Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1863-12-11
The Messnge.

The Message,
The Presidents Message has gone be-
fore the country. and most of our readers
have doubtless read and digested it for
themselves before this It's leading mer-
it, il it has any, is in its brevity. We do
not propose to review the document 1t
is radical in the extreme, in its discussion
and recommendations in regard to the war
and slavery. The President still holds
to the fallacious idea that slavery is the
cause of the war, and that the war can not
stop, nor the Union be restored until sla-
very is abolished This is as false as it
will prove ruinous. Slavery is no more
the cause of the war than "A torch in the
hand of an incendiary is tire cause Of the
destruction of the property to which he ap-
plies it, or that the gun or knife in the hand
OF the assassin is the cause of the death of
his victim. 1t is simply the instrument,
not the cause. Would you arrest the
torch of the incendiary and the knife of
the assassin, or the men who, though their
instrumentality, committed the crimes.
Slavery was the instrument in the hands
of the disunion Abolitiunlsts by which
they struck the paricidal blow at the life of
the nation. In its self it is perfectly harm
less to effect the peace or happiness of the
country. Not slavery, but the agitation of
the question by the meddling, fanatical
Abolitionists, is the cause of the war. AS
you would not arraign the instrument Of the
assassin before the bar of public justice for
the crime which he through it committed,
but the assassin himself, so you cannot
justly arraign and make war upon slave
ry, the instrument through which the Alb
litionist severed the bond of Union be-
tween the States, and brought upon us a
blood. and destructive civil war. Aboli-
tionism, not slavery, is the cause of all our
troubles, and the future historian, writing
in the calm light Of reason and common
sense, will so record it.
Mr.. LINCOLN dwells largely upon his
Emancipation Proclamation, and declares
that he will not retract on modify it while
he remains in his present position. He is
Joined to his idol But all the subtle rea-
soning of the President will fail to con-
vince the people that it has resulted in
good to the country, or aided in putting
down the rebellion. On the contrary, it is
plain to every thinking and unprecedented
mind that it has been one of the chief caus-
es of the Administration failure in the
successful prosecution of the war. 1t will
be remembered that Mt the commencement
of the struggle it was given out by the
party in power that the war was to be pros
ecuted, not for the destruction of slavery
or the rights or institutions of any of the
States, but for the only parpose of rsstor-
ing the Union as it was, under the Consti-
tuition as it is and when that had been
accomplished the war should cease. I'm,
der this promise the people of the
North, were deceived into the support
OF the war and the Federal Admin.
istration. The great mass of the people
ninety five out of one hundred at least
without respect to past political afiinitiei
and associations-were ardent supporter
of the war against the South. There wa
no division of public sentiment against tn,
war question worth mentioning. Theu
were few able and shrewd men, VIII,
were not deceived by the promises Of tn
Administration they saw the hypocrael
lurking behind, and sounded the alarm
but the people, wild with the excitemen
of war, needed it not, and the war part,
had the almost undivided support of tn
whole North. We all know thi
was the case. What has produeec
the great change in the public mind of th
country? We see tive cannot deny il
VT 'o,a 10 Whef haf h~ii