THE WAR IN A~IERICA: . . ITS ORIGIN AND OBJECT. BY THE REV. G. H. SHANKS. TOGBTIIU wua . BT MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, AUTHOR OF UNCLE TO!l'S CA.BIS, PRICE ONE PENNY. "'BELFAST: GEORGE PHILLIPS & SO.SS, BRIDGE STREET. C. A.ITCHISOS ; WILLI.All ll'COYB, HIGH STREET. . 1861. Library University of Texa Austin 'THE ·wAR IN AUERICA ITS ORIGIN AND OBJECT. TnE greater number of the Southern -that is, the\ slaTI?· holding-States of America ha\"C "seceded'' from the U'nionthat is, rebelled against the constituted authorities of their country. .And why? DeC!lUSC Abr-.1luun Lincoln w been elected President. 'fhey did not get the man they want~l (for they are a minority), and therefore they will not h:n·e Lincoln. The majority must yield to them, else they will retire from tlu. Union, and make a tcrrih!c disruption, with all the miseries o: ci\"il war. It is not attempted to be denied that all who votet: j for Lincoln had a right to ;ote for whomsocTI?r they pleased; nor does any one attempt to lll:lintain that the nun of tho nation's choice had any legal 1li!c m:1n"-that 7o ~ 4 is, a man whose opinions represent the whole South. He says: "In determining our duty in this emergency, it is necessary that we should first ascertain the nature of the trust providentially committed to us. The particular trust assigned to a people becomes the pledge of the Divine protection; and their fidelity to it determines the fate by which it is finally overtaken. . If, then, the South is such a people," says this Southern representative, "what, at this juncture, is their providential trust?" "I answer,'' says he, "it is to conserre and to perpetuate the institution ofdomestic slavery as now existing." The italics are his own. President Lincoln's policy is not to liberate the slaves, be it remembered, nor to interfere with vested rights or the, property of any man, but merely to restrict slavery -within its present limits, and to adopt such nuiasures as will ~ender the extension of it into new territories unnecessary and impossible. This policy will certainly lead to lhe gradual suppression of the diabolical system, as the founders of the Republic intended; and this the South avows its determination rather to die than to permit. The rebels do not pretend to take up arms in defence ot their liberties, or of their rights of any kind, i,:xcept the right to enslave a still greater number of their species, and to oblige the North to he~ them to enslave more of the human race. The issue forced upon the North, therefore, simply is either to go to war or to succumb to a. bullying minority, and bo coerced into measures which they regard as 'most atrocious, and which will be sure, sooner or later, to destroy their country. What does secession mean, then 'l It means, first, violating the national compact. It means, second, retiring, ,carrying off like robbers all the property they can get hold of belonging to thost} with whom they have broken faith. And third, it means rebelling against constituted authority for the pure and avowed pur:pose of extending slavery, and compelling the authorities to aid them in their wicked designs. The Southern writer already referred to gives the following quotations with the greatest indignation: "There can be no doubt whatever in the mind of any man that l\Ir. Lincoln regards slavery as a moral, social, and political evil, and that it should be dealt with as such by the Federal Government, in every instance where it had to deal with it at all. On this point there is no i·oom tor question, and there, need be no misgivings as to 5 his official action. The whole influence of the Executive department . of the Government~ while hi his. hands,· will be thrown againSt tb.e extension Of Slavery (this iS the SOre point;' excessively excruciating) into the new territories of the Union, and the re-opening of the African slave trade. . On these points. he (Linc~!~) .Will make n~ 'compromise, nor yield one hair's-breadth to coercion from any quarter or in any shape;" "He "ill do all in his power, personally and officially, by the direct exercise of the po\Yers of his office, and the indirect influence inseparable from it, to arrest the tendency to make slavery national aml perpetual, and to place it in precisely the same position which it held in the· early days of the Republic, and in the view of the founders of the Government." These quotations, given by the Southern statesman with such intense indignation, serve, to show what the North fights for, and what will be the issue, in case the North win, as it certainly will, sooner or later-as soon, indeed, , as it shall have been sufficiently chastised and humbled for having so long connived at the natfonal guilt, just as the tribes of Israel were repeatedly defeated and thoroughly humbled prior to their being divinely enabled to chastise, .almost annihilate the Benjamites .for their· supporting the. cause of the wicked inhabi.:. tan ts of Gibeah. The following eloquent peroration of the abovementioned Southern writer must not be withheld, italicising exactly as he does himself: "This argument, say he, "establishes the nature and solemnity of our present ti-nst, to preserve a111l transmit our e:eisting system of domestic servitude with tlz,e right, unchallenged by man, to go and root itselfwherever Providence mzd 11ature may carry it. This trust," he continues, "we will discharge in the face of the worst possible peril--though war be the aggregation of all evil"-(just as slavery is the sum of all villanies)-" yet, should the madness of tl1e hour appeal to the arbitration of the sword, we 'vill not shrink even from the baptism of fire. If modern crusaders stand in st-rried ranks upon some plain of Esdraelon, there shall we be in defence of our trust. Not till the last man has fallen behind the last rampart shall it drop from our hands, and then only in surrender to the God who gave it." "The God who gave" what? \Vhy, the right to make slaves of as many as possible of the human ract', to increase the w~alth of their masters! · Such is the object of the great rebellion in America, such is the origin of it, and such the issues of success on one side or other. War iS forced upon the North because it will not adopt the pro-slavery views of the South-because, inthe words ofthe Southern representative man, already quoted, "the whole influence of the Executive department of the Government, while in his (Lincoln's) hands, will be thrown against the extension of slavery into the new. territories of the Union, and the re-opening of the African slave trade"-because "h~ will do all in his power, personally and officially, by the-direct exercise of the powers of his office, and the indirect influence inseparable from it, to arrest the. tendency to make slavery national and perpetual, and to place it in precisely the same position which it held in the early days of .the Republic, and in the view of the founders of the Govern~ent." Upon the North has come the sad alternatiTe of either fighting or being coerced by a bullying minority to adopt most atrocious and wicked measures. · Why should not the press, the pulpit, and the prayers of British Christians be on their behalf?. The war is begun. The South avows its determination to shed. the last drop of its blood for upholding and extending 1ilavecy. The North goes to war rather than be coerced to aid them in their avowed object., God defend the right. G. H. SHANKS. Board.mills; Sept. 2, 1861. LETTER FROl\f .MRS. H. B. STOWE TO 1 0 RD SH AFT E S B UR Y. MY LORD-It is not to be disguised that one unfortunat~ result of our American crisis has been a weakening of national confidence in England, and a feeling of great sensitiveness and soreness in all our relations with that country. . . _, . . Did this exist alone in the minds of politicians, it would ~/,;;-V\: less .to be regretted, but• I am sorry to be constrained to say tba~ it probably lies deepest in the minds of that Christian and phi· l ,j !anthropic class who have, hitherto ·been the closest affiliating J'.' bond between the two countries. In this class the feeling~h:is""".. · ;J;:-. the intensity of wounded friendship and disappointed confidence, r so that they are little prepared to act the part they ha¥e for years pursued of peacemakers. It is not to be disguised that they regard themselves as suddenly abandoned in the very crisis of a battle by the moral force of those brethren on whom they had relied as undoubtingly as on themselves, and the possibility of whose failure had never entered into their most distant calculations.. It is also mo)'lt .unfortunate that this failure ~i. moral su~po1'.!-~2!E£s__ a~:a::Il!~~en(~hen th~ inonied·i~ter~ts:ar~~ng:land. appear.to.l>e.. tlireatel!~d ~your c!>urse;·'§d,1.~berefore, the iillpression is most liable to go fortlil.Mt'lliiancial ·interests pre 'vailed over moral principles. It is not principally by the go. vernmental course of the English nation that this class among us feel aggrieved. It is not with that that they principally concern themselves. Govern~ental action, as your expe.rience, my , Lord, must have made you fully aware; is the last. expression of that cultivition and training which the national conscience .receives from the.energetic labours of men whose lives are directed . by high moral and Christian aims.' It is the power that lies 8 gress of Christian civilization, has suddenly become blinded by interest on a great vital question relating to the cause of universal humanity, is not possible. Such a supposition would be too near to a general bankruptcy in all faith in human virtue. We have, therefore; but one alternative. Our cause must have been misunderstood. By false representations, and false issues, our friends in England have been blinded to the real significance of the sublime movement which the American nation has just com menced. · · -· Allow me, then, my Lord, through you, to define for our friends in England what we, the Christian men and women of America, understand by thls war. -~-c-~sider tha~ tb~s.waris~a.. great anti.:siavery war, not in ~~ct;_,i:iot in proclamation, but in the intense con, . ...t]ction and purpose of each of the contending parties; and, still ~·tllore, in the inevitable overruling· indications ·of Divine Provi.: ~d~rice. -· -· ~ -The distinct. issue made in President Lincoln's election 1was, ."No more slave territory." This \vns confessed both by North / nnd South, and, whatever the North understood by it, the South :~ considered it as equivalent to the destruction of slavery. Ac.:. / cordingly, in the Southern election, the success of Lincoln was spoken of as the overthrow of ~he·slave power. Not all the tranquillising speeches of conciliating politicians, not even the pledge of the prospective Administration to respect all the con-· \ stitntional rights of the slavemfoers, .for one moment blinded ; "them to the conviction that, if this election were carried, the ( doom of their peculiar institution was sealed. In view of this \ issue, every free .state, without exception,. vot.ed for Lincoln, \, _ and every slave state, ·without exception; voted against him. It was the first time in ournational history that Sllch a division "ever occurred,..and it .was·a decisifo"indication of what was ·understood by the movements 'on both sides~ · · As soon as Lincoln's electio~ ~as proclaimed, the conspiracy, "long secretly meditated, and· only waiting for this moment to develop itself, was openly organised. The slave party, finding that they could no longer 1ise the ·union for their purposes, resolved to destroy it.' They formed their Confederacy ; and Vice-President Stephens declared to the world in bold, unequivocal terms, .that theirs was the first 9 .behind the Go>ernment in the minds and opinions of the Christian peopie of England that is the subject of our chief anxiety. To suppose that all this class in England, fresh in the traditions of Clarkson and Wilberforce, so high in moral position in other respects, so various and rich in their contributions to the pro· Government in the history of the world based upon the right to -enslave the weaker races. When this Confederacy fired upon our national flag, and, trampling it in the dust, boasted that they had humbled the banner of our Union, then the free :States rose as one man. Such a sub_lime uprising of such masses in such a cause, I will venture to say, the world has never seen before. The issue was more than the liberation of any specific number 'of men. ·It was_ for vital principles of free society to endure for .all generations. That this war has n~t been proclaimed· a war for the emancipation of the negro specifically, was because the extent and magnitude of the issue transcended the wants of any particular race, and had to do wit~ the very existen<;e of free society. There is one party iu this country, my Lord, who have made ·the abolitio,n of slavery the sole thought and purpose of their . lives. They are distinguished from all other anti-siavery men in America _by the fact that they have confined themselves to this one single idea, and for its sake gi>en up every other interest, politi.cal or ecclesiastical. They have abandoned all connexion both with Chmch and State, that they might feel free. to give themselves to this alone. This party, represented by the wellknown names of Garrison and Wendell Phillips, whatever their peculiarities on some points may have been, ce1·tainly merits the confidence. given to men who have abandoned all things for a cause which they love better than themselYes. Their instincts have·al~ay~ been an unerring indication of what was made for the anti-slave_ry interest in this country. . . For twenty years this small party has met every movement · in .Church or State with what often has appeared to be unreasonable c_riticism, on account of alleged deficiencies towards the slavery cause. For the first time since the anti-slavery struggles began, this body of men at last stands shoulder to shoulder with their whole country in a popular movement. To THE READER.-The first flee lines on page 9 should be at the top of page 8. 10 j j -. Iii opi>osition to such amighty tide of influences, all sweeping in one direction, it seems to the friends of the anti-slavery cause but a slight abatement that individual generals have promised t-0 put down slave -insurrections, and that slaves have been, in isolated instances, returned from Federal camps. Such instances have always met with a prompt and energetic rebuke on the part of the Northern people; and already the number of slaves libe~ted by our army is counted by hundreds, wbil~ the number Tetumed have been the' rare exceptions.. The refusal of the North t-0 enlist negro regiments has also ooen criticised in. England .ns showing a want of proper feeling to the race. But; mJ Lord, it has been the desire of our Northern States, as brothers, ·as Christians, as men of humanity, to avoid, as long as possible, "h-aising the a.wfnl whirlwind of ronflicting races. While we hold ,in our hand the match which might ignite that ·powder maga• -zine, an awful pity and. fear stays us. Any other way is better for the slave himself than tho way of blood; and if once that 'deadly strife is precipitated, this war will become one of bai ~. barities hitherto unknown in ·civilization. It has been the object ofour Government to preser.ve our army free from all impulses of vindictive passion, and t-0 make it an instrument of preserving order and tranquillity in the region where it moves. A negro insurrection would be the most unfortunate thing possib1e for · that injured race, whose freedom is ooming on the wings of every hour. Untangled and furious, they would perpetrate deeds which would check the rising sympathies of the world, and needlessly complicate the majestic movement, which we tmst is destined at last to bumble and destroy the power of their oppressors. Oilr army is followed by the prayers of slaves who find no difficulty in understanding that our success means good to them. Lh,t our friends in England, who gallantly labou~ with us in · the moral struggle which brought on this crisis, now understand its high signifi~ce, and aid us with their prayers. ~ HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 11:;; T.HE preceding ietter of Mrs. Stowe, which I had not seen when I /1 wrote the foregoing, corroborates, in every particular, the· views there ex:pressed.. The apathy· and almost hostility of a portion , \ of the press and. the public of this coun~ry appears most extra~ ordinary and alarming. To suppose that a sinister influence had. been brought to bear upon them, or that the apathy arose from , the fact of the monied interests being threatened by the coune taken by the North~ would have been wickedly uncharitable, .. and, a.S l\Irs. Stowe says, "too near to a general bankruptcy in ~ll faith in human virtue." The only reason assigned was-, that the Northern States of America, instead of fighting for the.abolition of sfavery, were at heart as fond of slavery as th~of the. South; "Let.them proclaim war for the liberation of the slave," , it,. is univ.ersaJly said,. "and then they shall have our sympathy ; and moraisupport." Now Mrs. Stowe's letter completely removes· the misapprehension, and shows that the North is virtaallg war'ring for the suppression of slavery. It is . true. that the imme-· diate and avowed object of the war is, in. th~ first place, to' preserve the Union; but what imperilled the Uniont What else but the disagreement of the North with the South on the subject of slavery-a disagreement so radical andthorough, at least. iii t}le views of the Southern sla.veowners,. notwithstanding all . possible concessions and. tranquillising speeches, that they; '. avowed th~y could live no longer in union with it, and rather · than do· so they preferred all the hottors of civil war. · The North.coUid, at any moment, ~ve put the Union out.of all danger, and saved themselves. a vast sacrifice of blood and treasure, by simply agreeing with the South on the subject of slaverysimply adopting the principle that slavery is to be extended and perpetuated. So that itis. perfectly clear, as Mrs. Stowe says, "that the war is a great anti-slavery war, not in f o/'ffJ, but. in . fact; not in proclamation, but in the intense cont'iction. and purpose of EACH OF THE CO~"TE.'\"IHNG PAR'l'.IRS; and, still more, in • the iner:itable overruling inflicatiom of Divine Providence." Dr. Russell, of the Times, also says that it is rapidly coming to be"~ war for slavery or no slavery." · 12': Too long did the North succumb to the truculent South, and were coerced into most atrocious measures, such as the Fugitive Slave Law, and they may still have mean prejudices against the coloured population which they l\IUST lay aside; and too ninny~ both of Church and State, are still in the North who' would perpetuate slavery for their own base ends; and Lincoln's Government swarms with traitors in every department, just as King William's did, when called by the nation and.Divine Provi-· dence to the throne of these realms. But does not all this · entitle to still greater sympathy those who have made such a noble stand on behalf of liberty and independence, a stand unsurpassed, perhaps, for grandeur and moral sublimity, in the whole history of "freedom's battle?".·. And let but the moral· support of the British nation be unequivocally extended to them, and soori will the war come to an end, and' the cause of humanity, . religion, and justice be vindicated, and commerce resume its career, without violating the rights. of.men, and unenruingered by that cnr8ed system which cannot' be tolerated on God's good . earth, without, sooner or later, bringing down the wrath of Him : who is the conmion father of all the families of the earth, " and : has made of one blood (whatever. Southern writers may say to · the contrary) all nations of men for to d\vell on all. the. face of . the earth.'' Why should the sulljugation of some 6even hundred ' thousand slaveholders,. in rebellion amid so many millions, be :. considered an impossibility? No doubt these few thousands of.· masters are, in their own estimation, THE PEOPLE of the South, but as the war progresses the fact will undoubtedlybe developed · that' there are millions· of others, both black and white, who are ~·people in the State as well as they•. Surely, then, there will be a . \ hearty response to the appeal of the authoress of " Uncle Tom's ~ Cabin," when she says, "Let our friends in England, who gallantly . f laboured with us in the moral straggle which brought on this crisis, now tinderstand its ~ghest significance, and aid us with . their prayers." England expects every man, woman, and child., to do their duty~ G. H. SHANKS. Boardmills, September 12, 1861. .. Printed at the News-Letter Office, 25, Donegall Street, Belfast.