Weekly national intelligencer., 1863-08-20

i hepuOlIcdnbm,
must and shsll be put down"
It is easy, then, for us to answer where zoe are
| We are where the President was when he wrote
his first Message to Congress We are where the
last Congress was when it passed the CrittendeI
resolution resolution never repealed. We are
where the Secretary Of the Treasury was when he
called on the people for money to carry on the war
All measures Of policy which, directly or indirect
ly, have had tendency to overlay the original
theory of the war, are measures which encountered
orr opposition at the time they were originated,
and which have not commended themselves to our
approval by the consequences that have followed
In their train. But we have countenanced no fac
tious opposition to the Administration in any Of
its departments. We do not assume infallibility
for our own judgments, any more than we ascribe
1T to the Judgments of others. We claim only the
privilege Of giving our approval to the measures
we think right and expedient, and Of oondemning
the measures we deem wrong and injudicious To
do more or less than this would come of evil.
II it is asked "where the country is" In conse-
quence of the radical policy which has been in
terpolated on the original theory of the war, we
have only to look around u.s. 1t is seen in the ex-
acerbation Of political strife growing out of what,
in point of fa,t, is proved to be nullity Who
has seen single slave that freed by the procla-
nation 1t is safe to say that there is not to-day
slave less because this proclamation has been
uttered, though we well assured that if the war
had been allowed to proceed it began there would
hav" been many more slaves emancipated by the
progress of our arms, TOR our arms aoould hare
made more progress In word, we believe that
as slaves can be liberated only by the power of
force, whatever tends to weaken and divide the en-
ergies of the people, to unite and exasperate the
insurgents tends only to defeat the expectations of
those who make the destruction of slavery the par
amount aim of their endeavors Before the war
broke out leading Disuniouist of South Carolina
publicly said that the Aboltionists had been the
best allies of the Secessionists. Since the war
broke ont they have remained true to their confed-
erates not Willingly, but by the blindness of that
party rage which often makes men the instruments
of their own confusion and discontinue.
Clear-sighted men in the Republican party per-
ceive the mischiefs of this policy plainly as We
do, and they avow it as frankly. 1t was only on
the 18th instant that Senator SHERMAN, of Ohio,
spoke as follows in Chcothe, Ohio:
How the institution of slavery will be removed in this
country do not know but know that all history teaches
that any enslavement of the human race is
never permanent and therefore that it is to build
upon it, The Israees served their masters four hundred
years but then led out Of their bondage by miracle
How the African will shake off their bondage not
exactly clear yet bat perhaps this war; in the develop
ments OF Providence one Of tie for teaching
them the rights Of nature and preparing them for the free
dom that awaits them But would have been willing to
have left this question: and said nothing about in the faith
that the time would when slavery would cease in
this country without direct human effort
As to the Presidents proclamation of emancipation
believe that the proclamation of g is stronger than
the proclamation OF Lincoln. think if had been in the
Presidents place should not have Issued the proclama
on that be did in regard to slaves would simply have
used them other physical Of putting down
the rebellion. i would have armed them and employed
them soldiers where it practicable; and would
have used them to aid brave soters by the Of the
and spade and cooks in the camp The question
to their freedom slavery would have left to be decided
by the sentiment Of the American people after
peace restored Perhaps the Presidents course was
more wise, and do not blame him for it,
1t may be that "the Presidents course was
more wise" As we have before said, we claim
for our negative opinion no infsliibility We only
say that we are not convinced of it, and not being
SO convinced, we cannot prophesy deceitfully.
Still less we stard by silently hen it is pro-
posed by few zealots to convert the "proclama-
tion of freedom" into something more than the
President intended it to be- or than it can possibly
be- even if he had intended it to be something more
than it is. 1t is not often that we find ourselves
concurrng in opinion with the New York Tribune
but we do coincide with that journal when it says
in its number of Saturday last, that the President
Of the United States has not "enslaved himself"
by bis edict Of emancipation, and that Z" the ne
cessary effect of that edict on the legal status Of
those whom 1t declared free is question for
the courts, and will doubtless in due time re-
ceve their profoundest consideration"
We hope, therefore, we shall be pardoned il, in
view Of what has been accomplished by the depar-
lures, or the seeming departures, from the original
purpose of the war, we leave to others the mono
poly Of demonstrating their utility We should
convict ourselves Of the grossest nsincerty if we
should augur well Of measures which have, to our
eyes, borne only disastrous fruits. The President
asccrtained for us the position on which we
plant ourselves when he declared that the defence
of constitutional government was fundamental
object of war, going down as deep as any. We
know the strength of this position, and we do not
mean to desert it because others may have done so