The Portland daily press., 1863-08-03

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recognize and MAINTAIN The freedom Of said per-
sons And upon this act, sincerely believed
to be act of Justice warranted by the Constitution
upon military necessity, invoke the considerate
judgment OF mankind, and the gracious favor of Al
mighty God.
In this same proclamation in which the
President conferred the legal right to free
dom upon millions of colored people of the
rebel states, who for two centuries had been
troddeR beneath the iron heel of the oppres-
sor, he also encouraged THIS eufranchsed race
TO do acts worthy of freemen, by further de-
claring and making known shat such persons,
| Slaves of suitable condition, will be received
into the armed service of the United States,
to garrison forts, positions, stations, and
other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in
| in said SERVICE"
Under the stimulus afforded by the legal
| right to freedom, conferred by the proclama-
ton and the hope of actual freedom under
the protection of the Executive powers inclu-
| ding the army and navy of the nation. thou
sands and tens of thousands of those dusky
sons of toll have come forward, and have been
performing service, striking blows, manifes-
ting a courage, and enduring sufferings in
behalf of the salvation of nation that is
pledged TO maintain their freedom, worthy OF
the best age and the best blood of the re-
public.
Now when under the operation of measures
solemnly adopted by the President for the sal
walton of the Union our successes are causing
rebels to be disheartened, and when, to accom-
plish that great primal object he has been
forced to pledge freedom to millions of men,
women and children innocent of all response
bility for the evils through which we are pass
ing, and as consequence the rebellion is be-
ginning to thow unfiiistakable signs of going
under, Mr.. Lincoln is called upon to set aside
his own act" an act OF justice warranted by
the constitution upon military necessity" an
act upon which he has solemnly invoked the
considerable judgment of mankind and the gra-
cious favor of Almighty God"-and remand to
slavery, perpetual and irrevocable, those same
millions of innocent persons as an act Of Glenn
ency to men guilty of the blacklist treason, and
of every crime known to the calender! Such
is the demand.
Now we insist that the President has no
power to comply with any such terms, even
were he disposed to do so. The moment he
issued his LIST OF January proclamation, erery
Stare in the rebel Statesmen excepted by the
terms of that proclamation-in the eye of the
executive power of the nation, in the eye Of our
military and naval power, was from that mo-
ment FREE, and his slavery since has been
forced upon him in contraveDton OF the high
est law and the strongest power of the nation.
By that proclamation every such slave was
made legally free, and the power of the nation
was solemnly pledged to make that abstract
freedom practical fact; and just the moment
any such slave comes within reach of the ma
tional power, or the national power extends to
the locality of any such slave, just that mo-
ment his freedom must be made practical or
the government riu be guilty Of a fraud upon
him, and Of practical blasphemy against Al
nightly God whose gracious favor upon the
pledge of emancipation has been solemnly in
voked
We submit, that while the war power au-
thorizes the President to emancipare the
slaves, to confer freedom upon them that the
Union may be saved, there is no power on
earth or in heaven which authorizes him to
conrert FREE MEN into slaces, and precisely
this is what he is asked to do. The Argus says
in substance that refusal to do this would be
crime against the nation. Would it be no
crime to comply with such demand?
The States in rebellion on the LIST of January,
contained 4,622,6Sl white population and 81
245,39l slaves. When the portions Of those
States upon which the proclamation has no
bearing are taken out, and when very mode
rate allowance is made for the anti-slavery
men Of the South and those who are willing
that slavery should fall that constitutional lib
erty may live, it is reasonable to conclude that
the number of slaves legally emancipated by
the proclamation far erceeds the remainder
of the white population of the rebel states
Such being the fact the demand put forth in
in the Argus is simply this: that the three
and a quarter millions of innocent people,
guilty of no offence, should be robbed of the
rights of freedom and manhood. conferred
upon and pledged to them by the proclama-
ton, and for which many of them are heroi-
cally fighting and pouring out their blood, and
that they and their posterity be doomed to
iniermnabe slavery for what? as an act Of
clemency 10 less than their otua number Of
the most Infamous traitors that ever by null
tiplied and crimson crimes merited halter.
This, then, is copperhead justice; rank injus-
tice and wrong TO the innocent that clemency
may be extended 10 the vile and guilty! We
have no fears of such result There is no
necessity for such a result. Rebellion is now
tottering to its fall. The Shareholders as such
have invited their own ruin I; it is mercy TO
them and an act OF safety to the nation, that
they should experience that ruin, aud drain
the cup which their own hands have mixed to
its very dregs. Our cause is now bright and
prosperous. The sympathies of the world are
with us. Heaven looks on with favor. The
freedom of the emancipated millions of our
land must become a practical fact as it is
now an abstract legal right. The President
has given his word. He cannot recall it. He
has no right, no power to do so. Its recall
would draw down upon him the excavations
of all good men aud the curse of that Almighty
God whose favor he has invoked.
Commencement at Bowdoin.
BowDoIN COLLEGE, July 81.
To the Editor OF The Press