The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-12-09
BAKER ALONG, Editors.
FRIDAY. -. DECEMBER 9, 1864,
The Message.

I'D IF the Presidents message has no other
m crit it has that Of brevity. 1t is ems
braced in fewer newspaper columns than
any message of any Of the later Presidents
= The President demonstrates, to bis own
satisfaction, that, so little have the re
sources of the country, in men and money,
been affected by the war, the contest can be
continued indefinitely. He consequently
adheres to politics by which the contest
will be indefinite.
1t is a profound principle in political
economy. announced by the President, that
"men readily perceive that they cannot be
much oppressed by debt which they owe
Ttol themselves" Such debt is the re-
source upon which the President relies to
continue the war indefinitely. -.5. =.
: the President is specions. in his state
meut of the terms of peace. "The insur-
gents can" he says, at any moment have
peace simply by laying down their arms and
submitting to the national authority, uneer
the constitution" But, he adds, "ifques-
tons should remain, we would adjust them
: by the pacific means of legislation, oonfer>
ence, courts and votes, operating only in
constitutional and lawful channels" 1t is
precisely these questions which would re-
main that are the obstacles to the laying
down of their arms by the insurgents. The
emancipation proclamation remains; the
President avows his determination to I'D.
here to it, and be recommends an amend
ment of the constitution which would make
that proclamation effective as a civil meas.
ure Conist alton remains, and how can
the insurgents know, before laying down
their arms, how much of it will be adhered
b to and how much abandoned? A radical
majority in Congress remains, whose avowed
policy is, in any event, to permit the i'm
surgent states to return only upon pre-.
scr;bed conditions other than those Of sim
ply laying down their arms and submitting
to the national authority. All these and
all the other radical abolition policies re-
main, to be settled, as the President says,
"by legislation, conference, courts and
votes" in all of which the South wouldsbe
eowerless. As things stand, submission by
tue South to what the President calls the
national authority would be simply sub,
mission to the power of radical abolition
ism.
We are disappointed in the message, al
though perhaps we ought not to be. We
had hoped that the President would provide
a way, SO far as in him lies, by which the
Southern people could be detached from
the rebel leaders. We had hoped that he
would open door through which the
Southern people would dare to pass, in the
belief that within it they would find the
Union Gas it was" and not, as the aboli.
ton fanatics say, as it ought to be- We
had hoped, at the very least, that there
would be some perceptible relaxation of
those policies which have united the South
ern people as one desperate man in the
maintenance of the rebellion, and which
have made readjustment by peaceful means
Impossible.
The war, then, is to 60 on indefinitely Mr.
Lincoln be lieves in the power of the north
to carry it on indefinitely. and every sensi>
BILE man knows that it will he indefinite nm
der the abolition policies. Under these pol.
isies, the destruction of the rebel armies
would not close the war. The federal gov
ernment would still hold and exercise in,
risdcticn over just so much territory as its
armies should actually occupy, aud no
mcre and its armies Of occupation would
have to be quite as large as its armies Of
Invasion have been. Witness, in demon
stration, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and
Louisiana to,dsy.
We arise from the perusal of this mes
srge with intense pain. 1t is as defective
i'll its views of the relations of finance tc
the war, and of the general principles of po'
htical economy, as it is mistaken in its
treatment of the rebellion, and, under the
weight Of all this load Of errcr, the couu,
try must rapidly sink TO that condition o.
financial and social disorder the occurrence
OF which is only question of time.
RadicaliSm Jubilant. !