tional flag, had been rendered placid and
indifferent in his desperation by a government that either
could not or would not secure to its subjects the blessings
of liberty which that flag imports. The South cries for
justice from the government as well as the North, though in
a proud and resentful spirit; and in what manner is that
justice to be obtained? Is it to be secured by that wretched
resource of a set of profligate politicians, called
'reconstruction?' No, it is to be obtained by the abolition
of slavery, and by no other course.

"It is vain to deny that the slave system of labor is giving
shape to the government of the society where it exists, and
that that government is not republican, either in form or
spirit. It was through this system that the leading
conspirators have sought to fasten upon the people an
aristocracy or a despotism; and it is not sufficient that
they should be merely defeated in their object, and the
country be rid of their rebellion; for by our constitution
we are imperatively obliged to sustain the State against the
ambition of unprincipled leaders, and secure to them the
republican form of government. We have positive duties to
perform, and should hence adopt and pursue a positive,
decided policy. We have services to render to certain states
which they cannot perform for themselves. We are in an
emergency which the framers of the constitution might easily
have foreseen, and for which they have amply provided.

"It is clear that the public good requires slavery to be
abolished; but in what manner is it to be done? The mere
quiet operation of congressional law can not deal with
slavery as in its former status before the war, because the
spirit of law is right reason, and there is no reason in
slavery. A system so unreasonable as slavery can not be
regulated by reason. We can hardly expect the several states
to adopt laws or measures against their own immediate
interests. We have seen that they will rather find arguments
for crime than seek measures for abolishing or modifying
slavery. But there is one principle which is fully
recognized as a necessity in conditions like ours, and that
is that the public safety is the supreme law of the State,
and that amid the clash of arms the laws of peace are