Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-12-08

aOoOPb any eOAnho VI pCsvc WHICH 10 not cqudlLy
embrace the practical restoration Of tho Union and
the practical freedom Of all tho slaves whom he
ordered and declared to be HnosO HENoEFoRTH, and
FOREVER free" and whose freedom he pledged
himself to recognise and MAIETAIN" with all the
power of the army and navy Of the United States.
Hence it was that, with his Niagara manifesto
before us, we came to the following conclusion. We
quote from the Intelligencer of last August goth
"Untl the appearance of the late manifesto we could
not foresee that the President would not at whatever
sacrifice of consistency absoye himself from the promises
made to the slaves OF the South if those promises should
to be in the way Of the restoration of the Union
But that manifesto makes it clear to minds that the
President to follow his policy to its legitimate and
logical conclusions which necessarily contemplate the
continuance OF the until he shall the abandon
meDt of slavery well as the territorial integrity of the
whole Union It Is only when both these ends concur
that he claim TO have kept his engagements. And
those who impute TO him willingness to receive and con-
slider propositions looking to restoration of the Union
without providing for the freedom OF the slaves whom he
pledged TO maintain in the freedom with which he theo
retcay invested them the LIST of January 1863 and in
the act OF doing which he invoked the confederate udg
ment of men and the gracious favor of Almighty God
must suspect him of q vaclaon and infrmity OF pur.
pose little credtable to his character.
mo friend Of the President must disguise from himself
either the nature or the extent of his commttas this
subject They pledge him much to wage war for the
emancipation of slaves for the restoration of the Union
And he did not to keep his pledge to the slaves
If ne expected to make peace terms which should
brace the emancipation OF some, not ALL Of those whom
he ordered and declared to be then thenceorward and
forever freet is enough to say that the pledge should
never have been made. The example which the Times
cites OF an Administration which, la the matter of the
Oregon controversy declared for fifty fourorty fight
and afterwards compromised the line of the forty ninth
parallel suggestive to of precedent rather to be
avoided than initiated"
Recurring to this subject on the 9th of August
last, in continuation of our discussion with the
New York Times, we said:
while we see much to admire in the candor and dig
nifty with which the Times has conducted this discussion
as indeed becomes the gravity of the theme cannot
perceive the Justice of its implied anmsdyersOn on our
argument in this matter when it says that our earnestness
savors much of the warmth of partisan who appre
hends evil to his party candidate from the patr
oc conduct OF It's opponent than of jealous for the
safety of the nation and eager to have secured by wise
and patriotic policy on TIE part OF its rulers Is the editor
of the Times quite that zeal for his party
candidate has blinded his own mind to q perception of
the real and the intended meaning of the Presidents Ian
guage 10 the Niagara manfestoi Is the earnestness
which he betrays this subject inspired by no sense of
the necessity under which ne conceves himself laid to
tricate the President possible from political dilemma
on one or the other of whose horns he is imminent dan
ger of being gored to death And is the Times quite
that i could succeed in lifting him from horn
would not in the act of doing mpale him the other
Ii no spirit OF patsaDshp which leads TO set in clear
light the nfecity of the Presidents position, do we
seek to esoP him from patriotic action in the path mark
cd out for him by the Times Let the President only re-
padiate for himself clearly the Times rspudiates for
ham the pledges and commitments iOek suppose
selves to discern o IN his procamaOas IN his recent
manifesto which is the elimination of those proca
nations, and we shall not be slow to mark apprect
ton OF bis patriotic action though such recantaton
coming In time to save his candidacy from the defeat
with which II is menaced, might come too tate to the
country from the ruin rendered ioU nigh inevitable bs long
persistence IN fatal policy"
Within the last few days the President has again
spoken on the subject and we are frank to say that
while there is still some ambiguity in his speech,
we find in the declarations of his late message
disavowal of his Niagara rescript or, at least, of
the Interpretation we placed upon it. The Presi-
dent now says that the Southern people " can at
any moment have peace simply by laying down their
arms and submitting to the national authority
under the Constitution. After so much, the Gov
eminent could not if it would maintain war against
them. The loyal people would not sustain or allow
it." In the closing words of his message he adds
/" In stating single condition of peace, mean to
say that the will cease on the part of the Gov
eminent whenever it shall have ceased on the part
of those who began it."
If, then, the insurgents should .desist from their
armed resistance to the Union at any time anterior
to the actual liberation of all the slaves ordered and
declared to be free by the proclamation of January
/, 1858, we now understand the President to say
that he would not continue to employ the army
and navy for the purpose of recognising and
maintaining" the freedom with which he Con
paper endowed all the slaves in the States desig-
mated. In this case, who does not see that the
terms of his proclamation were unfortunate, in that
they pledged the President to fulfil promise which
he now says he could not keep in case the insur-
gents should desst from their struggle against the
Government
But, while presenting the abandonment of
armed resistance to the national authority on the
part of the insurgents as the only indispensable
condition to ending the the part Of The Coz
ernmeat," the President adds that he means to
" retract nothing heretofore said to slavery. l
repeat the declaration made year ago, that while
: | remain in my present position shall not at
tempt to retractor modify the emancipation pro-
clamstion, nor shall return to slavery any per-
son who is free by the terms OF that proclamation
or by any act of Congress"
We do not see how the President, regarding the
question from Northern point ofview, can have only
one indispensable condition to ending the war on
the part of the Government--the abandonment of