Weekly national intelligencer., 1863-02-19
MR.. sEwARp,s LATE DESPATCH.

The public press, with great unanimity, indicates
the popular concurrence in the propriety OF the
,swer given by the Secretary OF State to the re-
cent proposition of the French Government. 1t is
true that there are few radical journals which,
because unable to find any fault with the contents
OF the paper arr driven to the sad necessity of carp
ing at the Secretary for what he omitted to say.
For instance, the New York Evening Post has the
following regrets on tho subject:
"his reply, as far as it goes satisfactory but
all that ought to have been said Requested by the En-
peor Of France to discuss the unhappy controversy VII en-
divides the nation its original merits he Mr. ought 10
have exponnded in all it's breadth and He should
have stated the real origin of dsensOns IN the wish
Of thu shareholders to raise local and class privilege into
national institution and TO extend its banefu influences
a the yacqured territory of tbs continent He
should then have shown how the determination OF our Tree
society resist this pretfnscn provoked the COLLISION of
how at the outset proposed merely to recover
tho violated territory and rights of tie Federal Govern-
nent but how the end the stubbornness and reckless
Of the slave lords had forced more and more INTO
position Of dtec an,dgonism to sarey until finally he
struggle tor the maintenance Of the Union had become
struggle for the emancipation 1 uoeR as Jo. the
preservation Of free constitutional government in the Ne,o
World Our quarrel presented in this aspect w0ud have
commanded the sympahirs OF the whole of enlightened
Europe and neither the Emperor Of the French apy
other monarch would have dared to the side Of
the South in the face of the universal stntment OF man
kind 1t is perhaps not too late to retrieve this oversight
or neglect"
As the Administration has no organ TO defendit
from the reproach Of its political friends" we
may perhaps take it upon ourselves to remind the
Evening Post that Mr.. Seward could not have
written such despatch as it desiderates without
making the President stultify himself by holding
one style Of language 10 his proclamations and
another in his correspondence with foreign nations
We can readily understand how, 10 the eyes of the
Evening Post, the !" war for the Union" has be-
come "a struggle for the emancipation of race,
and we do not propose to raise any question as to
the justice of our contemporary's appreciation of
the position now held by the Administration, when
1t describes that position one of direct antago
nism to slavery" We wish simply to say that the
President does not understand his "positon" as
the Evening Post understands it, and, in giving to
the war semJance of direct sntagonism to slavery,
he careful far possible to guard against the
inference of the New York journal We may
call to its memory the opening words of the "Pro-
clamation of Freedom issued on the 22d of Sep
tember last
a. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President Of the United States
of America and Commander. n-Chef of the Army aud
Navy thereof do hereby proclaim and declare that here
after heretofore, The n be prosecuted for the object
Of practically restoring the constitutional relation 6etnoen
the Tn ted States each Of the States, and the people
thereof which States that relation may be suspend
ed or disturbed"
The Secretary of State is the organ of the Presi-
dent in the communications he makes to Foreign
Governments, and the President, even if Mr..
Seward had had il n his heart to write such des-
pitch as the Pest DESIRES could not have given il his
.nctiou without serious damage to his consistency
and sincerity. This, it is true, would not be likely
to iflict very seriously his exac'ing "friends,"
hut the President must be permitted by them to
preserve some respect for his reputation
Apart from these idle complaints, the popu-
lar favor is freely ard universally accorded to
tie arguments and positions of Mr.. Seward, as
announced in the paper under review. And wo
should not emit to ins sance the significant fact
that the popular expression thus elected by the logic
of the distinguished Premier of the Administration
has a co,,tre.coup which bears heavily upon an
act of the present Congress passed at its last ses
sion Without recalling to his mind the precise
bearing Of a statute in contravention of his argu
mept, Mr. Seward, in declining, en- the part of
the Government, to entertain the French PROPOSE
t,on pointed out what seemed to the President a
more excellent way Instead Of a conference be-
tween representatives of the begerent perties, to
meet at some neutral point, as was contemplated
by the French overture, he expressed a preference
fcr the following form of deliberation
There is however, better furm for such erences
fan the one which NJ. Drouyn d LHuys suggests. The
Ltter would he pspably in derogston the Constitution
q, the United States end would carry weight because
A sti,ue of tie sanction necesssry 10 bind either the
cal or disloys portions of the people On the other
hand the Congress OF the United States furnishes
nal forum for dtbatts bmeen he natd paYtis
s. natora and Represe naty,s firm the loI al people
ttere already fully empowered ciner And are
Also vacant ana inviting the Senator's and Representatives.
oftLe dsroufcnfed poytu he may be contttuonay
there from The States InyolSed IN the lnsurreetIoa
The people seem TO have been generally pleased
with this suggestion, but unfortunately the legis-
atou Of Congress- at its late session, has erected
an eectual bar against any such conferences as are
described Until that egslatiJn is rescndcd, it
wall not be exact to say that seats vacant 10
Congress, inyiting Senators and Representatives #
the diseoafented party" For Congress, by an act
approved on the I'd Of last July, prescribed, as the
condition of holding any Office of honor or profit
uuder the Government Of the United States, either