and little ones were obliged to take shelter in the
bush. And so with multitudes of Union men in Texas at the present
day. But all of them wish to get back and establish a Free State in
Texas; because, they say, no other than a Free State can ever
protect them from the enemies of human freedom, and, I was going to
say, of human nature. Again, in Florida there were many who were
driven away who are now anxious to return. Is there a man here who
wants these noble, generous Union men of the South _to go back to
be trampled under foot by restored rebels_! Let them go back, but
let them go back under the aegis of the American Union, and the
protection of the Government pledged to them, and then they will
take care to settle this question of slavery. They will amend the
Constitution so as to put the slavery question where it ought to
be. When that is done, who is going to talk about the Proclamation?
You have here, my fellow citizens, an intelligent statement, as it
seems to me, of the manner in which this thing can be settled:
simply by standing by the unconditional Union men--who almost all
of them have embraced the doctrine of emancipation in the Border
States--and standing by the Union men in the rebellious States, and
letting them protect themselves against the institution of
slavery.'

At this stage of the present writing, and having just transferred these
manly, patriotic, and statesmanlike sentiments to our columns, hoping
that they might foreshadow the fixed policy of the Administration, of
which Mr. Chase is so able and distinguished a member, we are overtaken
by more than a full fruition of the hope in the publication of the
President's Message and Proclamation of Amnesty to the South, upon the
sole condition of the perpetual maintenance of the Proclamation of
Emancipation issued a year ago; in other words, upon the condition of
the total and definitive extinction of Slavery in the South. The men of
the South who are ready for this are to be recognized as the loyal
citizens, the New South--precisely what ought to be done. The machinery
of the old State Governments is to remain intact, but to be turned over
to this regenerated Southern party for administration. The whole
military and civil force of the Union is to retain its guardianship over
the South, during the transition, and to remain pledged to the
maintenance