The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-01-17
in,the constitution must equally hold there
=, m o,,ilt in the rebelliou

the rebellion itself, and more dangerous to
our liberties They hold out to the Elk
ecutive every temptation of ambition to
make and prcIong war. They offer des-
potic mower as price for preventing peace.
They are inducements to each adminstra-
ton to produce discord, and lncite armed
resistance to law, by declaring that the
condition of war removes all constitutional
restraints. They call about the national
ca n,sa, hordes of unprincipled men, who
lind in the wreck of their country the OPP
portunity to crafty avarice, or ambition,
or personal or political resentments. u his
theory makes the passion and ambition
of an administration antagonistic to the
interest and happiness of the people. 1t
makes the restoration of peace the ahdl
cation of more than regal authority in the
hands of those to whom is coniided the
government Of our country
OF the same nature is the recent procia-
nation of emancipation. The President
has already signed an act OF Congress which
asserts that the slaves OF those In the
rebellion are confiscated. The sole effect
of this proclamation, therefore, is to de-
clare the emancipation of slaves of those
who are not in rebellion, and who are
therefore loyal citizens 1t is an estraor-
dinary deduction from the alleged war
nouer. that the forfeiture of the ights OF
ioyal citizens, and bringing upon them the
same punishment imposed upon insurgents,
il calculated to advance the success of the
war, to uphold the constitution and restore
the Union The class fioyal citizens who,
above all others, are entitled to the protec-
zion Of the government, are those who have
remained true to the flag OF our country
and yet the sole force of this proclamation
is directed against them. May not this
measure, so clearly impolitic, unjust, and
unconstitutional, and which is calculated
to create SO many barriers to the restora
ton of the Union. be msconstrued by
the world as an abandonment of the hope
or the purpose of restoring it "a result TO
which the State of New York Is unaltera
tIy opposed and which viii be etfectuaIly
resisted.
We must TO. only support the constitu-
ton of the United States, aid maintain
the rights OF the States, but we must re
store our Union as it was before the out
breat of the war.
The assertion that this war was the
unavoidable result of slavery is not only
erroneous, but it has led to disastrous
policy in its prosecution. The opinion that
slavery must be abolished to restore our
free and slave States which ought not to
exist If it is true that slavery must be
abolished by the force of the Federal
government that the South must be held
in subsection, that four millions of negroes
must for many years be under the direct
management of authorities at Washington
at the public expense. then indeed we
must endure the waste Of our armies in the
field, further drains upon our population
and still greater burdens Of debt We
must convert our government into a mill
iarv despotsm.
The mischievous opinion that in this
contes. the North must subjugate and dies
troy the South to save our Union. has
weakened the hopes Of our citizens al
home and destroyed confidence in our sue
Cess abroad
1t is suggestive fact, aifordng instruc
tions and hope for the future, that thes,
theories which have exercised an evil iuflu
.ence on our national politics did not orig
nate in what may be called the heart @
the Union, among the intimate and vel
acquainted populations of the central an
western States, where the States prem
ting aud forbidding slavery are in actus
contact, nor in the portions traversed
the great east and west lines of commerce
and intercourse. They have been deve
Oped almost entirely in two sections, con-
paratively isolated by position, tradition
and peculiar habits of thought, and lea:
connected with the more honogeneou
mass of our people. There have been c,
IRENE northern views and extreme south
era views, but also the broader and mo,
tolerant views, OF the more popular centr
and western States. These extended G
both sides of that undulating boundr
between slave and free States, which is NJ
one of opposing opinions, but of informing
ing interest Their plains are interlocke
by confident rivers, and not divided /
mountain ranges. These States are T,
giun of harmonIzing views and sympathie
They are not ONLY bound together by ..
culiar Interests, but by strong reasons f.
resisting division on that boundry, whic
would make them frontier S;ates,-wllic
would replace their cordial intercourse b
hostile relationships, and throw upo
them all the greatest and sha!pest evi
OF the separation. Thus, while they &
not share The passions and prejudices
those extreme States, which s,roye to e,
list them in the contest, they have motiv
of the highest interest to restore the o.
order to things, and of the gravest appr
hension from a separation. This vs.;
bllshts and destroys the hopes and II
happiness of this region, while the section
whose passions and interests kindied it a
mainly remote from the terrible sufierir
1t has caused.
The western and central States enlste
warmly in a war for the Union and consi
tuition. The northern tier Of slave State
except Eastern Virginia, earnestly su,
portei the government in its policy Will
II was consistent with this purpose, know
as the Border State policy. Both I'll
administration and Congress then declare
their sole purpose TO be to restore ii
Union and maintain the constitution
When the administration abandoned tn
policy, and took up the views of eXtren
northern States. it lost at the late electio
nearly all the political support whicl, ii
central and western States afforded il II
elections Of 1860 and 1861.
While the North caane. hold the soutl
ern States in suhjugation without destro
ing the principles of our government, I'll
great central and western States can COZ
troll the two extremes. They will NJ
accept the views Of either as safeguards
the conduct of public affairs. This
shown by the political history of our cou,
try during the past four years. Wher
was believed that the lat, administratid
was controlled by the views of the Gu
States, it lost its power in the central al
western regions. The opposing party,
gain pu5lic support, were obliged, by a
surances and resolutions, to repel II
charge that they would interfere wit
slavery in the States, and they denounce
as nliust the iinputation that they he
the views of aboitionists of the extrel
northern section. Without these pledg.
they could not have gained political powe
When the Gulf States seeded, the centr
slave States, by large maj"rities, refused
act wish them. They sought to avoid w;
and division by the Peace Conference he
in Washington. Unfortunately, tie don
nat leaders CT the party which had su
ceaded At the eicctinn of IS61 orerinoE in