The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1866-09-27
Address of the National Union
COIN I'm ittee, to the American
People.

diate Representatives in Congress and the
President who owes his position to your
votes, we are impelled to ask your atten-
ton thereto, and to suggest the duties to
your country which they render lmpera-
tive.
We shall avoid the use of hard words.
Of these, there have already been too
many And, that the matters in issue
may be brought within the narrowest com
pass, let us first eliminate from the con-
troversy all that has already been settled
or las never been in dispute.
The Republic has been desperately as
sailed from within, and its very existence
seriously imperiled. Thirteen States were
claimed as having Withdrawn from the
Union, and were represented for years in
hostile Congress meeting at Richmond.
Ten Of these States were, Tor time,
wholly in the power of hostile conteder-
acy the other three partially so. The
undoubtedly loyal States were repeatedly
and formidably invaded by Rebel armies,
| which we're only expelled after obstinate
and bloody battles Through four years
of arduous, desperate civil strife, the
hosts of the Rebel Contederasy withstood
those of the Union. Agents Of that Con-
federacv traversed the civilized world,
seeking allies in their wa- against the
Republic, and melting the rapacious and
unprincipled to fit out armed corsars to
prey upon her commerce. By State au-
| thority, and in the perverted names OF
patriotism and loyalty, hundreds of thou
sands Of our countryrnen were conscripted
into Rebel armies and made to fight des-
peratey for our national disruption and
ruin. And though, by the blessing Of GOO
and the valor and constancy of our loyal
people, the Rebellion was finally and ut
terly crushed, it did not succumb until it
had caused the destruction of more than
Half Million oe precious human lives,
not to speak of property to the value Of
at least Five Billions OF Dollars.
At length, the Rebel armies surrender
ed and the Rebel power utterly collapsed
and vanished. What then?
The claim of the insurgents that they
either now reacquired or had never forfeit
ed their constitutional rights in the Union,
! including that of representation in Con-
gress, stands in pointed antagonism alike
to the requirements of Congress and to
| those of the acting President. 1t was the
| Executive alone who, after the Rebellion
was no more, appointed Provisional Cover
| nors tor the now submissive, unarmcd
| Southern States, on the assumption that
| the Rebellion had been revolutionary"
and had deprived the people under its
sway of ALL civil government, and who
| required the assembling of ga Conven-
| ton, composed of delegates to be chosen
by that portion of the people of said State
who are loyal to the United States, and
no Others, Tor the purpose of altering and
amending the Constitution of said State"
1t was President johnson who, so late as
October last-when all shadow of overt
resistance to the Union had long since
ppeared-insisted that it was not
enough that a State which had revolted
must recognize her Ordinance of Seces-
sion as null aud void from the beginning,
| and ratify the Constitutional Amendment
prohibiting Sl1very evermore, but she
must also repudiate every dollar OF in-
debtedness created to aid in CARRYING on
the Rebellion" 1t was he who ordered
the dispersion by military force OF any
legislature chosen under the Rebellion
which should assume power TO make LAYS
after the Rebellion had fallen. 1t was he
who referred to Congress all inquirers as
to the probability of Representatives from
the States lately in revolt being admitted
to seats in either House, and suggested
that they should present their credentials,
not at the organization of Congress, but
atterward. And finally, it was he, and
not Congress, who suggested to his Gov
Sharkey of Mississippi, that
"If you could extend the elective franchise
| to all persons of color who can read the Con-
sttutiou of the United tates in English and
write their names, an to all persons OF color
who own real estate valued at not less than
$3.50 and pay taxes thereon, yod would
disarm the adversary, and set an example
that other States will follow"
If, then, there be any controversy as to
the right of the loyal States to exact con-
ditions and require guarantees of those
which plunged madly into Secession and
Rebellion, the supporters respectively of
Andrew johnson and of Congress cannot
be antagonist parties to that contest, since
their record places them on the same
side.
1t being thus agreed that conditions of
restoration and guarantees against future
rebellion may be exacted oc the States
lately in revolt, the right of Congress to
a voice in prescribing those conditions
and IN shaping those guarantees is plainly
lnco0testible. Whether it take the shape
OF law or OF constitutional amendment,
the action Of Congress is vital. Even il
they were to be settled by treaty, tho ra:i-
tication of the Senate, by a two-thirds
vote, would be indispensable. There is
l klNI . h. H.