Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-03-20
Opinions Of the Press on the
g Presidents Message.
A Border State View.
IFrom the Baltimpfe American.l

thus forced upon our attention is that COM
prised in the very important message Just
transmitted by the President to Congress,
in the form of a proposition for emsncips-
ton in such States ms may desire it, through
aid to be afforded by the General Govern
ment This is the substance OF it, with
the idea further elaborated, that such eman-
cipation might be gradual, !" and that il ID
justi6ablc as means of preserving The Uniox,
and is preferable, as mode to accomplish
ing the same end by war, the expense Of
the two methods approximating each other.
Maryland is a Slave State and upon .
proposition ofsuch vital interest to her let
this thing be looked fairly in the face. And,
in the very outset, let the fact never be for
q moment lost sight of that the men who
have set themselves up as the champions
of this peculiar institution, who have as
sumed to speak for it, write for il, advance
it, fight JJo, It, have shamefully and idioti-
cally betrayed IL. It was but lately strong.
For the greater portion of our existence as
a nation those in its interest had entire con.
troll of the Government; and in the very
act of setting Slavery up in bold defiance Of
the understood sentiments of the civilized
world, they had absolute control Of all de-
partments Of Government, except the Ex-
ecutive; and even that was, at their be-
hest, powerless for evil for all purposes Of
mischief to them. They gave up the cita-
del under these circumstances, carried away.
BY mad dreams of greater sway, of q
broader empire. In the face of numerical
and physical power it was the widest folly
to attempt to dominate, they .ventured to
appeal to arms upon the express issue that
Slavery was to be championed in the face
OF the world combined to put it down, and
30, leaving the shelter Of the Constitution,
which was its strongest and only real for
tress, they took the field with the certainty
assured to them Of defeat We repeat it,
these are the men Maryland is called upon
to accept as her champions-as her defend
ers, in relation to this great interest, or
great trust. That they were friendly to
her, or thought Of counsehng with her in SO
important a matter, was not thought need
full. Worse than that, they proposed, by
way Of driving the Border States to extreni-
tiles, to exclude from the Cotton States
any slaves proposed to be sent from here,
and when propositions were made for Q
conference the Border States were insult
ingly repulsed. We repeat it, lot all this
be remembered when the Border States are
asked now to affiliate closely with them, or
to follow them in their championship of
Slavery-shamefully, madly, toeakly betray-
ing it, as they have done. The Border
States must take care of themselves. Hf
And now let us see what Slavery has
gained by the struggle, so far IF we look
across the sea, it has stirred up o feeling of
enmity so deadly that no temptation that
can be offered by the Cotton Oligarchy, in
the way OF free trade, or other commercial
advantages, or even ultimate 'emancipa-
ton, sufices to check the savage tone of
disgust manifested toward Slavery, as an
institution, by nation Of Abolitionists, the
most moderate expression of opinion that
is heard there being for its immediate sup
preston, If that can be accomplished. And
it we look at its ancient strongholds in the
Cotton States we find that, as consequence
of the war it took pains to provoke, it is
weakened at every point, deprecated in
value, whilst for one enemy in the outset,
a thousand have been created amongst men
who have determined that it shall no lon
ger threaten the destruction of us as ma
ton. These are stubborn facts facts it is
idle to conceal facts 1t would be criminal to
conceal. '3"-N
And now, feeling our very nationality to
be in deadly peril, here comes the President,
treading in the footsteps of an all but uni
versal public sentiment, to tell the nation
that ofthe two, our nationality or Slavery,
if one must 60 to the WALL let 1t be the lat
ter that the blood of the people is more
precious than the gold and silver of the
nation, and that if peace can be preserved
only by buying up an interest fruitful, il
bad hands, ofso much evil, he would have
it done, and that the preservation of thu
Union" must justify any or all sacrifices. :
We repeat the averment that such pro
position is neutrality-suspicious. none thu
less must it be met. aitl]H t-i ei 9ii \, ~
And now let us consider it in another light
Not in the annals Of the past can be adducet
q question DO fraught with difficulties, 81
question of Slavery Putting in imminen
danger the Hoblest institutions the worlt
has ever known, the boldest and most saga
cious approach its discussion. as bearing OF
the future Of the country with doubt ant
fear; only fools or 'madmen urging the meet
| OF its complete immunity on the one hand
\ its absolute destruction "on the other. /
we look at what is occurring now, we kno,
like Mr.. Toombs and his 90 workers maS
/ CUuueol tuClL Qupc5 w bdCIlHCo tHolIl uO0b II
battle, their homes, and wives, and child
rem to the torch and to want, the same me-
dare not, for their lives, counsel the slight
est sacrifice of Slavery, il being the on
household god to remaininyiolate, intact
4 although everything were to perish In th
fierce war provoked on its account. is
4 On the other side--the side Of abolition
the nationality may be imperiled or sseri
feed, Il 4 needs must be, In order that
4 false philanthropy must have full sway, th
interests of thirty million whites being sui
Il Ordinated to the supposed welfare OF
mere modieum Of blaoks whilst in the vsr
set Of Withdrawing them from the indil
pensable control of their masters, .thos
protesting sympathy with their scheme
take measures TO exclude then from th
Free States 9Ai iul fllpioAi ei'l q
These are some Of the anomalies preser,
I ed by what ID going on around us at th
present time We have not thought Or,
i Der, rs citisens Of Maryland, to deal in an
1 way with Mr.. Wilson proposition for smai
1 cipation here and in DelaExre, having con
4 idered it as impraeticable' and miSchievou
i At the present time, especially, IN view 3
current events, But whom the subject
4 lbfodght forward through IL Important
vehicle as 1 Preaident's Message, ? I'VE 81
constrained TO considsr the question ID som
Of its bearings upon the great issues whic
IL "a yxas L., rsyQS 2It6 - tihy. aeaffvttt1r