Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-10-19
ThesAdniIssIOR pf5 West YirgiAia-7
Views Of PresideHt LiAc9lP's
Cabinet - LeIteT1. from n -lMdge

h Cabinet - Le1teI1 from n .1Mdge
/ IRateS.7ig OF it bsd.E on r9f'G bar ".si
l. t[From tho ST. Louis Republican. Oetobera,liro
T. The foll9wlpg, letter was written by, ,eX5
| Attorney General Bates, some two iii0Bths
ago, but for some reason has never before
been pubiished!-Edttor ReraibHcdi1!B ",dti
To CoI0heI Jdntesf0. Broadtedri. ST L0aGSaq;
4 DEAR Sffp-Youi were rightly inform-
| ed that President Lipg0ln' did require of
the heads Of the different Departments their
| opinions in writing, as to both the Dtonsti-
Ltutionality and expedienry Of the bill %ioT
the admission Of the State Of West Virgin
| ia into the 1Union.p1 And such opinions
were given by all of them, except only Mr.
| Caleb B. Smith (who had then vacated, or
was about TO vacaJe, his office of Secretary
Of the InteriOPD tBa5a 81 AUed grW ysa,
| That transaction took place in the few
| last,days of the year 1862, My own official
opinion bears date on the 9th Of Decent
! ber, 1862, and the President approved and,
|, signed the bill on theilast day OF that yeaE,
/ 1 have occasion to remember those trans
actions very distinctly, for took d very
lively interest In the Question and, indeed,
| it was upon my own suggestion that Pres
| ihent Lincoln demanded our written opin7.
ions. urged upon him the advantage OF
| written over oral communications on sub
ject so important, and chieiiy upon thtse
two grounds: Il. They constitute valuable
muniments of the. passing history OF the
Government; and 2, They operate as a
| reasonable and wholesome check upon us,
| as advisers Of the President agEI1eis7f
| The questions put by the President were
| in the most brief and cOmpendious form,
| thus: Il, Is the said act constitutional?
O. Is the said act eXpedient?" To these
| two questions we all gave to the President
| our written answers; and can only eX-
press my surprise, that they should have
| been so long withheld from publication,
seeing that they touch upon principle of
| the great est magnitude, and bear directly
upon question which has produced great
excitement in Congress and in the nation.
| have the only copy of these documents
! that know of in private hands; but, no
doubt, they may be found in the proper de-
| positores at Washington. And,in regard
to your suggestion as to what; those opinT
| ions may contain concerning the legal and
political status of States III rebellionRas L
4 have no time now either to analyzs the
! opinions or to copy them, i can only say
! that not one of them contains q single par
/ agraph tending to the conclusion that a
State ordinance of secession, or the fact of
! open rebellion within State, did or conld
] take a State out of the Union. The, very
contrary was, assumed as undisputed doc
j .trine, and argued upon as a postu'1te. In
4 fact, did not Know a Republican, of that
'I,day, in Congress or in the Executive De-
.Iipartment. who pretended to beliegs that a
IIState could withdraw itself from tie Union
Ilby secession or rebellion, or both together!
We all considered an ordinance ofsecession
aimere nullity in,law and politics. and re-
bellion a personal crime, punishable by
Ilaw. 1t never was tho doctrine of the Re
publican party in Mr. Fincoln's lifetime,
and I believe, is not nov, that State can
get out of the Union by secession aud re-
bellion. That Is late Invention OF d few
enterprising, extreme RaGi .;tls, who have
labored In vain to fasten it. UPON the Re-
publicans as one of their tencti. ilRresident
Lincoln, and both houses Of, Congress. by
their repeated solemn acts, are pledged to
the contrary. They passed the'West Vir-
| ginia bill, which, according to the plain
provisions of the Constitutlop.l could not
have been passed, unless Virginia were a
State in the Union, with a Legislature, ca
pable Of consenting to the disInembeFrnent.
The President, with theadvice and consent
of the Senate, did allhe could to extend the
/ judiciary system of Fl the United States
| into States. which had passed or
dinances Of secession, and whose
people stood In OF openb1 rebellion by
appointing District Judges in Virginia,
Tennessee,TAlabamA Florida aud ,Lopisi--
ana, and both houses Of Congress admitted
members from Virginia, Tennessee and
Louisiana. ,iiIZ3 TlHY 90 JOG yEm rsi5rm
remain, dearsir, with cordial regards,
| --7s'--E,DwLpn R.TFs