New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-26
THE LATE CIVIL war.

The " Orld recently denounced, WITHOUT prov
Ocation, the late War on the part of the Union
as "hideOus and unnecessary with much more
of the sort. This melted us to respond, insist
ing that, while that war was indeed "hldeous
"and unnecessary it was the result OF
wanton and therefore wicked Rebelion-that
the Union side of it was strictly defensive
forced upon us by that needless Rebellion. To
which The World rejoins:
ave do not what good end is answered by trying to
keep up the old anmOsity against the South tcerany
does not tend 10 restore alenated friendship or TO in
the Southern estimate OF the justice or magma
nimty of the North.
arms but acted under real grievances ana great prov
ocations The war could have been ayerted by conces
scourge. The extension Of the Missouri Compromise
line to the Pacific, with an understanding mat slavery
be tolerated In all territory south OF II, would
have preserved peace IL must DO remembered tla al
that time, there was no question OF the abolition OF
Slavery. The establishment " such line would have
reduced 10 human being 10 bondage who was not IN
bonds before II would have been all the same to negro
and his descendants whether they 10 be slaves in
Virginia In some territory. The emigration OF
is 10 proper Of the words an extension Of
thing from tho removal Of slaves to new home. such
removals neither agayato nor mitigate the condition OF
sorYitude and therefore were not 81 Importance enough
to DO weighed against the horrors OF great civil war
Comments By The Tribune.
/. It seems perfectly proper to The World TO
assail the supporters of the Union in our late
struggle as guilty therein of the most atroclOus
crimes but when we repel those imputations
and show that the War was not melted by the
North, we are charged with trying to keep
sup the old animosity against the South We
must insist that if the Loyal Millions are not
to be defended, they must not be calumni-
atcd.
II. The World fails to notice orr proof that
the Republicans were not only publicly pledged
to oppose the diffusion of Slavery under our
flag, but had publicly proclaimed that there
was no rightful p0cer to enact such diffusion.
They would have been self-cOndemned as
usurpers had they done what that journal says
they should have done.
III. The World thinks the extension of the
area of slayeholding made no difference TO the
slaves. So the Shareholders said but we never
heard Of an anti-Slayery man who agreed with
them. No slave ever contemplated without
shuddering the prospect of being sold away
from Virginia into Mississippi or Texas. If the
whcat-growDg area of this country were ten
millions of acres, and it were proposed to annex
ten millions more, nobody would doubt that we
should ultimately grow more wheat on twenty
millions of acres than we formerly did on ten.
1t was by successive anneXatiOns OF fresh slave
holding territory that Slavery was kept so vital
and powerful from 1900 to 1860. The Southern
orators continually insisted that new territory
was essential to the existence of Savery-that
il confined within a restricted area, it must
exhaust tho soil, become unproftable and die
ont We presume they understood the matter
They fought for the right of Slavery, then, in
demanding new concessions of Slavery, as we
fought against Slavery in resisting them.
Neither party was so blind rs The World would
make it. We hnd "a right to resist Slavery Ex-
tension, as Jefferson had taught us to do. We
did resist it, and Slavery is no more. Would
The World restore it to life if it could If not,
why not accept the situation" and hold your
peace