The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-06-04

the reach of his giant arms, lest ne
oeliterate our very corPOreal existence.
But now that / behold him again re-
| cognize the creature, and find his great
| powers but the phantom Of disorder
ed imagination. l have seen him be,
fore, but what he has TO do with the
franchise question is more than | can
possibly understand ..-.
The honorable gentleman from Mar
shall (Mr. Steele) says, however, that
! the amnesty has pardoned all but few
prominent leaders, and that we cannot
crawl over its provisions. We do not
want 10 crawl over them. There is no
need to crawl over them. | have al
ready shown that the General Govern
ment has nothing to do with the elec-
tive franchise, and hence the amnesty
cannot and does not. touch that ques-
ton. Rights Of property are restored,
and a pardon is granted for the Of
fence of treason. But the privilege
to vote is neither given nor taken, for
the power to restrict or enlarge suffrage
belongs exclusively to the State;it is g
matter over which the Federal au-
thority has not now and never attemp-
ted jurisdiction.
But we are told that the Legislature
must be in harmony with the amnesty.
Well, the minority bill proposes to work
in harmony with it. No case of am-
nesty, with the single exception Of Mr.
LiDcolns, S, within my recollection, ever
was offered TO a people until the close
of a war. In this light, his action was
! extremely liberal But the benefits it
confers have been extravagantly exag-
gerated- According to popular opinion,
it wiped out all offences, past, present,
and to come. Even some of our courts
assumed that view. But let US look at
this matter well. Acts done prior to
issuing the amnesty proclamation, are
/ pardonable through that instrument.
| Yet no acts of treason or of conspiracy,
committed since, receive any dispenss-
ton. 1t is strange how members can
insist that there is nothing exclusive
in the amnesty, that it has no limit,
that it runs on forever. Did you ever
hear of q prospective amnesty What
would be the use of such an absRrdity2
! saying in effect to rebels, go commit
treason, rob, murder, and plunder un-
/ till you are satisfied, or yanquished,
when you shall be free to come back at
! will TO receive pardon and restoration
of all rights and privileges under the
/ government you sought to destroy.
/ Would you call this a heavenly or q
deUiESH amnesty l can imagine no
parallel case but that of murderer
asking the priests to pardon HIM for a
murder he is about to commit
Again, if the amnesty restores the
rebel TO citizenship and the consequent
right of voting, as members maintain,
! then the admission is made that such
rebel has divested himself Of citizenship
by his own independent act This
| question then recurs, why pardon the
criminal when there is no need of par
don-When ne is simply subdued, not
/ repentant2 He has lost his citizenship,
you admit, then why give back that
privilege until you know by his cons
duct, continued long enough to form
! reliable opinion, that be is worthy to
/ be restored2 | thank the gentlemen
for the admission they make by the
course of their arguments, that citi-
zen can lose his citizenship. 1t is an
| important admission. ~
But in, limiting the elective franchise
the gentlemen tryito getoverItheir diff
Guilty by saying that we run counter to
! the provisions Of President Lincoln's
Amnesty Proclamation.
The gentleman from Bedford is elo-
quent upon the subject ,of the spirit Of
the amnesty. Now, what is the object
of that amnesty We are told, in di-
rect terms, that is to establish boVaL
State governments. This is precisely
what we are proposing to do in our bill.
We want to keep back this great over
whelming food of rebeldom, tossing
and tumbing in upon US, until the
/ Government shall be safely establish
ed, the very object which the statesman
of Springfield had in view Now stick
down a pin here.
Again this bill of the minority is de-
nounced as revolutionary, despotic,
vindictive, and without precedent
This is a very high and grave charge
The opposition have sought to strangle
our little bill with the ropes of ser post
facto law" and Retrospective law" have
tried to tie about its neck the Constitu-
ton of the United States, and the State
| of Tennessee; and then endeayored to
bind its hands with the amnesty"
miserably failing in all their purposes
/ Now they attempt to steal up, after
they think they have bound it hand
and foot, and seek, with a keen dagger,
to strike a mortal blow under its fifth
rib Here is a capital charge-an in
dictment; who will take the brief2 The
Just always have friends and advocates.
Old Virginia comes forward make
room for her-the mother of the States
What does she say2 She says that a
citizen can expatriste himself, that
those who have been in arms against
the United States "shall not even i'm
migrate to her soil" This too, is elsUen
years after the Revolutionary War.
Here is a voice and an advocate
voice Of early patriotism, pure and un-
stained as the breath OF her virgin for
ests, from the mother of States and of
statesmen. Do gentlemen want more
precedents? Then here comes another
Voice-another advocate-one that you
cannot but hear-the voice of our own
mother, the Old North State, (See the
statutes of North Carolina, A d. l777,
and the Virginia act of October, l776 }
There was no grandiloquent talk in
those days of Spartan heroism, and
simple habits, and unlimited patriotism
about traitors, such as we hear now.
They had learned through sore trials
and sufferings, to be prudent, and eau
tious, and tenacious Of the first ele-
ments of political safety. The indig-
nant cries of those incorruptible patri-
OTIS over mistaken policy of leniency
towards traitors, in resounding echoes,
come up from those far generations 10
our own times, and, penetrating this
hall with their subdued tones, sound
in our ears ike warning voices from
the grave and bid us halt in cur IT,
= timed efforts to restore treason to its
powers and privileges And vere those
pure old men alive to-day and here,
believe we could pass the minority bill
with their unqualified appreciation.
4 II is time that this cry OF Ivindictive,
revolutionary, despotic, without preoe
dent should cease.
proceed now 70 show our authority
for enacting the bill Of the minority
In the first place, we fnd such suthori-
ty in the schedule TO the amended con
stitution. What is the source Of al
political authority2 The sovereign
voice Of the people. Was not this sove
reign voice expressed on the 22d ol
, February9 BY reading the 9th section
you viii find what is said And will
members beso bold as 70 maintain that
the schedule docs not express the voice
Of the people The gentleman admits
il But TO mitigate It's force, the adroit
assertion IS made that the schedule is
merely temporary and suggestive.
That is but telling Gs thst when we do
thing, it is done; OF that when the
trusts of power are executed, the pow
er expires. Away with such quibbles,
they are unworthy Of legislators, who
have in their hands the reorganization
Of a great State. Briefly tosum up this
whole question on constitutional
grounds, it may be said that self pres