The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-03-09


than ten hnes and for ons vesk only. An lisplaysd
advertisements measured By this rule.
specials 10 cents per hne.
- Adverssernsnss should b hanasd in Nopday
Afternoons, To insure insertion.
bellion can be presented than blockading
rebel ports, and treating them as the
ports of a foreign enemy. The Constitu-
ton is silent upon the subject, but the
Court held that the right is q necessary
part of the war making power 10 suppress
rebellion. 1t was done by order of the
President, and without authority or con-
current act of Congress-.
An attempt has been made from the
beginning to destroy rebel means of
transportation and communication, by
cutting up and destroying their railroads
bridges, steamboats, and shipping Of
every kind. The right to do this has not
been seriously questioned and is = part
of the war power vested in the President
as Commander in Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States.
But how shall the ability of the rebels
To feed and clothe their armies, and clothe
and suhsist their families at home. be de-
stroyed? That is great question de-
manding our consideration. To answer
it we must carefully consider in what
that ability consists. We find that this
ability consists chiefly in the labor OF
about four millions of negro slaves, who
are employed in producing food and
clothing for the families at home and the
armies in the field, providing munitions
Of war, repairing railroads, erecting forti-
fications, managing baggage trains, and
performing nearly all the labor in the
field. the workshop and the camp. We
shall find that if this slave labor could
be withdrawn their armies in the field
could not be fed and clothed, and that
the men composing those armies would
be compelled to return home and labor
for their own and the subsistence Of their
families
Their armies thus collapsed and dis
solved the rebellion would be ended, and
with it the war and effusion of blood.
But should there be those who deny
that the withdrawal from the rebels of
slave labor would be decisive upon the
rebellion. yet even they are bound to con-
fess that it would tend powerfully in that
direction, and greatly contribute to de-
stroy the vital resources of the rebels.
If, then, the withdrawal of slave labor
from the rebels would be so potent in its
effects and disastrous to the rebellion,
upon what ground can the existence Of
the power to do it be denied? As before
stated the right Of the Government to
blockade the ports of the rebellious
States has been solemnly declared by
the Supreme Court of the United States.
The right to destroy or appropriate to
the use of our own Government their
railroads, bridges, shipping, growing
crops and whatever property may be
useful to us, or the loss Of which would
be injurious to them, is scarcely denied
by the most bitter enemy Of the Govern
ment. How then can the right be de-
MED to destroy or remove the labor
which has produced all these things and
may restore them if they are taken away?
If the right exists to destroy the re-
sources of the enemy at all, why may it
not be done in this way? 1t tends to
the same result for which the blockade
was established, and differs only in form,
not in principle. And now ask if the
truth of this proposition can for mo-
ment be denied; that if it is the opinion
of the President as the Commander in
Chief of the armies Of the United States
that if the institution Of slavery is an
element of power in this rebellion, sub
sisting in whole or in part their armies
in the field and their families at home,
weaken, if not ruin, their cause, he has
the same right to pull it down that he has
to pull down rebel Notifications, block
ade their ports, cut up their railroads, de-
stroy their crops, or do any other act
which would impair or destroy the
strength Of the rebellion?
Some politicians seem to ignore the
fact that there is a vast difference between
war and peace, and insist that war shall
be carried on just as we carry on peace.
They do not comprehend that war, from
its very nature involves the exercise Of
powers, which, in times Of peace, are un-
necessary, and are prohibited. What
sort of war would that be which is
prosecuted on peace principles War
and peace are antagonistic states, and
each has its conditions, privileges, and
immnnities, which are antagonistic to
those of the other; and while our Con-
stitution is formed and provides mainly
for peace, yet it recognizes and provides
for the possibilities Of war.
EMANcIPATIoN PROCLAMATION.
Assuming that the President has the
right to withdraw from the rebels slave
labor, even destroy the institution of
slavery, if, in his opinion, he can thereby
weaken or destroy the rebellion, come
next to the consideration Of the question
as to the manner in which he may exer-
else this power Some there are who
say that, as this is military power it
must be exercised only by armies in the
field who shall march into the slave terri
tory and hberate the slaves from their
masters, and that the President has no
right to exercise it by proclamation,
which is merely . civil proceeding. To
this it may be answered that making war
is not confined to the use Of armies and
navies. and that If the fidelity Of the
army of an enemy or the allegiance Of
the inhabitants Of . hostile State can be
affected by proclamations or appeals, it
has been considered by every nation in
every age of the world, proper TO resort
to them, and has been the practice Of
mankind If the right exists, it may be
exercised in any way which shA1 he the
most efficient or least costly. The re-
duction Of the walls Of Jericho, by the
blowing Of rams horns, was certainly .