They
knew very well the effect to be produced on Slavery by a Civil War,
especially in those States into which hostile Armies might penetrate,
and upon the soil of which the great contests for the success of
Republican Government were to be decided.
"They wanted some intermediate ground for the conflict of arms-territory
where the population would be divided. They knew, also, that by keeping
Slavery in the Border States the mere 'friction and abrasion' to which
you so appropriately allude, would keep up a constant irritation,
resulting necessarily from the frequent losses to which the owners would
be subjected.
"They also calculated largely, and not without reason, upon the
repugnance of Non-Slaveholders in those States to a Free Negro
population. In the meantime they intended persistently to charge the
overthrow of Slavery to be the object of the Government, and hostility
to this Institution the origin of the War. By this means the
unavoidable incidents of the strife might easily he charged as the
settled purposes of the Government.
"Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on
the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could
not in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained,
upon the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and
every omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a
new incentive to Rebellion.
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