Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-05-10


wants to save the lives Of the white sol.
diers Of the free States, and the negroes
may prove to be efficient substitutes, Be-
sides, If the rebels will not yield, let them.
as they concentrate their army in Missis
sippi aud Alabama, as they marshal their
savage allies in Arkansas and Texas, as
they drive their negroes into the front
ranks to slay our brothers and friends
let them, / say, meet the punishment of
their treason at the hands OF those thew
lave so long oppressed and degraded"
| RanjRmln r. Wade.
Delivered In the Senate Of the United State Prd,v
p e y May, ID, 1s62.l
This speech is one of the most treuchant
and earnest that have yet been made on the
confscatiOn bill, and was pronounced with
the fire aud vigor so characteristic of the
indomitable Senator Wade. The follow
ing extracts will be read with eager inter
est: t..4.-.,.....-- ....--....E..r. M.
WHO VIOLATES THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION !?
Talk to me, sir, about violating the Con-
stitutiOn! do not like to hear it.. have
heard too much of it. Every man who
was here year or two ago knows that
this same idea was inculcated then by those
who are now open traitors. They sought
to tie and fetter our limbs by the cry OF a
violated Constitution, that its enemies
might stab it to death. There is not man
now in what are called the Confederate
States, levying arms, coercing men into this
accursed rebellion to overthrow this glori-
Gus Constitution of ours but harped upon
the same string that Senators have harped
upon in this debate. The arm, of the Con-
stitution was too short TO defend itselffrom
aggression. These were the doctrines that
they announced, aud then they went off and
formed an organization, and implored for
eign nations, yea, and agreed to become
the Vassals of foreign despOts, ifthey would
only aid and assist them in Oyerthrowing
this Constitutional ours. First they claim
ed that we had no constitutional power to
detend the eCOnstitutiOn-a very cheap way,
If they could succeed in it, to get along
With their rebellion. We must lie down
in our tracks, because, if we undertook to
form an army to go forth to conquer the
rebellion, we were acting without consti-.
tutiOnal authority. Was not that what
they hnrpcd upou? Did they not say Of
the Administration what Senators ON the
other side of the Chamber are saying every
morning now? Did not the former COL
league of the Senator from Kentucky TMr.
Powell accuse the Administration of tyr
amy and despotism? 1t is the old tune
that was hArped upoR by every traitor who
is now an open enemy to the Constitution
of the United States. They undertook TO
show that the Constitution was. somehow,
Jeto de Sc; that it did not contain any pow
er, or it restricted as from using any pow
er for its preservation. Sir, these argu.
ments will not do. .,fF.ta, -.
IL.
WHAT SHALL BE DoNE WITH THE SLAVES.
Why, sir, the South considers slaves Just
as other property. do not concede it,
never tlid concedeit. All / conceded was
that in times of peace, when they let our
institutions alone, I wonld let them alone
in the States; that ] would not touch a
hair of their head. Aohorrent as slavery
is to man and God, had agreed that in
their States they might have 1t, provided,
they should keep it there and let us alone;
but when they repudiated the Constitution
of the United States, when they waged Vi.
plent war against it, when they made use
of those very slaves as a fulcrum by which
to oveFturn the Constitution ofthe country,
/ lost all my veneFntion-uo, not Yenera.
tion, for j meyer had any venerattoh for.
slavery Irepudiate the idea; but it alb
solved me from all my sense Of duty in that
regard, and allowed me to give full scope
tolmy sense of Justice in dealing with the
slaves aud their masters. They have fepu- !
dated me, they have repudtated yoh-; they
have used these very slaves TO murder your
brethren and mire, and to rob US OF our
property. Being now withdrawn from all 4
obligation in their behalf,t say to. every
traitor who holds a slave, (" SO far as my
hand can reach, that slave is free atfd 4
much better man than you, Yo1 ought to
thank God if you escape the gall6ws; your
slave is renitted to his rights. Z. ~
.,-'s' -'s'L44YyEIRRYI AND PRoGREss. .5.54 I'D
have said thRt=in the, progress Of ma.
,tions, sfLer certain advance in CiYiIizRtion
aud the. arts, sataYeryY becomes impossible.
Deeply rooted as this institution of slavery
was, every invention of a useful character
for thousand years has tended to make it
impossible.a 0nce yOn might wOrkthegal-'
ley slave with profit, iWarlike natjonsf0r-
merly put slaves aboard 0fdtheifi armed
ships to row them, the enemy, and made
them labor inthat way Couldthat system