Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1862-03-07
THE THIRD PARTY IN THE WAR.

misre preSent-Dut OF what We may nopo VI AH
regard 10 the ultimate aims and final results Of the
present war, especially as affecting that which Is
the single cause Of the war, the ever active foHs
,naIgruz, and from which will ever issue the same
bitter streams so long as it exists
I have read the documents with hardly know
what combination of feelings, except that hope is
pretty much excluded; but l cannot ny the same
Of fear and shame, or Indignation. Slavery is
alluded to, where it cannot be avoided, with some
obiursation, and it seem 10 be thought advisable
that its pohheal power should be hereafter eurtail-
ed-but siqvoy always in the abstract, as some
impassive entity affecting more or less the inter-
ests of nro parties in the war, aud which must be
somewhat and somehow dealt with, only so 1t be
charity and ginserly. SiaOer arc not even men
toned. There is for the most part a good salting
Of old fashioned conservatism, such as saved Bar
abbas and many other such people since. SiaVgy
is, indeed, to be rebukod, and to be told that It
must be less pretentious, and not carry its head
g, high in future, in short it is to be, as Douglas
said, Gin obedience to the Constitution The
thing is treated as coolly IN relation 70 The siavss, as
a chemist could treat Of the properties Of oxygen In
fact. the very existence is ignored Of a third party
IA me trar Of four millions Of bgai and eh'isnaH neH'
whose dearest and only earthly hopes, awakened
and encouraged hopes, are involved in the issue OF
it.
The conservatism Of republicans, GROWING
the heroic author Of their owl liberties, would
send these loyal and trusting millions, whose
prayers are unceasing for the North, back to their
prisons Of despair with a coolness so admirable
that il sees subjected to this doom, horrible next
to that Of the damned, only a vague inPs TsoHal
entity. Do we republicans Of the free States in
tend deliberately, or by cur Indifference, 70 en-
dorse the dictum Of that Chief Justiee-let US be
thankful not Of the free statts-who will forever
outrank Jefries on the roll of infany, that
"~negroes have no rights that white men are bound
to respect - All go9d men throughout Christen-
dom are praying for the North, verify believing
that, utL us, the Declaration Of Independence is
somsthing more than "gIittering and sounding
generaIities Of natural right, and that We shall
surely not be wanting to the opportunity which
God has given Us, to do a great act Of Justice which
we have hitherto pleaded was not in our power.
Must all these prayers be changed into curses,
because we basely decline the highest honor which
God can bestow upon US? Do good men curse
Yes, they do-and theirs are eiectual curses.
The silent appeal to God which is implied in a
p~owe1less but righteous indignation at injustice,
is the most terrible form Of imprecation. Our for
eigu friends are personally DISTINGUISHED Obsery-
ers, and therefore impartial judges, ard their
Judgment will necessarily take the form Of male
d%iction, bitter in proportion to their own purity
Of character, If we prove ourselves morally IN
equal to our present God-given occasion
But the Constitution, say these republican or
ators, the Constitution is still in the way. We
must subject ourselves to the contempt Of all man
kind, and to the curse Of Heaven, Gin obedience to
the Constitution "This is not a war against the
south, nor the southern people, nor any instita-
ton Of the southern people. Nor is tia war against
any State, because there is no State in this rebel
lion. States cannot rebel. The Constitution for
bids it, Blessed Constitution . which canao, be
violated Oh , if all laws human anddivine, were,
in this respect, like it
This is State rights with a vengeance. All 9TH
er bodies corporate, including towns, cities, pro-
yinccs, sub-kingioms, can become disobeiient and
rebelIious against their supreme or superior Gov
ernments, and may be, and have been, since the
beginning Of society, justly DISTINGUISHED and de-
prived q their very existence in consequence.
But a State, blessed exemption , tho by a solemn
act oft legislature. or by a convention Of its
people called ft that very purpose, it absOlve it.
self from its allegiance TO the superior gov
eminent. and make war upon 1.-THE
State has not Tebelled, has committed no
wrong. has subjected itself to no forfeiture
not even Of that which was the inevitable cause
Of al this uafort.aafs and most disastrous eoniuet.
The STATE Is Pafsaiy rsHocHf. John Doe, and
Richard Roe did it, and may be punished, 1f5,y
cav be caught. Heaven preserve Us from a dynas-
ty II John Doe statesmen Either a State is
sov0ayH, and may not be coercei at all, except
for reasons which would justify Us in making war
upon an other foreign people, or, if not sovereign,
it may be restrained within the limits necessary
to the " common form and general welfare Of the
nation Of which it forms a part-foT a part, not
AHdg The l1u of ne uial,, IS 81 oryaHie abfu-dfy.
Every National Government is, Of necessity, in
the anne sense in which the British Parliament is
said to b., "omnipotent.' The common safety is
the supreme law, Constitution or no Constitution.
But in our case the Constitution itself gives IN
limited power to realize the essential ends Of the
Constitution, and Of course to sbate anything
subyersiye Of these ends. All tolerated injustice
is necessarily subyersive Of these ends, because il
,s,T.s.s a ,ha afarual prf,a,rTau r .-ao- -
right which Heaven itself has ordained tits
because Of this element Of injustice, and conse-
auent disorder, inherent in our system-or at
least hitherto practically operative in it that we
are now suffering the severe but just rebukes Of
thes, violated principles. If w fail, now that
the opportunity is offered US, to eliminate this
fatel element Of injustice, a more terrible punish
ment awaits US, as inevitable as the execution Of
the lass Of God.
1t is intimsted in these speeches that slavery
may be in some danger from the presence Of our
armies-that the Constitution is a great a~nti-sla-
very document-that the Southern heart is to be
taken captive that slavery must take care Of
itscif-aud more such like e sounding general
tiles"
But so long as slaves are forbidden by procla-
nation to enter our lines, and rebels are assured
by proclamation that their property and their in-
situations are not to be i~ntorfered with, slavery
would not seem to be in any great danger, (t is the
SLAVES who are in danger), or to have much occa-
sion to take care of itself. It has nothing to do
but to feed and take care Of the rebel. And at
,ho c,d If the war the Government will find itself
committed not to interfere with what remains Of
it; and tho remainder will be.the whole Of it, with
the exception OF a healthful thinning and weed
ing cut which will prepare it to flourish more
vigorously than ever before. For what to this
enormous mass will be the loss Of a few thousand,
or a few hundred thousand individuals which
Is all the raeideEial dininuticn Of ii which we can
hope for from the war.
We are told that we have bu, to deprive slave