The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-10-17

4 virginia, and the kscfaiOns % s"o
srcccdcd STATES 10 the Union A VAL
uabIc Scrap fHisfory. y
iFro- tn st. Leuis Republican, Oct.
1.-THE following letter was written by
Ex-Attorney General Bates some two
months ago, but for some reason has
never before been published.-ED. Rep.J
ST. LOUIS, August 8. 1866
To Col. James o. Broadhead, st. Louis !:
DEAR SIR: -You were rightly in
formed that President Lincoln did re-
auire of the heads of the different de-
partments their opinion in writing as
to the expediency of the bill flor the
admission of the State of West Virginia
into the Union" And such opinions
were given by all of them, except only
Mr.. Caleb b. Smith (whe> had then va
Gated, or was about to vacate, his office
of Secretary of the Intcrior.)
That transaction took place in the
few last days of the year 1862. My own
official opinion bears date on the 9th
of December, 1862, and the President
approved and signed the bill on the last
day of that year.
/ have occasion to remember those
transactions very distinctly, for ! took
lively interest in the question; and
indeed, ii was upon my own suggestion
that President Lincoln demanded our
written opinions. 1 urged upon him
the advantages of written over oral
communications on subject so impor-
tant, and chiefly upon these two
grounds: |. They constitute valuable
muniments of the passing history OF
the government; and, ID. They operate
as reasonable and wholesome check
upon rs, the advisers of the President.
The questions put by the President
were in the most brief and cOmpcndl-
Gus form, thus: II. Is the said act con-
stitutional! 2. Is the said act expedl-
ent." To these two questions we all
gave to the President our written an
swers: and can only express my sur
prise that they should have been so long
withheld from publication, seeing that
they touch upOn principle of the
greatest magnitude, and bear directly
upon question which has produced
great excitement in Congress and in the
nation.
have the only copy of those docu-
ments that know of i'll private hands;
but no doubt they may be found in the
proper repositories at Washington.
And i'll regard to your suggestion as to
what those opinions may contain con-
concerning the legal and political status
of States in rebellion Gas have no time
now either to analyZe the opinions or to
copy thenl,) can only say that not one
of them contains single paragraph
tending to the conclusion that q State
ordinance of secession, or the fact OF
open rebellion within State, did OF
cOuld take State out of the Union.
The very contrary was assumed as un-
disputed doctrine, and arguedupo as a
pOstulate. In fact, l did not know a
Republican of that day, in Congress or
i'll the Executive Department, who pre-
tended to believe that a State could
withdraw itself from the Union by Sc
ccssiOn, or rebellion, or both together.
We all considered an ordinance of seces-
sion mere nudity in law and politics,
and rebellion a personal crime punisha-
bic by law. 1t never was the doctrine
of the Republican party i'll Mr.. Lin
coins lifetime, and, l believe, is not
now, that State can get out of the
Union by secession and rebellion. That
is late invention of few enterpris-
ing, extreme radicals, who have labored
to fasten it upon the Republic
cans as one of their tenets. President
Lincoln and both houses of Congress,
by their repeated solemn acts, are
pledged to the contrary. They passed
the West Virginia bill, which, accord
ing to the plain provisions Of the con
stitution, could not have been passed
unless Virginia were State i'll the
Union, with a Legislature capable OF
consenting to the dismemberment. The
President, with the advice and consent
OF the Senate, did all he could to extend
the judiciary system of the United
States INTO States which had passed
ordinances of secession, and whose peO-
pie stood in open rebellion, by appoint.
see, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana,
and both houses of Congress admitted
members frsm Virginia, Tennessee and
Louisiana.
/ remain, dear sir, with cordial re-
CARDS, your friend, EDWARD BATES.