The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-02-16

. -
Travelling in the dead of night to es-
cape assassination, Lincoln arrived at
Washington nine days before his inaug-
uration. The outgoing President, ut
the opening of the session of Congress,
had still kept as the majority of his ad-
visers, men engaged in treason; had de-
clared that in case of even an "imagl-
nary'' apprehension of danger from
notions of freedom among the slaves,
''disnnion would become inevitable"
Lincoln and others had questioned the
opinion of Taney; such impugning he
ascribed to the "factious temper of the
times" The favorite doctrine of the
majority of the Democratic party on the
power of a territorial legislature over
slavery he condemned as an attack on
"the sacred rights of property" The
| State Legislatures, he insisted, muStre-
peal what he called "their uncOnstitu-
| tional and obnoxious enactments," and
YtiS Would 1sh be- fmpossible any hnmann
power to save the Union" Nay, If
these unimportant acts were not re-
pealed, t'the injured States would be
| justified in revolutionary resistance
| to the Government of the Union."-
! He maintained that no State might
secede ut its sovereign will and pleas
Ure; that the Union was meant for per-
| petuity: and that Congress might at
| Tempt to preserve, but only by concili-
| alton; that 'the sword was not placed
! in their hands to preserve it by force"
that "the last desperate remedy OF a de-
| spairing people" would be ian explain
atory Amendment recognizing the de-
cision of the Supreme Court of the Uni
1 ted States.n The American Union he
called "a confederaCy" of States, and
he thought it u duty to make the appeal
for the amendment 'sbeiore anyof these
States should separate themselves from
| the Union" The viewsof the Lieuten-
ant General, containing some patriotic
| advice, gconceded the right of seces-
sion, /" pr6nouneed a quadruple rupture
of the Union ga smaller evil than the
reuniting of the fragments by the
sword, y and tescheYed the idea of in
! vaGIinfs a seeded State" After changes
| in the Cabinet, the President informed
| Congress- that "matters were still
worSe;'' that sthe South suffered serious
| grievances, which should be redreSsed
! in peace.'" Tho day after this message
the flag of the Union was fired upon
| from Fort AIoultrie, and the insult was
not revenged orrnoticed. Senators in
| Congress telegraphe to their constitu-
ents to seize the national forts,
| and they were not arrested. The
| finances of the country. were
| Crievousfy embarrassed. Itslittle army
| was not within, reacll-the part OF 1t IN
I Texas, with all its storeSy was made
| over by its commander to the secedtng
| insurgents. One State after another vo-
ted in convention go quito tofthe Union.
| A peace congress, so called, met at the
request of Virginia, to concert the
| terms of capitalization for the continu-
Iance of the Union. Congress in both
| branches sought to devise conciliatory
| expedients of the Territories of the
| country were organized in a manner
lnot to conflict with any pretensions OF
the South, or any decision of the SUI
4 preme Court and, nevertheless, the Sc
ceding States formed at Montgomery q
1 provisional government, and pursued
| their relentless purpose with such sue
cess that the Lieutenant General feared
| the city of Washington might find itself
| .'incIuded in foreign country" and
proposed, among the options for the
| Consideration of Lincoln, to bid the Sc
ceded States 'idepart in peace" The
| great Republic seemed to have its en-
| blem in che vast unfinished Capitol, at
| that moment surrounded by muses. OF
! stone and prostrate columns never yet
lifted into theirplaces; seemingly the
4 monument of high but delusfye aspir-
| ations, the confused wreck of inchoate
! magnificence, saddef than any ruin OF
| Egyptian Thebes or Athens.