Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1862-04-25

power destroy the institution oil slavery IN
any State, so soon as the loyalty Of the State
is demonstrated and the military power Of
the Government gives place to the civil au-
thority of the State, the military authority
has ceased, and the State authority is su-
prcme over the local laws and institutions !;
and so long as the people Of the State desire
che institution Of Slavery in their midst so
long will it exist, and the military power
having been Withdrawn, there is no power
on earth that can prevent.
As TO the construction put upon the Con-
stitution by Patrick Henry, to which 1T. A."
refers, all we have to say is that it has not
been so construed by our leading statesmen
from that day TO the present, and it is not so
construed by the presept Administration,
which admits that there is no power in the
Constitution to interfere with Slavery in those
States where it exists by local law
But "T A." says that " the Government
needs to put down this accursed rebellion,
and By he speediest method" We agree to
that; but that the shortest road to such an
end lies in emancipating the slaves, save so
far as it is accomp' ished by the advance Of
our army in the suppression Of the rebellion,
we do not believe Should Congress or the
President to-day declare all the slaves in the
slayeholding States frse men and romen, it
would have added to the weight of the rebel
lion the influence Of the thousands Of 10y
a. .rI q
weakening the hands of those who seek TO
overthrow our government, and lengthen
instead Of shorten the contest, by increasing
the obstacles that lie in the way of a speedy
return Of peace. This argument Of making
the interests of the two sections homogeneous,
and that to do it we must strike from the
Southern statutes all laws not in harmony
with Northern institutions, is simply moon
shine. When IT. A." will so change the
laws Of God and nature as that cotton can
proftably be grown on the snow-capped hills
Of New England, and the snow banks Of
Vermont be transferred to the cotton planta-
tions of the South, then only will the inter-
ests of the two sections become homogene-
Gus. The only way " to change the rambling
"hatred, the intense bitterness, the undis-
'guised losthing, of the Southern mind tow
ard the Northern people, into loyalty to the
Union and COOL fellowship with the con
"querors," is TO let alone their local laws
snd cease this everlasting attempt to break
up the very foundations of Southern society
meuE the bonds OF the Federal Union. The
local interests of tha North and South, aside
from Slavery. are not and never can be the
same and until both sections can learn to
respect the interests of the other, 'hatred, T"
"btterness" and ''loathing" will exist in the
Southern mind, and in the Northern mind as
we'll Abolish Slavery, break all the "false
IDOLS Of the South, and you cannot abolish
the laws Of God which have made the pro-
ductions and interests of the two sections
different. There will still be ian enemy lurk-
ing in our midst" which neither men nor
governments, not even military power, can OBJ
literate, and which, but for the utmost for
bearance and brotherly love between the two
sections, will be ready to take advantage of
'the most untoward event that might happen"
But the South have appealed to the dread
aIbitrament Of arms TO settle the right Of
Slavery to rule the country, and IT. A" ad-
mits that in so doing they have struck the
death blow of the peculiar institution" but
fears its death will be lingering one. Now
we submit that the sudden breaking up of the
institutions of any of the States would be a
detriment to each of the others and to the
whole Union; and that however much we may
desire change, that change should be affect
ed in such manner as will least affect the
whole body polite. The institution of Slave
ny, with all its concomitant evils, is one Of
ever existed on State or National escutch-
con and yet in seeking the speediest meth
cd of wiping it out it is possible to SO eat
into the texture as to entirely destroy the
whole fabric. We prefer the gradual "bleach-
ing process" so to speak. Let the change
be effected in such way as shall be of the
least detriment to those immediately affected
by it. Let the slaveholding states prove for
themselves. as have those States which have
already abolished Slavery, that the institu-
ton is Improbable as well as evil, and they
( will be ready enough to throw it overheard.
They will very soon learn, If they have not
already, that the most Improbable job they
ever undertook is that of raising the standard
of revolt against the Constitution and the
Union. But we can never effect revolution
in the characters, morals and thoughts of men
! By force for "a man convinced against his
will, is of the same opinion still" There is
4 far more danger of our pulling down the pill
lars that support the temple of liberty, by un-
wise rashness, than by submitting for a time
/ to an evil whose decay has already commence
ed, and of whose final dissolution there can
be no possible doubt.
We leave IT. A." to enjoy his own
reflection on "agitation." If the sea of blood
through which the country is now wading-
the fruits of ndiscreed and fanatical "agta-
] a. 4.