Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-08-04
" oRCE S TER:
MONDAY. AUGUsr 4, 1869.


Another style of War Promised.
1t is stated in one of our dispatches from
Washington that "direct and decisive action
is to be taken for prosecuting the war some
thing like this has been said in our dispatches
from Washington several times of late. Let
it now be seen in the measures adopted to
weaken the rebels and strengthen our armies.
Gen. Hallecks order to Gen. Mcclellan is a
good sign. 1t changes the policy heretofore
pursued on the peninsula, and we hope soon
to see the war power of the government fire
heavily and continuously at "the enemy's
magazine" until it is completely blown up.
There must be an end to that Difference to
slavery and the slaveholding power which has
until now done so much to embarrass and
weaken our attempt to crush the rebellion, or
the Union will be lost beyond recovery.
The rebels have placed themselves without
the pale of the constitution. In the seeded
states they have broken down the whole ma
chinery by which the provisions of the con-
stitution are ordinarily enforced, and could
not at present have the benefit of it if they
would, either for themselves or their Internal
Institution of slavery 1t is only by the war
power of the government that we can deal
with them now, and thus should be used
against them to the fullest extent, and without
scandle, until they are completely crushed
out. Whatever the war power can do against
them should be done as swiftly and thorough
ly as possible, and without further delay.
There has been enough parleying and hesita-
ton. Indeed there has been a good deal too
much of it. We should now be far stronger
and far more hopeful of immediate success, if
all that weakness had been dismissed at the
outset. 1t is by war in downright earnest,
war that uses all available means, strikes the
heaviest blows possible, and treats every half
hearted counsellor as an enemy, and not by
''playing at war;" that the Union is to be res
cued from its destroyers; and they who de-
nounce such war or find fault with it should
be dealt with as they deserve.
An act of congress confiscates the property
of traitors, sets free their slaves, and orders
that slaves and other colored men shall be
put to military uses. Let this law be enforced
to the full extent of its meaning. Let every
general in command, and every division of
the army be commanded in a special order to
put it in force. If the slaves in the rebel
states are made to understand that by joining
our armies and rendering whatever service
may be in their power, they will be sure of
freedom and just reward, they will come by
thousands. We want more men, and these
men are ready and willing to help us. In the
revolution, our fathers did not hesitate to arm
colored men and take them into the ranks of
the army. SO we did in the second war with
Great Britain; and at the battle of New Orleans
they did such admirable service that Gen. Jack
son thanked them in a special order of the
day. The reasons for using them now are
hundred fold stronger, for by doing so we
draw strength from the enemy while adding
strength to our own side; and we destroy the
institution from which all this trouble has
come. To refuse their services, under pres
ent circumstances, seems to us like a crime
against the republic itself.
To make this war as vigorous and as terri
BILE to the rebels as it should be, we must now
strike directly at slavery, and strike heavily.
Any policy that stops short of this will ruin
us. And if we could overpower the rebel
conspiracy, and at the same time save and up
hold slavery, there would soon be renewal
of the struggle. The downfall of slavery
is now indispensable TO the safety of the
Union. We can not rescue it from destruc-
ton now and win such a triumph over
its enemies as will give it safety here
after, unless we exterminate the foul source
of hostility to it. Wherein has slavery
deserved forbearance? 1t is our enemy now
and always Its victims long to join us and
do the republic service as its friends. Why
should we hesitate to receive them and use
them in any service they can render? There
are lnnumerable services they can perform
to aid the army, on the march, in the trench
es, and in all its operations; and they can be
armed and organized into regiments of SOL
diers.
When the history of this war is written,
the whole civilized world will think with
amazement Of the infatuation that led us to
spurn such assistance at first, and then
hesitate so long in accepting it. All over
Europe this amazement is expressed now,
and to the next generation, here as well as
there' the suicidal policy we have so far pur-
sued Will seem unaccountabl5.