Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-03-11

wards ending the struggle, must and viii
come. The meaning of the passage, !,
clearly evident. The struggle to main.
talnsthe authority of the Constitution owe
those who are laboring for its overthrow
may require that slavery be abolished. Ii
that case its extinction "must and viii
come. To preserve the Constitution
slavery must be uprooted with n firm anC
untiinchiug hand. Such is the plain in.
ference from the terms of the,message,
We wonder not, therefore, that in tue
crowded aud most respectable meeting held
last evening Mt the Cooper Institute, after
the audience had listened with delight 10
the eloquent words of Carl Schurtz, show
ing the incompatibility of the further tol.
Grafton Of slavery with the safety of the
Union, the message read from the platform
to tue assembled multitude, just as they
had risen to depart, was received with u
tempest OF applause, aud that the vast hall
rang with cheers for Abraham Lincoln
Nobly did that message crown the proceed.
ings OF the meeting, and those who at
tended 1t went home with the assurance
In their hearts that in listening to its plain
and direct words they had heard the death
kuell of slavery. Every syllable of the
document bears the marks of SIR, I,incoln's
pen none of his Secretaries hnve tampered
with 1t; it is roughly drawn, but clear,
brief and emphatic; such state paper as
man Oflargeheart and vigorous intellect.
unframed in the schools, might WriLe-n
mau who, seeing with a clear vision what
the times demand of him, filings himself
forward into the future without fear. and
Sin full view of his responsibility to his
God and his country" -.
Yet tit.is not by any means to be sun.
posed thnt the Presidcn: has neglected 10
measure the full extent of the conseuuen-
ces which declarations like those of his
message draw after them; or TO provide,
as far as he might, for the success of the
measure to which he invites the attention
OF Congress. We have reason to believe
that he has assurances of support from em-
inent citizens OF the border states. Indeed
it is clearly the interest of the Shareholders
OF those states to accept the terms which
Mr. Lincoln has proposed. Slavery in that
region has already received blow which
has shattered it to its lowest foundations.
Slave property, If we may use SO horrid IL
term AS property when applied to human
beings, is OF the most uncertain tenure in
the northern slave states. "Riches,' y saws,
the old proVerb, take wings and fly away,,'
but this sort of riches, the most transitory
OF all, takes legs and runs away, and in the
present state of public feeling Obody dares
to pursue it with the purpose of bringing
1t back. The Fugitive Slave law stands
yet on the statute book, but nobody ven.
,tures to claim the benefit Ofits proyisions:t
it is repealed by public opinion, aud such
is the hatred of slavery engendered by the
miseries in which it has involved the ma
ton, that the repeal will never be revoked,
The bestthat the shareholders can do for
their own interest is to close Immediately
with any proposition which promises to
save anything from so heeting possession
as their slaves, and at the same time to re-
lieve them from the odium attending tho
unhappy relation in which they stand to
their work-people. Public opinion in this
country is beginning to bear much more
nncomfortably than ever before on the
slave-owner. >
We do not suppose that Andrew John.
son, who has just been empowered by the
Government to act as ats representative in
the military government made necessary
by the state of anarchy in which Tennes-
see has been brought by the rebellion,
will, if Congress should adopt the recon.
imendation of the President, 90 back to his
native State with any design to oppose the
scheme of emancipation, or even to lend
it but n lukewarm support. We shall ex-
pect, from the perfect harmony of views
which has existed between him and Presi.
dent Liucoln's Cabinet, that he will exert
himself to have it accepted.
Finally, let us congratulate Mr. Lincoln
on the honorable fame which this message
will procure him, and the honorable place
in history which he will hereafter fill. Its
author will be named with praise wherever
civilized men dwell, and wherever the
press carries the news of passing events.
There are few, we think, who envy Mr..
Lincoln the place he occupies as Chief
Magistrate of our republic, with the ardu-
Gus labors and vast and numberless re-
sponsibilities which, in this eventful time,
it casts upon him. But, there are millions
who might be tempted to envy him the
honor he has won by frankly yproclaiming
the necessity of emancipation, and pro-
posing a scheme by which it may be eff
tected. 5E
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