union.

* * * * *

"We may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity
which a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our
fellow-men of all countries to pass judgment 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-defense. Our own detestation of those who have attempted the
most execrable measures 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 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."

And although the President and his supporters had not reaped the
blessings their hopes had sown, they were, nevertheless, not without
hope. For when the sober second thought of the nation took the place
of prejudice and undue excitement, the proclamation had more friends.
And so, in keeping with his promise, the President issued the
following proclamation on the first of January, 1863.

"_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 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863,
all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of
a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against
the United States, shall be t