New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-09-18
THE UNION A. IT WAS"

"TBsE UNION A. HI WAS"
Practical craftsmanship does not disregard
theories; but it insists on due Difference to facts.
r France, for example, has many able, intelligent
and upright men who are profoundly, intensely
Royalst-who believe that the happiness OF
their countrvmen and the well-being of man
kind would be promoted by the restoration OF
the House of Bourbon to the French throne.
I But does any one suppose that there is a Royal
ist so mad as to desire the rc-cstabshment Of
all that the Revolution has swept away-a re-
turn 10 AbsoutiS1n Feudalism, and all Their
monstrous abuses and intolerablc expressions
Whoever cherishes such a miSconception does
gross injustice even to the most bigotet parll-
san OF Legitimacy and the Divine Right Of
Kings.
When men tell US that they are for 1.-THE
Union as il was'-when they employ this phrase
to catch the votes Of the ignorant and unreilcct-
ing--we have a right to insist that they shall
expound it in its relation to existing facts. Foi
instance:
!. There are to-day not less than Three Humid
red Thousand Persons in our country who were
! slaves in lS60, but whom the Rebellion and It's
consequences have set a, liberty. Not less than
One Hundred Thousand Of these are aiding, IN
one capacity or another the National effort to
conquer the Rebels and restore the Temporarily
subyer.ed authority Of the Union. Do the cham
pions of 1.-THE Union as il was propose tie re-
turn of these freedmen, OF OF any portion OF
them, into Slavery to the Rebels who once
owned themr Il not, what do they propose
with regard to theml
III. The Fugitive Slave Law Of 1850 stand
untouched on the statuto-booh. Under thai
act. any fugitive from Rebel Slavery into
= Free State NAV be claimed, seized, aud borne
away into bondage, and there If no lesa
remedy His plea that he iled because h!'
master was ro5cl in arms against the tmon-
and that he thought il his duty To escape from
that masters service TO the protection OF IN,
National flag. there 10 do what he could toward
unfolding that flag, could not be received
by the l.. S. Commissioner. (Sce the act
The only question which that funciona.y
is authorized to Try is very narrow
as his slave by the claimant in tins case
And id he escape from sad claimant serf-
ice?" OF course, the decision must De III ihc
= affirmative. and the person claimed must there
upon be surrendered. How far and where Will
this be- practicable, especially in the presence
OF onion Volunteers. who remember that TIE
claimant was a Rebel Guerrilla who tined Ia
surprise and massacre them, and that the iugi'
tive crept into their camp by night, warned
them Of his MASTER purpose, and 80 saved thclI
/ liyesi Such cases will inevitably and iTe-
mently occur: what shall be done with them
Ill. West Virginia has for AN age groaned
under her subjugation to the slayehoiding OIL
garchy this side OF the Alleghalies. She stTug-
gled hard to free herself from Slavery IN the
Constitutional Convention Of 1890, but was
ovcrbornc by the tidc-watcr vote. She should
have been ere this one OF the great coal-diRging,
ron-making, oil pumping, manufacturing States,
with population Of at least One Million: but
Old Virginia has Kept her under 80 that she is
still mainly covered with the primitive forest,
has but N rude beginning Of manufacturing III
dustry, and a population Of Three Hundred
Thousand. The Shareholders Rebellion has
liberated her: she sloughcd off the dead body
and has become Free State, with new hopes,
ouickcned energies, and magnificent prospect
TO blot her out Of existence and re-consign hci
10 the tomb whence she has emerged, is to OK.
pose her people to mercilcss and enduring pun
ishment for her loyalty at the hands OF Tho
olgarchs whose rule she has spurned, whose
treason she has resisted. Yet this is vital &c
"thc Union as it was" Shall il DO her doom
". The leading, active, uncompromisinf
Unionsts of the South are all, or nearly all, on
record a. foes Of Slavery. When Andrew John
son--a Democrat all his life, who voted for every
ProSIavery aggression and outrage. up TO the
outbreak Of the Rebellion, and supported Breck-
nridge for President i'll l-G0--comcs out for
Emancipation, at the earliest moment, but
Emancipation any how-you may be sure that
there are not many Unionists left behind. An
drew j. Hamilton, Michael lialon, NJ. c., cx-
Gov. X. M. Stewart Of Mo-, cx-GOy. Hicks Oi
! Nd, are conspicuous instances illustrating the
general truth. In Kentucky, the management Of
James Guthrie, Geo. ID. Prentice and few other
leaders, has partly prevented the development of
Anti Slavery conviction and partly suppressed
ts nanifcst inn. INT outside of that State and