The Portland daily press., 1864-01-28

| IS expressly prOhlbfteu.
1t now only remains for Congress to pass a law
prohibiting the coast-wise and inter- tate slave trade
and no slaves can be sent from State or terrific.
| ry to another; and the result will necessarily be
that In no one of the rebel States can q slave be
| found or live.
We will take South Carolina for example In this
| State there is now not one slave Not one can be
carried there from outside of the United States for
the law of the land forbds and not one can be TAX
en- there from within the United States for the la
THAT is TO be As we assume) prevents And so with
| the passage of such q law as we have referred TO-
there can be no slave held hereafter in the State OF
Sonth Carolina, matter what her constitution or
local law provides fOrfor the simple and conclus.
i've reason that it is impossible for person TO be
found or taken there to whom her slave-laws en- in
any case attach. Her laws may remain unaltered
for century and the wishes Of the people to hold
slaves may be unchanged and yet will be impossi-
BILE for slaves to be held in the State-unless indeed
Congress should hereafter fit to -open the for.
eign or domestic slave trade and thereby practically
70 establish slavery. an event which we hardly
regard as within the bounds of human probability
Indeed the most perfect security that the nature
OF things, We can have against the restoration of
slavery would be in making 1t dependent upon the
affirmative action of the two branches of Congress
and the approval of the President. We NAV think
possible for one or more Of the slave States to
break through all conditions and restraints for the
sake of re-introdueing slavery; but that majority
of the Senators and Representatives in Congress
should be willing to pass law for that purpose is
quite beyond the range of our fears. At any rate
when Congress shall be ready TO do this II would be
equally ready to release the States from all condi.
into the Union.
Thusthe plan. II such it can be called. which we
have suggested promises TO be effective as il is
simple.
TO set ii on foot, aud ensure complete success-a,
sumng as we must in any case that the lava of the
land VIII be duly executed -.an act of Congress
which may be embodied in one brief section raising
no questions o. disputed authority interfering with
no pet theories, encountcrng no prejudices and ef
fecing complications is all that Is required And
hot only would slavery bo practically abolished
in the insurgent States but their siaye-h )dng
laws would soon b swept away. also. For it cam
nnf hp dnn 1faHf fhQ+ thfI .VraIx
these States shall have returned to their alleganre
will be restored the functions of government see.
ing that any attempt to hold slaves therein woud b
in violation of the laws of the nited States aud of
the general sentiment of the country and that
there was no probability of either being changed.
would, without delay, place their State laws upon
this subject in harmony with those Of the nation as
we'll as with the opinion of mankind. As these
laws would be imperative. being inconsistent with
laws Of paramount authority there would seem to be
no reason for retaining them. And thus would he
brought about, naturally aud easily the grand re.
suits to which the rebellion points, Union of Free
States.
Meanwhile, the government provided for these
States will see that the laws of the land are faith
fully executed. Whether such governments should
be placed over them by authority of Congress
or By the act of the President is question Which
VIC have not been clined TO discuss and wedismss
il with the single observ alton, that while we doubt
not the power of the President. we would regard
general law Of Congress, re- uatng its exercise on
We unable to discover any foundation for The
doubts sometimes expressed TO the efficacy of tho
Proclamation III the legal import and pracfiea
Grafton of that instrument doubtful { cd help us
there is nothing certain. If the Proclamation is fail.
ure, the rebellion is, and ought TO be, a success
If the President, charged by the people with tbe
duty of maintaining the Constitution and preseryiny
the government, and bound TO IL by solemn oath
wieding. SO far as the Commander-in Chief OF the
Army and Navy OF the United States can the en-
tire power OF the country, had right 10 mt
down the rebellion by force, he had also the right 10
employ all means and agencies necessary to effect
that end not inconsistent with the laws Of nstions
and of humanity, or. as he has tesely expressed H.
mot barbarous or cruel" TO maintain that the
Cofnmander-in-Chief is bound to respect and moi
interfere with the property of traitors in the form OF
slaves, is the same thing in effect as it would be 10
maintain that rebel In arms has riohf to demand
of the government protection in the nosscssan and
use of those means and implements vi hch he is en-.
ploying TO destroy that government; or. in other
the right of the nation.
The President has acted upon the other a.sump-
ton, and II he was right In so doing if the rights OF
the nation are greatest, and it L. under no constiu
tiona obligation to help traitors destroy itself: and
/, , traitors-who are self.eected outlaws-haro no
manf silly this act not only LOCAL and con.tiiu
tional but, as being the most efficient was also the
most legal and constitutional act he could perform
And il will stand II will do It's perfect work too
The honor and good faith of the nation are pled ged
TO it. II viii ceaseto be nation when 1t fails to
carry out in all fidelity, and TO the last measure
which 1t caused 10 be adopted in good faith to save
lis own life, and which has had all the effect and in
duenee anticipated from its aSoption-a measure
upon which the Commzndcr-in Chief believing n 10
be "warranted by the Constitution upon military
necessity confidently invokedhe siderate jnd q
ment Of mankind AMI the gracious favor Of Almigh.
ty God
sIt has been coutended in some Quarters that the
authority OF the Commander Chief is limited 10
the territory in the actual occupation of the Army
or Navy, aud that before act of the President in
this capacity can have any legal effect in State in
insurrection against the United States. there must
be actual military occupation Of it, Of so much Of
y as to nave broken down all organized and etiec-
tive resistance therein.
For example. il would be admitted. perhaps. that
there Is such military possession Of Tennessee by
the Federal Government as is required to give Hgal
effect to the proper military orders and aets Of the
Consnander -in-C hief while Il would be denied that
there Is such possession of South Carolina or Geor-
gia.
II is also insisted that the authority of the Com
mander-in-Chief, in respect to the emancipation Of
slaves Is founded Upon as i i. only warranted by
military necessity, and that there is rightful
power where the necessity does not exist. il oby-
ousy results from these premises that if thepeope
of one or more States are in open rebellion and in
such force that the military power Of the nation Is
in actual occupation Of only few scattered points
In such States, and can make no further progress.
and Is in danger Of being driven from the places al.
ready held, and there Is only expedien by which
the power of the rebels can be checked and broken
that one indispensable expedieut cannot be made use
OF for the reason that there is no legal authority
therefor-in other words, because there does not in
here In the Constitution the right and power to save
itself In q certain contingency And then the mo-
laenf our armies have advanced and obtained prac-
tlcal possession OF State (as they have uf Tennesseel
this power cannot be exercised because the mitary
necessity in which, in th. instance Its exercise rests
no longer exists, and that falling. the power il
self has fallen. Before the aotnal military posses
sion II is too early, afterwards il is too late And so
it TO this. that there no power In any ease or
at any time in the President and Commander~in
Chief, TO emancipate the slaves OF rebels even
though such an ACT be the single condition upon
which the Union can be preserved, and our fathers
have made Constitution BY which slavery is great
than itself and more sacred than the tioyernment
II created We cannot believe that the power 10
save tie Union eoDsttntionally in any possble con
tlngeney is wanting. Rather would we hold with
the reason and logic OF the ease, that wherever the
session h- military acts and orders are legally op-
eTsNe, although he may not be able to enforce them
until the actual occupancy accompanies the right
OF occupancy The right OF military oecupation
covers every rebel state and Territory in the I'm
ion, and the territory which the orders and de-
erees Of the Commanderin-C Chief are operative (be-
ing such a. in other respects legal Is co-exten-
siye with that which he has a right to occupy with
military power, Has the Commander -in-t hiof
right 10 march his armies into South Carolina
State being in rebellion, The case Is utterly un-
like that OF claim to exercise authority In d for
eign State in which the Commander has no actual
occupancy and TO hold that the Commander in hief
OF thls Nation has no mOge nower under the Con-
sitution to give orders and make DEGREES affecting
things In South Carolina than he would have power
TO make orders TO be operative in Canada is smplv
TO make South Carolina foreign State,
The only safe and poFFeet doctrine we think h this
that wherever the ioaai rsIt 10 occupy by
the military power exists, chat power is to sc re-
garded as e0nstructively in occupation or SO far as
TO render its proper military acts and DEGREES oyer
such territory lawful and binding, NJ danger need
be apprehended from The 1spre,se VI siis power as
the rigni 9i IAiiiNsA 90 Snll,toh Of the Command
crslnsC sChieil except IN Of foreign invasion cx
tefds only TO localities where the people are in ac-
tual rebellion, OF where 1t may have been carried
by act ofCongress.