| Show THE emancipation EI PROCLA i MATION matlon it seems beems that the late emancipation proclamation of pres president ident lin Lir lincoln coln does not meet with gith universal favor and several of bf the public journals in the north and west have considered it an unc une document and speak somewhat harshly 0 of its author the world ches ghea utterance to the following pungent I 1 remarks in relation to the proclamation I 1 and the policy of or the administration which of cours course e no abolia 10 onist is ill lii ei et eldorse dorse neither is it probable that tae toe progress of eventa events will WA W be materially effected thereby president prebi jent lincoln has swung loose from the constitutional moorings of his inaugural address and his ills mes messa mesba messages sages bages gea at the opening 0 of he two ive sessions or of under his administration ile he is fully adrift oil on the current of radical fanaticism we regret for lis iia sake we lament for lor the sake bake of t the h e country that he has been coerced by the insanity oe of the radicals by the denunciation of theu their presses by the threats oe of their bovein ors and senators that he should resign into a proclamation which on its face violates viola vlola tes iea the constitution is contrary to tob ton general current of civilization in the conduct of war ivar as i haas faas run since the crusades is in opposition ien len to the solemn declarations made by our govern ment mant that this was not to be a ran fan var tran ot bub sub subjugation ju and in manifest obstruction ot of the ifie reunion of those loose states for which tile the nation dation h haa as f u aught aud and is ready to laish its blood and anil tm treasure ie I 1 we V dm demind rato to be whence the P president re s id e t derives leri aeri es his power to issue any such proclamation as he has nw nc new n w published not from the constitution surely for it is in plain violation of some edme of ofis is i s leading provisions not from the laws of our war for the tha laws of war tolerate no such proceeding not even from the he fo to called confiscation aca ac which tho tha president was atone at one time lime on the point of vetoing forthe fortha for tor the tha proclamation does nol rot not conform to its provisions this proclamation ism is mide aide tile utie in pursuance of that higher law that is to siy say sly bly that 0 open en defiance of law which has distinguished the tribe of pestilent abolition ag agitators from the beginning their moral notions are so sublimated and transcendental that they do not recognize the obligation of a compact or the force of an oath oaths or the authority of a constitutional law jaw duly enacted they acknowledge no law but their own u regulated impulses sectional hale bale pa party parly aly spirit political passions inflamed to diabolical fury these are the h higher 1 h e r law of these wretched zealots zealous zea lots in ill cem com comparison pa 1 with which the sacred obligations of the fun run fundamental law of the ibe land and the public law of nations are as light in their estimation as the feathers 0 of f a gossamers gos wing I 1 obedi obedience enc e to this higher law of unreasoning passion they undertook many years ago to annul one distasteful but minor provision of the constitution now they give loose reins raids to their thir fanaticism and drive with witti a coach and six through the very verj cry crr body of the instrument the rhe cyfers cp fers on the federal government no ho PO howerto power berto to change the be donl doni domestic estic institutions of the states this policy makis maki a ch changes aiges alges of the most violent and und sweeping character charit cler changes which even the republics I 1 party in its na tonal lonal conventions disclaimed any intention of making and admitted to be r c nal nai the tile constitution protects the property of 0 all citizens from forfeiture by civil penalty without trial and conviction un dolcy pol poi cy inflicts heavy penalties without even the pretense pre tense tence of a trial inflicts them ou all the citizens of whop states without even ili ill tha pretense of any discrimination between the innocent and the guilty blending them all III into one indistinguishable maps without any regard to whether they had bad borne arms ar ins against the goern government ment or were non combat ants or whether they had gone into the rebellion voluntarily or had been coerced into it by the terrorism which A ha h 8 prevailed at thet the I 1 south the constitution des describes ribes the crim i of levying war against the tha lle ile lie united states as treason and mikes certain broad regulations respecting its punishment but the policy in clu ciu estion assumes to punish levying war ivar in a different wy flom florin what the constitution allows it to be punished by punishing it under some other r ame A man cannot be constitutionally tio nally punished as a traitor till be he has been firs tried but this policy attempts to circumvent the constitution b by inflicting the punish meat under some other furm form mortn than as a penalty of treason A uni universal verbal vereal of the private property of non combatants through out whole states without trial without vit hout any i attempt to distinguish between innocent and guilty or between the property of f full uil ull grown male c eizens aej that of minors and orphans held by g jird indians ians lans or trustees is alike contrary to the constitution and to the laws of civilized war which respect the private property of non comb tants if we descend from the constitution to the confiscation act we i hall hali ball iball find this nary proclamation even evert onta on tr e principles of that act that law does not act on the gross atlon of areas of coil coti country but on individual persons the ile forfeitures it denounces are coi col confined fined to persons in rebellion against the government what can be more preposterous or a more monstrous on of justice than to make the guilt or innocence ff of an individual depend on whether the state in in which he happened to be born shall have i representatives in congress on the first day oe of january it would be mon moll 1 to make a mans mana right to hla hia property depend on bis bli own exercise oe of the elective franchise franchiso never was waa there so degrading a satire oil republican institutions as the ibe co compulsory M voting required by president lincoln but when a mans mana property pro pre perty ia is made nade n ade to depend depend I 1 I 1 not on whether he choose to vote himself but on whether his fellow citizens cit zens choose to vote and ami whether the number voting udder I 1 this executive compulsion happens to be a majori majority tv u e are ost fost oat in astonishment that a chief magistrate magis rate of a free country should to make citizens perform what ought to be their truest fraese act under coercion and to convert the ballot box into a criminal trib tribu nal ual what has baa the number of votes cast in a par icolar election to do with the que aiton whether a particular citizen ia is guil y of 0 treason woy why should women minors and orphans be deprived oe of their property in coil consequence quence of 0 the ne neglect lect elect of citizens to ale vote this extraordinary proclamation will bring no n 0 advantages ae vantages to the negro race at all proportionate onate to the obstructions it throws in the he way of reunion it is certain that the union uni will never be restored till this lil ill advised action of the po go eminent is reversed it converts con verta every inhabitant oe of the south into a zealot chos va host hos t all is embarked em barwell barkeLl in the success of the rebellion the ida that they will succumb rill to threats that they will vote on compulsion that they will feel terror or misgivings or anything but increased in indignation iiga liga fiXa at such a proclamation shows sina eina knowledge either of human nature or of the tempe temper of the southern mind such a proclamation cannot possibly be enforced and its only on ay effect wi I 1 the tion of the rebels fietto to fight to the very ver last I 1 1 rhey they are shut up in a lane which L bas has iyo turning when the military power of the rebels is boken b we ire have laid before ourselves ours elyes a still harder task to perform at the very crisa crises of the contest of arms the president has reinforced them as effectually sa as if he had doubled their squat squadrons rons in the field we may learn from our enemies they will rg rejoice joice their leaders will make of this proclamation their chie teat feat moral weapon it is powerless in our hands for good in theirs it will be potent for evil our only salvation salvati oi now is in the ballot bailot box to that it yet remains possible for the tile people to resort there the battle lost today to day may be won tomorrow to morrow there alone the insulted majesty of the constitution ution may be vindicated by the I 1 people opi against its faithless custodians |
