SLAVERY was the cause of the war, and slavery was the perpetual
stumbling-block. As the war went on, question after question
arose--questions that could not be answered by theories. Should we hand
back the slave to his master, when the master was using his slave to
destroy the Union? If the South was right, slaves were property, and
by the laws of war anything that might be used to the advantage of the
enemy might be confiscated by us. Events did not wait for discussion.
General Butler denominated the negro as "a contraband." Congress
provided that the property of the rebels might be confiscated.
The extreme Democrats of the North regarded the slave as more sacred
than life. It was no harm to kill the master--to burn his house, to
ravage his fields--but you must not free his slave. If in war a
nation has the right to take the property of its citizens--of its
friends--certainly it has the right to take the property of those it has
the right to kill.
Lincoln was wise enough to know that war is governed by the laws of war,
and that during the conflict constitutions are silent. All that he
could do he did in the interests of peace. He offered to execute every
law--including the most infamous of all--to buy the slaves in the border
States--to establish gradual, compensated emancipation; but the South
would not hear. Then he confiscated the property of rebels--treated the
slaves as contraband of war, used them to put down the Rebellion, armed
them and clothed them in the uniform of the Republic--was in favor of
making them citizens and allowing them to stand on an equality with
their white brethren under the flag of the Nation. During these years
Lincoln moved with events, and every step he took has been justified by
the considerate judgment of mankind.