The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-10-11
The Emancipation Proclamation.

I
recently delivered by B. ,GRArz BaowS, ESQ
. of St. Louis in defence of the President
Emancipation Proclamation, that porto
as war measure, the only ground, col
fessedly, on which it is susceptible OF
: show of defence.
Immediately following this extract, W
also give an article from the New Yor
Worla, also republican authority, condemn
, ing the Proclamation denying its copstitu
tlonality and expediency as a war measure
We place these articles in juxtapesition, a
well to enable our readers to study botl
, sides Of the question, as also to show then
how effectually one republican authoritf
demolishes the defence of the measure Sc
up by another
EMANCIPATION AS A WAR MEASURE.
The two great resolution OF modern time
which mark the most signal advance IN
Ipolitical freedom, that of England during
the commonwealth and that Of France in
1889 have this among many other striking
features of similarity-that in each case a
large part Of the empire resisting the ad
!
the government to contest the issue. In
Vcnaee. as in Ireland, 1t became necessary
to establish by force the supremacy of the
new order. 1t was antagonism by the
/ population Of whole sections, and in both
| Instances, courses of conciliation having
proved worthless a stern and vigorous poll
cy of subJugation was required. That even
the success which crowned such measures
was onlg partial and transient, demanding
a supplemental work of assimilation, Is
also well worthey ofattention. But is sub
| DUNG the resistance now presented, this
nation has that to contend with. not less
| that 10 assist it, which was not present in
either of the parallels cited. allude to
slavery, the strength and the weakness Of
the South
Look teadily at the prospect 1000, 600
of people tn -5,500,OO0 Of whites ad
| dressing themselves exclusively to warfare,
! sustained by 100000 blacks drilled as
slaves 20 the work of agriculture. Such
are the official statistics of the secpdinE
States.
With the wlitce the conscription for
military purposes reaches TO every man
capable of bearing arms; with the blacks
the conscription for borrecognizes neither
weak ness, nor age, nor sex Solitary
drivers ply the lash over the whole manuel
force to transform plantations into grana-
ries. The allotment necessarily gives to
war:the largest possible number of soldiers,
and extracts from labor the greatest pos
sib,e production of food. Combined, pro-
tscted, undisturbed, the relation so devel-
oped presents a front that may well shake
our faith in any speedy subjugatIon.
Of these $500 900 white population, the
oatio over the age Of twenty-one, which
according TO statistical averages il one In
six, will give a fraction over 100000 men,
which deduct as eXempts or lncapabl~s
twenty ,ier cent leaving 30 900, and add
on the score of minor enlistments, one
halls of those between the ages OF sixteen
and twenty one, or ~, 900, and there exist
ed as, ,O0O, as the total possible confeder-
ate force in the outset If from this mum.
Der 100 O0O be stricken off as the aggregate
OF the killed. disabled, imprisoned and pa
/ rolled since the outbreak of the war, and
/ 10000 be added as the probable number
of recruits from Kentucky, Missouri and
! Maryland, there will result I54 900 as the
/ effective force. Faom these are to be
taken the men needed for civil service, for
( provost and polio duties, and forresulaiing
! the transmission or exchange of productions
certainly not less than $4,000, and there
.
+ of thorough, conscription. Perhaps, how
ever, it is right TO mahe from such rigid
possible military array, deduction IN
| favor Of the population which abandoned
! the seeding States since the war began,
| and that which intrinsical!y loyal has
evaded enrolment In defallt Of any
! certain information this may be placed at
| A., 600 men, thus leaving 100000 soldiers
/ fit for service and ready to be concetrated
and marched as the skill of their com
manders may determine.
Such is the strength Of the array that
now contests and resists the cause OF adj
! vancing freedom in the nation. The
strength is not overestimated; that the
conscription has been remorseless is proven
by every critical battlefield where our
armies have been ou.numb bered, and is to-
day doubly attested by our bcleasured
capitalp and widely menaced frontiers
/ There, then, is the rebellion stripped to
the skin Look at it squarely. Those
600. 900 soldiers stand between us and any
future of honor, liberty. or peace How
are they to be disposed OF, defeated, sup
pressed?
1t is an imposing column Of attack, but
il has also its element of weakness and
dispersion Remember that In making
such an estimate, it has been predicated
, upon the fact that the whole available
white population was devoted to the forma
ton of armies. No part was assigned 10
the labor Of the field or workshop, to pro-
duction or manufacturer but all this vast
organization reposes for sustenance, not TO
speak of efficiency, on the hard wrung ton
of slrves Reflect, furthermore; that tins
whole foundation is mined, eruptive, ready
10 -:
| heavily. The three and half millions OF
black population engaged in supplying the
very necessaries of life and movement OF
! the Confederate armies are all loyal In
| their hearts to our cause and require only
the electric shock of proclaimed freedom
to disrupt the relation that gives such
erectness and impulsion to our adversaries,
! and such peril to ourselves. Years OF
bondage have only sharpened their sensi-
| bilities toward liberty, and the word spo-
ken that causes such hope will penetrate
every quarter of the South most speedily
and most surely Emancipate the indust.
nv that upholds the war power OF the
South destroy the repose OF that system
which has made possible levy en- mdsse
of every white male able to bear arms +;
recall the tillage of the field; to the care
of the plantation; to the home supports OF
the community corresponding number
of the five and a half millions of whites,
and there will be put another face to this
war. Compel the rebels to do their own
work, hand for hand, planting, harvesting,
victualing, transporting--to the full sub,
sti.ution of the three and a halfmillion o,
blacks, now held for that purpose and
where now they advance with armies they
will fall back with detachments; where
abundance now reigns in their camps
hunger will hurry them to other avoeatlon
Il needs only that the word be spoken
A national declaration of freeoom can nc
more he hidden from the remotest sections
| c.La .la.. los than the unrisen sun lin