Year: 1861




"of civil war;" we also are ready to "meet
reasonable propositions" we also beg leave to
acquiesce in the luminous proposition that patri-
otism which costs nothing is the cheapest kind;
ncr have we the least disposition to dispute that
the courage which only exists when there is no
danger is not worth having. SO far we quite go
along with our Albany cotemporary. Our differ
ence with it is, not in the propositions, but their
application We hold with the Chicago Platform,
with the principles which the Republican party
has so long contended for, and at length sue
ceeded in securing as the policy of the Govern
ment. that to carry Slavery into the Territories
is a dangerous political heresy, at variance
"with the explicit provisions of the Constitution,
revolutionary in tendency, and subverslve OF
go the peace and harmony of the country" There
fore we hold that the Constitution permits no
cancellation or concession on point SO clearly
understood, so long contended for, 80 triumphanty
established and so manifestly just. noble, and
true. The horrors Of civil war appall us-we con-
fess it at the risk of the imputation OF courage
thin and cheap-but the horrors of civil and chattel
Slavery, born again into new life on the almost
boundless virgin region of the South and West;
the horrors Of endless wrongs to uncounted gen.
erations yet to come; the horrors OF the serVlle
wars that shall appa our children and our chill
dren's children when half century more shall
array forty millions of slaves against those who
hold them in bondage; nay the horrors OF that
civil subjugatiOn to which we, before two years
are over, shall be compelled to succumb, IT, on
this point, we yield single inch-all these ap-
pall us more than any threat or even any posi-
bility of civil war which these weak and vain
glorious traitors Of the South can visit upon US.


Reasonable propositions we are ready to


listen TO. But nothing reasonable has been proposed;
nor do we believe there ever will be. Reason
able 1t is to libel reason, and put it below
mere brute instinct, to propose to party OF
hundreds of thousands Of men, who have strug


pled no long, who know 80 well why they have
struggled. and have gained at length, all that
they struggled for, that they should lay down
quietly al the fruits Of that victory-a victory
that belongs not TO them only but to humanity
and the future. Better that the victory had
never been ours, if we have neither the strength
nor the virtue to hold it. Had We been defeated,
the Opposition would have never gained, and
have never asked that the concessions and con-
citations, the compromises and constitutional


amendments, winch are now proposed on all
aides should have been yielded to Slavery.


Verify, we may ask, "Is thy servant dog
that he should do this thing" Have we been
forging chains these many years when we
thought We we're loosing riyetsl And are we
now 10 kneel down with our faces in the dust
to fasten them on our own free Gmbsi Pros
perity has blessed us for half a century as
nation was never blessed before; the Union
has its advantages, its uses, and its glories;
but neither union, nor prosperity nor wealth,
nor greatness, nor glory, is worth the price OF
liberty, Of national virtue, Of national honor. Nor
can we possess the one long without the other.
There ia anothet old book that has some truth in
il beside Shakespeare, where it is asked" what
{" shall il profit q man if shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul" Even for
very shame before the world let us have done
with this cant Of concession while traitors with
arms in their hands set the Government at de-
fance, and demand Of free people that they
shall repent their belief in the doctrines OF the
Declaration Of Independence and forget that there
il such an element in human reason as common
sense. or such feeling in the human heart as a
sense Of manly self-respect.