East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1862-01-07
q THE BORDER STATE DEVIL"

New Ork Ift0Hsc says VI sho SPoco" VI
Senator Garlic, Of Virginia, "In saying
that if the war were waged for the over
throw of slavery we should find our
armies melting away like snow before
southern sun, he showed that the border
State devil has not yet been exercised"
What is the "border State dsyiP which
the Tribune here makes the basis of an
attack upon Senator Garlic? The prop
erty Of his constituents, an institution OF
the loyal State of Western Virginia
which he Loyalty represents. Ho tells
Congress, as any man who had drop OF
manly blood in his veins would tell them,
that he and his people are for the Union
so long as it protects them and their
property, but that, when it wages war
of ruin upon them and theirs, they will
abandon it. Is there anything unreason-
able in this? We think not. The Iri6.
,ne may call il "border State devil'
which "has not been exercised" but loyal
and honest men will consider it the ex-
preston of an inevitable sentiment.
1t is useless for the North to expect to
r conduct the war entirely in its own way.
l Above all, it would be mere suicide to at
tempt to carry it on for the abolition Of
[ slavery, or in spirit unfriendly to
{ slavery. The "border State devil" is
: master of the situation, and always has
Q been master of it. 1t was so before the
!, revolution began, when an adjustment
o was still possible in Congress. 1t is so
4 now, when those States form the barrier
D between the North and the desolations of
S war. 1t will continue to be so until it is
|. demonstrated that the free States alone
n have power to conquer the combined
slave States. No one doubts this now.
. There was time of idle Boosting, when
q aboltionism had taught many of our
people to believe that Federal army
;. could march without resistance from
Newport Barracks to New Orleans. That
time is past. We are separated from il
:, by months of successful rebellion-by an
!. era which, though historically short, i,
"a crowded with changes in our financial
Ia social, governmental, and military condi.
a ton. 1t is now established beyond al
N doubt that we cannot conquer the South
" without the aid Of southern men, and
that the loss of the border slave States is
j. the final disruption OF the Union.
- With these facts staring us the face
ID how foolish and criminal to talk of the
ID "border State devil" Kentucky proposes
N to give the Union FIVE thousand troops
" Her quota are tlready in the field. Shall
10 we exercise themP Shall we bid then
1t stay at home, because, like us, when they
,e fight for the constitution, they fight fol-
ID security to their property rs well as their
,e persons? Even Greeley, crazy and reck'
a. less as he is, is willing that border State
., men shall take arms for us, and die in oul
ID battles. All that he, and all that aboli
re- tionism demands is, that they shall mo-
" fight for themselves, but against all the
interests which belong to them as indi
viduals or as communities. Now this il
IA an enormous draft on patriotism. W.
= must not wonder if it is rejected. AL
,g that determines citizens Of the borde
ne States to cling to the Union is, that the.
az believe their persons and property vii
=. be safer under it than under the JEFF
b Davis dynasty. Mr.. Garlic is right
- then, when he says that the national arm,
will melt away like snow in a southern
: sun when the overthrow Of slavery i
&c made the purpose of the war. The Dor
i, der States will never take arms for thei
1o own destruction, nor will large party il
N the North ever acquiesce in the crime o
&. an abolition crusade against those States
IA If the Union cannot be preserved b,
good faith to Delaware, Maryland, East
ern and Western Virginia, Eastern Ten
I'm nessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and the 10y
p aists of North Csr;CS,:;S,,. Il ought not I,
to be preserved at all. 1t fails from tn,
ID instant it deprives dutiful citizens in thos
States Of their rights, no matter wha
q the pretext may be under which it i
OF done. When their property is gone, o
s. when the war is directed against it, they
pa have only one choice besides ruin, anC
that is to 60 to the Southern Confed
~ eracy, where they will be protected. w,
ne hope, therefore, to hear no more of tn,
all "border State DEVIL" and of attacks upol
Ia loyal southern members Of Congress, VIII,
:, protest against an abolition war. Th,
IL country has reached that point where i
o. either must respect the property of tn,
le border slave States or let those State
20 leave the Union. The scenes which pre-
ceded the secession of Virginia, Nortl
rs Carolina and Tennessee are now beinf