Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-08-21


the subject of ''Reconstruction." In con-
nection with it we desire to submit the
following article on the same subject from
Mr.. Mercer editor of tue Nashville Union,
born and raised in the state of Kentucky,
and, up to the date of this war a slave
holder
THE BASIS OF REooNsTRUCTIoE.
The pro-slavery Unionists, a very small
and rapidly diminishing party, labor under
the preposterous delusion that when the
Union shall be restored the Shareholders
will obtain all the guarantees they desire,
in addition to all the old and cumbersome
machinery which the oldnRtion wasform-
lerly put under bonds to run for their e1
lcIusive benefit. The only basis these con-
seryatiye gentlemen can see is the protec-
ftion of the slave property of theirf''tSouth-
err brethren" The people have had quite
enough of this, and very generally. think
that an institution which, demands the
possession and direction not only of the
local government of the States where it
exists, but of all the other State govern
meats, and the Federal Government itself,
lis a nuisance and an imposition, and
should be abated. For it is not
enough for slavery that it should
control all the slave. States and the ma
tional Government, but every Governor,
Legislature, and Sheriff from the Ohio
river to the Canada line and the Atlantic
coast must, be an obsequious servant
and slaye-catcher for the stakeholder.
There never eau be a restoration of the
on such a basis as the revival of Union
the African code. 1t is idle to talk of.the
harmonizing on the very ground of dis
union. MN e.tt.,s,
1t is incomprehensible why any man who
desires reconstruction of the Union, and
the establishment of harmony between
the various sections, should select as the
basis of restoration the very thing about
which there has been for three generations
the fercest dispute, aud which at least
al, 900, 900 out of 80, 1000, 900 of the Ameri-
can people, to say nothing of all Christen-
dom abroad, thoroughly detest. Do the
pro slavery Unienists hold slavery to be
more valuable than the Union, that they
ask that the government shall be in the
future, as in the pasS, the servant instead
of the master of that unpopular system?
Slavery is to be protected by new guar
antees, if asked for, and all fugitives are to
be surrendered. Is that the proposition
Well, we will consent to it when JEFF. Da.
Wis gives back to the United States the two
hundred Thousand manly sons who have
lost their lives in quelling this heinous
rebellion against free government. Never
until then! We advise our friends to be
quiet on the subject of slavery protection.
The country has had a little too much Of
it already. The day for such protection is
past; we have paid heavy price in blood
for that sort of work already, and do not
care to repeat the exhausting process.
There is one broad, elevated basis of
restoration, which is strong as adamant,
and on which the people may all securely
stand. It is the principle which underlies
our government and all its institutions
That principle is freedom. Every body adj
mits that freedom is right as principle,
and nearly everybody admits that slavery,
is wrong asa principle. Now freedom and
slavery are the warning elements which
have brought about this contest. Each is
struggling for the mastery. Which shall !;
we take rs the basis of harmony and res
toration; the principle which everybody
approves, or the principle which. hardly
anybody approves Shall we adopt the
method of an oligarchy, and let slavery
ruler Shall the many yield to the few or
the few to tho many? Whose interests,
tastes and prejudices are to be consulted,
those of three hundred thousand persons
or those of twenty seven millions2 1t is
not in the nature of slavery to be atpeace
with anything. It is like the pike
which is said to deveur all other fishes
Suppose slavery be reinstated in its old
authority, what then? Will we have
peace, or war, in consequence? Let
us take Tennessee for an example.
A restoration of the state on the slavery
basis would instantly revive an ultra pro-
slavery party throughout the Middle and
Western Divisions. No candidate could be
elected, or appointedto any Office; who was
not intensely pro.slayery. Slavery would
be the only topic discussed in the news
papers, or upon the stump. The odious laws
of the old slave code, the more summary
rules of Judge Lynch, would be enforced
against every writer or speaker who would
venture to question the justice or policy of
slavery. 1t ia also certain that every man
who supported the present Republican adj
ministration, either directly or indirectly,
in a civil or military capacity, would be
forever excluded from all positions of trust
and profit by the slavery faction.
Now, does any sensible loyal man desire
to see Tennessee restored to the Union in
any such way as this, in which the ele-
ments of discord are ell increased, and
their fury aggravated instead of lessened?
One might as we'll try to cure a patient of
a raging fever by making him drink boil
| ing water, and hold red -hoti iron. Thelust
of power, the thirst for gain, the distrust
of all interests except its own, and its con-
seuuent efforts to monopolize all political
power, would grow out of slavery in flu
ture, Just as they did before, and'would in
abrief space engeuder another rebellion,
more dangerous, because better planned,
than the present one. We see but one safe
basis of restoration. 1t is the basis of
freedom Incorporated in our national edi.
fee, approved by sage experience, and
heartily applauded by the immense major
ity of the people.
1t may beasked, why attach 50 much