Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-13


do itunless the more conservative Re
publicans should falter in the work as
signed them This is hardly probable
as the Eaqpireys correspondent saws the
proposition gains ground with the mass
Of the Republican members In letter
dated the 9th inst, two days previous to
the date OF this dispatch, the Enquirer
correspondent gave the Radical pro-
gramme for reducing states to territories
rs follows
"The points the Radicals will aim to
carry out, are these, so far as the South ern
unrepresented States are concerned:
81. The existing State governments South
must be declared 10 be territories.
-. A law must be passed called an en-
aiding act, under which new governments
for each Of those STATES can be formed, the
constitution Of each Of which must be sub
mitted to Congress for its approval.
''3. That enabling act must declare who
shall vote for delegates 20 the convention
10 make the new constitution. Il must
disfranchise those who took part in the
war for the South; and declare all others
to be voters, without regard 10 race OF
| color.
THAT law carried ont, it is supposed,
would put the control of each Of the un-
represented States in the handsof the South
ern loyalists And, If IL should happen
that the freedmen should be influenced by
their old masters, and vote delegates not OF
the right stripe, Congress has the power to
reject the constitution framed by such dele
gates, though approved by those entitled to
vote on IT,
Such an mailing act wW Be passed, unless
/ the Radicals are sure of securing the g,ert
President. lf sure Of that they will wait
for their whole object is 10 perpetuate the
power Of their party If not sure of that,
then the counsels Of Ben. Butler will be fol-
| lowed, and the President impeached and
deposed, fnot previously gotten rid of by
death.
"a joint resolution will be passed declar-
| ing that the votes OF none of the unrepre-
sented States for electors of President and
| Vice President, in 1868, shall he counted.
That will he nestegg for a new civil war.
| But there will be no necessity for ii, IL
President johnson, after vetoing the
enabling act, and il shall he passed over his
veto, shall carry it out. If he will execute
the law, the people Of the South will be at
| the mercy of the Radicals. If he will not
| execute il, the law can not be carried into
operation without terrible scenes of blood,
in which the blacks will be the main suf-
ferers.
"The conclusion Of my mind is, that the
future is full of doubt and uncertainty that
there is no prospect Of a speedy harmonic
ing OF the country; that strife and sectional
bitterness will be increased that mercan-
tile embarrassments will multiply: that
trade will lang,Iish; that general distrust
will take hold Of the public mind, and that
a general financial and political crash will
close the cloudy and constantly darkening
scene" ....
The forebodings Of this correspondent
are not without reason. The outrages
which the Radicals are heaping upon the
Southern people in the name Of law, will
react upon the country and bring forth a
brood of evils from which the North as
well as the South must suffer In this
terrible lesson seems to rest the only hope
of bringing the Radicals to their senses.
There seems to be little doubt that the
ERqRirer correspOn denthas correctly set
forth the Radical programme for reducing
the ten Southern States not represented
in Congress to the condition of territories.
In the work Of recoustructing these States
so as to give them the control Of affairs,
their reliance is upon the negroes, and if
they should fail them, then these States
are to be kept in 4 TERRITORIAL condition
for an indefinite period
We showed the other day how far this
is departure from the policy which con-
troled the Republican party during the
war, and stated Mr. Iincolns apparent
desire was TO restore the Union as it ex-
listed at the time of his first election. In
his first inaugural address, Mr. Lincoln
read a resolution in which he said those
who nominated and elected him, placed
in the platform for his acceptance, and
as a law to themselves and to him."
which is as follows -H
Resolved, That the maintenance inyio-
late " the rights Of the States, and espe-
cially the right Of each State 10 order and
control its own domestic institutions accord
ing TO IFS own judgment exclusively, is es- |
sential 10 the balance Of power on which |
the perfection and endurance Of our politi- |
cal fabric depend, and we denounce the |
lawless Invasion by armed force Of the soil |
Of any State or territory, no matter under |
what prete1t as among the gravest Of |
crimes"
Here is clear and emphatic acknowl- |
edgment Of right which the Radical
leaders Of this self same party now DENY
10 ten of the States composing this Union
We're the party then in earnest, or did
hey mean to practice a fraud upon the
American people Mr. Lincoln believed |
hey were honest in this pledge to main
ain inyiolate the rights Of the States,
md he pledged himself to execute this
aw Of his party In this same address he
declared that in contemplation of univer-
al law, and Of the constitution, the union
f these States is perpetual" and pro-
'ounded this question If the United
'tates be not government proper, but
n association Of States in the nature of a
ontract merely, can it, as a con
ract be peacesbly uumade by less
han all the parties who made
p One party 70 a contract may
iolate it-break it, 50 to speak-but
oes it not require all to lawfully rascind
2 Again, said Mr. Lincoln Cone
the declared objects for ordaining and
the constitution iras 10 form,
more perfect Union But if the de-
ruction Of the Union, by one or by a
1rt only, of the States, be lawfully pos
bic, the Union is less perfect than be-
re, the constitution having lost the vital ,
ement Of perpetuity. Mr. Lincoln
en- went on to declare that no State
an lawfully get ont of the Union, and q
hat resolves and ordinances to that eff 3
It are legally void. He held that, in ;
w of the constitution and laws, the b
ion of the States is perpetual and laid
wn this proposition, which thunders y
against the wicked s.