Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1866-03-28
4 FeH Pain PoIltIcal AxIoms,

vbich serve 10 solve the perplexed problem OF the
s.s.ns of the States and the people Of the States
lately in rebellion against the authority Of the United
States:
lst The right of secession is not only not author
ized but is expressly forbidden by the Constitution
of the United States.
I'd. It follows, that all ordinances Of secession,
adopted by the States lately in rebellion were null
and void in law.
3d. That the allegiance of the citizen is que 70 us
State and that there are thrtysx different alegi-
ances in the limited States and not one man owing
allegiance TO the great central government, whlcn
is supreme over all is proposition too absurd to be
argued.
4tb. From which it results that no State has been
out of the Union and could not be carried out 9TH
erwise than BY successful revolution; and to admit
that any of the rebelious States are or have been
out of the Union would necessarily amount to an
admission that the Union had been dissolved, and
that we had been engaged in foreign and not a
civil war; all of which would materially impair the
virtue and efficacy of that instrument which is rec
ognized and claimed as the supreme law of the land.
9th. But while no body of men, however consti-
tuted could take State out of the Union, except
by force of arms yet any attempt to do so, by those
owing allegiance to the United States, assuredly
constituted the grave crime of high treason, if any
such crime still exists under our Institutions.
9th. The right of expatriation or denatonaliza-
tion however has never been denied to the people
of this country, and whilst they could not take
State out of the Union it cannot be denied that
citizens of the rebellious States could take them
selves out at pleasure, either individually or coec-
lively
18th Nor can it be disputed that the late socalled
Confederate States did for four years constitute a
government de facto and it follows that all those
who assisted in creating that de facto government,
by voting in convention for an ordinance OF seces-
sion, or signing the same, who voluntarily took
the oath of allegiance to- or held Office, civil mil
tary under the said de fGcto" government which
offices could only be held by citizens of govern
ment then hostile to, and at war with the United
States thereby alienated themselves from the Gov
eminent Of the United States and by thus renoun-
cling their allegiance disclamed all pretensions to
its protection and therefore dljnS to this gov
ernment and can only be restored to the rights of
citizenship through the established Jaws of natural-
cation, or by a special act of legislation.
Sth. There can be difference in law, or in fact,
in the political status of those Southern persons who
taken the oath Of allegiance to the de facto
government of the so-called Emperor Macmillan
md those who have taken similar oath, or other
wise made themselves citizens of the de facto "
government of the so-called President Davis.
9th. These being the natural, lawful and unavoid-
able consequences OF secession alienation and trea-
son, it follows that the functions of government in
those States lately in rebellion have been suspended
by the unconstitutional action of those temporarily
in authority in those States; and that these State
governments can only be restored through the &C
ton of the Lal0-nGing poIOer of the United States
and upon the suppression Of the rebellion and the
restoration of peace the right to govern and control
these States, naturally, consttutionally, and nhe-
/ rently devoves on the loyal citizens thereof who
have fallen heirs to the estate and who cannot law
fully be subjected to the power and control of alien
enemies to them and to the country and that these
loyal citizens have also natural, constitutional and
inherent right under the sanction of said law-nak-
ing power, to resume their original position in the
government and councils of the nation; and there
| fore all representatives to Congress, who present
themselves with the proper evidence of election and
who are prepared, honestly and in good faith, to
comply with the Constitution and laws of the Uni
ted States, should be admitted, without necessary
delay, to participation in the legislation of the ma
ton; and to withhold this right, is to place the
loyal on the same platform with the disloyal-the
friends on footing with the enemies of the country
10th. The President is clothed with the power to
grant reprieves and pardons to those who have COM
mitted offences against the Uuited States; but as
none are legally offenders, and as no man in this
country can be legally punished for any ofense no
matter how atrocious aggravated the crime, until
he has been tried and convicted of the ofense with
which he stands charged, so no reprieve or pardon
the exercise of which powers commence simultane-
| ously) can be constitutionaly granted before the
party parties have been tried and convicted &C
cordng to law; and therefore, all pardons hereto
fore granted to those lately in rebellion have been
premature and are null and void.
18th. 1t is patent to observing men, that all at
tempts at reconstruction in many of the States
through the misplaced confidence and unappreciat-
ed kindness and magnanimity of the President,
through the action of those who have occupied the
relations Of alien enemies to the United States hsv
not only failed in their anticipated effects but are
in their results dangerous to our institutions and
| should be commenced &c noUo."
18th. Therefore, in all such States have not in
| the opinion of the law-making power been finally
reconstructed it will be right and proper that mil
itary provisional governor, of loyal antecedents
should be appointed Except for the State of Vir-
glnlai with instructions to call convention, to be
composed of loyal only, to be elected by those
who are authorized to vote by their existing State
Constitutions.
18th. The State Of Virginia although a large ma
Ority of her people in rebellion has been con-
tinuOuy and without interruption, through the ac-
ton of a portion of her loyal citizens recognized as
Government of the United States; with a Governor
regularly elected under the Constitution of 1851
with her representatives admitted to seats in each
branch Of Congress during the rebellion she there
fore stands in different relation to the Government
from those States that have dsclaimed all right to
governors since the war, appointed by the Presi-
| dent.
l4th. But inasmuch as the Constitution of Vir-
ginia in operation, declares that the House OF
Delegates shall consist of not less than eighty nor
more than one hundred and four members and the
Senate shall be less than efourth that num-
Der; and inasmuch as the first Legislature that as
sembed under that provision of the Constitution
consisted Of only fourteen in house and six in
the other, and as the present Legislature now in
session at Richmond was authorized and convened
by the said &" Town Council" las it has been aptly
termed in the Senate of the United States) which
possessed no such authority; and the present Leg
lslature is composed in a large part of those who
were expressly forbidden by the Constitution under
which they profess to act, to hold any Office what
ever; and inasmuch as such Constitution impera-
lively requires oath to be administered to each
one before he shall be qualified to serve as men,
Der of the Legislature-which oath has never been
administered to any one member of the body but
has been totally dsregarded and set aside; and in
asmuch they have proceeded without authority to
remove all disabilities imposed upon themselves by
the Constitution and have at the same time endeav-
ored, by their legislative action, to make treason
virtue TO be rewarded, and loyalty to the United
States crime to be punished, by removing from Of
fee every loyal citizen whom they could reach and
substituting in their stead those who have figured
conspicuously in the rebel service and who are dis
qualified by the Constitution from holding the Off
which they have been selected to sll therefore
it is clear that there has been constitutionay or
gained legislative body in Virginia since their
present Constitution was adopted in the year 1864
and that, by necessary consequence, all acts and
parts of acts, resolutions, elections appointments
and other proceedings adopted by either of the bod
les styling themselves " The Legislature of Virpin-
ia since the adoption of the Alexandria Constitu-
ton, have been in violation of the planest provis-
lonal requirements of that Constitution and are all