The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-10-10
The London Times ON the Slave.
holders Rebellion.

peIdte tAe Louuou lWSS turns the cOiu
shoulder to the rebels after the following
fashion,:
Whatever we may think Of the indiyidu-
al actors in the scene, the events Of the
American war proceed like the irresistible
march of destiny represented in Greek
tragedies, and every step brings us nearer
to the destruction of the Slave Power and
the liberation of the slave. Shallow senti-
menIalists, the ready dupes of the lying
organs of the Secession party, made a
Numbering objection to putting arms in
to the negro's hands, and yet no more raj
tional and practical way OF redeeming
Southern society could be found than that
of summoning its hereditary bondsmen"
to "strike the blow by which their own
freedom would be achieved. For the white
race on both sides to treat them as mechan-
ical objects of its rapacity or its beneyo-
lence could commend itself to no sane
mind. The grand thing was TO rouse in
their own breasts the consciousness that
they were men, called upon, the first time
in their unhappy lives, to accept RESPONSE
bilities, perform duties, and win, by toll,
intelligence and heroism, the noble fruit of
the emancipation of their race. Had the
condition of the South permitted, the
peaceful missionaries might have
gone forth through the green savan-
nahs, and along the banks Of the mighty
streams, proclaiming the great Christian
doctrine of the brotherhood of man, but in
that wicked land of stripes and oppression
no such voice could reach the slave. The
very ministers of religion as they them
selves have had the audacity to proclaim,
would utter no gospel of Heaven for the
victims of hideous tyranny, but, by dia-
bolical perversion of the words Of life, they
blasphemously claimed the aid of the Re-
deemer to prevent the redemption Of the
African race. The Shareholders determined
that liberty should only be heard in the
thunder Of cannon, and that the light Of
Christian morals and political truth should
only CLEAN through the worse than Pagan
darkness of their country, when the sabre
flashed and the bayonet was levelled IN
deadly fight. On the other hand, could
they have helped it, few OF the Northern
men would have been thorough in the
work. On both sides, what the ancients
termed Fate, and what we recognize as
Providence has turned, and is turning, to
good account both the noble and the con-
temptible elements which either side pre-
sents. The naughty arrogance of the man
stealing planter has blinded him like a
hood upon hawk, He has rushed, like a
wild bull Of the forest, full tilt at the train
of civilization that alarmed him by invad-
ing his savage plains. A little sense, to
see where the world was going, and would
go, in spite of his barbarian desires-a lit
tie touch Of human sympathy to make him
feel the bitter wrongs under which his
bondsmen groaned-these would have led
him to compromise; and his half hearted
opponents, who, like their counterparts in
England, are very resigned to the suffer-
ings of their neighbors, would have jump
ed at a settlement by which slavery would
have been indefinitely prolonged. Happi-
ly, the Shareholders neck was stiffened
and his heart was hardened, so that his
craft failed, and his wicked devices are now
crashing about his own head. President
Lincoln would not raise negro army till
circumstances wrote the order for him,
and compelled the signature Of his name.
President Davis marshalled his forces SO
we'll, and threw so much vigor into the
strife, as to make the negro the inevitable
ally Of the Federal power, and an arbiteI
of the quarrel, instead of the mere species
of property about which it took place. Fol
lowing the necessity of employing black
soldiers came another great necessity-tha1
with the whites. Raised to the proud con-
dition of soldiers ofthe Republic, shoulder
ing the rifle as willingly, meeting wounds
and death as bravely as the bravest white,
all the forces of the State were, by moral
compulsion, enlisted on their behalf; and
Mr.. Lincoln, willingly as we believe,
could do no less than declare that it is the
duty of every Government to give protec-
ton to its citizens. of whatever class color.
or condition, and "that the laws of nations
and the usages and customs of war, as
carried on by civilized powers, permit no
distinction as to colour in the treatment of
prisoners Of war;" and to add to this plain
statement, that ito sell or enslave any cap
tured person on account of his colour is
relapse into barbarism and a crime against
the civilization of the age" Never since
America became the abode of European
races has the doctrine Of human right and
e liberty been SO effectually proclaimed.
The condition of military relations are nee
essarily harsh, and there can be little
mercy in the justice of war but if war
reprisals were demanded by the occasion
they are needed to curb the fury Of the
slaveholder, and restrain the ungeverned
ferocity of his revenge. But for fear Of
consequences, there would be no end to
the horrible murder Of negro prisoners, or
of negroes suspected of desiring to be free.
This appalling career Of crime had been
deliberately entered upon by Jefferson Da-
vis's followers, who not only slaughtered
wounded or captive negro soldiers, but in
sold them into slavery, from pure hatred
ofthe rising prospects of their race. Now,
these man-stealing tyrants are told by the
ruler of the conquering North that Justice
knows no distinction founded upon the
colour Of the skin, but will inexorably
exact life for life, and make the prouuest
white oppressor feel that the poorest slave
shall hereafter stand as high as he stands
in the eye of equal and most righteous law.
Let us now see what an undignitied WIFI
ming and bowling the head Of the man
stealers makes, as he contemplates the eff
fects ofthe liberation measures of the North.
First comes tissue of ridiculous false
hood, and Mr.. Davis pretends to tell his
subjects what their enemy means by sue
cess. "His malignant rage so says the
Slavery Presidents last Proclamation,
"aims at nothing less than the extermina-
ton of yourselves, your wives, and chill
dren;'' and he describes the offer of free
dom to the negro as "debauching an infe-
rior race, hitherto contented, by promising
the indul gence of the vilest passions as the
price of treachery." Following this explo-
sion of rabid rubbish is an offer which
proves the statement that desertion has
been very frequent from the Southern rams.
He promises general pardon and amnes-
ty to all officers and men who may be alb
sent without leave, and will return within
twenty days, and he piteously entreats the
women OF the Confederacy not to shelter
the runaways at home!
The victims of that disgraceful swindle,