And to come down to a still later period, you can have
no treasonable doubt that the passage of the Corwin Amendment disarmed
the South of any cause for hostilities, based on the danger of
Congressional interference with Slavery wherever existing by force of
State laws. There remains, then, only one conceivable excuse for the
aggressive policy of the South, and that is found in the alleged
apprehension that the slaves would be incited to open rebellion against
their masters. But, I ask, can any intelligent and fair-minded man
believe, to-day, that slaveholders were forced into this war by the fear
that the anti-slavery sentiment of the North would lead to a general
slave-insurrection? Nine-tenths of the able-bodied Southern population
have been in arms for more than two years, far away from their
plantations, and unable to render any assistance to the old men, women,
and children remaining at home. The President's Emancipation
Proclamation was made public nearly a year ago, and subsequent
circumstances have conspired to give it a very wide circulation through
the South. And yet there has not been a single slave-insurrection of any
magnitude, and not one that has not been speedily suppressed and
promptly punished.
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