Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-09-22

raised by taxatlon-our present heavy taxes
: Will not, In ordinary years, produce but little
more than half that sum Can our peopl.
bear double their present taxation2 He WIN
} unnecessarily causes it viii be accursed from
) generation to generation. 1t is Fashionable.
to belittle our public debt, lest the peopl.
) should become alarmed, and political parties
] should suffer. l have never found it Wis,
: TO deceive the people. They can always be
: be effected, for they cannot be deceived.
i Confide in the people, and you viii avoid re-
pudiatIon. Deceive them and lead them
into false measures, and you may produce it.
We pity the poor EngEshmen whose ma
tional debt and burdenseme taxation we have
beard deplored from our childhood The
| debt OF Great Britain is Just about as much
} as ours, (4,000,000, 600 four billions But
! IN effect it is but half as large-it bears but
three per cent. interest. The current year
tine chancellor of the exchequer tells us, the
J interest was $l31, 800, 900 Ours, when all
J shall be funded, will be nearly double
The plan we have proposed would pay at
J least three fourths of our debt The balance
could be managed with our present taxation
And yet to think that even that is to be per
J petual is sickening. fit is to be doubled, as
1T must be if restoration instead of re
OOhoIi uStiOH Is W pTc|dlI, WOutQ IOOOuCQC
authors of 1t could see themselves as an exc
Grating public and posterity will see them.
Our new doctors of National law, who
hold that the Confederate States were
never out of the Union, but only insurgents
and traitors, have became wiser than Croft
us and Puffendorf and Rutherford and Vat
tel, and all modern publicists down to Hal
leck and Phillimore They all agree that
such state of things as has existed here
for four years is public aour and constitutes
the parties independent belliggerents, sub
ject to the same rules of war as the foreign
nations engaged in open warfare
The learned and able professor at Law in
the Cambridge university, Theophilus Par
sons, lately said in public speech,
As we are victorious in war we have a
right to impose upon the defeated party any
terms necessary for our security. This right
it perfect. 1t Is not only In itself obvious,
but it is asserted in every book on this sub
ject, and is illustrated by all the wars of his
tory. The rebels forced a war upon US; it
was long and costly and bloody war; and
now that we have conqured them, we have
all the rights which victory confers.
1 The only argument of the Restorationist
is, that the States could not and did not go
out of the Union because the Constitution
forbids it. BY the same reasoning you could
prove that no crime ever existed. No man
ever committed murder, for the law forbids
4 1t He Is q shallow reasoner who could
make theory oVerrule fact
| prefer to believe the ancient and mod
ern publicists, and the learned Professors of
legal science rather thad the extemporised
doctrines of modern sciolists.
If sRestOratiou,P as it is now properly
christened, is to prevail over 'Reconstruc-
ton, viii some learned pundit of that
school inform me in what condition Slavery
and the Slave laws are? | assert that upon
that theory not slave has been liberated !;
not a slave law has been abrogated but on
the Restoration the whole Slave code is
in legal force. Slavery was protected BY our
Constitution In every State in the Union
where it existed. While they remained un-
der that protection no power in the Federal
Government could abolish Slavery. If. how
ever, the Confederate States were admitted
to be what they claimed, an independent
beliggerent de facto, then the war broke all
treaties, compaets and ties between the par
ties, and slavery was left to its rights under
the law of nations. These rights were none,
for that law declares that HMan can hold no
property IN man. (Phillimore, page 316. -
Then the laws of war enabled us to declare
every bondnan free, so long aswe hold them
in military possession And the conquerer
through Congress may declare them forever
emancipated But if the States are Estates
in the Union, then when war ceases they
resume their positions with all their privi-
/ leges untouched. There can be no 'mutila-
ted" restoration. That would be the work
of Congress, alone, and would be Recon
suction
While | hear it said everywhere that sla-
very is dead, cannot learn who killed it.
No thoughtful man has pretended that Lin
coin S proclamation, so noble in sentiment,
,, liberated single slave. 1t expressly exclu-
ded from its operation all those within our
2 lines. No slave within any part of the reb-
ell States in our possession, or in Tennessee,
but only those beyond our limits and beyond
! our power were declared free So General
Smith conquered Canada by proclamation!
The President did not pretend to abrogate
the slave laws of any of the States. Re
storation, therefore, will leave the Union
|. as it was "a hiGeous idea. | am aware
that a very able and patriotic gentleman, and
learned historian, Mr. Bancroft, has attemp-
ted to place their freedom on different
grounds, He says, what is undoubtedly
true, that the proclamation did not free a
slave But he liberates them on feudal
principles. Under the feudal system, when
a king conquered his enemy. he parceled out
his lands and conquered subjects among his
: chief retainers; the lands and serfs were
held on condition of fealty and rendering
. military service when required. If thesub-
! ordinate chief rebelled, he broke the condi-
ton on which he held them, and the lands
and serfs became forfeited to the lord para.
, mount. But it did not free the serfs. They,
with the manors, were bestowed to other fa-
vorites But the analogy fails in another
I important respect The American slave,
Q holder does not hold, by virtue of any grant
i from any Lord paramount-least of all by 9
Y grant from the General Government. Sla
6 very exists by no law of the Union, but
D simply by local laws, by the laws of the
States Rebellion against the National au
d thority is breach of no condition of Their
0 tenure 1t were more analogous to say that
rebellion, against q State under whose laws
0 they held, might work forfeiture. But re
Z bellion against neither government woulc
e per SC have any such effect. On whom
/ | would the Lord paramount again bestow the
j, slaves? The theory is plausible, but has nc
t solid foundation
The President says to the rebel States,
: Before you can participate in the Govern
: ment you must abolish slavery and reform
i your election laws That is the command
s of eonquerer. That is reconstruction, not
q restoration-reconstruc too by assuming
: the powers of Congress. This theory vii
r lead TO melancholy re ults. Nor can ths
It ;t,,tional arnendUenf abolishinp Slayarx