Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-09-01
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER l, 1856.
THE NIAGARA MANIFESTO.

responsive to some views we presented on Satur-
day last for the purpose of showing that we had
not, as we conceive, Inexperienced either the
terms or the purport of Mr.. Linooln's manifesto
addressed to " whom it may concern"
We argued that the terms of that manifesto rem
dered tas fair-nay, as necessary-to infer that the
President makes a SINE qua of I" the abandon
ment of slavery of the integrity Of the whole
Union," and that no doubt can be thrown on his
adherence to one Of these stipulations which does
otequally apply to the oher while weshowed that it
was only by interpreting the declaration in this
that it could be brought into harmony with the ante
oedent pledges by which the President had bound
himself to recognise and maintain" with all the
power of the army and navy, the freedom of the
slaves whom he ordered and declared" to be
free in the States and parts of States embraced in
his proclamation of emancipation under date of
January l, 1868.
We are sure that we do not differ at all from the
New York Times in our views to the legal quality
and effect of the emancipation edict. We remem-
Der that that journal expressed its concurrence
with us at the time in the exceptions we took to
che form and nature of that most unfortunate
paper Immediately after its PRONUNCIATION. The
only difference between us relates to the question
that has been raised respecting the meaning of
Mr. Lincoln when he wrote the Niagara manifesto.
We are surprised that there should be any dis
pute on this point, for we think. as we have al
ready said, that the terms of the manifesto leave
no room for doubt or cavi to what the President
meant to say. Let again reproduce his Ian
guage:
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
Washington, July Is, 1864.
" To ,ohom Il may concern:
"Apy proposition which embraces The restoration Of
ysace the nfegrity of The ohoie Unon and the abandon
snf Of Slavery and which by and with authority
that control the armies now at war against the United
States will be received and considered by the Executive
Government of the United States and 1u be By lbe
raj terms on other substantial and collateral points ad
the bearer thereof shall have safe conduct both
ways. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The meaning Of these words lies on the surface,
but an analysis of the several clauses of the mani
festo makes that meaning not only clear but irress
tible. For we not only have in the opening words
Of the rescript statement of the terms on which
sny proposition will be received and considered, and
not only the equal indispenssblty of both the spe
cited terms left to be inferred from the coocaton
in which they are placed, but the possibility of
any abatement from either of them is excluded by
the Presidents contemporaneous profer of "Hbe-
raj terms on OTHER SUBSTANTIAL AND ooLLATE-
RAJ POINTS" The "oher substantial and COLA
tersl points" embrace every thing as to which the
President is willing to be liberal" and he ex-
cludes from this classification "the integrity of the
whole Union, and The abandonment OF stacery"-
the latter as distinctly and as unequivocally as
the former. If it is within the power Of English
speech more clearly to express the meaning which
we apprehend in the manifesto, or to exclude the
sense in which the Times interprets it, we must
confess ourselves unable to appreciate the force of
lana uage. In order to ascertain whether the
President makes O sine qua non of both the terms
which he specifies, we have not only the presump-
tion which results from their equal expression, but,
in addition to this, we have their joint erc uson
from the category of subjects open to discus.
sion an exclusion made positive and express
by the statement that " liberal terms" will be Of
fered on other substantial and collateral points"
Whatever, therefore, may be the sense in which the
President his friends now please to construe and
interpret these words, there can, We submit, be no
oavil as to the sense they bear on their face, or
which they yield to critical scrutiny.
The Times greatly mistakes the spirit we have
brought to this inquiry when it supposes that we
seek to harass the President by "hedging him
about with fresh embsrrassments and complica-
tions' resulting from the pledges and commit
ments found in his procamations on the subject Of
slavery. Would that those cmbarrassments and
complications" had no other existence than in our
"parade" of the Presidents declarations But,
alas they necessarily result from the nature of
the impossible engagements he has personally as
sumed in the face Of the country and OF the civliz
ed world. We do not create them when we recite
them and the Times does not destroy them when
i. argues against their existence Ii is the Presi
dent who breathed into them the breath of life,
and. as it was his word that made them, so, while
he remains in his present position, it is only his
,ord that can snmake them, and his word stands
pledged against any Of hi, power in this latter
direction.
While We sec much to admire In the candor and
dignity with which the Times has conducted this