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Why Prolong The War?

Why Prolong The War? image
Parent Issue
Day
30
Month
September
Year
1864
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

HenatoröKWAKt) recontly niadea fpeecn at Auhuin, Ñew York, in wliicli lie defended bolk the military and political policv of the administration. He defined tlie position of die President upon t'.iü sul'jcet of slavery, aud' the efl'ect of the eniancipatiou proolaniatioas, as follows : " Although altogethcr unauthorized to speak f'or tlic President upon hypotheti cal questioiiF, 1 think I can give an auswer upon the subject of slavery a' the present day - an ouswer which will be explicit, and I hope not altogether unsatisfactory. While the robéis continuo to wugo war agaifist the government of lbo United States, tlic military measures offeotiDg slaverv, which have been adopted from neccsBity, to bring the war to a speedy aud successful end, will bo . tinued, except so far as practical expericnce shall show that tliey can be modiüud advantageously with a view to the same end. When tho insurgoiits shall have disbandcd theiitv armief", and laid dowu their arms, the war yii instautly eease - and all the war measures then existing, inol.qdine thosc which affect alarerj, will coase also, and aH the Hioral, economical and politieal questioius as well (prstiona affcctir.g slavcry as others which shall be theu existing, betwgon individuals, nnd States, and the Federal (roverrimeut, whether they arose before the eivil war began, or whether hoy gruw out of it, will, by force of the Constitution, pass ovor to tho arbitrament of the eourts of law, and to the councils of legislation." And this answers the question at tho head of this articlo. Mr. Seward and j his radical associatea of the " ' ble conflict" school do not believe the emancipatiou proclamatioo worth the pnper it svas vvritteu on ; they kuow that legnlly it did not chango tho rclation of a single gltve ; thoy know that at tle end of" the war and the restoration of the Union, tho States will exert the same control over the institution as before ; and henee they seck to e'rüfih it by prolonging the war uut il the péople of tho South shall guarautee tho " abaudonmeut of ílavery'' as a condition of peace. They will not accept unconditional Union under the Constitulion, but make conditions they know the South will not accept, and in their rejection find escuse to blot out tho States to get rid of tho peculiar iustitution. Are the American people ready for a struggle of such indefinite length? JL3L" At the 3d session of the llth i Congress, in 1811, the dissolution of the Union was spoken of for the firat time by a member from the State of Massachusetts, sa a possible event of the future. ' The nianner iu which this was receivcd 1 by that Congress, seemed to indícate that 1 it wis looked upon by them ahnost tvith sentimenls of alhuirence. - Appletoii's ■ eopcdia, 1801. The occasion was the consideration of a bilí for the adraissiou of the State of ' Louisiana into the Union. Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, made the following deelaratioD, reduced to writing by hirnself, hc having been called to order by Mr. Poindextcr , "If thisbill passes, it is my delibérate opinión that it is virtually a dissolutiou of this Union ; that it will free the States from their moral obligations ; and as it will be the right oj all, so ü will Ie the duty of som e, definitely to prepare for a teparation, amicábly if they can, violent ly ifthey mud." Josiah Qcincy, then, was thefirst dis unionist, and Abraham Lincoln, who declared in an early day, even before W. H. Seward announced the "irrcpressible conflict," proclaimcd that this republic could not exist "half free and half slavc, -that it must be all one or all the other,1' is so shaping bis war policy as to gratify the disunionists of the Josiah Qüincy school, all now hts supporters, and at the same time prove bis prediction true_ What say the people ? Is it not high time to "swap horses V jL5L" "No Union with slaveholders," the old rallying cry of theAbolitiouists, is now the motto of the radicáis who have shaped the administraron of AbraIf-AM Lincoln, and who will effectually control it iu the event of hia roeleotion. These radicáis wül not permit him to take a singlo etep looking to peace on the simple basis of a rcstoralion of the Union ; they would not permit him to accept tho uneouditional surrender of the rebellion to-morrow ; they wül have the war continued until the rebels will accept a peace conditioned on the blocting cut of slavery. That they have sesolved upon, Union or no Union, and f they oau oot crush out slavery bsforo they have exhausted the resources of tho aountry, they will then mako peace on the basis of disoïutkm, and wo shall then have a free Union and a sl.ive Confederaey. Do the American people wish such an eadÍEg of. all their visions of glory for their country? If so they have but to re-elect Abraham Lincoln. 5 The Tribune is engaged ín circtilating. a vile slander upon Col. Fbxton, in the shape of rv cardi signed by four offieers of the 8th Michigan Infantry, Wli en simmered down, this great exposure only shows that Col. Fenton disappr.oTcd oen. Huntïr's cmancipation proclamation, which was also disapproved and revoked by the President." - It is said that this card of the offieers who have so long kep.t the knowledg of meditated treason secret, is the. work of the sorvin law in expectancy of Gov. Crapo, and'of ctnwse is the oftspriug of I politk-al malSce aud ilesperntion.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus