Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-06-22
NO.13.

I the world. In return for our ieni8ncy,
we receive only an insolent assumption Of
rights and privileges long since forfeited
The crime we have punished Is paraded
as virtue, and the principles OF Repnb-
lican Government which we have vindi-
Gated al so terrible a cost, are denounced
as unjust aud oppressive.
IF we add to this evidence the fact that
although peace has been declared by the
President, he has not TO this day deemed
it safe to restore the writ of hGbeGs corpus,
TO relieve the insurFectiOnary States of
martial law, nor to Withdraw the troops
from many localities, and that the COM
maBding General deems an increase of
the army indispensable to the preserya-
tion of order and the protection Of loyal
and well-disposed people in the South,
the proof of a condition OF feeling hos
tile to the Union and dangerous to the
Government throughout the insurrectI0n-
airy States would seem to be alarming.
We now propose to Testate as briefly IS
possible the general facts and principles
applicable to all the States recentlyh IN
rebellion
Flrst-That the seats of Senators and
Representatives from the so-called Con-
federate States became vacant in the year
1861, during the second session OF the
thirty-sixth Congress by the voluntary
withdrawal of their ineumbents, with the
sanction auQ Dy ulEGCbAOu u @AAoAA ADSRSe-
tive States This was done as a hostile
act against the Constitution and the Gov
ernmeut of the United States, with the
declared intent t0oEeEthrOW the same by
forming Southern Confederation
This act of declared hostility was speedily
followed by an organization Of the same
States into a ConfedeTacy which lived
aud wagcd war By sea and land against
the United States This war continued
/ wvhTnh q
riod the rebel armies besieged the ma
tional capital invaded the loyal states,
burned their towns and cities, robbed
their citizens, destroyed more than sou
600 loyal soldiers, and imposed an lncreaa-
ed national burden of not less than 81
500 100000, of which seven or eight hun
dred millions have already been met and
paid. From the time these COnfederated
States thus Withdrew from their repre-
sentation in Congress and levied war
against the United States, the great mass
of their people became and were insHF-
gents and traitors, and all Of them assUm-
ed and occupied the political, legal and
practical relation of enemies of the UNI
ted States This position Is established
! by acts of Congress and Judicial decisions
and is recognized repeatedly by the Pres
ident in proclamations, documents and
speeches.
Second. The States thus Confedera-
ted, prosecuted their war against the
United States to final arbitrament, and
did not close until all their arms were
captured, their military power destroyed,
their civil officers, State and Confederate,
taken prisoners or put to flight, every yes
/ tige of State and Confederate Government
obliterated, their territory overrun and
occupied by the Federal armies, and
! their people reduced to the condition of
/ enemies conquered in war, entitled only
by public law to such rights, privileges
and conditions as might be ,VOuchsafed by
! the conqueror.
| This position is also established by
/ judicial decisions, and so recognized by
the President in public prOelamatiOns,
| documents and speeches.
| Third. Having voluntarily deprived
! themselves of representation IN Congress
| for the criminal purpose of destroying
| the Federal Union, aud having reduced
/ themselves by the act of leYying war, to
| the condition of public enemies, they have
no right to complain of temporary exelu-
1 sion from Congress; but on the contrary,
] having voluntarily renOunced their rlght
| to representation, and disqualified them
! selves by crime from participating in the
government, the burden now rests upon
! them, before claiming to be reinstated IN
! their power, conditions to show that they
! are qualified to resume Federal relations
In order to do this they must prove that
/ they have re-established with the consent
/ of the people, a Republican form Of gov
| ernment. 10 harmony with the Constitution
and laws Of the United States that all
/ hostile purposes have ceased, and should
/ give adequate guarantees against future
/ treason and rebellion. which will prove
4 satisfactory to the Government against
which they rebelled, aud by whose arms
] they were subdued.
Fourth. Having by this treasonable
/ Withdrawal from Congress, aud by ia,
/ grant rebellion and war, forfeited all civil
| aud political rights under ths Federal
| Constitution, they can only be restored
thereto by the permission and authority
l Of that constitutional power against which
they rebeled and by which they were
| subdued.
Fifth. These rebelliOus armies we're
conquered by the people Of the United
| States acting through all the coordinate
/ branches of the Government and not By
the Executive Department alone. The
powers of Congress are not so vested IN
| the President that he can fix and regulate
the terms of settlement and confer Con
1 gressional representation upon conquered
rebels and traitors, nor can he IN any way
qualify enemies of the Government to
! exercise its law making power, The au-
/ th0ritv to restore rebels to political pow
ercised only with the concurrenee of all
| the departments ia which political power
Il is vested. and hence the several proela-
nations Of the President to the people. Of
/ the Confederate States cannot be cOnsld-
cred as extending beyond the purposes
declared, aBA can only be regarded as pro-
visional pertHissiou of the Commander
in Chief of the army 30 do certain acts,
the validity whereof is 70 be determined
by the constitutional GogerRWent, and
I soley by the Executive power.
lSiEth. The question before Gon&Fess
is then, whether conquered enemies have
the right aud shall be permitted at
their own pleasure aud upon their own
terms to participate 10 making laws for
their copouerors? Whether conquered
rebels may change their theatre OF
oparations from the battlefield they
1 were defeated to the halls of Congress, and
/ through this representation seize upon
4 the Government which they fought 20
destroy? Whether the National Treas
urv. the army of the nation, its navy, its
Il farfs and arsenals, its whole civil admin
I istratiOn, its credit, its pensioners, the
4 widows and orphans Of those who perish
Il ed In the war, the public honor, peace
and safety, shall all be turned over to the
II keeping Of its recent enemies, without de-
Il Law. and without requiring such conditions
as in the opinion of Congress the. securl-
ty of the oouptry and its institutions may
4 demand
.Sepeath. Ths History Of mankind sx-
4 hibits no example of such madness and
, folly The instinct Of self-preRervation
protests against it. The surrender by
, Grant to Lee and by sherman to johnson
II - nrHn5