E --- 
 
 ^ POLICY or EMANCIPATION: 
 
 IN THREE LETTERS 
 
 THE SECKETARY OF WAR, 
 THE PRKsTDrXT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 THE SECRETARY ol THE TREASURY. 
 
 ROB Kin DMA'. OWKN, 
 
 K.RMKRLT AMtH^'^i wiM,TrR n \ U-LIU. 
 
 PniLADKLPlIIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT ct CO. 
 
 1863. 
 

 <E-^»^^^ "^ 
 
THE 
 
 POLTCY OF E\rAXCTPATION: 
 
 THE SKCRKTAHV (»K WAH, 
 THi; I'HKSIUKNT < »K TIIK UNITKO STATES, 
 
 Tin: SKCKKTAliV < »K TllK TKKAsLKV. 
 
 BY 
 
 iioiniM i) \L I. (i\\ i;.\, 
 
 roaHKBtT AMCRUMTC MIMHTCR TO XAfLEM. 
 
 I' M I L A I» K L P H I A : 
 
 J. i;. 1. 1 IM' 1 Ncor r a- ro. 
 
 1 ^t;;;. 
 
.0/fi 
 
 i .^ 
 
 ^^^y-rr^ 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The three following letters were orig-inally published, 
 the first and last in the ''New York Evening Post," and 
 that to the President in the "New York Daily Tribune." 
 
 They obtained, through the periodical press in all parts 
 of the country, a wide circulation. Discussing, as they 
 do, the great question of the day — a question on the true 
 solution of which may depend the very life of the nation 
 — it is believed that the public will welcome their publi- 
 cation in a more permanent form. 
 
 2 Fob 05 
 
r ^ 
 
 Tin; i"()i,i( V 01 i;.\iA.\( H'ATiD.x 
 
THE WAV nV'W 
 
 Li:'iTi:ii 1 
 
 TO Tin; si:(i;r.T\in oi" wwi 
 
 1* 
 
LETTKR 10 TIIK SECHHTAl^Y OF WAU 
 
 Editorial from the New VorJc Kvr.s^sn Post of Au^ptst 8, 1862. 
 A STimNi, \S.ii;i. IN M, \-nN. 
 
 ^VK liavr not jmhli-lud. >ince the boijinniiitr of tln' war. 
 a inon* significant or prrsuasive docunimt than th«' follow- 
 in*r Ictfrr of UniiKUT Dai.k Owkn to SccH'tarv 8tanti)n. 
 Tin- stylr and tonr of it indicate tliat it was not intended 
 for the public eye, havin^r Iwcfi sent some ten days ajro to 
 the eniiin-m jiuhlic officer to whom it is addressed — an old 
 fri«iid of Mr. Owen's of many years' standinp — in the nn- 
 resirvt'd fncdom of j>rivate c<»rre«.|)on<lence ; hut coming 
 hy chancr under the oh-rrvation of s«»veral pentlenien of 
 this city, they solicited a copy of it from Mr. Owen for 
 puhlication. He cheerfully complied with the retjuest, in 
 tlie hope that his views iniLdit he u-eful to otlnTs. 
 
 Mr. Owt-n L- well kimwii in thi- <ountry as a «rentleman 
 on wiiom the democratic party ha-^ hitherto larirely h(»- 
 slowed its confidence; he wa> for many years one of it< 
 
 (7) 
 
8 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 representatives in Congress from the State of Indiana, 
 subsequently our minister at the Neapolitan court, and is 
 now the associate of Judge Holt in the investigation and 
 settlement of complicated transactions of the government. 
 In all his public trusts he has discharged his duties with 
 fidelity, ability, and honor. A careful observer of men 
 and things, accustomed to habits of impartial thought, he 
 has studied the phenomena of our civil war without taking 
 much active part in events, and the results of his studies 
 we have in this brief letter to Mr. Stanton. Mr. Owen 
 sees, what hundreds of other democrats had begun to see 
 before him, that there can be no speedy, satisfactory or 
 final termination of this war until slavery is, in some way 
 or other, put in process of extinction. 
 
 We are not autjiorized to speak for Mr. Stanton himself, 
 nor for Judge Holt, nor for General Dix ; but if certain 
 rumors that have come to us are not greatly exaggerated, 
 we think we should not be far wrong in claiming for them 
 a general concurrence in the reasonings of Mr. Owen. Be 
 that as it may, we know that other leading democrats, no 
 less eminent than these, have been brought, by the expe- 
 riences of the past few months, to arrive at the same con- 
 clusions. We know, for instance, that such men as Daniel 
 S. Dickinson, Francis B. Cutting, ex-Governor Boutwell, 
 Orestes A. Brownson, General Mitchel, General Hunter, 
 General Lew. Wallace, General Rousseau, General Du- 
 
EDITORIAL. y 
 
 nioiit, General Cochrane, and others of less note, make no 
 o<»nceahneiit of tht-ir convirtioiis that tlie war must put an 
 em I to slavery or slavery will put an end to the Union, 
 'i'hes*' imn Were all democrats. Could the old conditions 
 <»f jxtlitical j)arties be restored they would, doubtless, be 
 (hiiKK-rats airain ; but they are not democrats who refuse 
 to be tauj^ht by events, or wIkj, like the old Bourbons, 
 mvi-r forget and never learn anything-. They see that the 
 outbreak of a -lavrhuldcr-' war has changed essentially 
 the relations of slavery to ih«» State, and tiiey guide their 
 miml-, not by the ..Id parly traditions, or aeeurding to cir- 
 cumstances which liavf f'Tcver pa>><d away, liut l»y the 
 light of e.xisting events. 
 
 W'e «»f the North can no «l»)ubt whip the rebels by arms; 
 we can drive them out of Kiehmond into the cotton States; 
 we ean piir-iie them through the thousand >wamp- of the 
 cotton States into the (Juif ..f Mcxir.. ; it Would take time 
 and money and life to do so ; liut we coulil do it all be- 
 yond a pi'radventure. IJnt the l'nit>n wonM not !>«• thereby 
 restored. The same elenn'nt.s of disconl wouhl still exist ; 
 the same feuds would lireak out ; and no pennanent peace or 
 ])ermancnt hannony would be possible until the respective 
 social systems of the North and South are rend»Ted homo- 
 geneous by the extinction of the only difference between 
 tht ni. \N'f mu>t go on lighting forever in this kind of 
 de.-ultorv civil war; or el-e we mu.-t form coterminou.s 
 
10 THE POIJCY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 states of diverse civilizations, which would fight no less 
 perpetually ; or finally, looking the problem right in the 
 heart of it, resolve to restore the Union on the only basis 
 on which, after what has occurred, a restoration seems to 
 be possible, namely, the establishment of free institutions 
 and a free system of society in all the component parts. 
 
 THE WAY OUT. 
 
 TO THE HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 My political antecedents are known to you. Always a 
 democrat, but never a pro-slavery democrat ; opposed, in 
 principle and feeling, from ni}^ youth up, to human slavery, 
 but believing, until recently, that, in the interests of liberty 
 itself, it was the part of wisdom in the North to abstain 
 from interference with the danger-fraught domestic institu- 
 tion of the South, and to trust to time for its eradication ; 
 opposed, with a hereditary aversion, to war, I was willing, 
 before the sword was drawn, to make any honorable con- 
 cessions that might avert its horrors. 
 
 But political convulsions bring with them great lessons 
 and new duties. War would not, under the Divine econ- 
 omy, have been permitted, as in all past ages it has been, 
 if it had not its mission. But to attain the good it brings 
 we must recognize its necessities. 
 
 No civil war of proportions so gigantic as that now rag- 
 
LETTER TO TOE SECRETARY OF WAR. 1 I 
 
 inir I'ver cxistrM] in the world before. It differj^ from all 
 others, Ijuth iu the results sure to ensue from its protraction 
 beyond a brief jieriod, and in the conditions under which, 
 out of evil, it may eventuate in good. In calculating 
 these, time is an essential element. 
 
 Srvcn or right hundred millions are spent. At the best, 
 as nuK'h more is likely to go. Two thousand millions or 
 ujjward is not an imj»robabli' total. That is half the national 
 (h'bt of England : and the interest on it (probably at almost 
 doiililr thf rate she pays) will make our annual burden 
 nearly e(|ual to hers. If tin' war last> three years longer, 
 these figures may Ih' doubN'd. It nuist not last three 
 years longiT. unles.s we are willing to risk national bank- 
 ruptcy. 
 
 How is it to be terminated? 
 
 Hy conc<<sion y That is no longer in our j>ower. We 
 can buy a tni<<-. a juiuse, by ooncessi«)n Ut the South; 
 nothing iiion-. 
 
 IJy forer of arm>. theny Hut if by foree.it must be 
 (juiekiy dour. I)elay is defeat. 
 
 .\nd it iiiu-t br elfiM'tually d<»ne. After one >ueh war 
 tie- nalioM may revive, its energies still elastic; solvent 
 still, and resprcte<|. A second will ruin it financially, to 
 .-ay nothing of worse ruin. To save the country, then, tin- 
 war must nttt terminate without a >u01cient jruarant\- 
 again>t its resumi»tioii. 
 
 How can the war be (piickly and effectually terminated:'' 
 AVhat guaranty is sufficient, that it will not be resumed!'' 
 
 (Jradually. vi-ry L^radually. as this eontest proc«M'drd. 
 iia\e I be. Ml ;i p| >r< >ae|i jng the convietion that tlirn* i> Imf 
 
12 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 one such guaranty : the emancipation of negro slaves 
 throughout this continent. Perhaps — but as to this I am 
 less certain — that measure is the only sure means of ter- 
 minating, quickly and effectually, this war. The recent 
 reverse under General McClellan, the scattered rebel fires 
 daily bursting forth in States which our forces had already 
 overrun, the fact that we are fighting against brave men 
 of our own race, all increase the probability that we must 
 deprive the South of a legal right to its four millions of 
 laborers, before we can succeed against their masters in a 
 reasonable time and in an effectual manner. 
 
 I am not an advocate of revolutionary short-cuts out of 
 a diflBculty. I am not in favor of violating the Constitu- 
 tion by way of escaping a danger. There might be imme- 
 diate advantage, but the precedent is replete with peril. 
 
 Could slavery have been abolished, by northern action, 
 while peace yet existed between the North and South, 
 without a violation of the Constitution ? in other words, 
 without a revolutionary act? Clearly not. Can slavery 
 be eradicated now, in war, without such violation ? If 
 emancipation be necessary to insure the permanent peace 
 and safety of our' government, and if we are willing to 
 pay to all loyal slave-owners a reasonable price for their 
 slaves, clearly yes. 
 
 For no principle in law is better established than this, 
 that when important public interests demand it, private 
 property may be taken, at a fair appraisement, for public 
 use. The opening of a street in improving a city, the 
 running of a railroad, are held, in this and other civilized 
 countries, to be objects of sufiicient importance to justify 
 
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. lo 
 
 wliat till- FrciH.-li law a-^Wn '' appro pi'iation for cce pour 
 ause (Vutilile puhlique." 
 But of importance how uncrly trivial is the oneiiiiig of 
 a street or of a railroad eonipared to the preservation, in 
 its integrity, of the greatest repnblie upon ♦•artli ! 
 
 Ought we to declare g<'neral emancipation, coupled with 
 a pnjvision for the payment, to all loyal slave-holders, of 
 tiic fairly apj>raised value of their slaves/ This (juestion 
 resolves itself into another: Have things gone s«» far that 
 thr I'nion. in its peaceful integrity, and negro slavery 
 within its borders, can no longer coexist y That is the 
 (iKKAT guE.sTioN (JF THE 1>AY. I tliiuk it Hiust he auswenil, 
 rvfi) now, ill the aflirnialive. Kvery nmntli that {lasiies is 
 .tiiveitiiiL'' hundreds of thousatuis of moderate and con- 
 • rvativt' and peace-loving men to the same opinion. They 
 despair <d' sectional friendshij) i»r national peace, until the 
 leeiiiihg «aii>e of mortal hatred and civil war is rooted out 
 forcNtp. 
 
 Jlave we the means ••! j.;i\iiig loyal slave-owners n fair 
 price for their .slaves'/ If we act now, before a protracted 
 contest has <'xliau>ted oiir resourecH, yes. If we wait the 
 teiinination «»f a three or ft»ur years' war. very certainly, no. 
 Ill that pric<' deportation must not ))e estimated. The 
 South asserts that negro slaves are indispensahle to her. 
 That is only so far true, that >he does absolutely need hind 
 negro Workmen, ami <»iiglit not to !»»• dcpriveil of them. 
 Her agriculture would, for a time, be ruined without tlu-m. 
 IJiil no good man desiret, a settlement under which any 
 -eriion of our country would be rvt-n leniporarilv ruined. 
 Snv can it be doiibtrd that the South, however >»trong 
 
14 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 her prejudices and traditions in favor of owning her labor- 
 ers, has herself been brought, by the perils of the hour, to 
 think seriously of a change of system as the only means 
 left her to obtain aid and comfort from Europe. Kor can 
 all her leaders be wholly blind to the fact that such a 
 change of system would advance, in the end, beyond cal- 
 culation, her material prosperity. 
 
 Suppose a declaration, to the effect that the government, 
 urged by the necessity of self-preservation, takes, at a fair val- 
 uation, the slave property of the South. Will such a declara- 
 tion cause a negro insurrection and indiscriminate assassina- 
 tion of whites throughout the slave States ? The result, so 
 far, has clearly shown that the negro, mild and long-suffering, 
 and often attached to his owmer, is little disposed to resist, 
 under an organization of his own. Once assured of free- 
 dom, he will gradually join our cause — that is all. He can 
 then be hired as laborer or soldier, as may seem fit — pay- 
 ment being made for him if his master proves to be loyal, 
 and his services being confiscated if these are due to a rebel. 
 In all this we are clearly in our right. 
 
 Look now at the question in its foreign aspect, under the 
 chances of European intervention. Be those chances great 
 or small, intervention may occur, and that ere long. 
 
 If it occur, its character will chiefly depend upon what 
 shall have been the antecedent action of our government in 
 regard to slaver}^ 
 
 If, previously to such intervention, we shall have issued 
 a general declaration of emancipation, then we shall stand 
 before Europe as the champions of human liberty, while 
 
LETTER T<^ THE SKCRETAUY OF WAR. 15 
 
 tnir euciiiii's will be iVL^ardt'il a.s the advocates of liuinau 
 servitude. Pul)lie opinion in Eiiirland. in France, and 
 tiir<iu«:liout Europe g-cnerally, will then prevent the re- 
 8pective «rovernnient.s from intervening, except it be in our 
 favijr. No European government dare place itself in the 
 attitudi' of a .slavery prot«'<'t«jr. 
 
 If, on the eontrary. we shall have left the issue as it now 
 stands, our poliry indicalrd unly by the Confiscation act. 
 not l)roadly and boldly ainioimeed. and more especially if 
 the South, (jespairing of savin«r her favorite institution, eon - 
 ce(les. as the pric»* of foreifrn reeo«rnition and support, a 
 voluFitarv systmi of jrradual emaneipation — not at all an 
 unlikfly niu\c — th«-M ih<' -ynipaihy of pultlie opjni.tn 
 thr'»u;rh'iul EuntjM- will be with the South, and will sus- 
 tain any action in hrr favor. 
 
 Think, too, in sueh an evc-nt, how false our p«»sition ! h.»w 
 low we shall havt- fallen in tlic eyes of the world I how un- 
 enviable thf plart- \\r .<-hall oceu|»y in history thn»uirh all 
 
 It is idl«' LM- lade to say. liiat thus situateij. w*- can 
 
 iU\\ Km 1 • t tin- South, by eoncedin]ir eman<Mpation , 
 
 secun- the sympathy and the perman<>iit services of h»r 
 four millions of labon-rs, without aetion of ours; then 
 throw into the seah- a^rainst us the thirty nnllion.-. of Enir- 
 laiid, tin- forty million- of i*'rance, — and who .-^liall say how 
 many tens of millions lu'sidrs? — an«l what chance feu* -ii< - 
 (ess, (»r for reputation, .shall we have, stru^r^lin^r for n<»tliin«j' 
 nobler than .self-existenc*', in etpiivoeal attitude before the 
 World, matched ajrainst oj)ponents who shall have fore- 
 stalled us and assumed the iuitiative^of i)ro|rressy 
 
16 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 While the contest assumes no higher character than that 
 of a portion of a great nation desiring a separation from 
 the mother country and forcibly casting off its autliority, 
 what more sympathy can we expect from Europe than we 
 ourselves gave to Spain when she lost Mexico, or to Mexico 
 when Texas struck for independence ? Until the issue is 
 changed, so that the great question of human liberty be- 
 comes involved in it, we must expect from European powers 
 at the best only indifference ; coupled, probably, with the 
 feeling, that as Mexico succeeded against Spain, and Texas 
 against Mexico, so will a Southern Confederacy finally 
 maintain itself against us. 
 
 That a declaration of emancipation was not issued a year 
 ago, I do not regret. Great changes must mature in public 
 opinion before they can be safely carried out. Extreme 
 measures, to be justified and to be effectual, must often be 
 preceded by long-tried conciliation. Yet in national emer- 
 gencies it may be as dangerous to disappoint as to anticipate 
 public opinion. And I confess my fears for the result if 
 decisive measures are longer delayed. 
 
 Stand where we are we cannot; and to go on is less 
 dangerous than to retrace our steps. We ought never to 
 have proposed emancipation with compensation to loyal 
 slave-owners, nor declared to the disloyal, as by law we 
 have, that their slaves shall be liberated without compensa- 
 tion, if we did not intend to follow out the policy we com- 
 menced. We have incurred the odium; let us reap the 
 benefit. 
 
 Nor do I perceive how we can free the slaves of rebels, 
 yet reasonably expect to retain slavery in the border States, 
 
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 17 
 
 vvvn in oa.-o tliov persist in refusing the oflfer of the Presi- 
 dent. Having: intervened so far, extirpation of slavery, the 
 only etfeetual jMjlicy, beeunies the safest also. 
 
 All men in the North will not aequiesce. Neither did 
 all acfiuiesce wh(?n the war was commenced ; yet who that 
 is loyal oi)poses it now'/ And what would have been the 
 r»'.-ult luul we waitrd, «-n' wr conunenced the war. for una- 
 nimity ? 
 
 Some will fall cfT. So he it. There is small loss in that. 
 An<l tlifp' i.- >nnu- irn\i\. iicttcr an oimh rncmy llian a 
 worthjt ss friend. It is tinw that nwii w«'rr takinjr sidt-s. 
 As thinL'-- now stand I see im usr in ronciliatiiiLr tlu* half- 
 loyal. 11«' who is not for us is against u- 
 
 I think tilt' jMoplr an- r«ady. I hrjicvr tliat th<' loyal 
 citizens of the North, witii sucji small proportion of «'.\c«'j)- 
 tioiis as in radical national rhan«r«'s must he disn-iranlcd, 
 an- to day j>rcj»ar«d for rmanripution. They have paid for 
 it in trea-«ure, in blood; not by their option. TIm-v feel 
 that the .saerilices tliey have made, and have ^\]\\ to make, 
 are too vast ti» have been ineiirred. j'xeept in purchase of a 
 great pledge of perpetual .»iafety ami peaci'. 
 
 Kelieeting men feel, to(». that sucJi a pledge is a mitiomd, 
 not merely a northern, nece.«^sity. Tin* South, exhausted 
 and sulVering. needs it to the full as much as we. She 
 will soon perceive, if she does not already, that two parts 
 of one nation, or cvj-n two coterminous tuitions, can never 
 again exist in annty on tli> i-ontinent, one slave and the 
 other free. She caimot but see that fugitive slave law «lif- 
 ficulties. if n<» others existed, wouM suflice to jirevent this. 
 
 It is not the <|ue>ii<»n wh«Hier a jtajMr declaration, easily 
 
18 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 issued, will or will not be followed b}^ a thousand practical 
 difficulties. The uprooting of an ancient and gigantic abuse 
 always involves such. Nor should we be called upon to 
 predict in advance (for who can entirel}^ foresee ?) how each 
 of these will be ultimately solved. The true question is, 
 whether greater difficulties, even insuperable ones, do not 
 beset any other policy. Pressed home as we are, to avoid 
 obstacles is impossible. We can but select the least for- 
 midable. The lives of the best of us are spent in choosing 
 between evils. 
 
 When dangers sun'ound us we must walk, in a measure, 
 by faith. Let us do what we can, and leave to God the 
 issue. We may best trust to Him when we enter His path 
 of progress. He aids those who walk in it. 
 
 I feel assured that final success awaits us in pursuing 
 such a path, and I see no other road out of the darkness. 
 
 ROBERT DALE OWEN. 
 
 New York, July 23, 1862. 
 
THE TWEXTV-TIIIKI) OF SEPTEMHER 
 
 LKTTKK II 
 
 TO Tin: IMM.SIDr.NT 
 
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 KiUtorinl from the X>v Vurk Daily Tribine of October 
 23. 1)^62. 
 
 W'k i)Li)jli.-li ilii- iiiornin;: — liy rxi»rt'>> ix-rmissioii (.It- 
 taiiK'd at WasliiriL'-ton — a Irttrr from Robkrt Dale Owk\. 
 of IiKliana. t<» tin- rn-sidrnt of tli.- I'liitrd States. This 
 eloquent and forcililf ai»]M al for a Prorlaiiiation of Kmaii- 
 cijiatioii a> a war iiica-un' — -lire to nn'et witli \\u- approha- 
 tioii of all loyal men, and to carry confusion into tlir canii) 
 of tlir enemy — was recciveil l)y the I*resi<lent a few days 
 befort' the rrodamatiun was i.-sued. Prei'is«-ly what influ- 
 ence it nuiy have exercised on the anthor«if that Procla- 
 mation We do not know, hut we do know, from private 
 sources as well as fr.»m the fie(|uent allusions that have lieen 
 maile to it hy the corresi)ondents of j)uhlic journals in 
 Wa>hin>cton, that it was re^^arded l)y others of hi^h olVicial 
 jiosition as a >uccinci and admirable statement (tf the whole 
 (|Ue.-tion. Ixe^^ardinjr it as a valuable iilu.>«lralion (jf the 
 history of the times, and all the more so that it conies from 
 one who has lon;r been a distin«r>iished memlur (»f the 
 democratic party, we ;rladly avail our.-clve> of the permis- 
 
 (21) 
 
22 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 sion to publish it. Tliougli a month onh' has elapsed since 
 it was written, events are already justifying the foresight 
 that dictated it. 
 
 THE TWENTY-THIRD OF SEPTEMBER. 
 
 TO THE PBESIDENT 
 
 OF THE United States. 
 
 In da3^s when the public safety is imminently threatened, 
 and the fate of a nation may hang upon a single act, we 
 owe frank speech, above all other men, to him who is 
 highest in authority. I shall speak to you as man to 
 man. 
 
 Harsh opinions have been formed of you; even honest 
 men doubting the probity of your intentions. I do not 
 share their doubts. I believe you to be upright, single- 
 hearted in your desire to rescue the country in the hour of 
 her utmost need without after-thought of the personal con- 
 sequences to yourself. 
 
 If, amid the multitude of contending counsel, you have 
 hesitated and doubted ; if, when a great measure suggested 
 itself, you have shrunk from the vast responsibility, afraid 
 to go forward lest you should go wrong, what wonder ? 
 How few, since the foundation of the world, have found 
 themselves in a position environed with public perils so nu- 
 merous, oppressed with responsibilities so high and solemn, 
 as yourself! 
 
 Xo man ever escaped from such — so reads the lesson of 
 history — without a bold heart and a high faith. Wisdom , 
 
LETTER T(1 TUE PRESIDENT. 23 
 
 pnuk'nco, furothouL^ht, tlKse are essential. But not second 
 t<j tln'se Is that nolilc couraire whieli adventures the riglit, 
 an<l leaves the eonsecjUiMiers to God. 
 
 Men ever follow willingly a darinjj^ leader: most willingly 
 of all, in great emergencies. Boldness and decision com- 
 mand, often even in evil, the resj)ect and concunvnce of 
 mankind. How much more in good! 
 
 There is a measure needing courage to adopt and en- 
 force it. wlii<h I believe to he of virtue sufficient to redeem 
 the nation in this its darkest hour: one only; I know of no 
 other to which we may rationally trust for relief from im- 
 jiending dangers without and within. 
 
 The dangers which threaten us are twofold: First, fmni 
 the Confederate forces, cumpo-ed of men who.<e earnest 
 convictions and reckless hrav«'ry it is idle to deny. St'condly, 
 from ourselves, compelled t<» njake u.-e of a military jtower 
 of proportions so gigantic that no na' [lermitted 
 
 the existence of such without more «»r less risk to the pt-ople 
 who <'mi)loyed it. If we think lightly of this latter danger, 
 we slight the teachings of all past time. 
 
 As to the lirst : Have you not had yuur moments of 
 doulit whether we are to succeed at all!" — whether tiie 
 riiinii. iiiice so gloritnis, will ever he reunited y — whether 
 jHaee. which We used to enjoy with as little gratitmle 
 as we do the suidight or the air we hreathe. will ever again 
 settle dovN II over oiir distracted coimtry ^ 
 
 If I have douhts nf all tin-, it is only hecause I «lo not 
 know what your acti<tn will he. We have at our dis]»osal 
 the means of certain success; hut I caimot tell whether, 
 
 while there is Vet time, yotl will decide to ellljtloy them. 
 
24 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 Our enemies, like the Grecian hero, have one vulnerable 
 point. You have not touched it yet. What should have 
 been their element of weakness has been suffered to remain 
 an element of strength. 
 
 They have nearly a million of able-bodied men of fit age 
 for war or for labor. Holding these men in bondage, and 
 employing them to till the soil, they are enabled to send to 
 the battle-field almost their entire white male adult popula- 
 tion, yet preserve their commissariat sufficiently supphed. 
 
 It has always been a great wrong that these men and 
 their families should be held in bondage. We of the Xorth 
 have hitherto acquiesced in it, lest, in^ the endeavor to re- 
 dress it in violation of the Constitution, greater evils might 
 ensue. 
 
 But the time has come when it is constitutional to re- 
 dress it. The rebellion has made it so. Property in man, 
 always morally unjust, has become nationally dangerous. 
 Property that endangers the safety of a nation should not 
 be suff'ered to remain in the hands of its citizens. A chief 
 magistrate Avho permits it so to remain becomes responsible 
 for the consequences. For he has the right, under the law 
 and the Constitution, to take private property, with just 
 compensation offered, for public use, whenever it is appar- 
 ent that any public exigency demands such appropriation. 
 
 Forgive what may seem curt speech if I say that, in my 
 judgment, a President with a just sense of duty has no 
 option in such a case. 
 
 In the due exercise of your official power, in strictest 
 accordance with law and the Constitution, you can deprive 
 the enemy of that which, above all else, has given, and 
 
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 2d 
 
 Still ^ivrs liiiii, aid and comfort. You can declare eman- 
 cipated lii.s .slaves, the su)H)liers of his commissariat. 
 Gradually, you can dei>rive him of these ; and for every 
 hundn-d thousand i)roductive laborers he loses, you may 
 have a hundred thousand soldiers. With their aid you 
 can reach the rest. What then remains for him '{ He 
 mu.-t thin his ranks to cultivate his ])lantations. lie must 
 lahor f<jr his own food, or must perish for the lack of it. 
 
 The people ai'e forbidden to ^ive aid and eonifort to 
 reliel.-. What of a pjvernment that has the power to cut 
 off from aid and comfort all the rebels of the South and 
 fails to exerci.se it '/ 
 
 \Ve ou^'ht to do that whieh is ri^dit. i-veii if the reeom- 
 pen.se be distant and uncertain; but we add folly to injus- 
 tiee if we nejrlect a ^reat a<-t of beneficeui-e that is to be 
 rewarded, even now. by our own preservation. 
 
 Vei a^'-ain. Can you hx.k forward to the futun* of our 
 country and ima^in** any state of things in which, with 
 slavery still e.xi.stinjr, we >hould be assured of permanent 
 peaces I cannot. We can constitutionally extirpate 
 slavery at this time. Hut if we fail to do this. then, un- 
 |e>> we intend hereafter to violate the Constitution, we 
 >hall have a fu^ritive >lave law in operation whenever the 
 war is over. Shall the North have .-acrificed a himdred 
 thousand li\ es and t wo !h.»u>an<l million-^ of treasure to come 
 to that Ml la>l y N(»t even a L^iaranty of peace purchased 
 at >o enormous a cost ^ After voluntary exertions on the 
 part of our peojile to which the hist(»ry of the world fur- 
 
 ni>hes no parallel. i> i| Id root of bitterne.-s .-till to w- 
 
 :i 
 
26 THE POLICY OF E3IANCIPATI0N. 
 
 main in the ground, to sprout and bear fruit in the future 
 as it has borne fruit in the past ? 
 
 The questions are addressed to you. For upon you and 
 upon your action more than upon any other one thing does 
 the answer depend. You have, at this time, more power 
 than any constitutional monarch in the world. The English 
 government always acts according to the policy approved 
 by the constitutional advisers of the Crown. You Avould 
 violate usage only if you should act without the advice, or 
 even contrary to the opinions, of your constitutional ad- 
 visers. I do not mean that you could continue to do this 
 with propriety or even with safety ; I merely assert that 
 the power is, in point of fact, in your hands. And for such 
 
 a power, what a responsibility to God and man ! 
 
 * 
 It is within your power at this very moment not only to 
 
 consummate an act of enlightened statesmanship, but, as 
 
 the instrument of the Almighty, to restore to freedom a 
 
 race of men. If you are tempted by an imperishable 
 
 name it is within your reach. We may look through 
 
 ancient and modern history, yet scarce find a sovereign to 
 
 whom God offered the privilege of bestowing on humanity 
 
 a boon so vast. 
 
 Such an olfer comes to no human being twice. It is 
 made to you to-day. How long it will remain open — 
 wiiether in three months or in one month from now it will 
 still be at your option to accept it — God, who reads the 
 hearts of men, alone knows. 
 
 And this brings me to speak of another class of dangers 
 — those which may arise here in the Xorth, among our- 
 selves. 
 
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 27 
 
 Di) you read tlie daily newspaper press, that wonderful 
 and instructive modern index of the passing opinions of 
 the times t If so, have you not recently seen there signs 
 that startled you t — advice, audaciously given in certain 
 (piarters, tiiat it is time the army should take the power 
 into its own hands and demand the dismissal from your 
 <al)inet of tlu^ best men in it ? Have you no facts in your 
 r»wn ex|)<'rience going to prove that such audacity has not 
 sliuwM its hfiid without )»ower and numl)ers that rendrr it 
 formidahlf y I do not fear it; not now, if it is strangled 
 at its hirtli. IJiit lie tempts Providenee who suflV'rs that 
 spirit of anarchy t<j grow and gather strength before strik- 
 ing a blow for its destrueiion. 
 
 ^'ou eannot be ignorant of the design of these men. lie 
 that runs may read it, TIh-v see that we are (h'ifting 
 toward emancipation. They set* that the deman«l U'inw 
 tlie masses of our people for thi- great measure is l)eeom- 
 ing. day liy day. more importunate. Tliey know that a 
 majority of your cabinet favor it. They feel assured, as 
 to yourself, that if the option n-main with you. it is but a 
 (ju<sti«in of time and of jorm when and how a jiroelama- 
 tion of emamijialion will be i.>isued. 'I'hey pereeive but 
 one p«»w«'r that has any cliance succes.-fully to arrest this 
 stream and eoen*e y<mr aetion. Op«'nly tlu-y appeal to it. 
 Opthlytliey «ieelar<- that eabinet mini.-ters nm-t be im- 
 posed upon yoti by military dictatit)n. No other course is 
 left them t(» cOecl their great object, namely, to perpetuate 
 among us that slavery wiii<h tlu' nation, with a determina- 
 tion wliich increases from day to day, is resolved to uju-ooi. 
 
 One blow may be dealt by you against these men that 
 
28 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 will crush forever their treasonable cabals. It is the same 
 that lays the foundation of peace, and assures, beyond 
 possible peradventure, the doT\Tifall of the rebellion. They 
 know their danger. They read emancipation in all the 
 signs of the times. It is to them the handwriting on the 
 wall, foreshadowing their political fate. What wonder 
 that they resort to desperate means to arrest its advent ? 
 
 Shall they be allowed time, by insidious argument, to 
 entice the unwary into the ranks of sedition ? By prompt 
 action alone can you prevent it. It is idle to await una- 
 nimity. Men acquiesce in a thousand things, once right- 
 eously and boldly done, to which, if proposed to them in 
 advance, they might find endless objections. 
 
 Do you hesitate ? Will you delay the blow ? See to it, 
 that when at last your resolution is taken, the power may 
 not already have passed away from your hands. 
 
 The twenty-third of September approaches — the date 
 when the sixty-day notice you have given to the rebels 
 will expire — expire without other reply to your warning 
 than the invasion of Maryland and a menace to Pennsyl- 
 vania. Is it to rest there ? Patiently we have waited the 
 time. Is nothing to follow? Are our enemies to boast 
 that we speak brave words — and there an end of it ? 
 
 What a day, if you but will it, may that twenty-third of 
 September become ! The very turning point in the nation's 
 fate ! A day to the rebels of despair, to every loyal heart 
 of exultant rejoicing ! A day of which the anniversary 
 will be celebrated with jubilee while the American Union 
 endures ! A day to be remembered not in our land alone, 
 
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT 29 
 
 ))iit wherever Inimanity mourns over the ^vronirs of the 
 slave, or rejoices in his liberation ! 
 
 You are the first President to whom the opporiunity was 
 ever oH'ert-d constitutionally to inaugurate such a day. If 
 you fail us now, you may be the last. Lift then the weight 
 from the h«art <>f this iMoplc. Let them breathe free once 
 more. Extirpate the bli^ditin^r curse, a living threat through- 
 out long years i)ast, that has smitten at last with desola- 
 tion a land to which Ci"d had granted everything but wis- 
 dom and justice. Ciive back to the nation its hope and 
 faith in a future of peace and undisturl)ed prosperity. 
 KiilJiU — y(,u can far mon- than fulfdl — the brightest antici- 
 jiations of tlioM- who, in thr name of human freedom, 
 and in thr face of thn-ats that have ripened into terrible 
 realitirs sincr, fought that l>attlc which ]>laccd you where 
 you now stand. 
 
 i;()i;i;Kr pali-: owkx. 
 
 Nkw v.. UK, Sept. 17, \xiV2. 
 
 [This ktt»"r was pla(<d in the hand.-> of the President 
 on Friday, September P.«.] 
 
roxDTTToxs or t.asttxo vvxn^ 
 
 m:t'ii:i; hi 
 
 TO Till ^1 ( i;i,j\in oj- Tin: TKr.VSl KV. 
 
LKTTEK TO THE SECRKTARY OF THE 
 TREASURY. 
 
 Editorial from the Xew York EvEXi.vr, Post of Xovember 
 22, lbG2. 
 
 THE COST OF PEACE. 
 
 W'k iMili]i.-li clsfwlicrc a discussion of xhv aspects and 
 dutirs of tli<' tinu's. )>y one of our most distinpruished 
 statfsiiicii and politicians. Kobkrt I>ai.k Owkn. I'nlike 
 sonic oiImt dtni'M-rat-.. Mr. OwcMi does not deceive liinisclf 
 as to tin- natun- of tin- civil war in which wc are engaged, 
 lie takes no narrow or ])artisan view of the motives under 
 which it should he conduct<'d. He desires no end of it 
 whicli >hall not he enduring in its results. 
 
 .Mil. Owen discerns, what many had long since discerned 
 lu'fore. and many more arc iu>t hcginning to di.-cern. that 
 the <-ontinued existence t»f two orders of society, .so dilVerent 
 as tho.^i' of the free and slave States, is incom])atihle with 
 the peace of the continent. Whether in the Union or out 
 of it. slavery can only])rove a cause of perpetual irritation 
 and conflict, and a suspension of hostilities or truce of any 
 kiml a mere ]>ost])onement of a more dreadful outl>reak. 
 Kmancipation is at once the surest m«'ans of suppressing 
 the rel>ciii(»n as an armed resistance, and of harmonizing 
 the sections as hodies itolilic. 
 
 ( :i3 ) 
 
34 TEIE POLICY UF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 His statements are clear, liis arguments cogent, liis mo- 
 tives patriotic, and we ask for his presentation of the case 
 the cahii, unprejudiced consideration of men of all parties, 
 and particularly of that democratic party to which the 
 writer has all his life adhered. 
 
 CONDITIONS OF LASTING PEACE. 
 
 TO THE HOX. SALMON P. CHASE, 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Sir : In briefest terms I state the propositions which, as 
 the subject of our recent conversation, I promised to re- 
 duce to writing. 
 
 What are the reasonable hopes of peace ? 
 
 Not, that within the next fifty days the South, availing 
 herself of the term of grace offered in the President's proc- 
 lamation, may, to save her favorite institution, return to 
 her allegiance. Let us not deceive ourselves. There are 
 no conditions, no guarantees — no, not if we proffer a 
 blank-sheet on which to set them down, with unrestricted 
 pen, in her own hand — under which she will consent to re- 
 union, except in one contingency — conquest, more or less 
 complete, by force of arms. 
 
 Are we likely to obtain peace by conquest ? 
 
 In search of an answer, let us look closely at a few sta- 
 tistical facts. 
 
 By the census of 1860, the number of white males be- 
 tween the ages of 18 and 45 is, in the loyal States, about 
 four milHons ; and in the disloyal States, about one million 
 
l.KTrEK TO THE i^ECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 35 
 
 tliroL' liundnMl thou.sand; a little upward? of three to one. 
 The disijniportion seems overwhelmingly great. 
 
 But this caleulation, as a basis' of military strength, is 
 wholly fallacious; for it includes persons of one color only. 
 
 Out of the above four millions the North has to provide 
 holdicrs and (with inconsiderable exceptions, not usually 
 extending t«) firld lal)<»r) laborers also. 
 
 Hut of thr thn'c millions and a half of slaves owned in 
 tlir rcbi'l Stati'S, about two niilli<»ns may be estimated as 
 labonrs. Allow three hundred llnjusand of these as em- 
 ploytcl in domestic .services and otlier occupations followed 
 by women among us, and we have seventeen hundred thou- 
 sand plantation hands, male and female, each one <if whicii 
 <-«jtjnts again.st a northern laborer on farm or in work-shop. 
 
 Then, of that jxtrtion of jiopulation whence >oldiers and 
 out-door laboHTs and mechaniis mu.-it chiejiy be taken, the 
 Nortliern Siate> June four millions and the Sontliern Slates 
 three millions. 
 
 Supposing th. .. .. - all loyiil to their masters, it fol- 
 lows that the true pn)portion of strength available in this 
 war — that is, of soldiers to light and laborers to support 
 the nation while lighting — may fairly enmigh be takt-n at 
 three in the South to four in the North. 
 
 I'nder this stipposilion of a South united, w ithout regard 
 to eitliir, ill an •iVnil for reeognition. -hail we obtain peace 
 by .subduing her!' If history teach truth, we shall nut. 
 Never, sinee the worM began, did nine millions of people 
 itaml t..g(ther. resolutely inspired by the one idea of aehiev- 
 iiiiT their iiidept-ndenee. yet fail to obtain it. It is not a eeii- 
 lurv since one-third of the nunib(r suec«'s.sfull\- defied (Jreai 
 Ib-itain 
 
36 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 But let us suppose the negroes of the South loyal to the 
 Union mstead of to their masters, how stands the matter 
 then ? 
 
 In that case, it is not to a united people, but to a confed- 
 eracy divided against itself, that we are opposed ; the mas- 
 ters on one side ; the laborers, exceeding them in number, 
 on the other. 
 
 Suppose the services of these laborers transferred to us, 
 what will then be the proportion, on either side, of forces 
 available, directl}^ and indirectly, for military purposes ? 
 
 As about five and three-fourths to one and a third : in 
 other words, nearly as nine to two. 
 
 Such a wholesale transfer is, of course, impossible in 
 practice. But in so far as the transfer is possible, and shall 
 occur, we approach the above results. 
 
 How much wisdom, under these circumstances, is there 
 in the advice that we should put down the rebellion first and 
 settle the negro question afterward ? What shall we say 
 of their statesmanship, who, in a war like this, would leave 
 out of view the practical effects of emancipation ? 
 
 On the other hand, however, it is to be admitted that 
 African loyalty in this war will little avail us, if we have 
 not good sense and good feeling enough properly to govern 
 the negroes who may enter our lines. 
 
 To render their aid available : in the first place we must 
 treat them humanely, a duty we have yet to learn ; and 
 secondly, both for their sakes and for our own, we must not 
 support them in idleness. Doubtless, they are most effi- 
 cient as laborers, as domestics in camp, as teamsters, or 
 employed on intrenchments and fortifications, or in ambu- 
 lance corps, or as sappers and miners ; or, as fast as south- 
 
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 37 
 
 iTii plantations shall fall into our possession, as field-hands. 
 Jiut if all these posts become over-tilled, better do away 
 with the necessity fur further draft in the Xorth by putting 
 muskets in the hands of able-bodied men, colored differently 
 from ourselves, than to delude their ignorance into the 
 opinion that among the privileges of freedom is food with- 
 out work. 
 
 Have we i)hilanthropy and discretion enough wisely to 
 administer such a rhange of system? Possibly not. Ad- 
 mini.-trativr caijacity in pulilic affairs is not our strong 
 point. Wv would do well to Ix-ar in mind, however, that 
 without such i-apacity not this war only, but our entire gov- 
 crmiitiital experiment, will prove a failure at last. 
 
 Do <jther objections hold against tlie plan? Does hu- 
 manity forltid us to accept the aid of an enslaved race? In 
 so far as humanity can ever enjoin war at all, she ciijoins 
 tJje emjiloyment, by us, of the African in this: lirst, liecause 
 his em|)loyment may shorten, l)y years, the fratricidal 
 struggle; and then, because, if he is not |)ermitte(l to assist 
 in civilized warfare under us, and if. without his aid. we 
 fail to effect his liJM'ration and thus disajipoint his ho[)es, 
 he may be overtaki'ii In' the temptati«»n to seek freedom and 
 revenge in his own wiM way. Jn accepting the liljcrated 
 slave tts a sol(ii«'r we may jirevent his rising as an a.ssassin. 
 \\\ the creation (»f negn) brigades \\r may a\rrt the indis- 
 criminate massacres of serviJ*- insurrection. 
 
 Or is there an insuperable dillicully of caste in the way ^ 
 In a contest likely to eventuate in securing to another race 
 than ours the greatest of temporal blessings, are we deter- 
 mineil to >hut out that race from all share in its own liln-r- 
 
 4 
 
38 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 ation ? Are we so enamored of tlie Moloch, War, that we 
 will suffer none but our sons to pass through the fire? 
 Terriljle penalt}^ to pay, with life and death at stake, for a 
 national prejudice against the Southern Pariah ! 
 
 As to the duty of our rulers in the premises, I cannot 
 see according to what principle of ethics a government, 
 charged with the lives of millions, the putting down of a 
 gigantic rebellion, and the restoring of tranquillity to the 
 land, has the right, in the hour of its utmost need, to scorn 
 a vast element of strength placed within its reach and at 
 its disposal ; nor why, if it refuses to avail itself of such an 
 element, it should not be held responsible for the lives it 
 sacrifices and the hopes it blights. 
 
 But we need emancipation far less for the material aid it 
 aff'ords — great, even indispensable, though it be — than be- 
 cause of other paramount considerations. 
 
 We have tried the experiment of a federal Union, with 
 a free-labor system in one portion of it and a slave s>'stem 
 in another, for eighty years; and no one familiar with our 
 affairs for a quarter of a century past is ignorant that the 
 result has been an increase — embittered year by year in 
 ever-accelerated ratio — of dissensions, of sectional jealous- 
 ies, of national heart-burnings. When, eighteen months 
 since, these culminated in war, it was but the issue which 
 our ablest statesmen, looking sorrowfully into the future, 
 had long since foretold. But if, while j^et at peace and with 
 all the influence of revolutionary reminiscences pleading 
 the cause of Union, this diversity of labor systems, pro- 
 ducing variance of character and alienation of feeling, 
 proved stronger to divide than all past memories and pres- 
 
LETTER TU THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 39 
 
 eiit interests to unite, what chance is there that its baneful 
 power for evil should cease, now, when to thoughts of 
 fancied injuries in other years are added the recollections of 
 the terrible realities enacted on a hundred bloody battle- 
 fjj'lds from which the smoke has scarcely passed away ? 
 
 X<ine — the remotest I 
 
 A suspension of hostilities we can ])urchase : a few 
 3'ears' respite, probably, in which to n-turn to our money- 
 gettin^r, bi'fore the storm l>ursts forth anew with gathered 
 fore*' ; but if we lo«>k beyond selfishness and the present ; 
 if our cliildnn an- in our tlioughts; if we are sulVering and 
 • xpendiiig now, tliat tliey, in a land of iu*osi)erity. may 
 live and die in peace, thm must we act so that tin- result 
 shall endure. We must not be content to j)Ut oil" the evil 
 day. The root of the evil — the pre;riianl cause of the war 
 — that must be eradicated. 
 
 Report has it that a western politician recently pro- 
 po.«ied, us the best solution of our dillietilties, the recogni- 
 tion of slavery in all the Stales. Such an idea has a basis 
 of tnitli: namely, that a state of war is. among us, the 
 liect'ssary result of conllicting labor systems. Sucii an 
 idea might even lie carrierl out and lead to ])eacc, but for 
 that progressive spirit of Christian civilization wiiidi wc 
 dare not openly outrage. h'lW imperfectly soever we obey 
 it- humane behests. 
 
 'I'here are a ilmusand rea.-.i, — j. ...:,, iphicjil, commer- 
 'iai. political, international — why we should not consent 
 t'> a separation into two confederacies: it is a c(»ntingency 
 not to be thought of or I'Utertained ; but if we look 
 inertly lo (he coihIUuhxs of lastinj peace, the chance of 
 
40 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 maintaining it would be far better if the independence of 
 the South were to be recognized with her negroes eman- 
 cipated, than if she were to return to her allegiance, re- 
 taining her slave system. 
 
 For in the former case, the cause of dissension being 
 uprooted, the tendency would be to reunite, and a few 
 years might see us a single nation again ; while, in the 
 latter, a constantly active source of irritation still existing, 
 three years of breathing time would not elapse without 
 bringing endless quarrels and a second rebellion. 
 
 Conceive reunion, with slavery still in existence. Imagine 
 southern sympathizers in power among us offering com- 
 promises. Suppose the South, exhausted Avith military 
 reverses and desiring a few years' armistice to recruit, 
 decides to accept it under the guise of peace and recon- 
 struction? What next? Thousands of slaves, their ex- 
 cited hopes of emancipation crushed, fleeing across the 
 border. A fugitive slave law, revived by peace, demand- 
 ing their rendition. Popular opinion in the Xorth opposed 
 to the law, and refusing the demand. Renewed war the 
 certain consequence. 
 
 Or take even the alternative of recognition — recognition 
 of an independent confederacy, still slave-holding. Are 
 we, then — becoming the sole exception among the nations 
 of the earth — to make ourselves aiders and abettors of the 
 slave system of a foreign nation, by agreeing to return to 
 her negro refugees seeking liberty and an asylum among 
 us ? National self-respect imperatively forbids this. Pub- 
 lic sentiment would compel the rejection, as a base humi- 
 liation, of any proposed treaty stipulation, providing for 
 
LLTTEFt In THE SKCItKTAUY OF THE TREASURY. 41 
 
 rendition of runaway slaves. Yet the South would re- 
 jrard sueh rejection in no other light than as a standing 
 menace — a threat to deprive her of what she regards as 
 her most valuable property. Coterminous as for hundreds 
 — possibly thousands — of miles uur boundaries would be, 
 Ui\i>i not the South, in common i)rudence, maintain all 
 iiiong that endle.ss Ijorder liiM' an armed slave police? Are 
 we to con.sent to this'/ AimI if we do >hall we escape 
 bdrder raids aft«'r fleeing fugitives'/ No sane man will 
 • xpcct it. Are we to suffer these? We are disgraced. 
 Aic \\4' to resent them'/ It is a renewal of Imstilities. 
 
 If elections may go as they will. Their results can 
 iirver change the fact tliat any i)arty obtaining the control 
 of the govmiment and atlopting the policy that the set- 
 ilmirnt of the enjan«-ipalion question is to be postponed 
 liil the war shall he closed, will never, while ii pursues 
 i!i:it policy. >. .• thi> war permanently cIose<l — not iven by 
 accepting a shameful ili>ruption of our country. 
 
 iJul if emancipation is to avail us as a j>eace measure, 
 we must adopt it lioldly, resohitc'ly, elfectuallv. li must 
 be general, not partial; extending not to the slaves of 
 rebels only, but to every slave on this continent. Kveii 
 if it wer«' practicable, which it is not, with slavery iion- 
 e.\i>tent in the N(.i-ili< ni States and jiboli>hed in those 
 which jiersl-t in rebellion, to maintain it in the narrow 
 l>order-.«'trip, it is preci>ely tlu-re where negro fugitives can 
 llie most readily escape, that its maintenance would the 
 most certainly lead to war. 
 
 Can this gn-at peace measure l)e constitutionally <'n- 
 acle.l '/ 
 
 4* 
 
42 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 A proclamation or (the more appropriate form) an act 
 of General Emancipation, should, in its preamble, set 
 forth in substance, that the claims to service or labor of 
 which it deprives certain persons having been proved by 
 recent events to be of a character endangering the suprem- 
 acy of the law, jeo})ardizing the integrity of the Union, 
 and incompatible with the permanent peace of the coun- 
 try, are taken by the government, with just compensation 
 made. Under circumstances far less urgent than these, 
 the law or custom of civilized nations, based on consider- 
 ations of public utility, authorizes such taking of private 
 property for public use. We ourselves are familiar with 
 its operation. When a conflagration in a city threatens 
 to spread far, houses in the line of its progress may legally 
 be seized and destroyed by the authorities in order to 
 arrest it; and the owners are not held to have been 
 wronged if they are paid for such losses under an equitable 
 appraisement. But it is not the existence of part of a 
 city that is now endangered ; it is the integrity of one 
 among the first powers of the world that is menaced with 
 destruction. 
 
 The truth of the preamble suggested has become, in my 
 judgment, incontrovertible. It will receive the assent of 
 an overwhelming majority of the people of the loyal States. 
 The public sentiment of Europe will admit its truth. 
 
 Let us confess that such a preamble, as preface to act 
 or proclamation, could not have commanded the assent of 
 more than a small fraction of our people, only two short 
 years ago — two years, as we reckon time ; a generation, 
 if we calculate by the stirring events and far-reaching 
 
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 43 
 
 Upheavals that liave Ijoen crowded into the eventful 
 uionlli.s. In .such days as these abuses ripen rapidly. 
 Their consequences mature. Their ultimate tendencies 
 hecome ai)parent. We are reminded of their transitory 
 character. We are reminded that ahhough f<.)r the time, 
 and in a certain stajrc of liunian projrnss, some abuses 
 may liave their temporary u.<e, and for this, under God's 
 economy, may have been suffered to continue; yet all 
 abu.ses liave but a limited life. The right only is eternal. 
 
 The rebellion, t<acher and creator as well as scourge 
 and destroyer, by sternly laying bare the imminent dan- 
 gers of slavery, lias created the constitutionality of eman- 
 cipation. It has doui- niori'. It ha> made ennmcipation 
 a bouiidcM ji(»litical duty, as well as a strictly constitutional 
 right. 
 
 Can we. in declaring emanciitation, legally avoid the 
 payment, say of two Inindred millions, in the shaite of 
 c()mpen.>-atiou to loyal slavc-holdiTs '/ 
 
 Not if a slave-holder's right to service and labor from 
 hi.s slaves, when not forfeite<l by treason, is legal. On 
 humanitarian grounds the legality of that right has been 
 denie(l. lint a construction of the C<jnstitution adverse to 
 such tlcnial, and accpiiesced in by the nation throughout 
 more than two generations, is held by most men to be rea- 
 s(tn sufficient why the riulit in (piestion .-liouM be regarded 
 a.s private j)roperty. If it be private property, then, ex- 
 cept l>y violating the fifth article uf the amendments to the 
 Constitution, it cannot be taken for piiblic use without just 
 compensati(»n To violate any article of the Constitution 
 is a revolutionary act; but such acts cost a nation more 
 than M few hundred niil1'"t!- "<^ d.-ll:ii- 
 
44 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 The risk that a future decision of the Supreme Court 
 might declare emancipation without compensation to be 
 unconstitutional is, of itself, sufficient justification of the 
 President's policy, corresponding to the above suggestions 
 in this matter. 
 
 Such compensation will be unpopular with many. Wise 
 and just acts, when they involve sacrifices, frequently are. 
 A wrong long tolerated commonly entails a penalty, which 
 is seldom cheerfully paid. Yet, even on other grounds, 
 we ought not, in this case, to begrudge the money. Who 
 deserve better of their country than those brave men who, 
 in the border and other slave States, have clung to their 
 loj^alty through all the dark hours of peril even to life ? 
 
 Precautions naturally suggest themselves against false 
 pretences of loyalty. It seems expedient that he who 
 shall have proved that he is the legal owner of certain 
 slaves, and also that he has ever been loyal to the Union, 
 should receive a certificate of indebtedness by the govern- 
 ment, not transferable, to be paid at some fixed time sub- 
 sequent to the termination of the war: payment being 
 made contingent on the fact that the claimant shall not, 
 meanwhile, have lapsed fi'om his loyalty. 
 
 Every such claimant, once recognized, would feel him- 
 self to be, b}^ his own act, the citizen of a free State ; one 
 of us, detached forever from the Southern league. A 
 government stockholder, he would become pecuniarily in- 
 terested in the support of the government and the restora- 
 tion of peace. 
 
 The legislatures of the border States may not initiate 
 such a policy, but the loyal men of these States will ac- 
 cept it. 
 
 L&fC. 
 
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 45 
 
 Such a measure does not involve expense in conveying 
 the liherated negro tu other eoimtries. It has hitherto, 
 indeed, been the usual policy in slave States to discourage 
 as dangerous, the residence there of free blacks; and 
 Innce an idea tiiat colonization should be the concomitant 
 of emancipation. Of general emancipation, there is no 
 need whatever that it should be. Those who take up such 
 an idea forget that the jealousy with which slave-holders 
 regard the presence of free negroes springs out of the 
 dread that thes*,* may infect with a desire for freedom the 
 slaves around them, thus rendering them insubordinate. 
 IJut when all are free then- will be no slaves to incite, 
 n(jr any ciiain.- to be brok«'n by n>ort t<) insurrection. 
 
 It is no business of our.- either to (h-cide. for the liberated 
 negro, where he siiall dwell, or to furnish his traveling ex- 
 ]>eii>( s. Freemen, black or white. >hould select their own 
 dwelling-place and pay their own way. 
 
 As to the fears of competition in labor sought to be 
 excited in the miinls of the Northern workingman. they 
 have foundation only in ca.M* emancipation be refu.'^ed ; for 
 su<h refusal wnwid ilootl the North with fugitives. If, on 
 the contrary, emancipation be carried tnit, the strong local 
 attachments of the negro will indiiee hini. with rarest ex- 
 ceptions, to renutin as a hire«l labor* r when- he worked as 
 a .-la\e. 'I'hus humane masters will not lack suHicient 
 working hands, of which coh.nization would de}»rive them. 
 .Vnd if. notwith.«^tanding the i»rubal)le rise of Southern 
 -taplcs, profits, at first, should be less, the 'security of the 
 planter will be greater. He will no longer lie down at 
 night uncertain whether the morning's news may luA be 
 
 that \\\< -lave< Imi\,. ri^.n :iL'-:iin--t IiIlU, 
 
4() THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 This is tile paper view of the question. But all edicts, 
 all proclamations, how wise and righteous soever, are but 
 idle announcements now, if we lack courage and conduct 
 to enforce them. 
 
 Courage we have. Raw levies have behaved like 
 veterans. The skeletons of regiments, reduced to one- 
 tenth their original number, attest the desperate valor 
 with which they confronted death. Not with the rank 
 and file is the blame ! The leading ! There has been the 
 secret of failure. 
 
 With all the advantages of a just cause over our 
 enemies, we have suffered them to outdo us in earnest- 
 ness. We lack the enthusiasm which made irresistible the 
 charge of Cromwell's Ironsides. We need the invincible 
 impulse of a sentiment. We want, above all, leaders who 
 know and feel what they arc fighting for. This is a war 
 in which mercenaries avail not. There must be a higher 
 motive than the pay of a Swiss — a holier duty urging on, 
 than the professional pride, or the blind obedience, of a sol- 
 dier. By parliamentary usage a proposed measure is en- 
 trusted, for fostering care, to its friends. So should this 
 war be. Its conduct should be confided to men whose 
 hearts and souls are in it. 
 
 Again. It has long been one of our national sins that 
 we pass by, with scarcely a rebuke, the gravest public 
 offences. We utterly fail in holding to a strict account- 
 ability our public men. The result of such failure, in 
 peace, had almost escaped our notice. In war we have 
 now beheld its effects, flagrant and terrible. 
 
 It was not to be expected that among so many thou- 
 
LETfEK TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 47 
 
 -amis <»f officers suddenly appointed there should not be 
 some hundreds of incompetents. Such thinsrs must he. 
 Xo one is to blame if, in field or garden, weeds spring up. 
 'IMie >ihim(' rests with him who leaves them there, to choke 
 ilic (Top and rnmbt-r tlic ground. 
 
 Accountability — that should be the watchward — ac- 
 ( (U'NTAHiLiTY, Stem, Unrelenting I Office has its emolu- 
 ment.-; let it have its responsibiHties also. Let nsdemaufl, 
 as Napoie(»n demanded, sueeess from mir leadi-rs. The 
 inle mav work iiar-ilily. \\'ar needs harsh rules. Actions 
 are not to be m«a>ured in war by the standard of i)eaee. 
 The sentinel, worn by extreme fatii^ue, who sleej)s at his 
 post. in<-iir- tin- penally of <l»alh. Th.re is meny in 
 • ourts-marlial — drum-head eourt>-martial. A dozen offi- 
 eers >hot. whenever the gravity of the ollence demands it. 
 mav l»e the saving of life to tens of thousands of brave 
 men. 
 
 Kighteen months have passed. Eight hundred millions 
 have l)eeii -pent. We lia\»' a million of armed men in the 
 field. More than a hundred thousand rest in soldiers' 
 wr;i\.^ And for all thi>. what residl "/ Is it strange if 
 sometimes the lieart sinks and resoluti(»n fails at the 
 thotight that, from sheer administrative iidirmity, th<' vast 
 .-aerifiee mav have been all in vain f 
 
 ibit l.t thr Past go! It> fatal faults (dinieult perliajis, 
 to avoid. undiT an effort so sudden and so vast) can nevi.-r 
 he recalled. houbtiess tliey had their use. It needed the 
 grievous ineai)aeity we have witnesseil. the stinging re- 
 verses we have suffered, the invasion even of free States 
 we have lived to see commenced ; it needed the heca- 
 
48 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. /D 
 
 tombs of dead piled up unavailingly on battle-field after ^ 
 battle-field — the desolate hearths, the broken-hearted sur- 
 vivors — it needed all this to pave the way for that eman- 
 cipation which is the only harbinger of peace. 
 
 The Future ! that is still ours to improve. Xor, if some 
 clouds yet rest upon it, is it without bright promise. Signs 
 of nascent activity, energy, and a resolution to hold ac- 
 countable for the issue the leaders of our armies, are daily 
 apparent. Better than all, the initiative in a true line of 
 policy has been taken. The twenty-third of September 
 has had its eifect. The path of safety is before us ; steep 
 and rugged, indeed, but no longer doubtful nor obscure. A 
 lamp has been lit to guide our steps ; a lani}) that may 
 burn more brightly before a new year dawns upon us. 
 The noble prayer of Ajax has been vouchsafed in our case. 
 At last we have light to fight by. 
 
 We shall reach a quiet haven if we but follow faithfully 
 and perseveringly that guiding light. 
 
 There is, at this moment, in the hearts of all good men 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land, no deeper 
 feeling, no more earnest longing, than for peace ; peace 
 not for the day, not to last for a few years ; but peace on 
 a foundation of rock, for ourselves and for our children 
 after us. May the hearts of our rulers be opened to the 
 conviction that they can purchase only a shambling coun- 
 terfeit except at one cost ! God give them to see, ere it 
 be too late, that the price of enduring peace is general 
 
 EMANCIPATION ! 
 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT DALE OWEX. 
 
 Nkw Yobk, Novemher 10, 1802. 
 
 LEAg'l2