Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1865-06-16
from the Richmond Republic.

l
Such.
FROM the Richmond Republic.
Thereis dlate6t assertion 1.-THE breast
of many good people in Virginia that slave.
ry is not abolished, and forlorn hone that
In the,chaptet of ofaceidenIsdt may still be-
come, for time and to some extent at lesat.
an institution of the land. The sentiment
belongs 10 many excellent people oE-the
highest character and class. 1t is partly
due to old habits of thought and life, which
1t has always been found that every man
in every eommunityste unable 10 change.
The Bourbons Of France, with ell their
weaknesses and all their immortality, had
many good qualities, and amorR these ia
TO be recksped their rincspacitgi % change
their principles and predilections with the
change OF circumstances. What .Bonaparte
said of them in reproach really Fedounded,
In this point of view, to their credit-that
they could not forget anything nor learn
anything. a.. 80, y. -
Where the i6dbility to adopt new opiu.
ions and modes OF lite and thought Is due
to oinhexibilfty of principle, those who ex.
hibit this inEspRcity are really worthy of
respect, and their opinions should be com
batted by respectful argument rather than
by 0ppr0bious deDunciRtion. In this spirit
BY delerence we are disposed to adduce
the grounds on which it seems to US that
all rejecting men who will exercise a due
deliberation must conclude, that Slavery is
finally and absolutely. abolished in Vir-
GINA and the whole South.
1t ia unnecessary to discuss the legal eff.
feet of the several prOclamations of the
Executive of the United States, purport-
ing TO have been issued in the exercise of
the war.makiDg power, by which emanoi.
patton has been solemnly declared through
out the borders of Virginia and of all the
States lately engaged in war against the
Federal power. The practical effect of
those instruments has been actually 10 set
free so many slaves aud so to uusettle the
fidelity Of the rest, that slavery can never
be profitable again to the South. Aside
from this demoraliEed condition Of the
negroes themselves, thus superinduced,
what sane and rejecting man can hope for
any farther benefit from an institution pro.
nouneed to be abolished by Government
whose troops have overrun every foot of
Southern territory; and which is declared
also 10 be abolished finally by twenty. odd
millions of people determined that the de-
cree shall be made good at every hazard
1t is said in Opposition to aIl'this train
of facts that, in strict Jaw, the procIama-
tions could not have the effect of abolish.
ing slavery, and that the courts will de-
clare they could not when the question is
brought before them. But 1t must be re-
collected that the entire body Of the peo-
Pile, in taking the oath of amnesty; are
swearing to support these proclamations;
and that thus public opinion at tho South
is gradually concentrating to the support
of these instruments in such manner as to
be estopped from Questioning them in the.
courts. Nor is it t'probsbIe that the courts,
as they will be hereafter organized, will
decree the nullIty OF the proclamatious.
2 1t isalso trgedlthat thereis tacit con-
fession that the ProclamRtions were intom.
petent to abolish slavery in the fact that
Congress thought It hecessaFy, notWith-
standing the Proclamations,y to propose a
constitutional Amendment for the abolition
of the Institution, It does not at all fol.
low that when two means are adopted for
effecting the same object, either one of 6be
means is by that fact confessed to be in.
etfeotual. Every good lawyer takes the
precauLiOn of inserting as many counts in
his declaration as will cover every possible
contingency OF his case, and no legal com
petitor ever thinks of endeavorIug to over
throw one of them by alleging its iuconsis-
tency with the others, There is Buch q
policy as that of abundant caution; of
employing many means for accomplishing
the same object, lest any one means may
fail. i7 4
1t was in this very idea of abundant eau.
tion that Congress proposed the, Amend.
ment for the abolition of slavery. They
proposed it also for another very potential
reason. The Prbclamations did not pro-
fees to apply to the casesI of Maryland,
Kentucky, nor Missouri; and the Amend
ment was intended to- cover those cases,
for they could be resched in no other way.
The Amendment was an evidence In itself
that Congress intended to exert all the
power It could command to fneure, beyond
pera4yenture, the certain and absolute ac-
comPlishment of its leading object-which.
was ths abolition of slavery.
There-iS; therefore, nothing in the ar
Rument, that the Amendment Implies the
invalidity of the Proclsmations to abolish
slavery: The Amendment WAS intended as
a cumulative measure, and to insure the
certain contamination otoa foregope, deter.
minatiou. Soffartro itssaffoEdinR a ray
Of hope to those who would cling to the
institution, it drives the last nail into the
coffin Of slavery,
:. And here we must remind the class
whose We've we are respectfully combs tting
that the Amendment will soon be adopted
without any possibility of miscarriage
Whatever may be said of the spirit, faith
and comfy in which the Amendment was
conceived by its authors, II cannot be de.
MED that it proposes the abolition of sla.
very ina constitutional way. When the
Amendment becomes law, it will be as
much part of the American Constitution
as the article of the same instrument which
abolished the African slave trade. The
legal existence of slavery will thus be
finally terminated beyond the power of any
lawyer or court in the land to call the fact
in question. 70 =
,zgSeeing, therefore, that this s,Amendment
must certainly be adopted within few
months from now how idle and how vain
are the hopes of those who still persuade
themselves that the institution may yet be
preserved. 1t is painful thus to tear up
by, the roots prej1dlceS as old ss g lifetime;
but We conceive it to be duty which
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