Year: 1862

| pie are incapable Of self government, and j


now ours should be destroyed, il would


afford overwhelming practical proof Of thu


utter futility Of all efforts to support re


public. Despots will point with sneer t.


the failure Of The great Republic acros.


the Atlantic as the last fearful example Of


the folly Of mankind 10 this respect. They


have therefore great stake in this issue


If by any act of theirs, or by any influence


they are able to bring to bear, not danger


Gus in its ultimate consequences to theil
own existence, they can secure the perma


nent dissolution of the Union, and in tn.
end the division oftte residue into many
fragments, to be tramplcd under foot or spit
upon atthe caprice Of the great Powers


they will have furnished a demonstration o.


mans incapacity for selflgorernment tha,
all the lovers of freedom in the world viii
not be, able to rcfute. Who, then, car
doubt their disposition to aid the rebellion
But they cannot intervene without pre-.
text that viii meet the approval OF the moral
sense Of mankind. No merely material in.
terest win Justify their Intervention in favor
of rebellion against an established Govern
ment The example might be contagious. =
1t i not the interest of crowned heads to
sanction instructions. The scarcity Of
cotton will never induce England or France
to intervene. The support Of their opera
tives directly from their public treasures
until supply can be secured from other
quarters would cost them much less than
the cost of war with the United States for
single month. To interpose an armed
mediation would be equivalent to a declara-
tiOn of war which they cannot afford to
make for cotton. They will not, therefore,
at the beginning, probably, propose direct
armed Intervention in favor of the rebels
When intervention comes, If it ever should
come, it will be moral Intervention. They
will advise us to agree TO dissolution; they
will advise US that the material interests OF
both parts of the country and the welfare OF
the human family require it. II we presist
in our purposes, as we shall, they may in
duce the rebels to adopt an act Of emancipa-
ton on condition of recognition. They can
then exhibit us to the world as the persis-
tent prosecutors Of war for dominion, and
against the interests Of humanity. They
will prove this from our own State papers,
written by our great Secretary of State since
this struggle commenced, in which he has
distinctly informed the great Powers that
the relative condition of the people in the
rebelous States is to remain unchanged, let
this struggle terminate as 1t may.


Hence. in the contingency have suppos-
ed we would be placed before the democra-
cy of Europe clearly in the wrong, fighting
for dominion and the perpetuity of slavery
With the sympathies of the masses Of Eu
rope against US. with the four million slaves
probably armed in support Of the rebellion,
with the promise of freedom as the reward Of
their success, and with the predisposition of
all the crowned heads to suffer republics to
destroy themselves, my confidence in our
ultimate success would be greatly diminish
ed. We would, Of course, still succeed, if
God continued to he on our side. But in
that contingency, I am not certain that we
could count on His blessing. IL Napoleon
and England should interpose to create a
new nationality, and to liberate four million
slaves, they might claim to be intervening
dance with the great ideas that control the
civilization Of the age. Putting the inter-
vention on this ground, am not certain
that you could safely rely on the friendship
Of the Emperor of the Russians, on whose
support we have relied more strongly than
on any other nation. After having liberia
ted the serfs of his own, empire, how could
he be expected to make diversion in our
favor, and thus assist to rivet the shackles
on our slaves? l believe we may count on
his friendship to checkmate our enemies in
the Old World, always when we deserve it !;
but could we expect him, after having car.
ried into effect this great edict making citi-
zens of many millions of his own serfs, to
interpose in the face of the other Christian
nations to enable as to perpetuate slavery
within our limits , It would be unreasona.
BILE TO expect it. We should therefore antic.
ipatc by making it the interest of many mil
lions Of the people of tho rebel States to as
sist us, and the interests ofhumanity that
we should triumph.


If we act wisely and in accordance with
these intimations of an overruling Provi.
dence, do not believe the combined Pow.
ers Of the earth can put us down or inter-
yene between us and the certain achievement
of glorious destiny hence was gratified
beyond measure with the statement made
by the Senator from Kentucky, in his place
on the floor of the Senate, a day or two since,
that it the perpetuation of this Union re.
quired it, every slave that he owned should
freely 60, and every slave owned by his
neishbors in Kentucky would be freely Civ.
en- to save the country. / believe that the
time is now at hand when these great sacri
fees are demanded, when some plan for the
liberation Of the slaves, especially in the reb.
cl States, should be adopted, and the able.
bodied men incorporated into our armies, il
we would successfully maintain this strug.
gle for the perpetuatlon Of our nationality
As conceive, the door has beer thro xn
open by the hand of God. There is no Ion.