New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-11-28
FIGHTING RX RESOLUTION.

aud vouble representatives, has just made fu-
rious, and EguEatiyely speaking. sanguinary on
slaught upon Us, being led b. truculent Ten
nessecan, one Senator Henry. This gentleman
has contributed to the disjointing Of the Uni0n
six joint resolutions, the purport Of which Is
1.-The determination of the Confederate States
TO prosecute the war until their independence
is acknowledged" As this same declaration
has been made before innumcrable times and in
a great variety Of shapes, one il at loss to M
lerstand why il should be again solcmniy ard
officially promulgated, unless Mr.. Henry and
his compatriots felt that their courage was liz
tie on tho ooze, and required keeping up by ju-
dicious whistlng. We are not at al astonished
at the determination" here expressed, nor can
He say that it impresses us with feelings OF live
ly alarm. The Confederate Congress must 90
something. The readiest and cheapest thing for
the Confldcyalc Congress to do is to lag rcso-
luton, aud then incubate thereon in the hope
that something may be Matched out. Nothing
can be easier than this method Of waging war.
Without the loss OF q single man, aud at the ex-
pN'ipf VI uOA4tte pus eAO SAANih' N"AA Nv
yanqulshed and put upon tho record as craven
and fugaciou7.
But what does astonish us is, that Mr.. Henry
should, in hi, first resolution, make sort OF
patohW ork, weaving together the sentences OF
the old Declaration of Independence and sundry
less respectable axioms of his own. In doing
this, Mr. Henry, We must be allowed to say,
makes Il most ridiculous muddle Mr.. Jefferson,
for instance, declared human freedom and
equality to be solf-eyident. Mr.. Henry begins
"Resoired, By the Congress Of the Confederate
States ofAmerica, that the people Of the Con-
tolerate States arc endowed By their Creator
with tho inalienable rights Of life, liberty and
the pursuit Of happiness" The absurdity of
this attempt to improve upon the verbal accu
racy OF such men as Jefferson, Adams aud
Franklin, must DO evident TO the reader. The
original declaration l. of " self-evident truths.
Sir. Henry does not speak of these as - self
evident nor does he speak Of them o.
truths at ali. On the contrary, he bases the
freedom, equality, life, liberty and happiness OF
mankind upon resolution drafted By man
named Henry, and adopted by an obscure body
calling itself Congress" OF course, TIE
whole thing becomes laughable. II leaves the
population of the world at the mercy of few
yeas and nays. II is as il we held our dearest
rights our capacities orr very natures, by the
tenure ola joint resolution. If this Congress
had voted that man is not endowed by his
Creator, then he il not so endowed. Now it hap
pened that this was just what Mr.. Henry'S
preamble did assert. Mark the collocation
" Resoired, That the people Of the Confederate
States are endowed" Only they, and nobody
else The Creator was too busy to endow his
creatures in lamp, so to speak, aud so He con-
fined His benevolent exertions to "the people
Of the Confederate States" The language of
the original Declaration was not good
enough for Henry, or perhaps it was
too good. ave hold these truths
to be seli-eyidcnt, that ALL MEN are created
equal: that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit Of happi-
ness" The beauty and sublimity not less than
the truth Of this assertion is in its broad and
general catholicity, for the slightest limitation
ia iatel to its value and a refutation Of its truth
Equality may be asserted of the race, but it
cannot, with logical accuracy, be asserted of
classes, since all men who are greater or less
than other men, while they may be equal to
each other, are not 50 in relation to the rest OF
mankind. 1t is not strange that the word
"edual" frightened Mr.. Henry, and that in the
construction OF his hash he took pains to avoid
it. But tDr all his care, be went from the fry
ng-pan into the Gre. He made the mistake OF
grouping life, THIRTY and the pursuit Of happi-
ness" which amounted to quite Gs much as if
hc had kept to the discarded word "equal,
since equality" implied liberty" and the
terms are entirely convertible. But as his reso-
luton stands it amounts TO just this: that the
"Creator," when he made the people Of the
Confederate States" determined upon giving to
them certain endowments which He was re-
solved to refuse to Others, viz: " life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness" and that foresee-
ing the existence of two colors in those States;
Ho settled it in His own almighty mind that
white men only could DO "people," and that
black men could not BIO "pcople" at all Yet
mark tho further inconsistency! II we ask, Did
not God give tho Black man q right TO his
1" life" the answer even Of a Man. Owner would
be, that lie did. The Same would be true Of
tho pursuit of happiness" How about " lib.
erty" then1 All! there is just where the ab.
stractions of the Declaration begin to be trouble.