Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1864-06-08

29th, 1864. on the bill of H. Winter Davis, ito
guarantee to certain States, whose Govern
ments are usurped or overthrown, a Re-
publican form Of Government.
Mr.. SCoFIELD said-lNr. Speaker The
continuity Of constitutional Government in
| the seeded States has been broken-the
regular transmission Of political power in
! terrupted How shall the severed thread
! be joined? BY the unconstrained action of
the people themselves, say the gentlemen III
opposition. Very good, sir. | most heart
| lily lndorse that sentiment. When the peo-
| pie of these States shall voluntarily ground
the arms Of tt cir rebellion, and uncoerced
| take upon themselves the easy yoke and
| light burden of the ever gentle Federal Gov
ernment, it will mark. a glad day in these un-
| cheerful years Of our history. For one, ]
will be ready to hail it. | presume | may
| speak for my political associates we will all
be ready to hail it. Your care-worn Prcsi-
| dent and weary Army-weary ,oith but not
| Of, the battle--will be ready to hail it. The
Federal arm, now raised in such terrible
power in defense OF the life and liberties of
the nation, will fall as gently as the tender
est sgmpathizer will ask upon the heads of
IepentaTt and pardoned offenders But that
brIgr day does not yet dawn. These err
ing prodlgais still prefer the husks of trans
gresslOn TO the fatted calf with which their
old political allies would entice them back
TO party-perhaps TO duty. Your calf has
grown to be an OK, so long do they tarry in
revolt; and | fear they viii continue to
neglect your feast until our gallant army
shall bring them to their stomachs.
In the meanwhile some kind of govern
ment o.: ght to be established in those States
from which the hostile army has been ex-
GUIDED; and while we wait the return of
friendly popular action there, Congress must
must legislate or leave the people in the
rough hand OF military law. This bill, de-
signed to discharge that congressional duty,
provides a temporary government and
practical mode OF State restoration. | will
not enter into criticism OF its many details
for | suppose they viii be generally accepta-
bic TO any one who comedies the propriety
of any congressional action. Its three pro-
hlbltIous, as it strikes me, are the most no.
ticeable and perhaps only debatable points.
1t prohibits the assumption of rebel debts,
prohibits rebel officers from voting, and pro-
hibits involuntary servitude
The first | will pa SIS by with the single
remark that to assume the rebel debt would
be to offer a high bounty for future rebel
lions, and | suppose we will have enough of
this one never to want another.
| have but word for the second prohibi- |
ton: The ballot is the sovereign of this
country, and ii you permit these officers to
vote you make them, to the extent of their |
and influence, the rulers OF the |
land To-day you meet them in battle as |
outlaws and traitors, conquer them, and |
crown them your king tomorrow. If ordi- |
nary criminals are properly excluded from |
the polls, upon what principal of compara-
tive justice can these men, guilty, not as
ST. bordlnates or accessories, but as cOntri- |
vers and leaders Of crime recognized by !
all Governments as the highest or deepest |
that can be committed against human laws,
ask the high privilege of the ballot through |
which they may complete the ruin of the
country they were not quite able TO destroy
in the field? Of the third prohibition [
have something more to say.
Mr. Speaker, IF God shall give us victo-
ry, and enable US to subdue or scatter the ar
my of the enemy, is voluntary reunion of
the States possible? | say UOluntdry be-
cause | suppose nobody desires Union al
ways to be maintained by force; and use
the word reunion because nobody proposes
a form of Government different. from our
present system of State brotherhood. am
not now speaking of the several plans of re-
for they are designed only as
temporary devices, looking to a reunion-a
lind of scaffolding for repairs, to be torn a
Way when the repairs are completed My
question looks beyond the battle and beyond
When the victory is won, if
won it shall be, and the transition over, will
he insurgent States ,ciUingly stay where
hey have been forcibLy put in their old
,laces in the old Union? 1t has been said
" gentlemen in opposition, and it seems to
ne with crest truth, that as at present con- ]
tituted or situated, they will not. They :
lisliked the Union three years ago too much
O remain in it, and dislike has deepened in
o hate now by the severity of the war {
hey tell us that Ireland, Poland, Hungary {
suggestive names [ admit-after so many ]
ears of compulsory alliance, do not ffater-
izc with their political associates. They