The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-12-06

bred bloody battle-6elds, from which the smoke
has scarcely passed away!
None-the remotest b na arn 81
A suspension Of hoetilties we can purchase
. few years respite probably, in which to return
to our money getting, before the storm bursts
forth anew with gathered force; but if We look
beyond sel6shness and the present; if our chill.
dren are in our thoughts; if we are suffering
and expanding now, that they, in land OF
prosperity, may live and die in peace, then must
we act SO that the result shall endure. We must
not be content to put of the evil day. The root
of the evil-the pregnant cause of the wsr-thas
must be eradicated.
Report has it that . Western politician re-
Gently proposed, IS the best solution of our diff
6culties. the recognition of Slavery in all the
States Such IN idea has . basis of truth ;
namely that . state Of war is, among us, the
necessary result of conflicting labor systema-
Such an idea might even b carried out and
lead to peaee but for that progressive spirit of
Christian civilization which We dare not openly
outrage, how imperfectly sosver We obey ito blu.
mans behests. a.l re,7 - sls d,
There are thousand reasons-geographica
commercial, political, nteruationsl-why We
should not consent to separation into two Con-
federacies it 10 contingency not to be thought
OF or entertained but if We look merely 70 the
conditions of lasting peace, the chance of main.
tanning it would be far better if the indepen-
dence of the South were to be recognized with
her negroes emancipated, than If she were to
return to her allegiance, retaining her slave
system.
For in the former case, the cause of dissen-
sion being uproosed, the tendency would DO to
reunite, and . few years might zee ~ single
nation again; while, in the latter, constantly
active source Of irritation still existing, three
years OF breathing time would not elapss with
| out bringing endless qusrrels and . second re-
| bellion.
Conceive reunion with Slavery still in exist
ence Imagine Southern synpathizers in power
| among 10, Offering compromises. Suppose the
South, exhausted with military reverses, and
desiring few years armistics to recruit decides
| to accept it under the guse Of peace ard recon.
struction What next? Thousands of slaves,
| their excited hopes of emancipation crushed,
fleeing across the border. Fugitive Slave law
revived by peace. demanding their rendition
Popular opinion in the North opposed to the law,
and refusing the demand. Renewed war the
certain consequence.
Or take, even, the alternative of recognition
recognition of an independent Confederacy,
| still slaveholding. Are We, then-becoming the
sole exception among the nations of the earth
to make ourselves aiders and abettors of the
slave system of . foreign nation, by agreeing
to return to her negro refugees seeking liberty
and an asylum among us. National self.respect
| imperatively forbids thiA Public sentiment
would compel the rejection, az base humilia-
ton, OF any proposed treaty stipulation, provi-
ding for rendition of runaway slaves. Yet the
South would regard such rejection in no other
| light than Is . standing menace-a threat to de-
prive her of what she regards as her most val
liable property. Coterminous as for hundreds
possibly thousands-of miles of our bounda.
| ries would be, must not the Sonth, in common
prudence, maintsin all along that endless border.
line an armed slave police? Are We to consent
to this? And if We do, shall We escape border
raids after fleeing fugitives! No sane man will
expect it Are We to suffer these? We are dis.
graced. Are We to resent them? It is q renewal
Of hostilities.
State elections may 60 as they will Their
results can never change the fact that any party
obtaining the control of the Government and
adopting the policy that the settlement Of the
emancipation question is to be postponed till the
war shall be closed. will never, while it pursuee
that policy, see this war permanently closed
not even by accepting shameful disruption Of
eur country.
But if emancipation is to avail US as peace
measure, We must adopt it boldly, resolutely
effectually. 1t must be general, not PARTIAL ex-
tending not to the slaves of rebels only, but to
every slave on this continent. Even If it were
practicable, which it is not, With slavery nom
existent in the Northern States and abolished 10
those which persist in rebellion, to maintain il
| sv,H ho TO- g. a. ~.
where negro fugitves can the most readily es-
cape, that its maintenance would the most Ger
tainly lead to war.
Can this great peace measure be constitution
ally enacted
/ A proclamation or (the more appropriate form
an act of General Emancipation, should, in lte
preamble, set forth, in substance, that the claims
to service or labor Of which it deprives certain
persons having been proved by recent events e
be of character endsngering the supremacy o.
the law, jeopsrdizing the integrity Of the Union
and incompatible with the permanent peace oil
the country, are taken by the Government, with
just compensation made. Under circumstance,
far less urgent than these, the law or custom o.
civilized nations, based on considerations o.
public utility, authorizes such taking Of private
property for public use. We ourselves are ia
miliar With its operation. When . conasgratior
/ ~ . SAsy sucosSuc w epsSoO uVs0So ia tu<
line of it's progress may legally be seized and
destroyed by the authorities in order to ares
it; and the owners are not held to have beer
wronged IL they are paid for such losses under
an equitable sppraisement But il is not the
existence of part of city that is now endan
gered; it is the integrity of one among the 6rs
Powers in the world that is menaced with de-
struction.
! The truth of the preamble suggested has be-
come, in my Judgment, incontrovertble. 1t vii
receive the assent of an overwhelming majority
of the people of the loyal States. The public
sentiment of Europe will admit its truth
Let us confess that such preamble, as preface
to an act or proclamation, could not have COM
manded the assent Of more than small fraction
of our people, only two short years sgo-twc
years, as we reckon time; q generation, if NC
calculate by the stirring events and far.reachine
upheavals that have been crowded into the
eventful months. In such days q these abuses
ripen rapidly. Their consequences NATURE
Their ultimate tendencies become apparent
We are reminded of their trsnsitory charactar