Just what might be expec.
ted. Tens of thousands are fighting in the reb.
e ranks to-day whose original bias and natura
leanngs would have led them into ours
:, vi. We complain that the Confseation Act
which you approved is habitually disregarded
by your Generals, and that no word of rebukt
for them from you has yet reached the public
i ear. Fremonts Proclamation and Hunter $ Or.
: der favoring Emancipation were promptly an
nulled by you; while Hallecks No. 3, forbid.
ding fugitives from Slavery to Rebels to come
within his lines--an order as unmilitary as in.
human, aud which received the hearty approba,
ton of every traitor in America--with scores o
4 like tendency, have never provoked even YOU
4 remOnstrance We complain that the officers o.
| your Armies have habituaIy repealed rathe
than invited the approach of slaves who woulC
have gladly taken the risks of escaping from
their rebel masters TO our camps bringing in.
telligence often of nestimable value TO the I'm.
ion cause. We complain that those who hdv'
thus escaped to us, avowing willingness TO dc
for us whatever might be required, have been
brutally and madly repulsed and often surren-
dered to be scouFged, maimed and tortured by
the ruffian traitors, who pretend to own them
We complain that a large proportion OfOur reg
ular Army Officers witlfmany ofthe Volunteers
evince far more solicitude to uphold Slavery
than TO put down the Rebellion. And finally
we complain that you, Mr.. President elected a
a Republican, knowing well what an abonina-
ton Slavery is, and how emphatically it is the
core aud essence Of this atroeious Rebellion seem
never To interfere with these atrocities and new