Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-12
NUMBER 273.

! of rulers and policy, or shall we set aside
the teachings of the past, and permit the
work of disintegration and ruin to 20 on?
The Executive has proposed an amnesty.
would not turn away from its cOntempla-
tion. As each day may offer the chance of
Cancellation, welcome any sign of peace,
though the bow of promise be dim and
unsubstantial, and though it be wreathed
over the very cataract of our national
dOoml
The message of the President should be
welcomed, not so much for what it is, us for
what it pretends to be. 1t is his first ad-
venture, beyond the line Of force into the
field of Cancellation. AS his former policy
showed a will to change and crush civil re-
lations by the iron hand, so the present pol
icy is out its continuance; forhe only draws
over the mailed hand silken, though trans
parent glove. His plan Is the will of the
commander while pretending to be the
wisdom of the civilian. The war power az
illustrated by the Administration, has no
more foundation in our Government than
this peace power, assuming to pardon crime
without conviction, and revivify dead States
which are indestructible. But duty de-
mands thorough sitting of this pretel-
tious amnesty. The Democratic party have
worn the stigma, as it has been deemed, of
leaning too much toward Cancellation. Our
gravest fault has been that we are suspected
somewhat of having read the Sermon on the
Mount, and that we have believed in the
gentleness and effectiveness of our religion.
Even such Democrats as have favored the
superaddition of clemency to the enginery
of war as means of reunion have been
ostracized while those who have found no
elements of union save in affection, without
coercion, have been imprisoned and exiled.
1t would be ungraciOus in u.s. therefore, 10
dismiss even this semblance of pacification
without examination. Let us examine 1t
in the light of history. Ii it be right it
shall not be rejected because it comes from
President not in our favor. If IL sound
hollow-if it be the Trojan horse. full Of
armed men. ready to surprise the citadel of
our Constitution, let US drag its illsidious
features to the light for condemnation.
To test the SenuineneSs of this amnesty:
Five months have gone, but we see no signs
of thousands of southern citizens rushing
to embrace this amnesty. Indeed, it is con-
ceded that the rebellion is now more for
midablc than ever. Unlike the acts of grace
granted by kings to their recusant snbiects
of which history is full, there is no general
taking OF the oath, no genuine movement
toward the restoration of the seeded States,
but tiercer spirit of resistance, produced
by the unwise and eXasperating policy of
the Executive. The Presidents plan has
been widely published in the papers south,
as the Richmond Sentinel says, to animate
their popular patriotism" The forgiveness
offered by the President is deemed mock
cry and its terms an insult. What delu-
sion to hold out such dead sea apple
ashes to the lip, and hardly fruit to the eve.
How many people in the North would take
an oath to support those negro policies of
the last two years! | never, never would,
would as soon think Of swearing ale-
glance to secession. | would as soon tie
my soul to the body of death. And can
you expect the southern people in their
present temper, saddened by loss and irate
with revenge to do what our CONSTITUENCIES
one million and half of northern voters
would scorn us for doing? There could
have been no hope of returning South by
such plan.
1t is an amnesty which is juggle, for it
pleases no one who is to be reached. 1t il
based on proclamation which is a delu-
sion, for no one was freed by it whom our
armies had not enfranchized. Itis the old un-
soundness, newly daubed with untempered
mortar.
There is one chief defect in the Presidents
plan. 1t is the structure built upon his
proclamation of emancipation. The same
defect is observable in the bill of the gen
tleman from Maryland, (Mr. Davis) That
too is based on the one-tenth system and
the policy of forced emancipation. He pro-
poses to guarantee to certain States, whose
governments have been usurped or over
thrown, Republican form of Government"
This is the title of his bill. deny lst, that
these State governments are overthrown;
and ID, that his plan substitutes Republi|
can form. His plan is to appoint provision
al brigadier governors who are to be
charged with the civil administration until
a State Government shall be recognized as
his bill provides. He requires an oath to
the Constitution to be taken, which is very
well; but by whom? By one-tenth of the
people. They shall be sufficient to con-
struct the new State, whose Republican
form OF Government is already dictated to
them by the bill of the gentleman from
Maryland. They ''shdir' abolish slavery.
Then the other steps are to be taken, and
the new Republican State is to be recog<r
nized.
In some of its features this bill is an i'm
provement upon the rickety establishment
proposed by the President; but it is obnox-
ious to the same objection. 1t is a usurpa-
ton of the sovereignty of the people by the
FEDERAL tunctionaries, and itregards the old
States as forever destroyed.
The plans proposed are Objectionable, be-
cause of the mode of construction and the
kind of fabric to be rebuilt AS the eman-
cipation proclamation, or the emancipation
act OF the gentleman, can never be recon-
,iled with the normal control of the States
over their domestic institutions, so all
paths to sustain the same are oaths to sub
pert the old governments, Federal and State.
The oath required, both of loyal and dis
oyal men in the South is an oath of in
idelity to the very genius of our federatiye
system, for it is an oath to aid anarchy, and
'ut of anarchy create ''new nationr' 1t
eceives no countenance from those who are
yedded to the Constitution as it is and the
states as they were; but it lifts the hand to
Iod in attestation OF Il design tn subyert
10Th! The Presidents plan, therefore.
whether intended or not, is an oath to en-,
ourage treason, and the plan of the gentle
nan from Maryland is a plan to eonsum-
nate revolution.
BY no State of War, by no act of seces-
ion, by no military power, by no possible
+ actual condition, can this change in our
olicy be allowed without total snbyersion
f our Government, and without breaking
own the principle of permanence and re-
lstating new and worse revolution. who
! there to deny the normal supremacy Of
ne States over their domestic affairsPn Is
the lurist? refer him to repeated decis-
,ns Of the Supreme Court. and of eyary
ther respectable authority in the jurspru-
ence Of America. Is it the historian i
efer him to the debatss of the constitutions