anized and are still in
process of formation. There is no outcry against the policy, but there
seems to be a general acquiescence in the propriety of using the African
race to assist in putting down the traitors who are ready to overthrow
all free government in order to perpetuate the subjugation of that
unfortunate people. Had the fortunes of war resulted in a speedy
annihilation of the confederate authority, it would have been utterly
impossible to have made any serious inroad upon the institution of
slavery. Sympathy for the Southern people, and a natural indisposition
to inaugurate fundamental changes, always attended with immense
temporary disadvantages and inconveniences, would have prevented any
thorough policy of emancipation from being adopted. But the day of
moderation and compromise has now passed by, probably forever. The
persistence of the rebels in their mad scheme, although their efforts
were plainly destined to ultimate defeat, has secured for themselves the
greatest boon which even the highest wisdom in the calmest times could
have conferred. Their prodigious folly and wickedness have been
overruled by a higher power, and mercifully directed to the complete
regeneration of Southern society. The operation is severe, but in the
end it will be salutary. In a state of continued peace, this could not
have been done. Scores of years would have been required to prepare the
Southern mind for it; but now, by one huge convulsive effort, made by
themselves with far different views, all obstacles are swept away, and
slavery is likely to come to a sudden and final end. A feeble
insurrection, soon extinguished, would not have accomplished this work;
and even now, if the war should speedily end, there would be serious
embarrassment in disposing of the troublesome questions arising out of
the subject. The continuance of the war, on its present basis, will soon
settle the whole difficulty; and among the many tremendous evils and
calamities attending the progress of the war, this inevitable result is
one of the greatest compensations. Few men, perhaps, would have desired,
or, by deliberate action, have promoted this violent destruction even of
so pernicious a system as that which prevailed in the South; but, on the
other hand, with the experience of the last two years, still fewer men,
in the loyal States at least, can be found to deny that the judgment is
righteous, and that, in the actual circumstances, it is destined to