Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-10-02
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Ieslot dppSdreu Ill Ile progress OF events, TO
be giving way. The proclamation of yester-
day morning shows that the abolitionists have
pressed him into their service, not entirely,
but virtually. The long solicited proclama-
ton has come. 1t is virtually what the radi-
Gals desire. Although they can still find fault
with it, they will accept it as hopeful sign
of progress. Those who desire the Union as
it was and the constitution as it is, can now
expect little aid from the president.
As we have said, the active, conscious reb-
el has no right to complain if his constitution
al rights are not secured; if he loses, it is his
chosen condition. He is an enemy OF the
government, and if he be man he will ask
no rights under constitution he tries to over
throw We speak for constitution we sup
port, and for loyal men, and for those who
have been loyal, and would be, if the govern
ment were able to perform its part of the bar
gain in giving them protection.
Ard what are you going to do about it?
Give up the Union and join the rebellion, be-
cause Abraham Lincoln has issued a mis-
chievous, pestilent proclamation? If Mr..
Lincoln were the Union, we should give it
up, and then we should ask no justice from
that source; but this Union belongs to thirty
millions of peOpe-not to the president.
They will control its destiny, not any presi-
dent. Nor will his conduct alter our deter
ulllldllOu 10 uSllI lOTeNSr lOf Iu6 UNION VI
these states. Dissolve the Union and then
what? Do you escape emancipation?
Would not war come? And would it not
then be crusade against slavery?
The rebellion has brought all this upon us.
1t can bear no other fruit. The more power
it gets the more calamites it will iniict. Let
the rebels now lay down their arms, and obey
the laws of the federal government, and this
proclamation Of the president is a nullity.
They can relieve the country of any dangers
or injustice from such a source. They will
not do that; not an iota of that pride and am
bition will they sacrifice. We can only say
to them what we have always said Obey the
laws and drop this rebellion, or we shall COM
pei you; and when that is done, we shall set
tie the account with the president for this pro-
clamation.
From the Baltimore Clipper.
We know that the plea will be urged that it
is unconstitutional to interfere with slavery in
the states, but this plea is met by the fact that
the rebels have repudiated that constitution,
and under the laws and usuages of war have
not only forfeited their property by commit
ting the crime of treason in bearing arms
against their country, but also their lives;
they, therefore, have no claims, further than
what humanity presents for so large a body of
misguided human beings. Again, they are
striving by every means at their command to
destroy the property, of every description, of
the loyal men of the Union, wherever it may
be found. The bridges, the crops, and other
property of the people of Maryland bear testi-
mony to the fact that they had no hesitation in
carrying out their vindictiveness to the utmost
stretch of their ability.
But there is something so peculiarly sacred
in the eyes of the oligarchs and their friends,
in slave property, that all other material in
terests dwindle into utter insigniticanCe in
comparison with it. We freely confess that
while we have no scruples as to the right of
holding slave property, and have had no SYM
pathy with the abolitionists in their course in
regard to it, still we have ever been prepared
to meet that or any other question and de-
eide upon its merits in connection with its
bearings upon the perpetuity of the Union.
We fully endorsed the sentiments of Mr.
Lincoln in his reply to Horace Greeley, and
the views he therein presented appeared to
meet the appreciation of the loyal men Of the
whole nation. And whilst as matter of pol
icy we would have preferred that the whole
subject of slavery should have been kept out
of the arena at this time, still we acknowledge
that the preservation of our Union is the pre-
dominating desire of the wishes of every loyal
citizen, and whatever stands in the way of its
accomplishment must go by the board. The
president has determined that the necessities
of the country require the course he has pur-
sued, and although we may not be able to see
the imperativeness of the step he has taken,
still we do not permit ourselves to place our
opinion in opposition to his decision, suppos
ing that he has sufficient grounds to impel him
to action in the premises.
From the Louisville Journal
awe shall not stop now to discuss the char
acter and tendency of this measure. Both
are manifest. The one is as unwarrantable
as the other is mischievous. The measure is
wholly unauthorized and wholly pernicious.
Though it cannot be executed in fact, and
though its execution probably will never be
seriously attempted, Its moral influence will
be decided and purely hurtful. So far as our
own purpose is concerned, tits mere brutunI
fulnoen, but it will prove only too etfectual
for the purposes of the enemy. 1t is ggan-
tic usurpation, unrelieved by the promise of a
solitary advantage, however minute and faint
but, on the contrary, aggravated by the
menace of great and unmiXed evil.
Kentucky cannot and will not acquiesce in
this measure. Never! AS little will she al
low it to chill her devotion to the cause thus
cruelty imperlled anew The government
our fathers framed is one thing, and a thing
above price; Abraham Lincoln, the temper
airy occupant of the executive chair, is an
other thing, and thing of comparatively lit
tie worth. The one is an individual, the sands
of whose official existence are running fast,
and who, when his official existence shall end,
will be no more nor less than any other indi-
vidual. The other is grand political struc-
ture, in which is contained the treasure and
energies of civilization, and upon whose lofty
and shining dome, seen from the shores of all
chimes, centre the eager hopes of mankind.
What Abraham Lincoln, as president does or
fails to do may eXalt or lower our estimate OF
himself but not of the great and benefcent
government of which he is but the temporary
servant. The temple is not the less sacred
and precious because the priest lays an UNI
lawful sacrifice upon the altar. The loyalty
of kentucky is not to be shaken by any mad
act Of the president. If necessary, she will
resist the act, and aid in holding the actor to
just and lawful accountability, but she will
never lift her own hand against the glorious
fabric because he has blindly or crimimally
smitten it. She cannot be as false to herself
as this. She is incapable Of such guilt OF
folly.
If the president by any means is pressed
away from the constitution and his owr
pledges, he must be pressed back agar
ard held there by the strong arm of the
people. The game of pressure is one tina
two can play at; and it is no slight reproacl
to the conservative men of the country tina
heretofore they have not taken their fair shar
in this game as played at the national capital
The radicals have been allowed to have tn
game too much to themselves. We hone thi