The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-10-05
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There have been q few mon in tho
southern reconstruction conventions
who still live in the dead past and dream
about slavery and state sovereigntyi'
Tho large majoftty have shown that
they fully ycompreheh thegreat changes
produced by the war, and are ready to
t0ke fresh start in the Union, and with
out slavery No quote tRer adntin,ents
of the few blindmVp in tho conventions
as If they represent the. South is to give
wholly false impression, Without
exception tho conventions thus far have
been managed by men who are ready
to comply with the requirements Of the
national executive md prg tetermInod
to bring their respective states bacR
into the Union In the shortest POSSIBLE
time. The leaders, says tho Washing
ton Chronicle, have been in constant
communication with President John
son, and, whenever any dispute or
doubt has arisen AZ to tho proper steps
to be taken, dispatches havo been sent
to the president to ask information and
counsel. Thus the action of the con-
vention has been shaped, in great
measure, by the government Mt WASH
ington. NJ N.
1t Indicates n pretty radical change
in South Carolipn politics when Afr.
Hammond Introduces shch resolutions
as these ina constitutional convention:
ResolPed, That tho Union is the first
and paramount consid Grafton OF the
American people. ~ ITIfLxf
ReSOlUcd, That sovereignty, a unit
absolute and tndiyisible, which, in ali
nations, must exist somewhere, resides
IN the American people, and Its autli0r-
lied representative within the limits of
the organic law-the constitution-is
the federal government.
ReaotVed, That II Is an uncontroyerti-
Die fact that slavery has ceasedto exist
thrmlgh the exercise of the military
power Of the Federal Government, and
that any attempt by us to revive IL
only futile, but disastrous.
ReS0tUed, That II is the true policy of
the Americanpeop to confinsthe dens
ernl Government strictly within the
limits OF the Constitution, and to
ael5no nowledge the inaliennble right Of
each Stnte to regulate Its own affaifs in
its own way.
In the Alabama Convention a Mr..
Towles moved for an ordinance TO ex-
clnde from tho ,Stnte all free negroes
who We're not inhabitants of tho State
prior to the net of secession. He said
his object was TO exclude negroes from
the Freedmen's camps in Georgia, who
were committing tiepredations in the
State. But the proposition met with no
favor, and he Withdrew 1t. When the
general question of slavery came up
Mr.. Coleman, late a captainth the rebel
army, oRJected toany action he wanted
to wait for the decision of tho supreme
court as 10 tho validity or the emanci-
patton proclamation, and he believed
that all who had remained loyal, and
all who had received pardon would be
protectedintheir right to slave property.
BE believed if they gave up slavery
they would soon be compelled to admit
the negroes to suffrage Nobody sus-
tanned the rebel captain in his views,
and Judge Foster, a prominent member
of the Convention, made a conclusive
reply in the course of which he said:
The esupreme court has a certnfn now
er, and can control individual C1ses.
,hnt differences between cOmmunities'
sections and nations, must be settled
by compromise or by the arbitrament
OF the sword, and as a proof OF this he
would refer to the case of the National
Bank. tho Dred Scott case and the Mis-
souri, Compromise. When there arc
cases of great interest involved dbetween
nations, courts arc of no account, In
this case the sword hns been the nrbi-
ter, and It behooyes us to bow fiifiIlv
and Relkn npwledge tho fact 18th us much
grace as possible. There is no appeal.
uhe institution of slavery, ifsnot the
cause of secession, has been the Victim
OF secession, and for its fate thare is no
appeal. The Issue WINS slavery, and the
South toolS;it mp, and thank God, the
question hns been settled effactIially.
This faet Is manifested all over tile
land; slhyery has been effectnally de-
stroyed, The citizens OF this State I'D
NIT 1t by making contracts with thSir
former sllyes, or the former slaves OF
their neiGhbors. Many other eVidences
1.ott Its fate are MS pIhrin6l as
the noon-day ! sun. Almost the
entire civilized world Inns been
opposed to this great sociRli evil.
Inc and-slavery sentiment, which hut
IeHi years agpNTa4s no bigger than a
mans hand, has swept on In It's resist
less course, and will continue to sweeu
on until not vestige OF the institution
nnins tnourlnnd. Slavery Inns bedn
odions TO the greater portion OF the civ-
tllzed world, and steps are being taken
at the present time in other countries IA
remove the institution. We are 4, sub.
/ tqgated people; our favored land has
been drencbed1 in blood and dayn5thfei;
our braYast and best sons have perished
orr homes have been made desolate-
ana lalltof slavery. But It Inns also per
mons tn OrJ. asaiafaTtS.f,9 , ~ " nv