Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-07-21
If liberty for themselves and their pos

OF hoerty Iot themselves anu tneF P00-
terity.n
But, as in the progress of time, the Sla-
very contest grew hot throughout the
land, and those who opposed Slavery put
forward this same principle vs their sword
and shield, and pressed it with more and
more vigor upon those who were determi-
ned to maintain Slavery the natural result
followed, and the latter party we're COM
PEELED TO do something to avoid or break
the force of this weapon. And we find
that, as is customary, two methods were
adopted 10 their opposition, which made
marked distinction between the!two wings
OF the Pro slavery army.
The one set sought to avoid the logic
which led irresistibly from those words of
the Declaration to the adjustment of
ers made blunder. These men were found
both North and South, bat we're more fire.
QusEt at the South. At the North might
| be found here and there one who did not
scrnple to declare like D. D. Petit, OF Indi-
ana, that the Declaration was ga seif-evl-
dent lie" bat they were rare. At the South,
however, this became the general view
Mr.. Stephens, in his famous "Cornerstoue"
| speech, did not say anything that was un-
| familiar to Southern ears when he said that
| these ideas of our fathers ''were tundamen-
tally wrong" and characterized their views
as '.the errors of the past generation !" and
the perils and the trials of the war have not
driven this notion out of their minds. II
is but The other day that the Richmond
Dispatch, in an article on the Fourth OF July,
said "The only doctrine of the whole
Declaration which the North can consis
tently rejoice in, is that which asserts the
equality of man, and tOhieh is the solitary
6kunder IN that great document"
The Northern wing of the Pro Slavery
party did not dare to take so bold ground.
They sought to avoid enlisting against
them that sentiment of reverence for those
great men who framed the Declaration,
which innumerable Fourth of July ORA
tious had helped to instill into the popular
mind. But feeling the same necessity of
getting rid of the memorable logic of free
dom, they sought TO do it in an indirect
way, and they declared not that our fathers
made bluuder, but that they did not mean
what it had been supposed they did, and
that when they SAID ''all men," they meant,
only "white men," Quite elaborate essays
have been written to establish this position.
Nor have three years of war taught these
Northern Pro Slavery men any better than
they have taught their Southern comrades.
One OF the shsrpest debates which marked
the last days of the last session of the
Senate of the United States, was on this
very point; and the same idea was
propounded but the other day in a
City newspaper, in which it was
said that when "the Declaration was
penned, every colony was slavehold-
ing, get neither they nor the World SaV
any iHeOHSiStsncy in their position" having
apparently forgotten or never read the
words of Mr.. Jefferson TO Mons. de Meusi
ner: "What a tuPendous, what an iu-
comprehensive machine is man, who can
eodure toll, famine, stripes, imprisonment,
and death itself in VindIcation of his own
liberty, and The next moment he deaf to all
those motives whose power supported him
through all his trials, aud inhict on his
fellow man a bondage, one hour of which
is frauRht with more misery than ages Of
that which he rose in rebellion TO oppose"
Not that any such explicit words were
needed to show that our fathers did feel
the inconsistency of their position. The
whole tone of public views upon Slavery
for years, and the efforts which we're made
for its adjustment, show that they felt it.
But as history shows that these GIBBS
will be met with in the progress of prin
ciple, so also it shows that they are never
permanent, never successful; but that
those who hold fast to the principle are
sure to win final success. And there
could be no more fatal admission for the
rebel cause than that of the Richmond
Dispatch, that the North can 'conSicta Rtiy
rejoice in the doctrine of the equality of
man"
We have great faith in the people of the
North, in their persistence and pluck, their
unquestionable determination to carry out
the business which they have undertaken,
aud to bear whatever burdens are necesea-
ry to its Accomplishment. We have great
faith in their resources, and in their
skill to use them. We have great faith in
the toughuess of our armies and their un-
conquerable will.
We have great faith in our leaders, in the
sagscity Of Mr.. Lincoln aud the statesmen
of the land, in the pertinacity of Grant and
the ability of our other Generals, who have
won so many laurels. But firmer and
deeper than all these, we have faith in
the cause for which we fight, and in the
principle which is the central point of the
whole struggle-the principle of the free
dom of man. If the race has futare worth
living for, if we are going forward to higher
developments, greater excellencies, a more
thorough civilization, our progress is sure
~ in the way in which that principle leads
US. Let us see to it that in the midst of all
doubts and trials and burdens, we only hold
the more closely to it, and our final victory
is sure.