, 1861-12-31
= 4 KEW. VIEWA


*=:3: -----
4 writer who discusses In the New York
Esening Post the subject Of slavery In the &C.
ceded States Of the Union, presents the fol-
lowing view Of It: ,
1.-The true doctrine Of the casc thcu il. tia. &C.
ceasion e abdlcation By the State authorities and
sens * tbs evidence q theiS absolnta LIABILITY 1i
either to conduct their former government or to
create q neH one. The authority Of Congress Is
supreme. The sfatc sinks b. its own act into the
condition Of q Territory to be organized provided
With government and protected in the enjoy
power is Subjected to 10 other restraints than
thsse which RI TIC Constitution mp9ses npop It
tsolc and exclusive iurisdiction'
1.-THE end Of our reasoning, then. Is this; The
seeded States arc without governments and 9Th
out aws ssse;slon is he annihilai3 IL Ct state
the hands Of Congress- With the death q tae
State.s an organized community die al tts polst1-
Il rights Of atate G of 5ature re1naia. Among thc
artidcial policies and Institutions WHICH
anniHiates Is saEsd4{ a;Crs noes do
snd Mnfn that aas aathority bsng sass
asef e ena nd ~ SIT i T, aboilton That system
terminated By the political termination Of The
State authority s'aSsFy can have 70 exssenes.
ghau 1e-e1sct and reinsate It; and as Congress Is
the authority competent to act and to maintain
hs I q n FL hs ts oi fayy fhs eon
erate States, unless ordainedlhy the National Gny
crpment. Abolished for. the time by the sets Of
Congress- to afford to the world he pledge Il lis
purpose By passing the Wilmot ProyiEo; and to
see 10 It that State be reinyested with the func
ciation OF this Wro1E.'
The New York 1ndspeadsnt takes up the
oh az HF f1,n .Lrc 7.f@
1t, and carries it forward, arriving at tlesomc-
what novel conclusion that slavery is legally
abolished 1y the act Of secession, and that the
slave States should be treated as United
States Territories by onr Government. Ne
submit the Independents view to our readers,
without expressing an opinion Of its sound
ness, Let every one draw his own conclu-
sions. Says the hadpndent:
If this view of the case is Just, il will at
once be perceived that it has some important
relations, upon which it is worth our while to
dwell. In the first place, It relieves the Fresi-
dent and the military authorities Of al en-
barTassment III dealing with slavery in the Sc
Of secession, abolished their own govern
ments, and, with them, al the institutions
and arrangements to which those governments
gave validity. The paterna and conjugal re-
1ations are not thereby abolished, because
these stand upon foundation Of natural right,
VIII Which no laws properly interfere, 2nd
whitehall Laws arc to defend and maintain But
al institutions which hare no natural right to
support them disappear and perish with the
pcrishing Of the local authorities which insti
| tuted them. Slavery, therefore, Is abolished
] with the governments which established it.
| Nor can there be much doubt TINT this doc
| trinc Of tho annihilation Of thelocal govern
ments By their OWL act Of secession, describes
| The real and the cardinal fact Of their eondi.
| ton. The only governments now existing
within the domain Of the Southern Confeders
acy are actively prosecuting hostilities against
| the very life OF the Union and the existence O.
the Constitution Such governments havt
| not and cannot have any constitutional rcla
| tious with that Of the Union. The very fact
| therefore, Of their hostility, destroys tlen
| whole authority in view Of the Constitution
No acts which they can perform have any ya
| Idity. They can require no service Of thei
citizens, impose no obligation, make no laws
maintain no institutions, which the Constitu
ton or the nation can recognize. The oD1,
duty of any citizen residing within the sphcr
Of their operation is to labor with his who'll
soul for their snbyersion.
The local governments then are gone. Suc]
is the fact, and we may Us well be prompt t,
recognize it. Upon this fact alone proceed:
the noW advancing reorganization Of Virginia
4 new government is there in process Of form
alton, not by the local authorities, nor Jet b.
the people in their original capacity, but by
small portion only Of tle population, who dc
clare that the former government, having cease
to perform its functions and acknowledge it
obligations, has ceased to exist. This assump
ton is no idle pretension, but the simple de
claration ofa great fact, which the whole nj
tion perceiYcs to be undcniable. The Stat
Government Of Virginia has perished III
| territory Of that State remains the inalienabl
territory Of the nation; and the only question
is how, and on whit conditions, shall q ney
t Government be therein organized to perform
the grand functions Of sovereign States il con
ncction with tile Union.
But if the Government Of Virginia is extinct
the Institutions Of Virginia are extinct Ake
wise. There are no laws in existence there
! Tie only law at present possible is MARTA
Law; and that will cease only when some ne'
authority shall be organized to re-arrange til
clements Of society there.
It follows, then, that emancipation With
the domain OF the Confeoeracy is not really th
duty Of the President nor the duty Of Coz
gress, for the reason that it is not duty at al
, bett G FACT, n1s assured, completed, Gsccrfaine
! ! fact. The absolute law and fact Of the case III
!. that SECESSION IS ABOLITION. The suicid:
hands OF the Elayeho1ding faction have plucke
: down rnin on the Institution which their MAJ
! ness intended to defend. Our only dutJ--t1
! only duty Of the President and Of the Nation
Legislature is to. recognize the fac
and to- readjust the HEs;yolutionized $
t ancs with it. slavery having terminate
r there, Congress is to rcorgunize the loc
:. governments on q basis OF freedom, and to 4
:. nit them to the UEiou again only upon co
e ditions which shall forever exclude the post
st bility Of any repetition Of that crime. /
present the States are in the condition Of tt
- ritorics; they form u portion OF the nation
~ domain within which no governments cSi;
l. and where armed bands, under pretended q
~ thorities which the Constitution cannot rcco
te nize, are haz'lsslng the people and warril
IT when, by whom, and On what principles Loo
): governments shall again be formed there, a
4. what the rights and Territories of such COVER
$, ncuts shall be; and in doing this, Congre
is subject to the Constitution alone. sla7el
j. with al the compromises. provisions q
rccognitions which it once had within tl
is wide and dark domain, is dead, and shot
to never rise again 10 Eex US.
G. II slavery is dead, and if the systems of L
7e which established it are no more, then no O.
II Ger of the Government can legitimately rect
4. nizc it. ANY civil or military officer who
signs man Of one of those States, black
80 white, to the absolute dominion Of another
1c in law mere kidnapper. He has noshad'
at Of legality for what he does; and lie may,
" soon as the war is over, be prosecuted clyi
Of for the injury, and crlminally for tue violcn
Is which lc has committed. The subordin:
at can be shielded only BY the explicit order
It, bis military superior; and the superior y
gives such an order may be held Fesponsib
NJ when martial law isat an end, to the civil tril
t,o nal. Not only so, but the officer WHO recogni
~ the authority Of South Carolina or Virgi
"a when that State is in rebellion against
is Government. gives aid aild comfort to
~ rebellion. Wherein docs the act fail to re:
49, the guilt Of treason? Those States are dea
30 their institutions have pcrished; and the
re- thor1ty OF Congress is the supreme and O
CT authority there. Any person who plea
~ then, the laws Of a seeding State rs author
t1 for its acts, docs thereby recognize po'
d. which is in rebellion against the Constituti
H. aud becomes an abettor Of the treason. T
m only grounds Of action which military Ct
= nander can hare, are the NATURAL rights
ou- men, aud the exigencies Of state of war;
By it will be for the civil courts to decide her
ad | ter whether be WHO seizes within his cam
49,. peaceful and loyal tnan, and consigns him
~ slavery, can justify himself against the e.
| plant Of the fellow-citizcn whom he has
crucllx outraged.
,rd Affairs Mt Pensacola.
~ At Pensacola there bas been no firing 81
101 the Esd Of November. Wilson'S Zoua
have been placed within the entrenchr1t
As and the 18th New York, Just arrived, has ta
To the camp of the former. The force on
=: island, with the 18th, numbers little less t
~ twenty FIVE hundred men. General Bragg
md received reinforcc1nents since the bomb:
ON mcnt Of his forts and batteries on the 22d
;,- sd Of November Nltimo, and the number
under Lis command is estimated at ter
twelve thousand. Some active rovem,
arc in progress, but they do not appareI
no indicate any immediate attack upon our ?
my tions.