For
assuredly Congress will very soon make up its mind to declare all
slaves free who belong to persons in arms against the Union. When that
is done, slavery, confined to a minority, will soon cure itself; and
the pecuniary value of the negroes belonging to loyal masters will
probably not exceed the amount of compensation which the United States
will be willing and able to give.
The assumed difficulty of governing the Southern States as free and
equal commonwealths, in case of their return to the Union, is purely
imaginary. If brought back by force, and not by voluntary compact,
they will return without the Territories, and without a Fugitive Slave
Law. It may be assumed that in that event the victorious party would
make the alterations in the Federal Constitution which are necessary
to adapt it to the new circumstances, and which would not infringe,
but strengthen, its democratic principles. An article would have to be
inserted prohibiting the extension of slavery to the Territories, or
the admission into the Union of any new Slave State.
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