The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-01-09

! -. .i' ai'ihes sly prOciamation the prss
ioeht mas cut entirely away from M daN
Istitutional restraints, and has ICON, ~. con-
power III order to destroy slavery
charge would be serious and ne
enough if it could be made eood ming
cannot. Not that tho destruction Of sS a.R
~ IS regretted by any considerable nv
peI % loyai men II the free States ~.
there are very few who are willins pat
the Constitution violated or nnv nn ~ zee
rantable stretch Of power exercised war war.
fer an END so desirable. But the or,n1a aseh
assume this; they do not prove !, MN
oher of amnesty and pardon to tba ~ a a,e
on condition that they assent to em.,, us
oioh is as legitimate az the emancn.,ins
proclamation itself, and sinre hotb L.Ion
forth by the Presden. AZ sub;on, PVT
Constitution and the decision Of MI IT, ing
pre'ne Court, and also to mod;Gco.;o,1 ~
himself or by Congress, no oh;pct;op ~
pc maintained, unless it be as to tba av on
diency and sound policy Of those measnros
We mink IT can be clearly demonstra,o;
ma 'ne Administration has main,ained
rom hrst to last q constitutional nol;c,, ~
% slavery, and q truly conservative ,,asa,,
also, III every right sense Of that rn..k
abnsec word. And it must rn,fa;,,., ~
admitted that no Government ever h,a .
more difficult problem before il ina, ~.
wien he Government of the ITnitad
states mas thus successfully solved -
laloh q .he war TO slavery. It was not 4.
single difficulty, hut n combination ~ a. -
fcuitIeS, interviewer and underlad and 50
! completely involved, that right action ~
| one direction was almost certain III honat
wrong action III another; and the moral n
depreciation given To any possible line Of
poilcy was certain to be wrong and min
! flouS Tor the time being. So manifest yaro
the pcrpiexi.ies If the ease that at ti.st ina
lncst sagacinus statesmen thought i. .ha
only trae course to ignore slavery alto
getner, and to conduct the war "a If tba,o
| were no such institution in the insnrrec.
| tonary states. Events, however, soon
mace II clear that the question copld not
he evaded or deferred, and tlla. the proyi-
dental determination towards its so,u.ion
was irresistible
The friends AZ vol as the enemies nr ~.
Administration have alike contributed TO
increase the almost insupportable burthen
laid upon its shoulders. The southern load
ers made the main issue upon slavery
They muttered incoherently abon. tariffs.
contrived 10 enrich northern manufacture
ers and merchants at the expense OF south
ern producers; but their great grievance
vas the alleged intidelity Of the North TO
its constitutional obligations. Neyerthe-
less, as Mr.. Stephens, now Vice President
OF the Confederacy, told the State Conyen-
ton Of Georgia, the South could not assert
that the Federal government had failed Of
80 eoiAs.t.utiohdi uuty III any respect; the
South had reason to complain OF some OF
the States, but not Of the government Of the
United States; it had therefore absolutely
no justification for secession. This was not
only true, but more than half the people Of
the South knew it, and joined the rebellion
with Mr.. Stevens, in the full conviction
that it was wrong and must prove ruinous,
under the peculiar southern hallucination
that the first and highest loyalty of the citi-
zen is due to his State. The rebel leaders
declared they were fighting to defend sla-
very-what more natural than that the en-.
emies of slavery should demand, as the
first and great measure Of retributive JUS
tlce, and the essential means Of future har-
mony, Let Slavery be destroyed. How
vehemently this demand was made, is fresh
in popular recollection. But the oath TO
maintain and defend the Constitution was
yet warm on the lips Of the new President,
and he knew that it was of the utmost inn
portance to convince the people of the South
that he intended to keep his oath and res
ion forced upon that section by violent
minority might become real revolution,
and every Southern State be swept into the
vortex. The President has adhered to his
first purpose and pledge, whatever his enc
mics or his false friends may allege to the
contrary.
The right of the Government to employ
ward them with liberty, is no longer que6-
toned; it is universally admitted. Eman-
cipation thus became legitimate, indeed
an inevitable war measure. A years ex.
perience has shown that the negroes are
freed only as our lines are extended into
slave territory SO as to afford them protec-
ton. The proclamation has been useful
chiefly as an assurance of that protection,
to such as have heard Of it. Whether it
shall in future have the effect of law is
question for the courts, and perhaps for
party controversies. In purpose it was
purely a war measure, not civil act, and
it still rests on that foundation in the Pres
ident's mind, as his latest declarations
prove conclusively. 1t was not, therefore,
a departure from the declared policy of the
war.
In the border slave States we already
realize the fruit OF the constitutional policy
Of the Administration. If the destruction
war, these States would have joined the
rebellion; or if held back by the strong
,rm, their people would have been embit-
cred against the Government and in no
mood to accept the great lesson of the war.
But they now feel that they have been
honestly dealt with, and in all these States
here 8 q strong movement for voluntary
which is Fastening to speedy
success; indeed, in every border State ex-
.ept Kentucky emancipation is likely to be
IN accomplished fact even before its friends
AN agree upon the mode Of its accomplish
nent.
In the seeded States also, if we may
,redit accounts of fugitive Union men, the
,eople are beginning to discover that the
ate OF slavery is sealed, and they ascribe J.
Is destruction to the rebellion, and not TO
he Government. Thus, while the war
tself is Fastening to a glorious consum-
nation by series Of brilliant victories in
he field, we already fOresee the end OF the
,aleful institution out of which have come
ur national crimes and rnisfortunes. And
,e have the sure hope that when the last
attic is fought, and the last tetter broken,
nd we shout for a regenerated country
nd an indissoluble Union, it will be our
roudest boast that we have achieved all
his without one violation Of the Constitu-
on, or a single outrage upon the rights Of
single State. We shall have won liberty
,r all, and broken the supreme law TO
Republican.
HEROISM OF A MAIL CARRIER.-Mr. Cy-
us Clapp, the mail carrier on the route
'om Davenport to Iowa City viG Upton,