Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-12-16

ana TO dlmlnlSh, and "a possible, 10 re-
move all danger, 1 have felt it incum-
bent on me to assert one other power of
the General Government-the power of
pardon. AS no State can throw de-
Tense over the crime of treason, the
power of pardon is exclusively vested in
the Executive Government of the Uni
ted States. In exercising that power, 1
have taken every precaution to connect
il with the clearest recognition of the
binding force of the laws of the United
States, and an unqualified acknowledge
ment of the great social change of con
dition in regard to slavery which has
grown ont of the war.
The next step which / have taken to
restore the constitutional relations of
the States has been an invitation to
them to participate in the high office of
amending the Constitution. Every pa
triot must wish for general amnesty
at the earliest epoch consistent with
public safety. For this great end there
is need of a concurrence OF all opinions,
and the spirit of mutual Cancellation.
All parties in the late terrible conflict
must work together in harmony
1t isinot to much to ask, in the name
of the whole people, on the one side,
the plan of restoration shall proceed III
conformity with willingness to cast
the disorders of the past into oblivion;
| and that, on the other, the evidence of
sincerity in the future maintenance OF
the Union shall be put beyond doubt
by the proposed amendment to the Con-
| stitution, which provides for the aboli-
| tion of slavery forever within the limits
of our country. So long as the adop-
| ton of this amendment is delayed, so
long will doubt, and iealously, and I'M
certainty prevail. This is the measure
which will efface the sad memory of the
past; this is the measure which will
most certainly call population, and cap
ital, aud security to those parts OF the
| Union that need them most. Indeed,
! it is not to much to ask of the States
which are now resuming their places in
the family of the Union to give this
pledge of perpetual loyalty and peace.
Until il is done, the past, however much
We NAV desire it, will not be forgotten.
The adoption OF the amendment reunites
| us beyond all power of disruption. 1t
| heals the wound that is still imperfectly
clos, d.; it removes slavery, the element
which has so long perplexed and divided
| the country; it makes of us once more
| a united people, renewed and strength
ened, bound more than ever to mutual
affection annd support.
| The amendment To the Constitution being
| adopted, il wOnld remain for the States, whose
powers have been So long ia allegiance, TO re-
| sume their places in the two branehns of the
| National LEGISLATURE, and therby complete
1 Al. II Ia
/ fellow citizens of tia Senate, aud Tor you, TEL
| low citizens of the House of Represent atlVes,
| 10 Judge, each of ven for yOnrselves, OF the
| elections, returns and qualifications OF you'
| own members.
| The fnll assertion 81 the powers OF the Gen
| eIal Government, requires the holding at Cir
| emit Courts of the United States within the
| districts where their authority has been inter
| rupted In the present posture OF our puDhc
| afflirs strong objections have been urged to
| holding those courts in any OF tho States
| where the rebellion has existed; and 1t was
ascertained, by inquiry, that the Circuit COnrt
Of the United States wonld not be held within
the district of Virginia, during the autumn or
| early winter. nor until Congress should have
| IAN opportunity TO consider and act ON the
| whole subject" TO your deliberations the
restoration of this branch of the civil authori-
| w nf the United States is therefore necessa-
rily referred, with the hope that early prOvis-
| ions will be made for the resumption of all its
/ 1agrant in it's character, has been committed.
| Persons who are charged with its commission
should have fair and impartial trials in the
highest civil tribunals of tho country, IN order
that the Constitution and the laws may be
fully indicated the truth clearly established
| and affirmed that treason is a crime, that trait
| ors should BIO punished, and the offense made
| Infamous; and, at the same time, that the
| question may be judiciaily settled, finally
| and forever that no State Of its own will, has
/ AZ m ~ Union.
The relations of the General Government
| towards the four millions OF inhabitants
| whom tho war has called into freedom, have
| engaged my most serious consideration. On
| the propriety of attempting to make the freed
men electors by the proclamation Of the Exec
/ utive, | took for my counsel the Constitution
| itself the interpretations or that instrument
/ by its authors and their contemporaries, and
| recent legislation by Congress. When, at the
/ first moveme towards Independence, the
/ Congress of the United States instructed the
/ several States to institute governments OF
their own, they left each State to decide for it
| self the conditions for the enjoyment OF the
1 elective franchise. During the period OF the
| Confederacy, there continued to exist very
great diversity in the qualifications of electors
| in the several States; aud, even within State,
| a distine ion of qualifications prevailed with
1 regard to the officers who were to he chosen.
| The Constitution of the United States fecog-
| niZes these dversItles when IL en1OlDs that, IN
/ the choice of members of the House of Rep
| resentatives of the United States, 1.-THE cleo
| tors in each State shall have the qualifications
| reauisite for electors of the most numerous
branch of the State Legislature" After the
/ formation of the Constitution, IL remained, as
| before the uniform usage for each state to en-
large the body of its electors, according to its
own Judgment; and, under this system, one
State after another has proceeded to
| increase the number of its cleo
| tors, until now universal suff' age,
| or something very near 1t, IS the gen.
| eral rule. So fixed was this reservation of
power in the habits of the people, and so I'M
| questioned has been the Interpretation of the
Constitution, that during the civil war the late
President never haTbored the purpose Ger
tainly never av0wed the purpose-of disre-
garding it; and in the acts OF Congress, dur
| ing that period nothing can be found which,
| during the continuance OF os'ilities, much
| less after their close would have sanctioned
any departure by the Executive from policy
which has so uniformly obtained. Moreover,
| a concession of the elective franchise to the
freedmen, by the act IT the President OF the
United States, must have been extended to all
cOlnred men, wherever found, and so must
have established change of suffrage in the
Northern, Middle and Western States, not
less thaa in the Southern and Southwestern.
Such an act would have created new class of
voters, and would have been an assumption of
power by the President which nothing In the
Constitution or laws of the United States would
have warranted.
On the other hand, every danger of conflict
is avoided when the settlement of the question
is referred to the several States. They can,
each for itself decide on the measure, and
whether il is to be adopted at once and abso-
lately, or introduced gradually and with condi-
tions.. In my judgment, the freedmen, If they
show patience and manly virtues, will sooner
obtain participation in the elective franchise