place; felling and conscience revolt at the very idea.
It may be admitted that this question, with its peculiar complications,
presents the most difficult and dangerous of all problems; but there is
no alternative: we must meet and solve it at the close of this
rebellion. We have to combat the selfish interests of a class still
powerful, aided by the great strength of a popular prejudice almost
universal. The emergency will require the exertion of all our wisdom and
all our energy.

The vast body of slaves in the South have not yet been incited to
action, either by the movements of our armies or by the potency of the
Proclamation. Whether they will be, and to what extent, depends upon the
continuance of the war, and its future progress. The result in this
particular remains to be seen, and cannot now be anticipated. What legal
effect the measures of the Government may have upon the slaves remaining
in the South would be a question for the decision of the courts; and
doubtless most of them would be entitled to liberation as the penalty of
the treason of their masters, who may have participated in the
rebellion. But it is well worthy of consideration whether it would not
be wise and better for all parties, including the slaves, to commute
this penalty by a compact with the States for the gradual emancipation
of the slaves remaining at the time of the negotiation. The sudden and
utter overthrow of the existing organization of labor and capital in
those States, coming in addition to the awful devastation which the war
has produced, will deal a disastrous blow, not alone to those
unfortunate States, but to the commerce and industry of the whole
country.

But neither the Government of the United States alone, nor this together
with the Africans, liberated and unliberated, can prescribe their own
requirements, as the law of the emergency, without reference to other
great interests involved. The question must necessarily be controlled by
the sum of all the political elements which enter into it. It is
desirable to restore the States to the Union with as little
dissatisfaction as possible, and even with all the alleviation which can
properly be afforded to the misfortunes of the people who have so sadly
erred in their duty to themselves and to their country. After any
settlement--the most favorable that can be made--heavy will be the
punishment inflicted by the great contest upon the unhappy population of
the rebellious regio