The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-02-27
A Retrospect; The Presidents Chang
es Of Policy ; and the Duty Of the
People In Spite Of Official Vacilla-
tiOn and ImbecfItty.

men as VOLUMES w vi OtI0rS. l take
the responsibility the Union must and
shall be preserved" shows the unbendinc
will and well-detined policy of ANDREW
JACKSON. So, too, an ironical confession
of weakness, made by ABRAHAM LINCOLN
in his joint debates with the lamented
DOUGLAS, in 1853, which first placed him
prominently before the American people,
gives the keynote to that weak and va
cillating character that has marked his
administration, and placed the country in
position, from whence, it would seem, we
can neither go forward nor return back
ward. In these debates, published in 1860,
by the Republican State Central Com
mittee of Ohio, page IS, Mr.. LINCOLN uses
the following language:
AS the Judge has complinlented me with
these pleasant titles, as being "kind, amiable,
and intelligent gentleman" q must confess to
my weakness,) | was a little taken ;" for it
! came from a great man. l was not very much
| accustomed to flattery, and it came the swecter
| to me. l was rather like the Hoosicr with the
gingerbread, when he said he reckOned he
loved it better than any other man, and got
less of it.
Looking back at this starting point of
Mr.. LINCoLNs political fame, and tracing
his course by few of his own landmarks
to the presidential chair, and half way
| through his term OF office; let US sec if he
has not proven his acknowledged "weak-
ness and been "taken" by fattering
. demagogues, who have fed his vanity on
abolition "gingerbread," at the sacrifice Of
his higher and ott-repeatod convictions of
constitutional obligation and duty. In
the same debates to which we have re-
ferred, at page SO, Mr.. LINCOLN says:
In regard to the abolition OF slavery in the
! District OF Columbia | have my mind very dis
( tinctly made up. l should not, with my pres
| cnt views, be in favor of endcavorng to abol-
/ ih slavery in the District Of Columbia, unless
! it would be upon these conditions First, That
| the abolition should be gradual; Second, That
! i: should be on a vote Of the majority OF the
! qualified voters OF the District; and IHirG,
I That compensation should be made to unwil-
| ling owners.
How consistently, as President, he car
ried out his views here defined, where his
mind was every distinctly made up" is
! too well known to require comment.
: In pursuing this retrospect, let US ex-
anime briefly some of the President
/ views in connection with the war. When
General MCCLELLAN entered Western Vir-
/ ginia, at the commencement Of his bril-
liant military career, he proclaimed, not
without the sanction Of the President, the
policy of the war to that people in the fol-
lowing words:
Notwithstanding all that has Deen said by
the traitors to induce you to believe that our
advent among you will be signalized by inter-
ference with your slaves, understand one thing
clearly-nOt only will we abstain from all such
interference, but we will, on the contrary,
with an iron hand, crush any attempts at in
surrcctiOn on their part
| That this policy of General MCCLELLAN
in the conduct Of the war was approved
by the President, is shown by the transfer
of that officer from the Department Of
Western Virginia to the more important
command of the Army of the Potomac !;
from his instructions to other Generals in
different Departments and his modifica-
ton, before approval and transmission to
Congress, Of the report of Secretary
CAMERON, in December, 1861, which fore
shadowed and proposed the policy now
adopted by the President, of negro soldiers
and emancipation. Still additional evil
dence is found Of his then hostility to his
present course, in the suppression of FEE
MoNT's emancipation proclamation in Mis-
souri,, OF PnELpss at Ship Island, and of
HUNTERS in North Carolina. The su-
persedure, too, of Fremont, and the ap-
pointment Of HALLECK-whose proclama-
ton, issued upon his taking command of
the Department of the West, must have
been fully known and approved by the
President furnishes still another link in
the chain of evidence. And not only was
this policy, thus suggested by these acts
and documents, the policy Of the President
and his Administration, but Congress,
on the 22d day of July, 1861, adopted
unanimously the following resolution, in
dicating similar views with those of the
President:
Resolred, r That this war is not waged
on their part, THE Federal Government in
any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of
conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose
of overthrowing or interfering with the rights
or established institutions of those States but
to defend and maintain the supremacy of the
Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with
all the dignity, equality, and rights of the sew
eral States unimpaired; and that as soon as
these objects are accomplished, the war ought
TO cease.
There is one more link in this remarka-
BILE chain, which ought not to be omitted,
at this crisis of our National affairs, when,
as we are daily informed, Intervention Is
the settled determination of the Emperor
of France; for it exhibits in strong light,
as contrasted with the Presidents emanci-
patton proclamation, the quality of ou'