The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-01-16

ernOr Seymour then says the PRESIDENT
holds his place, not by the will of the ma
jority but by virtue of the provisions of the
constitution which placed him in his office,
by the votes of about 100000 against
the votes of about 100000, who did not
agree among themselves as to the oppos-
ing candidates.
He continues rightfully to hold his Office,
although the popular majorities, even in
the States which placed him there, have
in recent elections declared themselves po-
litically opposed to his administration.
The majorities are still bound to respect
his constitutional rights, to uphold his
powers and to sustain his acts done within
the limits of rightful authority.
If Presidential proclamations are above
the decisions of the courts and the re-
straints of the Constitution, then that con-
stitution is mockery. If it has not the
authority to keep the Executive within the
restraints, then it cannot restrain States
within the Union.
Those who hold that there is no sanctity
in the constitution must equally hold that
there is no guilt in the rebellion. The
President has already signed an act of Con-
gress which asserts that the slaves of those
in rebellion are confscated. The sole eff
feet of this proclamation, therefore, is to
declare the emancipation Of the slaves of
those who are not in rebellion, and who
are therefore loyal citizens.
1t is an extraordinary deduction from the
alleged war power, that the forfeiture of
the rights of loyal citizens, and bringing
upon them the same punishment imposed
upon insurgents, is calculated to advance
the success of the war, or to uphold the
constitution and restore the Union. May
not this measure, so clearly impolitic, I'M
just and unconstitutional, and which is
calculated to create SO many barriers to
the restoration of the Union, be miscon-
strued by the world as an abandonment of
the hope or the purpose of restoring it p
a result to which the State of New York
is unalterably opposed, and which will be
etfectually resisted.
We must not only support the Constitu-
ton OF the United States and maintain the
rights of the States, but we must restore
the Union as it was before the outbreak of
the war. The opinion that slavery must
be abolished to restore our Union creates
an antagOnism between the free and slave
States which ought not to exist. If it is
true that slavery must be abolished by the
force of the Federal Government that the
South must be held in military subsection;
that four millions of negroes must for
many years be under the direct manage
ment of the authorities at Washington at
the public expense, then indeed we must
endure the waste Of our armies in the field,
farther drains upon our population, and
still greater burdens of debt. We must
convert our government into a military
despotism. The mischievous opinion that
in this contest the North must subiugate
and destroy the South to save our Union,
has weakened the hopes of our citizens at
home, and destroyed confidence in our
success abroad.
THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN STATES.
1t is suggestive fact affording instruc-
ton and hope for the future, that the
theories which have exercised an evil in
tiuence OH our Northern politics, did not
originate in what might be called the
heart of the Union, among the intimate
and well acquainted populations of the
Central and Western States. There have
been extreme Northern views and extreme
Southern views, but also the broader and
more tolerant views of the more pOpulOus
Central and Western States.
These States enlisted warmly in the war
for the Union and Constitution.
When the administration abandoned this
ploicy and took up the views of the ex-
IRENE Northern States, it lost at the late
elections nearly all political support which
these States offered in the elections of
1S6O-61. While the North cannot hold the
Southern States in subsection without de-
stroying the principles of our government,
the great Central and Western States can
control the two extremes
He repeats that when the government
adopted the views of extreme Northern
States, Il remarkable political revolution
was the result; that no extreme views
will ever prevail that especially the Cen
tral and Western States will never accept
them; that those OF the central slave
States which rejected the ordinance of Sc
cession, which sought to remain in the
Union, and which were driven off by a
contemptuous, uncomprolnising policy,
must be brought back The restoration of
the whole Union will then be only a work
of time
The policy of subiugaton and extermi-
nation means also the waste of blood and
treasure OF the North. There is but one
way to save us from decentralization, dis
cord and Reputation. Our Union must
be restored, complete in all its parts. No
section must Ire disorganized beyond the
unavoidable necessities Of the war; it can
not be so united upon any bloody, barba-
rous, revolutionary or unconstitutional
scheme, looking merely to the qualification
of hatred, purposes Of party, ambition or
sectional advantage. Let no one demand
that the blood of his neighbor shall be
shed. Let no one think that the people,
who have refused to yield this Union to
rebellion at the South, will permit its res
toration to beprevented. by tanaticism at
the North.
In conclusion, he says the condition of
our country is not hopeless, unless it is
made so by passions and preiudices which
are inconsistent with the government of a
great country. We must accept the con-
ilition of affairs as they stand at this mo-
ment. The fortunes Of our country are
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