Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-09

GranQ army winch saved the hepuDlc Is
disbanded its veterans have been quietly
absorbed into the mass of their fellow-cit-
liens, and all are now intently studying
the problem of chaRginga Union restored
by force, into one whose permanence shall
be guaranteed by mutual good will and
common interests, and be based upon uni
versal freedom and genuine republicanism.
To do this VIII demand qualities of head
and heart quite as high as any that have
been called into exercise hitherto, and if
We succeed in finding the solution we seek
we shall prove that the victories of peace
are far greater than those of war. On the
one hand are the dangers of receiving into
full participation in the Government those
who have been stalking everything upon
its overthrow, and upon the other, the obi
cations we are under to the whole world
to adhere to those doctrines of democratic
liberty and equality which lie at the found
alton of our system; whilst wi relations
to the unfortunate African race, whose
slavery we have abolished, and whose free
dom we are sacredly bound to protect
come in to complicate both classes of dill
%culties.
Congress and the President are now at
work upon the details of complete restora-
ton of civil government III the States late
ly rebellious, and we, in common with the
whole country, are watching their progress
with the most earnest hope that they may
| speedily agree upon a national policy
which shall thoroughly accord with the
highest interests of the whole land. I do
not regard this a proper time to discuss
specific measures which are before our fed
o-al 1a1ielof,ra ond onfhnrifIac Int oil Sur
public acts in our State organizations, as
well as in our National capacity, must be
more or less modified by circumstances
shaped by the great wal in which we have
been engaged, and it seems necessary there
fore, as a preparation for every species Of
public duty, that we should look with spe-
eial care at any dangerous tendencies the
war may have developed and recall the
general principles which should guide our
action as servants of the people
1t is in the excitement of a great strug-
gle that the institution of a country are IN
the most danger of change, and perhaps
no nation has ever passed through such a
convulsion as ours and then returned to
| the principles of government and exact
\ form of constitution which it had before.
The maxim that revolutions do not go
backward, has seemed tohave even q wider
and deeper significance thar has been pop
ularly given to it. The same law of pro-
erosion which has made the commissions
of monarchical governments tend toward
the development of popular liberty, has in
republics too often led to a despotism of
classes or of factions, and thence by easy
stages to anarchy and utter disruption, A
victorious majority, flushed with its tri-
umph, finds it easy to forget the rights of
minorities; and it remains for US to prove
whether, in our day, the old cry of "Woe
to the conquered may be silenced by a
truly republican denomination TO adm:n-
fster tho government Tor the real advan-
a of aIf-of the defeated rebels as well
as of the loyal victots.
The war was not waged by us, who re-
manned faithful to the Government, to
subvert any of the principles of human
liberty upon which that government was
based, but to confirm and establish them.
The n great doctrine which has been set
tied by the war is that the National Union
cannot and shall not be destroyed by the
action of any of the States composing it
but its continuance, its modification, or its
dissolution shall be determined by the
whole people acting as one nation under
the forms of the federal constitution. The
one great social change which has been
determine ed by the same event, is the abo-
lition of slavery, the existence of which
was staked upon the success of the REBEL
ion, of which it was the cause.
These things have been decided in the
dread court of last resort for peoples and
nations. By as much as the shock of arm
ed hosts is more grand han the intellect
ual tilt of lawyers; as the God of battles is
a more awful judge than any earthly court;
by so much does the dignity of this con-
test and the fnality of this decision exceed
that of any human tribunal. If we have
not been right in pledging our lives and
our fortunes to save our country, then the
blood of the myriads of heroes who have
fallen rests with murderous guilt upon our
souls, and we should never consent that
the justification or condemnation of this
great people should rest, now or hereafter,
with any bench of judges, however learned,
especially when each judge must deter
mine his own cause, since he must have
been for or against the country in her
struggle. There are some things to which
courts of law can add no sanction, and a
nations appeal to God when it seizes the
sword is one of them. We may, when
necessary, try individual traitors, and the
people of the United States will appear as
prosecutor, but not as defendant at the
bar,
Being c%onqueror, the Government has
the u%ndoubted right to impose terms upon
the conquered, but in the statement of
what should limit and define those terms,
difficulties arise. We are apt, indeed, to
listen with impotence to any limitation of
our control over those who are subject to
US The pleasures of rulership and the
Joy which is felt in the exercise of power
have always appealed with peculiar force
to the ~frailties of human nature, and pro-
fessed republicans have been as subject to
their temptation as other men. In q time
like this most of US feel the necessity of
checking our impulses and passions, chal-
longing the motives and the consistency of
our actions and of fastening our atten-
ton, by effort of will, upon principles of
government and of human rights which
have been axioms to US during the period
of the growth of our Institutions and of
conflicts between us and powerful foreign
powers. However unwelcOme the task of
self-exsmination, we 1--WE it ourselves to
make it thorough and searching. The
ancient %conqueror was accompanied by a
slave in his triumphal car, who reminded
him of his humanity and his weakness :
we must act as ourown prompters to mod
Grafton and justice, and remind ourselves
of the rules which should control our ac-
ton, and of the dangerous tendencies of
our own nature. We need no stimulus to
anything which runs with the whole cur
rent of popular impulse and feeling; such
things will take care of themselves, but no
duty can be more important than hat of
stopping occasionally to weigh well what
seems to cross our desires or to question
the direction of our progress.
w have the right and are in duty
bound to insist upon sufficient guarantees
for the future safety of the Union; but
those guarantees must be such as shall not
be inconsistent with a republican govern
for those who give as well as for
those who receive such security.
Conquest does not rightfully give un-
limited sway over the persons and prop
erty of the conquered, and their rights
may be diminished no farther than is ne
eessary for the public safety.
If 1t were proven that it would be i'm
for us to live safely, as snarers of
3 common government, with the people of
any State or community, our republican,
might force US to consent to separa-
lion, but could not justify US in holding