in confusion,--defeated, not by the foe, but by their own blind
reverence for the letter and outward symbol of the Law. Thus the first
attempt at secession from the Moslem Empire became successful; and the
decadence of that empire was the fatal fruit of that day's folly. In
like manner we have had the letter of the Constitution thrust between us
and victory. The leaders of the Opposition carried it before them, with
ostentation and loud pharisaical rant, in the late political battle.
But, much as it has embarrassed and retarded our cause, terrifying and
bewildering weak minds, the device has not availed in the past, and it
shall avail still less in the future. The spirit of the Constitution we
shall remember and obey; but the sword of justice, edged with common
sense, must cut its way through everything else, to the very heart of
the Rebellion.

Only from ourselves have we anything to fear. Self-distrust is more to
be dreaded than foreign interference or Rebel despotism. The deportment
of Great Britain has become more and more respectful towards us as we
have shown ourselves worthy of respect; and even France has of late
grown discreetly reticent on the subject of intervention. But it is said
the Rebels will arm their slaves. Very well; if they think to save their
boat by taking the bottom out, in order to make paddles of it, they are
welcome to try the experiment. Are three or four hundred thousand negro
soldiers going to accept from their masters the boon of freedom for
themselves only, and not demand it for their race? Or think you their
gratitude towards those masters is so extraordinary, that they will take
arms against their brothers already in the field, and not be liable to
commit the slight error of passing over and fighting by their side? In
either case, Mr. Davis's proposition, if carried out, is practical
abolitionism; and we have yet to learn how a tottering edifice can be
rendered any more stable by the removal of its acknowledged
"cornerstone." The plan is violently opposed by the slave-owning
classes: for, whatever may be proclaimed to the contrary, they have
risked this war, and devoted themselves to it, believing it to be a war
for the aggrandizement of their peculiar institution; and if that
succumbs, where is the gain? Already their new Government has become to
them an object of dread and detestation, and they are beginning to look
back with regretful hearts to the beneficent Union which they were in