Year: 1862

the physician should know the disease
which he is called on to treat and TO cure
If the rebellion was made by two hun
dred and fifty thousand shareholders, fol
the sake of perpetuating slavery, then il
might be a complete remedy TO extirpats
the institution; but if the rebellion has
grown out of the adherence of the non
Shareholders for emancipation and anal
gamation and their dread Of "negrc
equality" how will their discomfort be
cured by the very measure the mere ap'
prehension of which has driven them
into rebellion?


No wise man desires to increase the
number Of enemies to the State within
the hostile regions, or divide its friends
outside. Mr.. Lincoln knew that decree
of emancipation, simply, would certainly
have this effect. Such an act he knew
was calculated to make rebels of the
whole Of the non-slaveholders of the
South, and at the same time to weaken
the sympathy of large number of the
working men OF the North, who arc not
ready to see their brethren IN the South
put on an equality with manumitted ne
groes.


In accordance with this view of the
subject, proclaimed before he was named
for the Presidency, he has acted since he
has been President. To disarm the jeal-
ousy of race, which he knew lay at the
bottom of the rebellion, he recommended
in his first annual message that homes
should be provided in some neighboring
country for such of the blacks as should
be made free by the events of the contest
But this did not complete his view of the
subject. While aware that the chief
cause Of the rebellion was the antagonism
of race, stimulated by the disappointed
and defeated politicians, who had made
it the source of their power over the
government, he also saw that the prog
ress of events had affected and would
still further affect the class who had prop
erty interests in the subject. And while
it was true that the class had not origin
ated the policy which eliminated in the
rebellion, they were now involved in it,
many of them actually engaged, and ALL
whether sympathizing with it or not,
having their property staked on it, and
therefore in danger of being drawn into
it. TO do justice to those who were not
engaged in the rebellion, and to prevent
them from being drawn into it by their
property interest, and invite their co-ope-
ration in ridding the country of this dis.
turbing element, he now proposes a mea-
sure of compensation for their interests.


Ii we were called to consider this poll
cy, simply upon its reasonableness alb
stractly considered, and were devising a
scheme for future events, its wisdom
would be apparent to all practical men !;
bnt it does not rest on such grounds. 1t
is fully vindicated by the condition of
things by which we are surrounded
The North is unit, and the South is di-
vided on the question of the Union.--
Could the gentlemen who are advertising
for a policy for the administration i'm
prove this condition by policy which
would divide our friends and unite the
South? They imagine, indeed, that by
decreeing emancipation they could get
more efficient help from the negroes. If
they could show any reason for supposing
that the negroes would run away in any
greater numbers than theyn do, under
such decree, there might be some
ground for debate; but there is not the
slightest reason for supposing this. Ali
run away now, l believe, who can get
away. IL is only when our armies invade
the slave regions that they can get away,
and it would still require that the forts
they are compelled to build should be
taken by our armed men. We could not
strengthen ourselves at the North by this
measure certainly; we have already the
whole force Of that region: and we could
not strengthen ourselvesat the South, for
we cannot reach the slaves by such a
proclamation except by force, and We
should add to the force of the free men
to oppose us.


These considerations demonstrate that,
in military calculation, the policy to
which the President is invited by por.
ton of his original friends is erroneous.


But many reject arithmetic in consid-
ering this policy, and imagine that the
inscription of emancipation upon our
banners would be q talismanic word
which would carry victory with it.
doubt whether any better conquering
words could be invented than those we
now conquer by: "The Union, the flag,
the government founded by Washington,
maintained by Jackson" language which
speaks to the hearts of our soldiers, and
to the world, of the nationality of the
great Republic. / am for the freedom Of
all races and creeds, and look for the day
to come, and that not far distant, when
the flag of the Union shall float over nc
slave, and our country shall be absolutely
the land Of the free; but the battle now
is for the country, and the gallant men
who day by day find a bloody winding
sheet, give their lives for this cherished
idea, and not for the emancipation Of the
| African race.


Having considered the Presidents pol
10y on the subject Of slavery as military
policy, let us view it in its bearings OF
the extinction Of the institution itself. A
brief retrospect is necessary to its com
prehension in the present state Of th'
question. 1t is important, in the frs


place, to see what was the essential issu,
in tho last Presidential election. thinI