Viewing page 10 of 16
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
778 DOUGLASS MONTHLY. January, 1863 [[3 ruled columns]] [[column 1]] [[bold]] EXPRESSION OF FOREIGN SYMPATHY. [[/bold]] --- THE CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES. --- Address of the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, having observed, with the deepest sorrow, the efforts which are being made to infuse into the minds of the people of this country sentiments friendly to slavery, feel it to be their duty to reiterate and to commend to the serious consideration of their fellow-countrymen the fundamental principle of the anti-slavery movement in England; that "slaveholding is a sin and a crime before God"; and, therefore, that unconditional emancipation wherever slavery is maintained is alone consistent with the Divine Law, and with the requirements of justice and humanity. While the Committee believe that the efforts referred to have not yet pervaded the community at large, the tone and spirit of certain articles in a portion of the public press, the misrepresentation and perversion of facts, the biased addresses of many men of influence, all with the manifest tendency to bespeak favor to those who are contending for the extension and consolidation of slavery, and to disparage and discourage efforts directed its extinction, impress the Committee with the painful conviction, that in some quarters a demoralizing effect has been produced. The Committee deplore, and regard with profound grief, the fratricidal conflict between two sections of the American Union; but, while anxious to avoid expressing and opinion likely to be construed into an approval of a war policy, they regard as established beyond disproof, the the South was not only the aggressor, but designedly provoked an armed contest with the United States Government with the express, sole object of founding a Confederacy to perpetuate slavery. On the other hand, the United States Government, embracing the political anti slavery party - commonly called the Republican party - has initiated and carried into effect measures in furtherance of negro emancipation, which entitle it to the sympathy of all true friends of freedom. It has enforced the statutes against slave-trading, which former administrations, being pro-slavery, had allowed to become inoperative, and has prosecuted slave-traders to conviction and punishment; it has entered into a new anti-slave trade treaty with Great Britain, conceding a right of search which former Governments, overruled by the Southern party, steadfastly refused; to promote the speedy settlement of the Territories, by a non-slaveholding population, it enacted a Homestead Bill, giving a hundred and sixty acres of land to every immigrant, irrespective of national origin; and, moreover carrying into effect the policy of Jefferson, ratified by act of Congress in 1789, it has prohibited slavery forever in those Territories, upon which issue alone the Southern candidate for the Presidency was defeated at the election which immediately preceded the present rebellion; it has also abolished slavery in the District of Columbia; it has virtually repealed the Fugitive Slave Act, by prohibiting the rendition of slaves, escaping from the rebel States to the lines of the United States army, providing compensation on account of such as may belong to loyal citizens; it has recognized and entered into diplomatic relations with the Negro Republics of Liberia and Hayti; by the Confiscation Bill - considerately made non-retrospective - it, in effect, proclaimed emancipation to the slaves to the slaves in the rebel States, within a specified period; a majority in Congress has ratified the President's plan of compensated emancipation for such Slave States as may elect to take advantage of it, and only recently, the President has announced that the details of the measure will be submitted to the next Congress, with a view to its immediate practical application; lastly, the President has lately issued a Proclamation, declaring absolutely and forever free all slaves in those states which shall [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] be in rebellion on the 1st of January next, and pointing to the measures in progress for the abolition of slavery in the loyal States, upon the principle of indemnification. While the Committee deprecate a resort to arm, even with the avowed purpose of promoting the extinction of slavery, they reiterate the opinion, that friends of the slave, in the United States, under whatsoever designation, have established a just claim upon the sympathy of the friends of freedom throughout Europe. In this spirit, and with the object of evoking such an expression of sympathy as shall encourage the Emancipation party in the United States, in their most difficult position, to preserve in their endeavors to obtain justice for the slave, the Committee issues the present address, earnestly commending it to the favorable consideration of their fellow-country-men, and to the friends of humanity in all lands. On behalf of the Committee, THOMAS BINNS, Ch'n. S.A. CHAMEROVZOW, Sec'y. 27 New Broad street, E. C., London. 17th November, 1862. --- [[italics]] To his Excellency, Arraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America: [[/italics]] SIR--It has seemed desirable to the Committee of the British Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society to issue, at the present crisis, an Address to the Friends of the Anti-Slavery Cause, of which a copy is annexed. in directing your attention to it, the Committee would take advantage of the opportunity to assure you of their personal respect and sympathy, and of their appreciation of the exceeding great difficulties of your position. Since your accession to office, they have watched with deep interest the progress of events, and especially the gradual development of a policy tending to promote Negro Emancipation. If certain measures in furtherance of that policy, and some apparently inconsistent with it, have not recommended themselves to the approval of the committee, they have, nevertheless, recognized the majority of them with satisfaction as conducive, in the main, to the interests of the enslaved portion of the African race. The Committee earnestly desire that the sanguinary conflict between the two sections of the Union may cease, and that,with the removal of the sole cause of this strife, a way may open for a reconciliation upon the during basis of a community of interests, and a mutual forgiveness of injuries. 27 New Bond street, E. C., London, 17th Nov. 1862. [[line]] [[bold]] The Proclamation of Freedom! [[flourish]] TEN STATES DECLARED IN REBELLION! [[flourish]] [[italics]] PROCLAMATION. [[/italics]] [[/bold]] WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 1863.--I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do issue this, my Proclamation: Whereas, On the 22d day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing among other things the following, to wit: "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, henceforward and forever, free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval force thereof, will recognize and [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] msintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons,or any of them, in any effort they may make for their actual freedom; that the Executive will, on the first day of January, aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people therein respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State or people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States by virtue of the power in me vested, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in times of actual rebellion against the authorities and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing this rebellion against the authorities and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing this rebellion, do on this, the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the date of the first above mentioned order, do designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people there of, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States. The following to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Louisiana, (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Placquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans,) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, except the 48 counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not made. And by virtue of the power, for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be FREE, and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons. An I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that in all cases where allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known, that such persons if in suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States, garrison forts, positions, stations and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this sincerely believed to be an act of justice warranted by the Constitution and upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of almighty god. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh. [L. S.] (Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. [[line]] [[bold]] THE RE-INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. [[/bold]] ----- The only ground upon which slavery has stood thus far, is State authority. State governments having been subverted by the rebellion, and their legal existence, as governments, [[/column 3]]
