the Courts, and it must be referred to some particular date. It was effected by the nation and not by the State. The only national act that decreed it was the proclamation of the President, of the 1st of January, 1863. The struggle afterward was merely an effort to prevent the proclamation from being carried into effect, and the total failure of the struggle refers emancipation back to that date." The question afterward arose in this Court, when the date of emancipation seemed to be questioned, although this decision was reaffirmed. But Mr. Justice Peters delivered a dissenting opinion, rearguing for the full validity and effect of the proclamation as of its date. His opinion displays great learning and good sense. In support of his reasoning he cites the case of McIlvaine vs. Coxe, † decided by the United States Supreme Court, where it was held that the Declaration of Independence took effect as of its date, July 4, 1776, instead of September 3, 1783, when independence was officially recognized. Viewed as to its results, the Emancipation Proclamation was an overshadowing and glorious success. It united the friends of the Union. It threw into despairing forces new life. It brought into the armies of the Union as by magic one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers from the enfranchised race. It was the death-blow to slavery, not only in the sections embraced in the proclamation, but in the other slave-holding States, for these other slave-holding States at once proceeded to adopt constitutional amendments abolishing slavery. It was a finishing stroke to the rebellion. Without the proclamation, is it not safe to presume that the Union would have perished? Therefore are these conclusions irresistible: that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was not contrary to international law; that by its own force it abolished slavery as of the date on which it was issued, viz., January 1, 1863; that it was in the strictest sense constitutional; and that no constitutional amendment was necessary to make the proclamation valid or effectual, or to abolish the status of slavery. The immortal Lincoln was in no sense a smatterer. He was a profound reasoner. He was learned in the law. He studied and understood the Constitution of his country. He did not issue proclamations for sport, or to be hooted at. He did not toy with the mighty concerns of a republic. His every act was governed by * 43 Alabama, 592. † 4 Cranch, 209. 44 Alabama, 70. the sincerest convictions guided by conscience. He was eminently a statesman. Patriotism and heroism were his crowning virtues. Whatever he did as President was done "to save the Union." AARON A. FERRIS. [NOTE. In the August number of the "Review" appears a paper on the same subject by Richard H. Dana, wherein the article by Mr. Welling is cordially endorsed. Mr. Dana goes even further than the previous writer, and styles the proclamation as a "nullity" and as "a curiosity of history." Inasmuch as Mr. Dana simply affirms the conclusions of Mr. Welling, it is not deemed necessary to add anything here.] A. A. F. INDEX TO THE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST VOLUME OF THE North American Review. Advantages of Free Religious Discussion, | CROSBY, H. AMMEN, D. The Nicaragua Route to the Astronomische Nachrichten, 383. BARTLETT, S. C. The Exodus of Israel, 26. Recent Works on the Brain and Nerves, 278. BOUTWELL, G. S. The Future of the Re- Brain, The, as an Organ of Mind. By H. Canada and the United States, 14. CHARNAY, D. The Ruins of Central Amer- Church Property, The Taxation of, 362. CLARKE, J. F. Rational Sunday Observ- Coming Revision of the Bible, 447. 177. CRANE, T. F. Recent European Publica- The Coming Revision of the CURTIUS, E. Discoveries at Olympia, 484. Democratic Party, The, judged by its His- Die neue Strassburger Sternwarte. Von Dobson, A. His Vignettes in Rhyme, 180. Ruined Cities of Central America, 89. English Poets, edited by T. W. Ward. Exodus of Israel, The, 26. FERRIS, A. A. Validity of the Emancipa- tischen Theorie des Lichtwechsels, 380. HARDAKER, M. A. The Ethics of Sex, 62. 241. Harvard College Observatory Report. No- Hase, K. His Miracle Plays and Dramas, HOLDEN, E. S. Recent Progress in As- | Recent European Publications, 457. tronomy, 375. Insincerity in the Pulpit, 268. JAY, J. Southern Statesmen and their JOHNSON, C. F. The Census Laws, 135. 461. Literary Notices, 79, 177, 278, 375, 457. Mathematische Theorie des Lichtwechsels. Manzoni's Correspondence with Fauriel. Maudsley, H. His Pathology of Mind, 277. Monarchical Principle, The, in our Consti- Moths. By "Ouida." Notice of, 83. NEWCOMB, S. Principles of Taxation, 142. By Pathology of Mind. By H. Maudsley. Perpetuity of Chinese Institutions, 205. PITZER, A. W. Taxation of Church Prop- Poems of R. H. Stoddard. Notice of, 181. Prince Bismarck as a Friend of America Profligacy in Fiction, 79. Recent Literature, 79, 278, 457. Religious Discussion, Free, Advantages of, 410. Republican Party, The, as it Was and Is, 422. Republican Party, The Future of the, 475. ROGERS, J. E. T. The English House of Ruined Cities of Central America, 89. Sabbath Observance, 322. Sâfarik, A., his Farbenwechsel von Alpha School, The Public, its Failure, 537. SMITH, G. Canada and the United States, 14. Smith, G., his Cowper, 177. Songs of the Springtides, by A. C. Swin- Southern Statesmen and their Policy, 507. The Democratic Party judged by its History, 285. Success of the Electric Light, 295. Swinburne, A. C., his Songs of the Spring- Taxation of Church Property, 362. Ueber den Farbenwechsel, etc., von A. Så- Ueber die von Swedenborg aufgestellte Kos- Validity of the Emancipation Edict, 551. Li-Ward, T. W., his English Poets, 179. Purgatory of Dante Alighieri. Notice of, 462. Ranyard, A. C., his Observations during Solar Eclipses, 381. Rational Sunday Observance, 406. WILLIAMS, S. W., The Perpetuity of Chinese Institutions, 205. Winnecke, A., his Neue Strassburger Sternwarte, 383. WRIGHT, D. T. The Campaign of 1862, 332. Zola, E., his Nana, 79. |