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Show 138 THE GOLDEN HOUR. haxe heard you expre ·ing a doubt as to the rea.uine s of the ·e people for any dealing with ~-.~lavery, \vhen a n1otnent before I had been conver ·ing wiLh a very in telligent Unionist fro1n Floriua, a large proprietor and slaveholder in that SLate, who infonnod n1e that he had been in the anteroorn of the "\Vhito lion ·e for several hours a day for nearly three wook , \vithout being received or hoard. lie can1e Lo give it as his opinion, aud that of the half-<.loz;en Union 111011 whom he knew in his State, Lhat to abolish ~lavery was the one way of putting down the Rebellion. I fear that 1nauy of those hours \Vere occupieu by n1on from the Boruer SLates who wonld not have repre ·outed the real loyali ts of the South h alf so ·well. A.n acquaintance of son1o years with the people of the nlountain ranges extending through ~Iaryland down to Alab~ uua leads 1ne to affirm Lhat two thirds of thc1n woulu \vclcon1c a decree of e1nancipation by the goYernlnont; \vhil ·t a gcnero~1s rc ·ponse " ro uld. not fail fro1n tho eighteen thou and Germans of New Orlean , and tho fi,~e thou ·anJ. apiece of RiclunonJ. and Louisville. Of l\Ii ·souri I need not peak: nothing but a di ·ability in the Con titution of that State I revents an ahnost i1n1neuiate re pon ·e to your offer of " co-operation." rrhat tate had, before the Rebellion broke ont, 150,000 ~laves; it now has 1ess than 50,000. A decree of emancipation, paying loyal 1na ·tors of cour ·c, woulu be a great relief to that ~.. Late fro1u its co1nplications. There is but a very s1nall nun1bcr of loyal slave- TO TIIE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 139 holders in the Bord r States ; and surely they could not show their loyalty n1ore than by rcfu.·ing to allow thi ~ligh L in Lore t to ~Land in the way of the national safeLy. 'Vha.t would. the country ay, if, when you asked 1ncn owning land around Wa ·hington or 1 t. Louis to yiolu their land and houses, that national defences u1ight be 1nade perfect, they had refused. ? They woulJ. be c tccn1ed d.it:doyal, and their lands taken. You, ir, have gi vcn the han<lfnl of 'lavcholue1" in the Border 1tatcs a good 1niliLary reason why they should etnanci pate, in your ·pecial n1cssagc ; to the country it scen1s a sufficient touch tone of their loyalty or disloyalLy. Suppo e they shoulu not recci vc the full 1narket value for their slave,,- Lhough we coulu pay that at far less cost than allo,v thc1n to ronut.in slave - should. the loyalists of the ' 1la.ve StaLes have 1norc in-demnity ihan the loyalist· of the Free States ? A.rc we not all, on account of this in ·Litution they arc hu(ro·iucr • bb b' losing our business, incotuc, paying ononuons taxes? Shall our capitali ts in the Free ~., tates do1nan<l of the government so much on the d.ollar for all they have lo t? Loyal 1nen, North and outh, tnu:t expect to lose; and though to hush the crying chilurcn, and to be gcnerou to those who arc unused to labor, we aro all williug to compensate the e ~outhcrn loyali ts, yet in sti'ict j u 'Lice the iuj urccl COlUJncrcc of the North has as 1nuch right to den1a1Hl con1pcnsation. In God's 11a1ne, let us have no half-work iu this |