slavery. The sentiment of nationality, the
instinct which impels every people to deprecate and resist the
dismemberment and degradation of their country, the impulse of loyalty,
are all arrayed against the traitorous "institution" which, after having
so long bent the Union to its ends, now seeks its destruction. It once
seemed to the majority patriotic to champion slavery; it is now a sacred
duty to resist the bloody Moloch unto death.

The very hesitation of the President to take the decisive step gives
weight to his ultimate decision. The compromisers have never tired of
eulogizing his firmness, his candor, his patience, his clearness of
vision, his independence, and his unsectional patriotism. His
associations were largely with the Border State school of conservatives.
His favorite counsellor was the most eminent and sturdy Republican
opponent of an emancipation policy. His decision in favor of that
policy, like the Proclamation which announces it, is entirely his own.
The "pressure" to which he deferred was that of an urgent public
necessity and the emphatic conviction of the great mass of our loyal
citizens.

And, though few days have elapsed since the Proclamation was uttered,
the evils predicted by its opponents are already banished to the limbo
of chimera. Those officers who threatened to resign in case an
emancipation policy were adopted make no haste to justify their menaces.
As yet, not one of them has done so; in time, a few may screw their
courage to the sticking-point. There are enough who can be spared; and
they are generally those who deprecate and denounce an "Abolition war."
May they yet prove men of their word!

Outside of the army, the general feeling is one of wonder that this act
of direst portent to the rebellion has been so long delayed. Even the
rebels share in this amazement. When secession was first openly mooted
at the South, every Unionist argued that secession was practical
abolition. It has puzzled them to comprehend the weary months through
which their prophecies were left unfulfilled. They will be perplexed no
longer.

The Opposition in the loyal States is manifestly weakened by the
Proclamation. Their dream is of wearing out the Unionists by
disappointments and delays, restoring a Democratic ascendency in the
government, and then buying back the rebels to an outward loyalty by new
concessions and guaranties to slavery. Hence torpid campaigns, languid
strategy, advances without pur