Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-01-22

re' re VOL L.aXV,----NO Fl,
as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacity"
are excepted from the benefits Of the proc
lamation; all others, complying with the
fterms and conditions, have extended to them
full pardon with restoration of all rights of
property except as to slaves and in property
cases where rights of third parties shall have
interviewed" ai' q r-sl"@ Ae'& go
The President, in his Proclamation, further
declares "that any provision which may be
adopted by such State Government in rela-
ton to the freed people of such State, which
shall recognize and declare their permanent
freedom, provide for their education, and
which may yet be consistent as temporary
arrangement, with their present condition as
a laboring, landless and homeless class, will
not be objected to by the National Executive.
And it is suggested as not improper, that in
constructing loyal State Government in any
State, the name of the State, the boundary.
the subdivisions, the Constitution and the
general Code Of Laws, as before the rebellion,
be maintained, subject only to the modi6ca-
tions made necessary by the conditions
not contravening said conditions, and which
may be deemed expedient by those framing
the new State Government" A.iF 9ls'"
T 1t seems to me these terms and conditions
are eminently just and proper-fair aud lib
eral to those to whom they are offered, and
such as the permanent peace of the country
requires q AA & ~
al! the people in the rebel States, perhaps,
trYll yn irolu 20 -
law and in fact, have committed treason-are
guilty of that crime before the law, and are
liable to the punishment affixed, by law, to
the commission of that crime s''- " --''
1t would not be safe and judicious, either
| to punish all or to permit all to escape pun
ishment. The leaders, the most guilty,
should be punished. The mass, the least
guilty, should be pardoned. An inspection
of the exceptions from pardon, made by the
President, will show he has made this dis
tinction. H Ga-' .-,-@ ''~
But, in extending pardon to the mass, it is
just and proper that reasonable terms and
conditions should be made. ...-.
The terms and conditions proposed by the
President are, that the party guilty of treason
shall swear, lst, "That he will faithfully sup
port, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States, and the union of the States
hereunder" I'd, That he will "abide by
| and faithfully support all acts Of Congress
passed during the existing rebellion, with
reference to slaves, so long and so far as not
repealed, modified or held void by Congress
or by decision of the Supreme Court" And
Sd, That he will abide by and faithfully
support all proclamations of the President,
made during the existing rebellion, having
reference to slaves, or so long and so far as
not modified or declared void by decision of
the Supreme Court" ...., ,-.,. .,-..
Are these terms and conditions reasonable?
No possible objection can be taken to the first
requirement-tha these men shall support
the Constitution and the Union. The second
and third requirements are, that these men
shall abide by the laws of Congress and the
! Proclamations of the President concerning
slaves, until those laws shall be changed by
Congress, or those laws, or the Presidents
Proclamations be decided void by the Su
preme Court. This is just what it is the duty
of every loyal citizen to do-to abide by and
support the law until changed by the law
making power. or declared void by the Courts.
1t may be said that the Proclamations Of
the President are not laws; that he had not
the constitutional power to issue such Proc
lamations. But the President believes he had
the constitutional power SO to do, and has so
done, and he only proposes that these acts
shall stand in law $50 long and so far as not
m ,dlied or declared void by decision of the
Supreme Court" In imposing these terms
and conditions on those in rebellion against
our Government, who may desire 10 lay down
their arms, the President is but requiring Of
them the performance of duty required of
all men who have remained loyal.
Upon accepting these terms and conditions
the men now guilty of treason and liable to
punishment as criminals, are at once pardon
ed-are restored to their rights as citizens and
again permitted to take part in administering
our Government, and, at the same time, are
restored to all their rights of property, except
as to slaves, and where the rights of third
parties have intervened. These exceptions
are inevitable. If the acts of Congress and
the Proclamations of the President concerning
slaves, are constitutional, then so far as these
acts and .Proclamations reach, the slaves have
become free, and cannot be restored to their
former masters. Where property has been
disposed of. to third parties, under the Con-
fscation Act, it cannot be restored. What
ever has been lost to these men has been lost
by reason of their own crimes /; and whatever
yet remains will be restored if they will cease
to be criminals. -.r. .s e.. .r.
Aside from the consideration that, if the
laws of Congress and the Proclamations of
the President concerning slaves are valid as
law, those who have been freed thereby can
not be again enslaved-aside from the con-
sideration, that, even if this could be lawfully
done, the doing of it would involve such a
breach of hooor and good faith as would just.
lily render US, as q nation, infamous
throughout Christendom-aside from all
considerations connected with slavery
as social or moral question - aside
from all considerations connected with its
political effects upon the particular commu-
mites in which it exists, and looking upon it
only in its bearing upon the present condition
of our country, it seems to me that no ma n,
who does not set the institution of slavery
above the Union of the States, can now fail
to do all that he lawfully may to aid in re.
moving this curse from our nation. 90
1t is directly or implicitly admitted by all,
that slavery is the cause of the civil war now
desolating the land, although different par
ties endeavor to throw the immediate blame
upon their adversaries. The anti-slavery
men of the country say that slavery is the
cause of the war because, being founded on
force, it is necessarily aggressive in its char
acter that it necessarily makes shareholders,
as class, naughty, overbearing, impatient Of
control and unwilling to submit their opinions
, to those of the majority, whom they consider
their interiors. Some of the rebels admit,
frankly, that the desire to perpetuate slavery
and to make it the "corner stone" of the
new Coniederacy, caused the rebellion, while
others, and their apologsts generally, insist
that the cause of our troubles is not slavery
itself, but the " fanaticism of anti slavery
men on the subject of slavery; and there is
still another class of our people who declare,
that in their Judgment the cause of the war IS