Year: 1864

that the President OF the sO-callcd COnfeder-
ate State (who is the authority" that CON
trolls the armies now at war against the
United States IL not empowered by any
of his prcrogatives to stipulation the aban-
donment Of slavery, and therefor in spc-
cliylng this as one Of the terms of propo-
sition to come ''by and with" such an Eau
thority," he asked what General Jefferson
Davis, even with the fullest disposition to
do so, had no right or power 10 grant ntsla-
very being under the Constitution of the
exclusively an institution Of the separate
states, over which the central power has no
rightful jurisdiction or control.


We do not doubt that the people Of the
United States will see in the impossible re-
QUESTION of the President as a condition pre-
liminary to peace only n new Illustration Of
the inextricablc entanglements into which
the President has suffered himself to be
drawn by departing from the original theory
of the war. And if he desires TO know the
universal impression that is likely to be pro
duced by the attitude inwhich he has placed
himself, he may, we think, read it in such
comments as the following, from the only one
of the New Y ork JOURNALS which was origi.
naly in favor of his denomination. We al
ludc to the New ork Times, which says:


''The President made but two condition.
to the reception and consideration of any
propositions for the restoration of peace,
which should come to him from competent
authority: first that it should embrace the
integrity Qfhe chole Ja,0a; second that it
should embrace the abandonment Of SLtrc,y
We believe he might have goue still further
than this; he might have omitted the second
ofthcse conditions altogether and required
the first alone as essential to the reception
and confederation of proposals for peace.
we do not mean to say that it will be event
ually found possible to end the war and res
tore the Union without the abandonment of
slavery; but we do say that this abandon
ment need not be exacted by the president
as a condition without which he will not re-
ceive or consider proposals for peace. The
people do not require him to insist upon
any such condition. Neither his oath Of
office nor constitutional duty nor his person.
al or official consistency, requires him to in
sist upon it. That is one of the question,
to be considered and arranged when the
terms Of peace come to be discussed. 1t i
not a subject on which terms can be imposed
by the government without consultation
without agreement or without equivalents


And we suppose that it was in presage o
the obstacle likely to be laid in the way o
peace by the theoretical position which til,
President had assumed on these and othe
subjects that the New York Tribune wa
induced to oppose his denomination, and il
reitcration Of which, even after his re-nom
ination, it held the following language:


"We cannot but feel that it would have
been wiser and safer to spike the most serv
iccable guns of our adversaries by nomina
ting another for President, and thus dispell
ing all motive, save that of naked disloyalty
for further warfare upon this administration
We believe the rebellion would have lost
something Of its cohesion and venom from
the hour in which it was known that new
President would surely be inaugurated o,
the fourth of March next; and that hostili
ty in the loyal statesto the national cause mus
have sensibly abated or been deprived Of il
readicst, most dangerous weapons, from til


moment that all brought to realize that til


President, having no more to expect {


hope, could hence-forth be impelled by II


conceivable motive but desire to serve an
: save his country, and thus win for himse
an enviable and enduring fame.


1t was a singular coincidence that tn
friendly editor, who held this frank languag
after the Presidents denomination, shoul
have been called to act so prominent "A par
in the negotiations which have just givel
the whole country abundant reason to con
cur with him in his opinion.


The President solcmnly declared in the
year 1861, in his message to the Congress O
the United States, that loyal citizens ever.
where had the right to claim that the gov
ernment should be preserved 'that itmigh
be administered for all as it was administer
ed by the men who made it." As loya
citizens we enter our ''claim" in thes
words. And the President said at tn
same time that "the government had n
right to withhold or neglect this claim
Then we ask that he shall not withhold o


neglect what he has authorized the natio
to demand.