Once again, in no uncertainty: the fact is, the measure that the CSA legislature passed did NOT pass WITH a guarantee of emancipation for service. Lee, acting alone, required that the military use that standard but he acted beyond the boundaries that the bill itself authorized.
Lee had made it clear that he thought his plan for emancipation was crucial to achieving independence. The congress refused to go along.
Now I will conceede this much, based on Pam's thoughts above, and it sounds like you are at that point now as well : the CSA legislature obviously put SOMETHING ahead of Independence. Pam and you seem comfortable in saying they put PROPERTY RIGHTS ahead of winning the war. Ok. I will accept that.
The thing is, they had no problem sacrificing their property rights to horses, cattle, chickens, eggs, hay or anything else the military thought was necessary to make Independence a reality. They took various types of property from owners as needed and filled out forms to reimburse. The south had no problem even surrendering their personal rights -- they ordered a draft.
The one and only property that they fought tooth and nail not to ever surrender, or at least demand from owners to provide, was slaves. I base my opinion on that fact, but at least we now seem to be in agreement that something, however you wish to frme it, was MORE important to the CSA political leadership than winning their independence.
Some of the leadership like Hunter and the South Carolina editorialist didn't hem and haw and hedge. They said they did not want an independence without the institution of slavery. Since that faction still had the upper hand in the CSA congress, and refused to accomodate what Lee said was urgently needed to be done by the CSA to win independence, and since they themselves had no qualms saying the struggle, even in 1865, to them was about slavery, I take them at their word.
Lee's judgement was flawed, or theirs was.
They unquestionably controlled the CSA congress and prevented Lee from obtaining the urgently needed armed emancipated slaves in the numbers and and in the manner he requested, and they spelled out clearly the reasons why they refused the commander of their own military. I stand by their words and the results their policy earned them.