Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1864-01-28

and the people may impose. Deriving
his authority by appointment of the
. Constitution, he is thereby vested with
. all the power which rightfully belongs
to the Commander-in-Chief Of any 9th
er army upon the face of the Globe
This extraordinary power, it must be
, understood, is called into exercise on
ly from a state of war, and cannot be
cxerted in time of peace.
BY his oath of office, the Presiden,
Is sworn Z" to the best Of his ability, tc
!. preserre, protect and defend the Constitu
tion," and in the discharge of this sol
emn obligation, he may rightfully ex
ercise all the power inherent in tn,
people, whose agent he is and tha
he may do this, they have made hin
Commander-in-Chief of their army and
navy, and the Constitution is the war
rant OF his appointment. To hold tha,
when called upon "to preserve, pro
tect and defend the Constitution, tc
the best of his ability" he is restrict
ed to the mere letter of his civil au.
thority, is to deprive him of the very
means Of discharging that high duty
and make the Constitution, thereby
the weapon Of its own destruction.
The Constitution is neither a war.
making nor a war-prosccuting docu
ment. 1t empowers Congress to de
clare, and the President to prosecute
war, as the honor of the nation and
the exigences of the case may demand
1t undertakes neither to inform Con.
gress when, or in what case war may
4 be declared, nor the President the man
ner of carrying it on. Having made
them Judges of the situation, it leaves
the details of war to their intelligent
patriotism and sound discretion.
Wherein has the Constitution been
violated, and whose rights have been
subverted by the Federal Government
The loyal States have no reason to
complain. and do not, for the people
thereof having said, at the beginning,
that the rebellion should be put down,
become party to the war; and af-
ter long hearing, and full under
standing Of the case, they have re-
turned verdict. magnificent and
overwhelming in its proportions, that
the Administration was not guilty of
the charges preferred against it, The
people Of the insurgcnt States have
no right to complain, for having re.
nounced their allegiance to the Con-
stitution, levied war against it, adopt
ed Constitution and government of
their own, and claiming recognition
as a separate and independent sover-
eighty, they have assumed the atti-
tude Of belligerents to the Federal
Government, and thereby acknowl-
edged themselves entitled only to bel
ligerent rights. Every right which,
as citizens of the United States, they
possessed under the Constitution, has
been voluntarily abandoned, and for
feited, by the rebellion. These rights
can not, and should not be restored 20
them, until they shall lay down their
arms, submit to the jurisdiction of the
Federal Government, and obtain par
don for their treason, In every sense
OF the term, they are enemies to the
Constitution, to our Republican Gov
ternment, to liberty and humanity, hav-
ing but single constitutional right
left, that of being dealt with accor-
ding to the laws of the land, for the
atrocious crime they have committed.
No other people or nation, upon the
face of the earth, could have committed
so high crime against this Govern
ment, and its flag And now, while
standing as the fragrant, deadly enc
mics of the Constitution, with their
hands uplifted at the nations throat,
we are told that their Constitutional
rights are unimpaired, and as substan-
tial as when they were law-abidipg
and peaceful subjects of the Govern
ment Thus we are asked to give
immunity to crime, by exculpating the
criminal.
! As enemies and belligcrents, to
what rights are the insurgent States
entitled? The Constitution being en-
tirely silent upon this subject, we
must resort for information, to the
laws of war, as established and rec
ognized among the nations of the
world The eminent writers upon
this subject agree in saying that in
war. we may do any act not forbidden
by humanity nor the laws of nature,
which may harrass or weaken our enc.
my. We may confiscate his property
of every kind, and appropriate it to
our own use, for, the double purpose of
diminishing his strength and augment
ing our own. We may capture and
detain his soldiers, and take their lives
if We can, in legitimate combat. All
this we are allowed to do, because it
is right which belongs to every ma
ton at war, and is derived from and
attaches 10 a state of war. These
well established and fundamental prin-
ciples, have been recognized by onr
; Government in it's intercourse with
other nations, sustained by repeated
. decisions of the Federal Courts, and
never denied or doubted. except during
the present war, by certain northern
politicians, who have throughout,
manifested more interest in the rebel
lion than. love for the Union of these
States. And it is proper here to re-
mark that the character of belliger-
ents, has been given to the insurgent
States by the legislative and execu-
tive departments Of the Government !;
that We have SO treated them during
tho entire war, and that this action
has been sustained by late well con-
sidered opinion Of the Supreme Court
of the United States in case fully
and fairly presented. This question
may, therefore, be regarded as settled,
SO far as the action Of this Govern
ment and people, can settle any ques-
tion.
During the first months Of this war,
in common with what | believe to
have been decided majority of the
people, both in and out of the army,
J indulged the hope, and expressed
the belief that it could be successful
ly terminated without direct attack
: upon the local institutions of the South