Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-05-01
miscellaneous &eadimg.
From the Richmond Dispatch.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.


From the Richmond Dispatch.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. .
A late number of the Galary, contains pa
per written by Mr.. Gideon Welles, which
gives the history of Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation. Mr.. Welles was Mr.. Lincoln's
Secretary of the Navy, and speaks from per-
sonal knowledge:
"The contrabands" were from the begin
ming of the war, source Of great trouble to
the truly loyal. BY the constitution, proper
ty in slaves was fully guaranteed, and United
States laws required the Federal authorities
to restore to their owners all fugitive negroes
AS the war was waged by the Washington
functonaries with loud professions to maintain
and preserve the constitution, any interference
with the property in, or the status of, the ne
gro would be fiat and patent contradiction
Of the avowsd objects Of the war Many of
the Federal Generals deemed it their duty to
respect the constitution and laws, and they
did so by, sending back to their masters the
slaves that fled to their camps. But this pro-
ceeding excited violent protestations from the
fanatics "The orders (says Mr.. Welles) Of
such officers as Generals Mcclellan, Halleck,
Dix, and others, prohibiting the fugitives from
coming within the army lines, caused great
dissatisfaction at the North, without appeasing
any at the South" Stimulated by this ia
natic feeling, General Hunter took it upon
himself to proclaim the freedom of the slaves
in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
President Lincoln promptly (19th May, 1862
issued counter-proclamatio annulllng that
of Hunter, saying that the question of freeing
the slaves 81 reserve to myself" and cannot
feel justified in leaving to the decision ofcom'
manders in the field.
Lincoln, who had scruples of conscience,
appreciated the difficulties of his position.
He had taken no oath to defend the Union.
The oath he had taken was simply "to pro-
tect, 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 emancipation 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 tor 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 He, therefore, at an
early period of his administration, some time
before his emanci patton proclamation was
projected, devised plans for the deportation
and colonizing of the colored population. In
these various projects of deportation and col
onzation he was earnestly sustained by the
Acknowledgement, Bates, the Postmaster Cen
eral, Mr. Blair, and the Secretary of the In
terror, Mr. Caleb Smith," Even when his
emancipation proclamation was issued, de-
portation continued to be favorite idea with
him, and he never abandoned it.
As to the motive which prompted his eman-
cipation proclamation, we are told by MIR.
Welles, "he was governed not by sympathy
for the slave, but by a sense Of duty, and the
obligations which, as chief magistrate, he
owed to his country.
It was not until after McClellan's failure
on the Peninsula that Mr.. Lincoln recognized
the necessity of abolition to save the govern
ment. He came to Harrison's Landing to
visit General Mcclellan and see for himself
the condition of the army. The next Sun:
day, after his return, on his way to funeral
with Mr.. Welles and Mr.. Seward in the car
riage, he, for the first time, indicated his pur-
pose to proclaim emancipation. "He saw no
escape" And, in the language of MIR.
Welles, this humilating confession was ex-
torted from his lips:
"We must free the slaves or be ourselves
subdued"
That is, the great Federal authority, backed
by twenty-five Millions would be subdued by
the six millions Of rebels, if they did not
bring the negroes to their aid We suppose,
as Mr.. Welles records it, this must be the yer.
dict of history.
The quibbe by which he got rid of his
oath, "to protect, preserve and defend the
constitution" is thus given:
"If there was no constitutional authority in
the government to emanci pate the slaves,
neither was there any authority, specified or
reserved, for the shareholders to resist the
government or secede from it (O They could
not at the same time throw off the constitution
and invoke its aid. Having made war upon
the government, they were subject to the incl
dents and calamties Of war, and it was our
duty to avail ourselves of every necessary
measure to maintain the Union. If the rebels
did not cease their war, they must take the
consequences of war. He dwelt earnestly on
the gravity, Importance and deicacy of the
movement, which he had approached with re-
luctance, but he saw no evidence Of cessa-
tion of hostlities said he had given the sub
iect much thought and had about come to the
conclusion that it was military necessity,
absolutely essential to the preservation of the
Union. We must free the slaves or be our
selves subdued."
Having thus satisfied his conscience, that a
wrong by the rebels justified him in violating
his oath, he called meeting of his Cabinet.
Mr. Welles gives the following account Of the
"Early in August-it has been said on Sat-
urday, and if so, it was, think, the I'd Of that
month-the President called Especial meeting
of the Cabinet The meeting was in the IL
brary of the Executive Mansion, and not in
the Council CL. .er, where the regular ses-
sions we're usually convened. All were pres
ent except Mr.. Blair, who had gone to his
country residence in Montgomery county. If
l am not mistaken, Mr.. Chase was also, from
some cause, absent from the first meeting.
The President stated that the object for which
he had called us together was to submit the
rough draft of proclamation to emancipate,
after certain day, all slaves in the States
which should then be in rebellion. There
were, he remarked, differences in the Cabinet
on the slavery question, and on emancipation,