The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-06-03

Dlent. ana nave undeftAketl, ltbe hduOhiets
the propagation of their faith and institutions
! by the sword.
Hence, it Was iii vain that Mr. Crittenden's
af1peasing resolutions were passed-in vain
that an amendment to the Constitution de-
claring slavery TO be irrevecably established
unless abolished by the States within which
| it existed-I.o sacrifice, not even that of the
| Constitution tn give additional guarantees to
| slavery where it existed could save the coun-
I try from war, for by that means alone it was
now evident could slavery be- made the domi.
nant principle in the new world. It is that
domination for which they are contending.-
] IndepedeEce is sought only as means of
affecting that object Once possessed by that
means of the control of the Mississippi they
think that the Northwest would adopt the
Confederate Constitution and sacrifice the
! freedom of the negroes to secure the freedom
| of the Mississippi and that the Middle States
and even n New England would not be slow 10
| follow suit. s.f f.s seaI dalls
| And when we remember how far on the
mere menace of disunion the country aqui-
esced in that Dred Scott doctrine which alone
distinguishes the rebel constitution from our
own, can we doubt that if the rebellion is
successful we will yield that point to restore
the Union? Robert Toombs will yet call the
roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill unless we
conquer. The controversy therefore is be-
tween slavery and the Government.
a,=4 THE PROCLAMATION.
The President, to whom the defense of the
Government and the command of its armies
belong has labored to avert the dangers with
which NE are encompassed by various meas
ures i'll aid of the armed forces ehas sent to
the field. He would save the Union with or
without slayery-would save 1t in any way at
whatever cost. The Union in peace under
z
! ture. If there could be no assurance of this
with rebels bent on subvertiHg the republic to
establish an oligarchy of shareholders, then
to the loyal friends of free government in the
! South he rendered emancipation with COM
pensation and adeliverance by colonization
/ from war oil. races whiehs scouid only end in
the exterminatiou of the negro race or amal-
gamation with it. This falling after nearly
two years of expostulation and forbearance to
exert to the utmost the military power con-
ferred him under the constitution, the
! President felt himself constrained to issue
that Proclamation of freedom to the slaves
who were in every sense the enerny's sinews
of war. Some of them were found fighting
4 in their ranks-n1al.itudes in erecting and
defending their forti1cations-the greater
mass i'll the fields at home, enabling their con-
scription to drag every able bodied white man
finto the field of battle against the Govern
ment, who, when there, are literally fed and
paid by the produGis of that slave labor, to
secure and extend which was the pronounced
object of the war.
f This proclamation of the President was a
Il reluctant advance, because, however necesSa-
~, it proceeded solely from himself as being
alone Invested by the Constitution with the
direction of the military power of the nation,
2 and because in deciding on the necessity of
its application in the way which the exigen-
i cy before him seemed to. .demadd, he placed
s the Government in position from a0hict there
a0aS no retreat. The proclamation to the
slaves to weaken the enemy commits the ma
g 1 ton irrevocably to make good the pledge by
the utmost eEbibition Of its poaoer. 1t not on
ly creates, an obligation to the ebondsmen
whose action it is meant to CONTROL but it is
an implied pledge of honor to the foreign pow
ers whose conduct it is designed to influence.
That measure, which, as Commandet-in-C Chief
the President rightfully adopted under the
Constitution and in accordance with national
law to obtain the cooperation of whole
race of people, and which involves both life
and freedom in it's results, when proclaimed,
4 was. beyond, revocation by either the civil or
military authority of the nation. The people
once slaves in the rebel States can never again
be recognized as such by the United States
tno judicial sdecision-no legislative action,
State or national, can be admitted to re-en-
slave a people who are associated with our
| own destinies in this war of defense to save
the Government and whose manumission was
deemed essential5to the restoration and pre-
seryation of the Union and to its permanent
peace. .lg rs5s es6 7sdT .eai ei
The first movemen, in this grand system
I of emancipation has been already made under
the orders of the President 1t is seen in the
segregations of the blacks from their masters
and massing them at advantageous positions
on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the
shores of the Mississippi as they are drawn
from the interior. Here they are to be brought
within works which they wililbe taught to
construct and defend and have the contiguous
land assigned to them during the continuance
of the war to contribute to their sustenance.
Under proper discipline they viii here learn
much to fit them for self-government as al
independent people, associated with kindred
race that now invites them to a congenial cli-
mate and a soil rich in all the Productions
best suited to repay in commerce the nations
of more advanced civilization, for the protec-
ton and assistance they may have given them
in their new homes with the governments in
: to which they are admitted
Meantime, during the war the fortified pla-
ees these freed men may hold on the Missis-
Esippi sea coasts and elsewhere under their
/! control, and with the support of portions of
our armies will render the river Tand coast
commerce free to US and exclude it from the
enemy. When the war ends large numbers
of the boudsnen, which twill have liberated
J may still be retained temporarily and may be
i employed under wages in executing the plans
{ for national defense, proposed by the Military
5 Committee of the last House of Represents
tixes insthe conversion of the 7ntra canal nav
igation along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts,
;, now, to a considerable extent completed for
: small boats into ship canal from New Or
: leans to New York, and in enlarging the ca
!. nal now uniting the Lakes and Mississippi
: lie, the Erie Canal shall also be enlarged the
: whole region of the Mississippi and the At
lantic will be insulated and be invulnerable.-
!. The kindred measure-the Pacific Railroad
designed to carry the military power of the
Republic to the defense of our Pacific posses
sions if ever invaded, will be the work of Eu.
! ropean enigrants of our own blood, lured by
the rich domairi.it it penetrates, and which the
nation presents as an inheritance to those who
shall engage in its construction, se,a %
, -e scoLoNIzATIoN. 6s
: But the Mission of the Afric American
:, race will not be concluded in the region which
! has been its house of bondage. Its destined
glory as a, redeemed, free and civilized race
is to be consummated in the American tgep-
! les. They will there infuse yigor. unity aud
enterprise, with aspirations to emulate the
progressive genius of the country of heiI
|. birth. They will break the fetters of ('Ilbai
L I c.l.l j