I interpret it, perpetually binding upon the nation the curse of human slavery. It contains no provisions securing immunity to traitors. No enemy of the government has any guaranteed rights under the Constitution, except those which are secured to him by the laws of war. Instead of attempting the destruction of slavery in violation of the Constitution, or by evading any of its requirements, I believe it can be destroyed, as can every enemy of the government, within the Constitution, and by express provisions of the Constitution. Whatever restrictions the Constitution may impose upon loyal citizens, I am sure it nowhere contains a guarantee for traitors, either in person or property. By the express provision of the Constitution, which I have quoted, the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, has authority under the war power to issue his emancipation proclamation. On this point the President thus speaks:

"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit:

"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are and henceforward shall be free, and that the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary selfdefense, and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

"And I therefore declare and make known, that such persons, of suitable conditions, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God."

No man can read this proclamation of the President without a thrill of patriotic pride, and they who possess the consciousness, as I do, of having labored from the first to secure the results which it ultimately promises, a perpetual union of these States, with harmonious institutions, based upon freedom instead of slavery, will feel a satisfaction which words are too feeble to express.

Let all remember that we should not have had this glorious proclamation to-day had the earnest men of this country remained silent and criminally indifferent to this great movement, as did political fossils, compromisers, and the men in the North who did not believe in God or man. Such men joined hands with this class in almost every Republican county in our State, and did not scruple to apologize for the rebels, and defend the rightfulness of human slavery. This unnatural coalition, called a "Union for the sake of the Union" party, made by pro-slavery men and timid men in and out of the Republican party, was made for the most part for the sake of the spoils of office in Republican States and counties, where the opposition were in a hopeless minority. They refused to do this in pro-slavery States and counties where they had undoubted majorities.

But in Republican States and counties they were clamorous for the "Union for the sake of the Union" movement. You will remember how boldly the most notorious proslavery men, in every Republican county in our District, rushed into the "Union for the sake of the Union" conventions, took the front seats without a scruple and demanded the best offices without a blush. This coalition throughout the State enabled the friends of slavery to break down the Republican party, and inaugurate, in its stead, this so-called

"Union movement" upon the Crittenden platform, thus securing the great States of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, in the late elections, to the political opponents of Mr. Lincoln's administration. Wherever the Republican organization was maintained in its integrity, the administration was handsomely sustained. Witness our overwhelming triumphs in Maine, Massachusetts, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas. I need not tell you how earnestly I labored to prevent this fatal step in Ohio. When I first learned that such a movement was on foot in May or June, 1861, I went to Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and other places of lesser note, and protested against it.

After coming to Washington, at the extra session, I submitted to the Republican members of Congress the draft of a call for a State convention, which I had left with the State Central Committee, and every member of Congress from Ohio with but one exception, signed it, as a suggestion embodying their views on the subject, and I sent that to the State Committee at Columbus, but they disregarded all such suggestions, and made the unfortunate call they did for our State Convention, and, as was predicted, have succeeded in aiding the opposition in this State to secure fourteen of the nineteen members of the next Congress to the Vallandigham Democracy. With the State Government at Columbus ostensibly in our possession, these tricksters and trimmers have increased the majority against us in Franklin county more than double. Are not our friends satisfied by this time, that this "Union for the sake of the Union" appeal is a political dodge on the part of the most transparent of political adventurers? If they are not, let them try it again. From the first, I have been and am now in favor of a union of all earnest men, upon principle, to put down this rebellion, but not such a union as was secured by a coalition with proslavery men upon the Crittenden resolutions, for, as every man knows, those resolutions were a cheat and a sham, and I glory in the fact that I spat upon and repudiated them in my last canvass. Let us return to our principles and reorganize the only true Union party, the Republican party, the only party that has been true to freedom, the only party that during all this terrible conflict has had no traitor or rebel sympathizer in its ranks.

The battle is to be waged from this time henceforward, not only against the rebels, but also against the CAUSE and SUPPORT of the rebellion. There can be but two parties in the North, the party of freedom and the party of slavery. The party of freedom will be, as it ever has been, for the Union, the party of slavery will be as it ever has been, for all compromises demanded by their old political allies, the rebels. In this great contest, then, there can be but two sides, and he who is not for "Liberty and Union," must be against "Liberty and Union." The battle may be long and rage fiercely, but from this day dates our victory.

"Wake, watcher, see the mountain peaks
Already catch a golden ray,
Light on the far horizon speaks

The dawning of a glorious day."

"Hard-fought and long the strife may be,
The powers of wrong be slow to yield,

But RIGHT shall gain the victory,

And FREEDOM hold the battle-field."

J. M. ASHLEY.

PATRIOTIC ADDRESS OF HON. J. M. ASHLEY,

AT THE GREAT UNION WAR MEETING OF NORTHWESTERN OHIO, AT WHITE'S HALL, TOLEDO, MARCH 18, 1863.

MR. PRESIDENT, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I regret that more speakers from abroad are not present, to entertain and instruct you. I hoped it would only be necessary for me to approve in a few words this movement, and that we should all have the pleasure of listening exclusively to distinguished speakers from abroad. The saying of Christ, when teaching in a synagogue of Galilee, that "A PROPHET IS NOT WITHOUT HONOR SAVE IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND AMONG HIS OWN KIN AND IN HIS OWN HOUSE," is as apposite to this occasion, as that on which it was first uttered. I spoke at the depot to-day, and will therefore detain you but a short time now.

Mr. President, I need not say that this grand demonstration of to-day and to-night, to indorse the sentiments contained in the patriotic appeal of our brave brothers in arms, meets the unqualified approval of my judgment and my heart. [Applause.]

Letter from Prof. B. W. Arnett, Jr., A. В.

The reader will find that this short patriotic address is one of Mr. Ashley's most appropriate and clever off hand speeches. It was delivered at a meeting called to endorse (as the reader will see) an appeal from the Union soldiers, at the front, for concord at home, and a united and uncompromising party, so as to secure a more vigorous prosecution of the war. The speech has in it the genuine ring; no man can mistake the purpose of the speaker. Mr. Ashley saw at that early day the doom of slavery, and spoke only as a man

B. W. ARNETT, JR. can speak, who has a glimpse of the future and beholds the approaching triumph of the cause he loves. He proclaimed in this speech that "Truth's enemy wins a defeat with victory." This is profound philosophy, and is the kind of faith that comes only to great and heroic souls. B. W. ARNETT, JR.