The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-08-13

That declaration of emancipation vas
! not issued ,year ago, do not regret
! Great changes must ma urs public opinion
betore they can be safely eafried vu, Ex.
treme measures, t. be justified and to be
effectual, rlnst often be pEeceeei by long
tried co7ciliaton. Yet in national emer-
gences il mey be rs dangerou TO disaT :
point as to anticipate public opinion. And
confess nv fears fer lie fesult if decisive
measures are longer delayed. .. go
Stand where We are we cannot; and TO
go on i less dangerous than to retrace our
steps. We ought never 10 have propose
emancipation With onpensation TO loyal
slave owoers, nor declared to the disloyaI,
as by law we lave, that their slaves shal
be liberated without compensation, if we
did not intend TO follow out the policy we
commenced. We have incurred tie odi-
um let US reap The benefit.
Nor do perceive low we can free the
slaves of rebels, yet reasonably expect 10
retain slavery in the border States, even in
case they persist in refusing the offer OF The
Presid, ut. Having iDteryened so far, ex-
tirpaticn of slavery, the only effectuaI poll
icy, becomes the safest also.
All men In the North will not acquiesce.
Neither did all acquiesce when iue war
commenced; yet who that il. loyal opposes
it now2 And what would have been the
result bad we waited, ere we commenced
the war; for unanimity? r..-.f 81
Some will fall eff. So. be il There is
small loss in that. And there Is some gain.
Better an open enemy than worthless
friend. 1t IS time that mep were taking
sides. As things now stand ] see no use IN
concilia,ing the halt-loyal. He who is not
for US is against US. s.i,
| think he people are ready. believe
that the legal citizens Of the North, with
such smali proportion OF exceptions as in
radical national changes most be dist garG-
ed, are to-day prepared for emancipation.
They have paid for it in treasure, ia blood;
not by their op ion. They feel that the sac
rifces they have made, and have still to
make, are too vast TO have been incurred,
except In purchase of a great pledge OF per-
petual safety and peace. ls.s
Rejecting men feel, too, that such a
pledge, is a national, not mercy north
ern, necessity. The South, exhausted and
suffering, needs it to the full as much as we.
She will coon perceive, if she does not al
ready, that two parts of one nation, or even
two coterminous nations, can never again
exist in amity on this continent, one slave
and the other free. She cannot but see that
fugitive slave law difficulties, it no others
existed, would suffice to preven this.
lit is not the question whether a paper
declaration, easily issued, will or will not
be followed byla tbousand.prsclical dif6cu.-
ties. The uproo,ing of an ancient and gi-
gautic abuse always involves such. Nor
should we be called upon to predict in ad-
vance for who can entirely foresee y how
each of these will ultimately be solved.
The true question is, whether greater diff
cuties, eyen insuperable ones, do not beset
ally other policy. Pressed home as we are,
to avoid obstacles is Impossible. We-can
but select the least formidable. The lives
of the best of us are spent in choosing be-
tween evils. .aft -rr..s- - 5t..s.
When dangers surround rs, we must
| what we can, and leave TO God The Issue.
We may best trust TO Him when ve enter
His path of progress. He aids those who
| walk in it. i.t.e-.t er,i.-- ss.,
feel assured that final success waits us
in pursuing such path. And see no
! other road out of the darkness.
| ROBERT DALE OWEN.
New York, July %, 1862. III