Year: 1862

The heaviest blow which the rebellion
has as yet received is that inflicted upon
it by the recent Message of the President.
Any lingering hopes of recognition that may
have remained to its foreign partisans after
the cruel disappointment of the Trent set
tlement will be dispelled by the receipt OF this
document. 1t goes out to Europe to-day, and
will create a profound sensation, not only
among all who sympathize with the cause OF
the Union, but among those who, for their
base and selfish purposes, have industriously
represented the North as being influenced in
the present struggle merely by the lust Of en-
pire.


Although the slavery question was not as is
pretended, the issue which provoked the rebel
lon,- it has undoubtedly embarrassed very
much the efforts Of the government to put the
latter down. Between the obligations of the
constitution the protection that we owed to loyal
slayeowners, and the harassing warfare kept
up against the administration by the abolition
lists, it seemed impossible for the President and
his advisers to steer any course that could give
general satisfaction. The more successful their
efforts in restoring the authority of the gov
ernment over Southern territory, the more
perplexing and difficult became their position.
Differences of views in the Cabinet, and con-
ficts of practice in the treatment of contra
bands in the camp, rendered their situation as
embarrassing one as could well be conceived.
But where was the solution to be found for an
enigma which had defed the ingenuity of all
those who were anxiously seeking for some
means of rcconciling the rights of the South
with the prejudices of the North, and Of thus
defeating the schemes of the abolitionists, who,
for their own fanatical purposes, are straining
every nerve to defeat the restoration Of the
Union. To the clear, logical and statesmanlike
mind of the President the country is indebted
for the suggestion of the only measure that
could meet all the phases of the difficulty. By
proposing the financial cooperation of the
federal government with any State which may
be disposed to adopt gradual abolition of
slavery, he at once acknowledges the right of
the States and of slaveowners to deal with the
institution and their individual property as
they think fit, and proposes to them means by
which, without injury to their own interests,
tIey Cdu Iudh0 buCu CVuCcoslOuS W NOTtueTu
feeling and the sentiment of the world gene
rally as will remove any further cause of dis
sension Cat least from this cause) between these
two great sections of the country.


Of the effect Of this proposition in England
there can be no second opinion. 1t is in entire
harmony with English views, which, strongly
repugnant as they are to the institution of
slavery, have yet still stronger respect for the
rights of property. 1t disposes effectually and
forever of the political question, without in
any way invading those rights. OF course the
amount of compensation which emancipation in
this form will involve will startle many. But
it should be recollected that the slave States
will only slowly fall into the arrangement, and
that it may take fifty years, nay, even
century, before the whole of the indemnity
which the United States is to furnish will have
to be paid. Its probable effect for the present
will be to remove from Virginia, Kentucky and
Tennessee an institution in regard to the adj
vantages of which their populations are very
much divided, and to confne it entirely to the
cotton States. Thus by this single measure the
rights of the latter are guaranteed, the loyalty
of the border States is secured, and abolition
ism receives death blow.


The English mind will not be slow to appre
ciate these facts 1t will see in them more
certain promise for the restoration of the Union
than any which the victories of our armies have
hitherto furnished. In great civil war like the
present, skilful military strategy is, compara
lively sreaking, of but little value, unless
fortified by able craftsmanship. Whatever
may have been our shortcomings in these
respects in the beginning foreigners will not
now, we think, hesitate to acknowledge that we
are in the right track to the accomplishment of
our objects.