The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-07-25
SPEECH OF GOV. HAMILTON.
PORTRAIT OF THE CONDITION OF
AFFAIRS AT THE SOUTH.
THE EXPERIENCE OF PROVISION
AL GOVERNOR.
"MY POLICY" AMONG THE REBELS.

more weight than Gov. Hamilton, of
Texas. He was a prominent man in
public affairs before the war, He
took strong grounds against secession
when his State was contemplating re-
bellion. He stood in the. midst of his
own people like a true hero and fought
treason until he had to flee for his
life He then entered the army and
fought the enemy on the battle field
in his own State and elsewhere, till
the close of the war. He was then
appointed by President johnson Pro-
visional Governor, and as such has
done all he could by his veto and by
the influence of his office to storm the
tide of treason still rampant in his
State. Being relieved of his Office by
rebel Governor, elected by the peo-
pie, he came back to Washington and
delivered the speech, from which we
make copious extracts. As the Presi-
dents chosen officer to reorganize the
State Government his words are wor-
thy careful perusal.
Mr.. Chairman, ladies and gentle
men If by any forecast of the human
mind those of us who remember, we'll
the struggle that was In progress two
or three years; if, say, by any pre-
science of the human mind, or if by
any supernatural revelation the veil
that covered the future could have
been Withdrawn sufficiently to have
enabled us to have seen the termina-
ton of the contest then being waged
in the field, and looking further on
had seen this meeting assembled to-
gether tonight to confer together
about what was to be done with the
victory that had been achieved against
traitors in arms, we would all of us
have stood back appalled,. APP
plause. No one then doubted that a.
victory on the part of the Govern
ment would be not only the suppress
sion of the cause of the rebellion, as
we then understood it, and as we to-
night understand it, but that all of its
incidents, all its prejudiees and props
in the past, and every influence that
had been made to surround and
bear it up in the past. would have to
give way with it. iaaosi
Four years of war, four years of
suffering and of intense anxiety, four
years of strain that tried to its ut
most tension every nerve Of this great
Government and its power, persever-
ing in the right, and for its own pre-
servation, it seems, has not brought
all the people of this country to the
conclusion that all the issues then in
volved can be claimed tonight as eff
fectually settled by the sword as we'll
as by the concurrent moral voice of
the people who make this great Gov
ernment. @ - gf olla
The character Of the questions to
be determined we all agree are emf
nently political. The right to deal
with the enemies of the Government
who have been reduced to submission
by war, the right to determine what
disposition is to be made of them,
and what privileges they are to be
allowed to enjoy, you will all say is
one that eminently belongs. to the
great political tribunal of this great
nation. Then | beg to know in what
branch of this government resides
that great political power?
1t is not in the Executive. He is
only a servant of the law-making
power, the people [Applause.] He
what shall be done in this mat
ter than you or l. 1t is but the fool
ish ebullition of passion that can hurt
no one for private citizen to assert
such a doctrine; but for the Execu-
tive of the nation, clothed with not
only the real power with which he is
invested by the Constitution, but also
by the kind of fascination which sur
rounds him, to assume it, becomes
dangerous. Whence, then, is derived
the power of determining how a State
government should be formed in or
der to come within the requirement of
the Constitution? 1t may be well to
say that whenever the free people of
any one of these States meet together
and form Constitution, which, in the
judgment of Congress, is repuoll-
can in its form, giving to every
freeman the rights intended for
him to have by the Constitution
of the country, causing. every man TO
respond to any infTaction OF the law
by an equal mode of punishment, se-
curing to every man the same redress
for wrongs committed against his
rights as a citizen, then, and not un-
til then, will the people of such
State be in a position ready to resume
their place in the family of States.
But it is not for me, nor is it for the
Executive, to determine when thath
been done; it is for the political
branch of the Government to deter
mine Whether the enemy was once
within the folds of the Union, or a
foreign enemy who has assailed by
arms the integrity of our Government,