omewhat
sorrowful at times to those who feel how much more she might have done
under more genial influences and in a freer field. We could also wish a
little less of the endless I and Me and Mine of the Essays, and wonder
if the author will never tire of her intense self-setting forth. But
this is the constant fault of the personal essay, let who will write it;
and since it has great names to sanction it, we may perhaps let it
pass.

EDITOR'S TABLE

The President's Proclamation is based mainly on the act of Congress to
which he refers. That act was passed with great approach to unanimity
among unconditional Unionists, and met their approbation throughout the
country. That the rebel States, as a military question, must be deprived
of the 'sinews of war,' which, with them, are the _sinews of slaves_, is
quite certain. They have boasted, as well before as since the rebellion,
that their great strength in war consisted in their ability to send all
the whites to battle, whilst the slaves were retained at home to
cultivate the lands and provide subsistence for armies. Take from the
South its slaves, and the necessary supplies must cease for want of
laborers in the field, or the whites must be withdrawn from the armies
to raise provisions. In either event, the rebellion must terminate in
defeat. There are thousands then, who, under ordinary circumstances,
would oppose emancipation, yet who will support this measure as a
_military necessity_. As regards the Border States, the President still
adheres to his original programme: emancipation with their consent,
compensation by Congress, and colonization beyond our limits.

As regards the seceded States, the proclamation only applies to such of
them as shall persist in rebellion after the first of January next, and
even in those States compensation for their slaves is to be made to all
who are loyal.

The friends of Secession in Europe, and especially in France and
England, have contended that slavery was not the cause of the rebellion,
and it has been suggested that the rebels would themselves adopt a
system of gradual emancipation. Even now it is alleged that if MR.
LINCOLN had not issued this proclamation, we should have had
something very similar from JEFFERSON DAVIS.

However this may be, these professions of the friends of the South in
Europe, and particularly of their friends in France and England, will
soon be tested.

If the South objects to emancipation, a