The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-09-12

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South Carolina had lovied troops which
fought, 80 had Tennessee; 80 had they all
and they all fought hard, A. some OF us hap
pen 10 know.
But that Is not all not only had the ten
Confederate states done no more ~ take
themselves out of the Union than Ten-
nessee had done; and were, therefore, 70
far rs accession aud belligerency were con-
cerned, upon identically the same footing,
but IL was also true that Tennessee had
done no more TO get herself into the Union
or, IN other words, 10 restore her inter
rupted constitutional relations with the
Union, than Arkansas had done. than
Louisiana had done, than Virginia had
done, or than the seven other Confederate
statca had done before the time arrived,
when by one artful sweep they all became
enmcehed together in the Congressional
net Of dead States. IL is perfectly true
that Tennessee did occupy far more adj
VRntageous position, so far as the sympa-
thy OF the loyal people Of the Union was
concerned, aud doubtless 20 far rs her pc
culIar claims upon the prompt attention
OF the respectiVe Houses Of Congress were
concerned, than the other Confederate
States, excepting perhaps Arkansas, lOulsl-
ana and Virginia, A far larger proportion
OF her people had remained frm IN their
allegiance TO the Government; she had
contributed forty thousand Of her sons to
the Union army, and advantage had been
tsken of the first opportunity TO organize
these loyal people by revolutionary and
spontaneous movement, under new form
o. loyal State Government.
[The speaker here reviewed at length the
course of President johnson during the
war, and ascribed to his influence the
course pursued by Tennessee and the adj
Vantages accrulng to her citizens. lie then
goes ON
We had come down to the point where
II was demonstrated that the Union party,
the Executive aud the Congress were alike
committed and pledged to the admission OF
loyal representatives from States To which
the terms of Judge Trumbull's proposition
applied. In the field of argument and de-
bate there was no possible escape from TINS
conclusion. II the question were LETT
where the Constitution LETT It. to the two
Houses severally, there was no evadlng the
result, the admission of the entire Tcnnes-
ace delegation, aud of enough of loyal
memL ers sent from other States to endan-
ger the two-thirds control of the Republic
can party That two-thirds control Is
what Mr.. stevens calls the Republican as
tendency. Most parties that have arisen
In our country have been satisfied with
majority.
The Republican party will compromise
for nothing less than two TO one, To en-
gross all the power of the States and the
people In the General Government; TO con-
centrate all the power CT the government
In Congress, aud TO maintain steady and
supreme control OF Congress, by two
thirds majority, is the great ambition of
this SPOILED, elatcd and corrupted party. A
permanent two-thirds majority makes
Congress virtually the Executive. per-
manent two-thiris majority makes Con-
gress virtually the Judiciary. pcrma-
nent two-thirds majority eiiectually trus-
trates the Constitutional safeguard of the
veto, impeachcs and dcposes the President,
impeaches and depoScs the Judges of the
Supreme Court. a permanent two-thirds
majority, in short, is absolute power. and
absolute power makes weak men wicked,
and wicked men mad"
The party was as embled in caucus with
closed doors. No one, rs | said. was in the
secret but Thaddeus Stevens and his dozen
or so OF confederates. Among those were
the gentlemen who were to occupy the
high positions of the House, as Speaker
and chairmen of important committees.
These had all been arranged beforehand,
and were pretty well Understood In adj
vance. A few seconds before the hand of
the clock points to the hour, Mr.. Stevens
CAPTURES the caucus. Iss chairman is his
appointee and its organization is his prop
erty. The chairman, ON his motion, ap-
points n committee 10 prepare business for
the meeting, and Mr.. Stevens takes his
committee under his wing and walks out.
40 far, everything is simply formal and
preliminary; no questions have been asked,
no objections made, and no points raised.
In less than ten minutes by the clock the
committee has returned with its report in
the form of joint resolution, and, without
n word of inquiry, explanation or debate, n
score or two of voices responding In the
affirmative when the question Is put, and
no voice answering in the negative, an adj
verse Judgment by default Is taken upon
.h,In aNata hava hnan Iigengainf ~
and the record Is made up. No more re-
mains to be done than for the decree of the
caucus to be registered In the House. which
is done abruptly and and without debate as
soon as its organization has been effected
by suspending the rules and moving the
previous question.
The effect of this action was to create
what has since proved itself to be Reio p0tc-
er in the Government, under the name of the
Joint Committee OH Reconstruction. The
chief function of this committee has been
first, to assume a virtual dissolution of the
Union, under a construction of the caucus
resolution which covertly implied, il il did
not expressly contain, that doctrine; ant
second, to devise ways and means, not Il
facilitate n proper reconstruction of tn,
Union, the apparent object of the resOlu
tion, but to delay that reconstruction unit
such time as 1t can be consummated in sucl
manner as 10 secure, beyond all possible
lub LWO-tHlIuS CbHlIo
OF the Republican party.
TheOnly question that remains is whethe
the people were right or wrong in their de
cIsion at the baliot-boX in November, 1864
whether the Union party was right o
wrong in the position 1t assumed by its nc
tion lin the Baltimore Convention; whethe
the Executive Department of the Govern
ment under the administration of Presiden
Lincoln was right or wrong in so shaping
its policy and its treatment of the lnsurgen
States as to coincide with that position, ant
whether his successor was right or wrong
IN consistently adhering to that policy.
At this point of the argument fellow-cit
liens, claim. IA between my competitor
and myself that AL the presumptions ar,
in my favor, and that the burden of tht
proof lies upon him. II is for Mr.. Stewar
TO show, afiirmatively 20 satisfy your mind
as Jurors beyond all reasonable doubt, tina
your decision two years ago in party con
Vention, unanimously rejecting the lat,
Hon. ii. Winter Davis, and unanimous,.
nominating me In his place ought now {,
be reversed. Mr.. Ddris iods the head ant
front OF the Congressional Opposition 10 Pres
ident Lineoln's plan Of restoration ! ,cd
pledged toslpport that policy, Is.
repeat, fellow -citiZens, that the burdei
q ,,.,,f .aete ,,r,o, NJ. Cfn,.rovt pts, ILL.,.