The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-10-04

checked, the very condition Of the South will
require wide dispersion of their forces. Con.
quest and suppression will thus be rendered
matters of absolute certainty. The double re-
suit Of immensely diminished numbers in the
broken columns for local surveillance over all
from emancipation - q war measure.
From TIE New York Independent.
Mlks Tho Proclamation. US
We send forth, to-day, the most important
paper ever published in The Independent-the
most extraordinary document ever proceeding
from this Government. Il is . decree of sub
stantial Emancipation, issued by the Comman-
der in. Chief of the Army and Navy Of the Uni
ted States of America. Perhaps it Is too much
to say that it is q Decree Of Emancipation. Il
is rather q solemn notice served upon rebeEioul
states that such decree will be made upon the
let Of January 1868. It is like bond for Z
deed, and will in due time compel the execution
and delivery of the dead . qsss sgfT
There can be no state paper imagined more
noble than one which carries substantial liberty
to millions of slaves. It is that very moral
grandeur and sublime importance which makes
US Jealous of anything which threatens its GER
tainty OF diminishes ito moral power. go
We could have wished that the decree had
been without future date: Immediate and uncon-
ditional. To be sure, it is not likely that the
South, or any part of it, will return to allegiance
before next January. II only Mcclellan re-
mains in command, we may be sure that no mill
tary vigor will compel the South to submission !;
and the bitterness of hatred which is known to
exist among all classes at the South toward the
North. will not be allevisted by this Proclams-
ton. So, though there may be events which will
defeat this intention of Emancipation, they are
not probable, and would excite no fear, were the
Interests involved less momentous.
49, We could wish, too, that NJ. Lincoln should
have based this proposed liberation upon grounds
of Justice TO- the slave. The glory of our fathers
was their constant recurrence to fundamental
and universal principles. The habit of doing
right things from motives Of mere expediency,
tends to destroy nobility and heroism in peo-
BE, We could not blame Mr.. Lincoln because,
in time of peace, be felt himself restrained by
his oath from doing an act Of abstract Justice
and substantial humanity, by violation Of the
Law and Constitution. Butwhen the exigencies
Of War had made that duty, under the Consti-
tuition and for its very preservation, which, be-
fore, would have been violation of it, we
could have wished that the oct should have been
ennobled by being placed upon the ground, not
Of expediepcy or necessity, but of justice and
This may seem mere triaing to pol.
iticians. It cannot be little thing to Christian
men that the actions Of . government are based
upon principles and not upon mere sel6shness or
expediency! We are in danger Of Forgetting,
or worse, Of becoming Ashamed Of, the great
moral principles on WHICH our fathers built our
institutions. Because tie assertion Of the rights
of men, in our times and country, must mean
the rights of slaves, We are in danger of trans
ferring to the abstract principles the prejudice
and odium which We have been corrupted to feel
our sin carries its punishment. We deny the
African his political rights, and he corrupts our
political principles. Would it not have been
seemly and world-renowned had Mr.. Lincoln
been moved to declare that the act which the
exigency Of war gave him the liberty of doing,
he performed az an act Of eternal justice, and
in consonance with the principles on which our
institutions were built It is not to find fault
that we make these remarks, but out of vehe.
ment desire that nothing may be wanting in act
or principle to give to these renowned Western
Commonwealth the utmost glory For the sake
of Liberty, for the sake of that Religion which
inspires the wish and gives the ability for self
government, for the sake Of the welfare Of the
Common People the world over, We ask for this
nation the noblest deeds from the noblest mo.
tives! ~ II a. LIB
It has been our peculiar misfortune to be so
tied up by civil restrictions, that tia Govern
ment could not perform an act of Justice, in
consonance with the spirit of our age apd the
spirit of our Constitution, without stepping over
into the dangerous ground of revolution. Only
war could give to the President liberty to eman
cipate. And now, he advances to an act of gu
preme Justice and Humanity by uays sound ana
constitutional, opened by the madness of the
South. The sword has cut the knot that states
men and economists could not unite. That wal
which at first seemed an awful disaster, a stu
pendous folly, has, indeed, proved to be folly
but a Divine folly: Because the foolishness o
| God is wiser than men: and the weakness o
God 10 stronger than men,"
This Decree of Emancipation is the dividin,
line between dark past and hopeful future
The sun crosses the equator, travelling north
ward. The days hereafter will grow longer, ant
the nights shorter. aar,r
! We now see that Secession being the premi-
ses, Emancipation must be biological conclusion
That Proclamation is the drawing of q swor,
4 that can never be sheathed again. The yer,
existance of the loyal States will now depeu,
upon the enforcement of this decree. SLAYER,
| is the heart of the South. The South will for.
give everything else; but serious and ayowe,
determination to sabvert that will never be for.
given. We can imagine how party might hav
sprung up in the North, by.and.by, that woul'
say to the South, only q fraction of radicals eve
meant to subvert Slavery; the loyal masses res.
pected your rights Plate and Herod nigh
have become friends again, if only Christ or hi
poor were on the cross! s., y44
l But that delusive gloze and hollow truce ar.
no longer possible. The Nation is committed
Either there must be revolution in the North, o.
else oil dissentients must submit, and the Nortl
stand as Mighty Unit with the President! :
The proclamation is War Measure. Iii
deemed needful 10 the safety Of the country an,
to the success of our military affairs This
not alone the Presidents belief. tits the con.
yiction of almost every able general, withou
regard to past political affiliations. Fremont i
no stronger on that ground to-day than ar
Burnside, Hooker, and Mcclellan. There ca
be no party found in the North against the Ad
ministration, on this ground, that is not par.
against the war. =
d A second time an opposition party is crushe
in the egg. When Mcclellan was before Rich
moud, and was, very day, going to take it, tn
Woods, the Brookses, and others of the Vallal
/ diohan1 faith and order had nrenared on th