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Page 67
We will be compelled to consider not only the duty which the Government
owes the people, in the matter of their own permanent security, but also
the obligations it has assumed, the promises it has made, and the hopes
it has excited in the bondsmen of the rebellious States. There must be
good faith toward the black man. It would be infamous to have incited
him to escape from slavery only to remand him again, upon the
restoration of the Union, to the tender mercies of his master. What
differences of opinion may have existed in the beginning as to the
legality and policy of the Proclamation and of employing the liberated
slaves as soldiers, the Government and people are too far committed in
this line of action to be able now to withdraw without dishonour and
foul injustice. Many of the consequences of the war may be remedied, and
even the last vestiges of them obliterated. Cities may be rebuilt,
desolated fields made to bloom again with prosperity, and commerce may
return to its old channels with even increased activity and volume. Many
wounds may be healed, and may separations may be brought to an end by
the renewal of friendships broken by the war; but the separation of the
slave from his mater, so far as it has been caused by any action of the
Government, can never be remedied. That must be an eternal separation,
resting for its security upon the humanity as well as the honor of the
American people. What! Shall we restore the States unconditionally, and
permit the fugitive slave law again to operate as it did before the
rebellion? Shall we consent to see the men whom we have invited away
from the South dragged back into slavery tenfold more severe by reason
of our act inducing them to escape? This is plainly impossible. Argument
is wholly out of place; felling and conscience revolt at the very idea.
It may be admitted that this question, with its peculiar complications,
presents the most difficult and dangerous of all problems; but there is
no alternative: we must meet and solve it at the close of this
rebellion. We have to combat the selfish interests of a class still
powerful, aided by the great strength of a popular prejudice almost
universal. The emergency will require the exertion of all our wisdom and
all our energy.
The vast body of slaves in the South have not yet been incited to
action, either by the movements of our armies or by the potency of the
Proclamation. Whether they will be, and to what extent, depends upon the
continuance of the war, and its future progress. The result in this
particular remains to be seen, and cannot now be anticipated. What legal
effect the measures of the Government may have upon the slaves remaining
in the South would be a question for the decision of the courts; and
doubtless most of them would be entitled to liberation as the penalty of
the treason of their masters, who may have participated in the
rebellion. But it is well worthy of consideration whether it would not
be wise and better for all parties, including the slaves, to commute
this penalty by a compact with the States for the gradual emancipation
of the slaves remaining at the time of the negotiation. The sudden and
utter overthrow of the existing organization of labor and capital in
those States, coming in addition to the awful devastation which the war
has produced, will deal a disastrous blow, not alone to those
unfortunate States, but to the commerce and industry of the whole
country.
But neither the Government of the United States alone, nor this together
with the Africans, liberated and unliberated, can prescribe their own
requirements, as the law of the emergency, without reference to other
great interests involved. The question must necessarily be controlled by
the sum of all the political elements which enter into it. It is
desirable to restore the States to the Union with as little
dissatisfaction as possible, and even with all the alleviation which can
properly be afforded to the misfortunes of the people who have so sadly
erred in their duty to themselves and to their country. After any
settlement--the most favorable that can be made--heavy will be the
punishment inflicted by the great contest upon the unhappy population of
the rebellious region. In many things, it is true, they will suffer only
in common with the people of all the States; but they will also have
their own peculiar misfortunes in addition to the common burdens. A
generous Government, in the hour of its triumph, will seek to lessen
rather than to aggravate their misfortunes, even though resulting from
their crimes. Having received them back into the bosom of the Union, it
will do so heartily and magnanimously, yielding everything which does
not involve a violation of principle, and endanger the future
tranquillity of the country. The harmony of the States, their
homogeneity, and their general progress in all that contributes to the
greatness and happiness of communities, ought to be, and doubtless will
be, the benign object of the Government in the settlement of the
existing difficulty. If these high purposes necessarily require in their
development a provision for the rapid disappearance of slavery, the
requirement will not arise from any remaining hostility to the returning
States; on the contrary, it will look to their own improvement and
prosperity, quite as much as to the peace and security of the whole
country. The day will yet arrive when these States themselves will
gratefully acknowledge that all the sacrifices of the war will be fully
compensated by the advantages of that great and fundamental change,
which they will undoubtedly now accept only with the utmost reluctance
and aversion.
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