The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-06-29
Mr., Dana on Reconstruction.

at the recent meeting In Faneull Hail. X.
81. Dana, Jr. Esq, made very able speech
from which we take few aragraphs. Mr..
Dana said that he proposed to discuss three
questions, First--Wh are our Just powers2
Sscond-What ought we to doP Tnird-How
ought we to do it9" He argued that the war
is not yet over; that the country is to day in
the attitude and state of war; that the whole
rebel territory lies within and beneath the
military power which has right to hold 1t In
Its grasp until it has obtained whatever the
pabliesafety demands that public faith stands
pledged to the emancipated slaves aud their
posterity forever that they should have full
and perfect freedom; that we have right to
require that the freedmen shall have a right
to vote; that il we do not secure that right
now, in the hour of revolution, it will never
be secured but by new revolution; and that
we may hold the rebel states in the grasp of
the law till right is secured. We quote: ~
By their laws, a black man cannot testify
in court; by their laws he cannot hold land:
by their laws he cannot vote. Now, we have
got to choose between two results. With
N4CrN 4OutH AAHAAOlo vi ntRfOSbe elmer Won
must have four millions DISTINGUISHED. disarm-
ed, untaught, landless, thriflless, non produc-
ing, nonsconsuming, degraded men, or else
you must have four millions of land-holding.
industrious, arms bearing and voting popula-
ton. Loud applause.i Choose between
these two! Which will you have?a 1t has
got to be decided pretty soon which YOU will
have. The corner stone of those institutions
will not be slavery, in name, but their insti-
tutions will be built upon the mudsills of an
ignorant, degraded, and oppressed negro pop
ulation. Is that public safety? Is it public
faith? Are those republican ideas9 Some
of these negroes have shed their blood for us
upon the public faith. All there are negro
parents whose children have fallen in battle /:
there are children wholost fathers, and wives
who lost husbands in our cause. Our coven-
ant with the freedman is sealed in bioodi 1t
bears The image and superscription of the Re-
publicl Their freedom is tribute which we
must pay. notonly to Cesar, but to Godl-
Applause .osf s. osgFt7r,
We have right to require, my friends, that
the freedmen OF the South shall have the right
to hold land. Appause.l Have we not p
We have right to require that they shall be
allowed to testify in the States courts. AID
plause.] Have we nor? We have right to
demand that they shall bear arms as soldiers
AAa 0.I -
We have light to demand that thsre shan
be an impartial ballot. [Great applause. r.
Now. my friends, let US be frank with one an
other. On what ground are we going to pnt
our demand for the ballot for freedmen Some
persons may say that they win put it upon the
ground that every human being has an abso-
Lutte and unconditional right to vote. There
never was any such doctrinel We do not
mean, now, to allow about one half the South
to vote. Applause. Why not? Why, the
public safety does not admit oft. Applause
We put the condition of loyalty on every
vote. IAPplauses s4aaia - -sa - o
*g - d*as*
Fellow. citjzens. a word mora This tban
is what we have ripht to demand nav
comes nv third ouestion-How do Won nro.
nose IN scchnnlish it9 We xnow onr no s 81
,ve know what We want ~ do.-bov,t A. : srs
nroncsa ~ AZ n Eirst tba r;,,,s ~ 49,
arms fortnnateJv DOES not de,sna mo-, p ~
decision ri anv STATE That i Z nas, a1ss
which. under the Cons ttnt;on dane,,ds ,,,ac,,
the acts of Congress. = Congress- makes The
militia, and Congress must see to it that the
emancpated slaves have the privilege. the
dignity and the. power of an arms bearing
population. But the right to hold lands. the
right to testify in courts, the right to vote by
the Constitution, depend, not only in spirit
but IN the letter, upon the State constitutions.
What are you going to DO about it?
You find the answer ia NV frat pSoposition-
WeIare in state of war, We are exercising
war powers. We hold each State in the orasT,
of war until the State does what we have a
right to REQUIRE of her. Suppose the States do
mot do what VIC require what then ? have
not heard that question answered vet. SUP
pose President johnson's experiment in North
Carolina and Mississippi fails. and the white
4 -, ~
will not rive them their rigbts-1vhat thano
Mr.. President. bope we shall never he called
upon to answer. practically. that auastion. =
II remita ma To an nltimata and Won N y ss,
a fearli,l pronosition. RIM If we coma II 4,
though I dare IL consider myself the hmm,
blest Of the persons here, 1, for one. am pre-
pared with an answer. believe that II sou
come to the ultimate right q the thing, the
srno not tbe mar ~ r;nto, S,'' p, .is
places not the person, not the life, not the
private property OF the rebels-they are gov
erned by other considerations and rule-I do
not speak of them--but The political systems
Of the rebel States at the discretion Of the re-
pnbtac-l Great applause a.
81 *soa5* wafes
know. fellow-citizens. it Is much more
popular to stir up the feelings of a public an
dience by violent language than ii ia TO tres
press them: but on this subject We must
think wisely. We have never been willing to-
trv the experiment. of alconsolidated demo-
cratic republic Our system is a system Of
States. with central power. and In that Is
our safety.a IApplause.l State rights main
tain State sovereignty we have DESTROYED
Applause Therefore. when / saw. If wa ara
driven to the last resort. we NAV embrace
that; yet wisdom, humanity, common discre-
ticn, require that we should follow the course
we are now following. Let the states make
their own constitutions; but the constitutions
must be satisfactory TO the Republic lap
pause and-ending as 1 oegan-by apower
winch tninK - beyond question, the repub-
lie holds them In the grasp OF war until they
nave made sucn Consultations. Loud ap-
plause.l s3ss3 as7os8 bam dsaf saof "a
Mr.. Dana fins aIludes To the coursee NJ pras-
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