CHEAP COTTON.
Among the possibilities of the future is the recognition of the Southern Confederacy by any one of the chief nations of Europe, the breaking of the blockade, and the consequent necessity for the United States to declare war against such nation, whichever it may be. In such event it is universally admitted that our first need would be to crush rebellion at home by the most positive measures,—the first and most obvious of which would be the immediate emancipation of the slaves, since the chief strength of the rebel force arrayed against us is in their power to collect and support a large army without being obliged to draw upon their laboring force.
However much a sudden and forcible emancipation of the slaves may be deprecated, the people of the North are rapidly realizing the fact, that a forcible emancipation, rendered necessary by foreign intervention, or a more slow but equally certain emancipation from other causes, is the logical and necessary conclusion of the present condition of affairs.
We must maintain the Union and the Constitution, and enforce the laws.
In enforcing the laws by the power of our arms, we shall destroy the power of that class which has heretofore governed and controlled the Slave States, namely, the planters and the business men of the cities. By being beaten they will lose
