The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1872-12-06
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
The Slaves of the South Freed to Save
the North from Defeat.
IFrom the Richmond Dispatch. ]

tains a paper written by Mr.. Gid
con Welles-which gives the history
ofLincoln's Emancipation Proclama-
ton. Mr.. Welles was Mr.. Lincoln's
Secretary of the Navy, and speaks
from personal knowledge.
.EThe contrabands" were from the
beginning of the war, source Of
great trouble to the truly loyal. By
the Constitution, property in slaves
was fully guaranteed, and the Unit.
cd States laws required the Federal
authorities to restore to their own
ers all fugitive negroes. AS the
war was waged by the Washington
functionaries with loud professions
to maintain and preserve the Consti-
tuition, any interference with the
property in, or the status of, the ne
gro, would be fiat and patent con-
tradiction Of the avowed objects of
the war. Many of the Federal Gen
erals deemed it their duty to respect
the Constitution and laws, and they
did so by sending back to their mas
tiers the slaves that fed to their
camps. BUT this proceeding excit>
ed violent protestations from the
fanatics. "The orders (says Mr..
Welles) of such officers as Generals
Mcclellan, HaIleck, Dix, and 9th
ers, prohibiting the fugitivcs from
coming within the army lines, cauS-
ed great dissatisfaction at the North,
without appeasing any at the South"
Stimulated by this fanatic feeling,
General Hunter took it upon him
self to proclaim the freedom of the
slaves in South Carolina, Georgia
and Florida. President Lincoln
promptly (19th of May, 1862 is
sued counter proclamation, annull>
ing that of Hunter, saying that the
question of freeing the slaves 81 re-
serve to myself, and cannot feel JUS
tilted in leaving to the decision of
Commanders in the field"
Lincoln, who had scruples of con-
science, appreciated the difficulties
of his position. He had taken no
oath to defend the Union. The
oath he had taken was simply "to
protect, preserve and defend the
Constitution of the United States"
To his plain, practical mind, it was
rather an odd way Of preserving the
Constitution, by disregarding its
provisions and trampling it under
foot. He sought to get around the
difficulty by attempting to get the
border States, Maryland, Kentucky
and Missouri, to decree emancipa-
ton of their slaves, for which the
government should pay them. For
he again and again confessed that
no authority but that Of the States
could touch the subject. A part of
his scheme was the expectation of
the negroes; for he was thoroughly
convinced that the two races, both
free, "could not dwell together in
unity, and as equals, in their social
relations. There was, he thought,
a natural antagonism between the
whites and blacks, which could not
and ought not to be overcome. lie
therefore, at an early period of his
administration, some time before his
emancipation proclamation was pro-
liected, devised plans for the depor-
tation and colonizing of the colorod
population. In these various pro-
jects of deportation and colonization,
he was earnestly sustained by the
Attorney General, Bates, the Post
master-G General, Mr.. Blair, and the
Secretary of the Interior, Mr.. Caleb
Smith" Even when his emancipa
ton proclamation was issued. dcpor-
tation continued to be favorite idea
with him, and he never abandoned
it.
AS to the motive which prompted
his emancipation proclamation, we
are told by Mr.. Welles, che was
governed not by sympathy for the
slave, but by sense of duty, and
the obligations which, as chief mag
istrate, he owed to his country"
1t was not until after McClellan's
failure on the Peninsula that Mr..
Lincoln recognizable necessity of
abolition to save the Government.
He came to Harrison's landing to
visit General Mcclellan and see for
himself the condition Of the army,
The next Sunday, after his return,
on his way to a funeral with Mr..
Welles and Mr.. Seward in the car
riage, he, for the first time, indica-
ted his purpose to proclaim emancl>
patton. Gle saw no escape" And
in the language of Mr.. Welles, This
Illuminating confession was eNtorteu
from his lips
ave must free the slaves or be
ourselves subdued."
That is, the great Federal au
thority, backed by twenty-five mil
lions, would be subdued by the six
millions rebels, if they did not bring
the negroes to their aid We sup
pose, as Mr.. Welles records it, this
must be the verdict of history.
The bubble by which he got rid
of his oath "to protect, preserve and
defend the Constitution" is thus
given:
"Ifthere was no constitutional au-