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812 DOUGLASS MONTHLY. MARCH, 1863 [[line]] [[3 columns]] [[column one]] on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior race–peaceful and contented laborers in their sphere–are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their masters by the insidious recommendation "to abstain from violence unless in necessary self-defence." Our own detestation of those who have attempted the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it discloses. So far as regards the action of this government on such criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing you that I shall–unless in your wisdom you deem some other course more expedient–deliver to the several State authorities all commissioned officers of the United States army that may hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes, and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual parole. In its political aspect this measure possesses great significance, and to it in this light I invite your attention. It affords to our whole people the complete and crowning proof of the true nature of the designs of the party which elevated to power the present occupant of the Presidential chair at Washington, and which sought to conceal its purposes by every variety of artful device, and by the perfidious use of the most selemn and repeated pledges on every possible occasion. I extract in this connection, as a single example, the following declaration, made by President Lincoln under the solemnity of his oath as Chief Magistrate of the United States , on the 4th of March, 1861 : "Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehensions. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never repeated them. And more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read: " Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest crimes.'" Nor was this declaration of the want of power or disposition to interfere with our social system confined to a state of peace.–Both before and after the actual commencement of hostilities the President of the United States repeated in formal official communication to the Cabinets of Great Britain and France that he was utterly without constitutional power to do the act which he has just committed, and that in no possible event, whether the secession of these States resulted in the establishment of a separate confederacy or in the restoration of the Union, was there any authority by virtue of which he could either restore a disaffected State to the [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] Union by force of arms, or make any change in any of its institutions. I refer especially for verification of this assertion to the despatches addressed by the Secretary of State of the United State, under direction of the President, to the Ministers of the United States at London and Paris, under date of 10th and 22d of April, 1861. The people of this Codfederacy, then, cannot fail to receive this proclamation as the fullest vindication of their own sagacity in forseeing the uses to which the dominant party in the United States intended from the beginning to apply their power; nor can they cease to remember with devout thankfulness that it is to their own vigilance in resisting the first stealthy progress of approaching despotism that they owe their escape from consequences now apparent to the most skeptical. This proclamation will have another salutary effect, in calming the fears of those who have constantly evinced the apprehension that this war might end by some reconstruction of the old Union, or some renewal of close political relations with the United States. These fears have never been shared by me, nor have I ever been able to perceive on what basis they could rest. But the proclamation affords the fullest guarantees of the impossibility of such a result. It has established a state of things which can lead to but one of three possible consequences-the extermination of the slaves, the exile of the whole white population of the Confederacy, or absolute and total separation of these States from the United States. This proclamation is also an authentic statement by the government of the United States of its inability to subjugate the South by force of arms and as such must be accepted by neutral nations, which can no longer find any justification in withholding our just claims to formal recognition. It is also in effect an intimation to the people of the North that they must prepare to submit to a separation, now become inevitable; for that people are too acute not to understand that a restitution of the Union has been rendered forever impossible by the adoption of a measure which, from its very nature, neither admits of retraction nor can coexist with union. [[italicized]] Anti-Slavery Standard.[[italicized]] [[line]] FACTS CONCERNING THE CONTRABANDS [[short line]] The Emancipation League of Boston recently addressed a circular to the officers who have charged of the contrabands within our military lines at the South, making inquiries to the following effect: 1. the number of freedmen in each department. 2. Are they willing to work? 3. Do they desire to go North? 4. What are the facts as to their capacity and desire to learn? there were several other queries, relating to the religious element of the negro character, the feeling towards the masters, and the manner of treatment by subordinate officers of the government, but these were not so material as the first four. The persons to whom this circular was addressed were also requested to make such comments and offer such suggestions as their experience might dictate, and the result is a series of replies from nine different sources, all valuable as official records of the actual condition of the freedmen at the beginning of this year. Below we give the leading points of the more important of these documents. Capt. E. W. Hooper, aid-de-camp to Gen. Saxton, writes from Beaufort, S. C., under date January 6, that the number of contrabands in the Department of the South is estimated at about eighteen thousand. of these, twelve thousand are in South Carolina, and six thousand at Key West, Fernandina and other points in Florida Capt. Hooper says that these negroes, almost without exception, would readily become industrious and productive laborers under any liberal system which should offer a fair and reasonably certain compensation proportioned to the work actually done. They are not addicted to profanity or intemperance. Except in rare instances, there is no disposition among them [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] to go North, as long as life can be made tolerable to them in the South, they prefer to stay in their own homes. The desire to learn is almost universal, and their quickness is remaskable. Nearly all the able-bodied men and women have been employed by the government or its officers during the last eight months. Common laborers receive five dollars a months, besides a soldier's ration.--Mechanics are paid $8 to $12 a month besides the ration. Delay in payment, however, is often caused by the negligence of subordinate officers. Capt. Hooper's conclusions are summed up as follows: "In my judgement, equal laws faithfully administered would enable the negroes to take their place in society, as a laboring class, with a fair prospect of self-support and progress.--Until society at the South is reconstructed, and a healthy demand for agricultural labor becomes possible, perhaps some such system of training and guardianship as is now in practice here is necessary, or at least desirable." At fortress Monroe and the neighboring camps there are some thousands of contrabands, but as that military department covers several Counties of Virginia, no accurate return of the number can be given. At Old Point Comfort there are about nine hundred men, women and children; at Camp Hamilton and Hampton there are seventeen hundred and forty, of whom five hundred and two are men. C. B. Wilder, the agent in charge of these people, reports that very few of them have any earnings to save, but few drink, and "very few are willing to go North except for safety.' Their religious element is marked and strong; there is no instance of a desire to wreak vengeance upon the masters. Two thousand are employed by the government, but their pay is irregular, and there are arrears amounting to $30,000. "I have never seen a class of men more willing to work,' says Mr. Wilder, "if any inducement is offered; and this is the universal testimony of the employers." Yet he adds that their treatment by the officers of the government,"as a rule, has been brutal and cruel in the extreme; what they need is what they have been long promised, but never had--protection from the abuses of rebel sympathizers, and reasonable encouragement and opportunity to get a living." O Brown reports from Caney Island (Hampton Roads) that there are at that depot thirteen hundred and eighty one negroes, of whom only tow hundred are men. They are all willing to work. One hundred of the men are getting wood and assisting in the con-struction of the barracks and fifty others are engaged in catching oysters for the use of the island. The government pays them nothing, but many have saved from fifty to a hundred dollars during the past year, while they had an opportunity of working for themselves. - They do not desire to go North; even house servants decline the offer of good wages and permanent homes, from their partiality for the Southern climate. Mr. Brown favors the scheme of colonization for these people. Chaplain sawyer reports that the number at Helena, Ark., is four thousand, of whom eighteen hundred are men. One thousand are employed by the government, but $20,- 000 back pay is due them. Mr. Sawyer says these contrabands compare very favorably with the "poor whites" of the South, or whom he has had many opportunities of judging. Chaplains Fitch and Forman make a report from the Arkansas district substantially the same as that of Mr. Sawyer, but fix the amount of back pay due the contrabands by the government at $50,000. D. B. Nichols, Superintendent of the Con-traband Department, reports that three thou-sand three hundred and eighty-one contra-bands have passed through that camp within the last six months. Five hundred remain. Out of the whole number, Mr. Nichols says, "I have not been able to persuade more than fifteen or twenty to go North notwithstand-ing the most liberal offers have been made to then." He adds: "They desire to remain
