With this last class of States, which is not
affected by the Proclamation, we have simply nothing to do, except
to bid God speed to the unconditional Union men of those States,
that they will do their own work in their own way and in their own
time, and all we have to do is to stand by them.
'But in the States which are affected by the Proclamation the case
is different. Either the Proclamation was a great, monstrous sham,
and an imposition in the face of the world, or else that
Proclamation was an effectual thing, and there are no slaves to-day
in the rebel States. They are all enfranchised by the Proclamation,
for what says it? All the slaves of these States are declared now
and forever free, and the executive power is pledged to the
maintenance of their freedom. If it were not so it would be a
national imposture, and I would no more be guilty of that piece of
infamy than I would steal into your house at night and rob your
pantry. But what have we to do with this Proclamation in the
rebellious Slave States? It is a very simple thing: _just simply
recognise the Union men who remain in those States_. Such men as
Mr. Flanders, and Mr. May, and a whole host of others, who were
known as slaveowners, are now satisfied that the Union men of the
South must see to it that slavery must never be permitted to be
reestablished in those States.
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