The New York Courier and Enquirer, in an editorial, apparently from
Gen. Webb's own hand, discourses as follows:--
"Most assuredly these madmen are calling down upon themselves a
fearful retribution. We are no Abolitionists, as the columns of the
Courier and Enquirer, for the whole period of its existence, now
thirty-four years, will abundantly demonstrate. And for the whole of
that period, except the first six months of its infancy, it has been
under our exclusive editorial charge.
"Never, during that long period, has an Abolition sentiment found
its way into our columns; and for the good reason, that we have
respected, honored and revered the Constitution, and recognized our
duty to obey and enforce its mandates. But Rebellion stalks through
the land. A confederacy of slave States has repudiated that
Constitution; and, placing themselves beyond its pale, openly seeks
to destroy it, and ruin all whom it, protects. They no longer profess
any obedience to its requirements; and, of course, cannot claim its
protection. By their own act, our duty to respect their rights, under
that Constitution, ceases with their repudiation of it; and our right
to liberate their slave property is as clear as would be our right to
liberate the slaves of Cuba in a war with Spain.
"A band of pirates threaten and authorize piracy upon Northern
commerce; and from the moment that threat is carried into execution,
the fetters will fall from the manacled limbs of their slaves, and
they will be encouraged and aided in the establishment of their
freedom. Suppose Cuba were to issue letters of marque against our
commerce, and, according to the Charleston Mercury, seize 'upon the
rich prizes which may be coming from foreign lands,' does any sane
man doubt that we should at once invade that island, and liberate her
slaves? Or does any statesman or jurist question our right so to do?
And why, then, should we hesitate to pursue a similar course in
respect to the so-called Southern Confederacy?
"Spain, as a well-established nation, and recognized as such by all
the powers of the world, would have the right, according to the laws
of nations, to adopt such a course of proceeding; but she would do
it at her peril, and well weighing the consequences. But the rebel
government of the slave States possesses no such right. The act would
be no more or less than piracy; and we should not only hang at the
yard-arm all persons caught in the practice, but we should be
compelled, in self-defence, to carry the war into Africa, and deal
with the slaves of the Confederacy precisely as we should, under
similar circumstances, deal with those of Cuba.
"'The richly laden ships of the North,' says the Mobile Advertiser,
'swarm on every sea, and are absolutely unprotected. The harvest is
ripe.' We admit it; but gather it if you dare. Venture upon the
capture of the poorest of those richly laden ships,' and, from that
moment, your slaves become freemen, doing battle in Freedom's cause.
'Hundreds and hundreds of millions of the property of the enemy
invite us to spoil him--to spoil these Egyptians,' says the same
paper. True, but you dare not venture upon the experiment; or, if you
should be so rash as to make the experiment, your fourteen hundred
millions of slave property will cease to exist, and you will find
four millions of liberated slaves in your midst, wreaking upon their
present masters the smothered vengeance of a servile race, who, for
generation after generation, have groaned under the lash of the negro
driver and his inhuman employer.
"'The risk of the privateer,' says the same organ of the rebel
confederacy, 'will still be trifling; but he will continue to
reap the harvest.' His risk will only be his neck, and his 'harvest'
will be a halter. But the risk, nay, the certainty of the punishment
to be visited upon the slave confederacy, will be far greater--of
infinitely greater magnitude than they can well conceive; because it
will be no more or less than the loss of all their slave property,
accompanied with the necessity of contending, hand to hand, for their
lives, with the servile race so long accustomed to the lash, and the
torture, and the branding and maiming of their inhuman masters; a
nation of robbers, who now, in the face of the civilized world,
repudiate their just debts, rob banks and mints, sell freemen
captured in an unarmed vessel into perpetual slavery, trample upon
law and order, insult our flag, capture our forts and arsenals, and,
finally, invite pirates to prey upon our commerce!
"Such a nest of pirates may do some mischief, and greatly alarm the
timid. But the men of the North know how to deal with them; and we
tell them, once for all, that, if they dare grant a solitary letter
of marque, and the person or persons acting under it venture to
assail the poorest of our vessels in the peaceful navigation of the
ocean, or the coasts and rivers of our country--from that moment
their doom is sealed, and slavery ceases to exist. We speak the
unanimous sentiment of our people; and to that sentiment all in
authority will be compelled to bow submissively. So let us hear no
more of the idle gasconade of 'the Chivalry' of a nest of robbers,
who seek to enlarge the area of their public and private virtues,
&c."
This is very plain talk, and cannot easily be misapprehended by
those whom it concerns.