Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-03-20
Amos Kendall 10 the President
LETTER ".

Dthlcs'
RESPECTED SIR-In my last endeav-
ored to show the cause Of rebellion in the
South is "the pride Of wealth and the
tlust Of power" fostered by the cotton
monopoly; that the abolition Of slavery
could not abolish that monopoly, which
depends on principles beyond human
control; and that, if cotton were pro-
duced by hired labor in the South as it
is manufactured in the North, its profits
would be as great, if not greater, than
they are now, generating the same an
/ tipathes in that section which have pro-
duced our present troubles.
There is a party in the North, com
paratively small, at present, who, for the
mere purpose Of abolshing slavery in
the South, would sacrifice a hundred
thousand Northern lives and thou, and
millions Of Northern money, without
even the hope of advantage to themselves
or the people Of the States in which they
live.
Like the Southern rebels, they assume
in substance, that the Constitution no
longer exists, and talk Of the recon
struction Of the "Union," on other prin-
ciples.
These men cannot but know that this
is but the view entertained by the Gov
eminent or by the great mass Of the
Northern people. These believe that we
still have Constitution; that the Gov
eminent at Washington is not a mere
provisional government; that the war is
waged in defence of the Constitution and
the Government; that the Union needs
no reconstruction" that, if it did, it
would be unwise and dangerous to at
tempt it until the rebels are compelled
to submit to it as IL is; that no act of
the seeded States, not even a repeal Of
their ordinances of secession, is necessary
to restore them to the Union, because,
being unconstitutional and void, those
ordinances could not take them out of it,;
/ that, as the armed resistance to the Con-
stitution is put down in State after State,
they will stand in the Union with all
their Constitutional rights unimpaired,
and will successfully Y recognize their OBJ.
legations and resume their duties as mem
But the position Of the rebels as in
dividuals is very different, and nothing
but punishment or pardon can restore
them to the rights of American citizens.
They have forfeited their property and
their lives, and therefore to coniscate
their slaves and thus set them free is not
a violation Of the Constitution. How
far that process should be carried is a
question of expediency. And not ot
right
And it is in this point of view that
appeal to the advocates of emancipation
in the North to be content with the pro
gress which their principles are making
not through the subversion of the Consti'
tuition, but under cover of its authority.
The leaders of the rebellion announced
their determination to conquer or die, y
and the principal Shareholders in the
South act as if they were in earnest
Look at South Carolina. In the violent
portion of the State the planters to a
man fly on the approach of the Union
army, burning their cotton, and in many
cases their buildings, and abandoning
their slaves. There are said to be now
about eight thousand slaves thus aban-
doncd in the vicinity Of Port Royal, in
South Carolina, every one Of whom may
be constitutionally set free by confscation
as a punishment Of their masters treason.
AS the Union armies advance into the
Interior other thousands will be added to
the number by the desertion of their
masters, and finally there will be no resi-
dent population in large portion Of the
States but deserted slaves.
In short, il the masters persist in their
mad and causeless rebellion against the
Constitution the end will be a negro
community along portion OF the South
ern coast under the protection Of the
United States.
If the war is to be protracted by the
obstinacy Of the cotton planters, this is
a result which the United States cannot
avert if they would
By contication, the slaves will be set
free, and through the same process, the
lands of their masters will be surrendered
to them for cultivation, all without in
fringing upon the Constitution. Even
now there is negro colony around Port
Royal, under the protection of the
national forces, and its future expansion
into an organized community depends on
the obstinacy of tho planters and the
events of the war.
But this is not all. Probably four
fifths of the slaves in the United States
are now lawfully subject to confcation
on account Of the treason of their mas
ters. How far tho forfeiture of their
slaves, their other property, or their lives,
shall be carried, is a question of eXpedi-
ency only, and involves no constitutional
question o! power, Four'fifths OF all
the slaves may thus lawfully set free, and
the emancipation Of the other fifth would
soon follow.
In this view Of the subject what mo-
tives have the abolitionists of the North
to press their government into an a5an-
donment of the Constitution, by making
general emancipation, instead of the pres
ervaton of of that instrument, the di-
rect object of the war, thus giving a
color Of right to the rebellion, and in a
measure paralyzing the arm of loyal
men, especially in the South?
Patriotic men may well differ as to the
extent to which the punishment Of trea-
son shall be carried. The extreme eman-
cipationists may, if they choose, insist
that II shall he carried to the extent OF