The Continental Monthly | Page 5

the
maintenance of the Constitution as our fathers gave it to us. Its object is
not a crusade against slavery. What may be the results of the war in
relation to slavery is one thing; what should be the simple purpose of
the North is another. That this war, however it may turn, will be
disastrous to slavery, is evident from a great variety of considerations.
But that we should pretend to fight for the Constitution and the Union,
and yet against its express provisions, in respect to those held in
bondage by loyal citizens, is simply to act a part subversive of the true
intent of the Constitution. To violate its provisions, in relation to loyal
citizens South, is in the highest degree impolitic and suicidal. It is the
constant aim of the enemies now in armed rebellion against the Union,
to misrepresent the North upon this very point. By systematic lying,
they have induced thousands South to believe that the election of
Lincoln was designed as an act of war upon slave institutions, and to
subvert the Constitution that protects them in all that they call their

property.
There is nothing that the rebels South are more anxious to see than the
Government adopting a policy that will give them a plausible pretense
for continuing in rebellion. The Constitution places the local institution
of slavery under the exclusive control of those States where it exists. Its
language, faithfully interpreted, is simply this: Your own domestic
affairs you have a right to manage as you please, so long as you do not
trespass upon the Union, or seek its ruin. All loyal citizens should be
encouraged to stand by the Union in every Southern State, with the
unequivocal declaration that all their rights will be respected, and that
their true safety, even as noblest interests, must lie in upholding the
North in the effort made to put down the vilest rebellion under the sun.
My second reflection is, that those South, who are in armed rebellion
against the Constitution and the Union, must make up their minds to
take what the fortune of war gives them. This rebellion should be
bandied without gloves. The North should permit nothing to stand in
the way of a complete and permanent triumph. As Northern property is
all confiscated South; as Union men there are treated with the utmost
barbarity; as nothing held by the lovers of the Union is respected, the
greatest injury in the end to the Constitution and the Union is, an
unwise clemency to armed rebellion. In this death-struggle to test the
vital question, whether the majority shall rule, let there be no holding
back of money or men. Dear as war may be, a dishonorable peace will
prove much dearer. Great as may be the sufferings of the camp and the
battle-field, yet the prolonged tortures of a murdered Union, a violated
Constitution, and Secession rampant over the country, will be found to
be greater. My third reflection is, that the main cause of our civil war is
slavery. It has now assumed gigantic proportions of mischief, and with
its hand upon the very throat of the Constitution and the Union, it seeks
its death. The worst feature connected with it has ever been, that it is
satisfied with no concession, and the more it has, the more it asks. By
the very admission of the chiefs of this rebellion, it is confessedly got
up for the sake of slavery, and to make it the corner-stone of the new
Confederacy of States. The real issue involved by the rebellion is,
complete independence of the North, the dissolution of the Union, and
exclusive possession of all the territories south of Mason and Dixon's

line; or reconstruction upon such conditions as would result in the
repudiation of the old Constitution, the nationalization of slavery, and
giving complete political control to a slaveholding minority of the
country. This rebellion has placed the North where it must conquer, for
its own best interests, and dignity, and the salvation of free institutions.
It must conquer, to command future friendship and that respect without
which Union itself is a mockery. Let the South see that the North can
not be beaten, and the universal consciousness of this fact will
command an esteem, and the useful fear of committing offense, that
will do more to keep the peace than all the abject professions or humble
submissions in the world. Having found out that the North not only is
conscious of its rights, but has the willingness and the ability to defend
them, it is certain that the country will yet have as much peace, general
thrift, and noble enterprise with the onward march of virtue and
intelligence, as may be reasonably expected of any community upon
the