Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-12-10
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.


part Of today's Intelligencer.
If on other occasions during Mr.. LINooLNs
eventfu term Of service he has been called to dis
cAss questions of more imminent concern il is safe
to say that never has it been his duty to make re-
commentators and suggestions on topics respect
ing which there was more of just solcitude in the
breasts OF patriotic men, or respecting which the
public curiosity had been more generally elected.
At time like the present, when the very ele-
ments of our political institutions are melted by
the fervent heats of civil strife and political
tention, and when the hearts of many are failing
them for fear of the things yet to come on the
lana, it would be objectionable either to cherish
or to affect Indifference with regard to the views
and purposes Of the Chief Magistrate of the coun-
try, clothed as he is with powers tremendous and
which, according they shall be wisely unwisely
directed, must tend largely to determine the des-
tiny Of the country for good or for evil through all
coming generations.
1t is significant as marking the new sphere of
ideas into which the country has entered in the
progress of eveLts that if hitherto since the out
break Of the war, the chief interest of these an
nu expositions OF the President has attached to
the enunciation Of his military policy, it is to-day
the ci0t policy which he proposes to pursue as re
CARDS the so-caed Seeded States that engages the
Largest share Of public concern. Accordingly it is
that portion Of the Message which is devoted to q
consideration of this subject in its various relations
which will receive the most attentive perusal and
be made the theme of the most elaborate exegcsis
by critical commentators anxious to discove- and
elucidate the Presidential thought on this momen-
tous subject.
We have not ourselves as yet had time to pom
der all the views of the President under this head
with the care which their complexity and the i'm
portancc Of their relations must be held to demand
at the hands of all dspassionate men. We are
frank to say, however, that, on first perusal, the
general tone of the Message under this head strikes
US favorably and, while we not at all sanguine
as to the degree of success which is likely to at
tend th, particular mode of proceeding marked out
by the President for the reconstruction of the
Union," it is gratifying to find that he gives no
place In his system to that pestent political here
sy which proposes to obliterate State lines in the
South, and to throw all the civil as well as social
institutions of that section into hotch potch, for
the sake of educing Cosmos" more impractica-
BILE than any that Plato ever dreamed Of in his
ideal Republic; and which, if it were practicable,
would needs be reared on the wreck of all that
gives symmetry and stability to our political sys-
tenn. The President, in celebrating this part of
his Message, has obviously found the hardest part
of his task in the difficulty of reconcilng with his
projected civil policy the "edct of emancipation"
which purported to be Issued purely asa military
measure" and which he seems to be perfectly
aware is not Of nature to be easily and harmo-
niously co-ordinated with civil pollty that shall
recognise the normal supremacy of the States over
their domestic institutions. This embarrassment
furnishes the best possible commentary in elucida
ton of the difficulties attending that paper pro-
camatioD, which, without being in Itself help to
the military power of the Republic in suppressing
the rebellion, promised to be a bindrance in the
work Of restoration unless the obstacles it inter
posed could be in some way successfully turned.
Aud it is perhaps in a clear perception of this
truth, that the President in another part of his
Message alludes to the danger of committals on
points which could be more safely left to further
developments" "Care," he says, has been taken
to shape" his proclamation Of amnesty and his plan
of restoration "so as to avoid endorsements from
this source"
The method proposed by the President for turn
ing the obstacles which he perceives to be placed
by the " committals" of the proclamation in the
way Of restoring "the Union as it was" strikes US
as being the best that can be devised. Remitting
the nality Of the edict to the decision Of Congress
or of the Supreme Court, he could not have done
any thing moro, even by revocation of the pre-
clamation; for, whether the proclamation be re-
vjked or maintained by him, the question of its
legal effect would equally come up for final adjudi
cation by the Federal Judiciary-.he only differ
ence being that, in the one case, the question
would be whether, in spite of its revocation,
the slaves Ct the insurgent States not actually
emancipated by il, and in the other case, whether
it is competent for the President, in the exercise
Of his " war powers, as commander-in-chef Of the
army and navy, to abrogate the laws Of State re-
eognising slavery.
We need hardly say that it is the duty Of al
good citizens "to abide by and faithfully to support
all acts Of Congress pissed during the existing re
bellion with reference to slaves long and fal
= - ,oooaIod modified or held void Lv Conoro.,