Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1866-09-26
ADDR ESS
Or rms NATIONAL UNION COMMITTEE,
10 THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

are lmpeilcd TO ask your attention thereto
and to suggest the duties to your country
which they render imperative.
We shall AVOID the use of hard words.
Of these, there have already becu too
many. And. that the matters in issue
may be brought within the narrowest
compass, let us first eliminate from the
controversy all that has already been set
tied or has never been in dispute.
The Republic has been desperately as
sailed from within, aud its very existence
seriously impcriled. Thirteen States
were claimed as having Withdrawn from
the Union, were represented for years in a
hostile Congress meeting at Richmond.
Zen Of these States were, for a time, Who'll
ly in the power of hostile confedcracy;
the other three partially so. The un-
doubleday loyal States were repeatedly
and formilably invaded by rebel armies,
which were only expelled after Obstinate
and bloody battles Through four years
of arduous, desperate civil strife, the hosts
Of the rebel ConEederacy withstood those
Of the Union Agents Of that Confeder-
acy traverscd the civilized world, seeking
allies in their war ag 4inst the Republic.
aud melting the rapacious and unprinci-
blel to fit out armed cotslirs to prey upon
her commerce By State authority, and in
the perverted name of patriotism and 10y
atty, hundreds of thousands of our coun-
trymen were conscripted into rebels arm
les and made to fight desperately for our
national disruption and ruin. And
though, by the blessing Of God and the
valor aud constancy of our loyal people,
the rebellion was finally and utterly
crushed. it did not succumb until it had
caused the destruction of more than half a
million of precious human lives, not to
speak ofproperty to the value of at least
five billions of dollars.
At length the rebel armies surrendered
aud the rebel power utterly collapsed ana
What then?
The claim Of the insurgents that they
,ither now reacquired or had never forfei.
ed their constitutional rights in the Uulon
icluding that of reprosc utation iu Con
,ress, stands in pointed antagonism alike
% the requirements of Congress aud to
hose of the acting President. 1t was the
Executive alone who after the Rebellion
vas no more, appointed Provisional Cover
lors for the now submissive, unarmed
southern States, on the assumption that
he rebellion had been Revolutionary,
md had deprived the people under its
way of all civifgoyernment, and who re-
lnired the assembling of "a Convention,
of delegates to be chosen by
nat portion of the people of said State
Who are loyal 10 the United States, and
N others, for the purpose Of altering
md amending the Constitution Of
said State" 1t was President
Johnson who so late as October last
when all shadow of overt resistance to tn !
Union had long since disappeared-insis-
ed that it was not enough that State
which had revolted must recognize her
Ordinance of Secession as null and
void from the beginning and ratify the
The Constitutional Amendment prohibit.
ing Slavery evermore. but she must also
regulate every dollar Of Indebtedness
created TO aid in carrying on the Rebellion
1t was he who orderd the dispersion by
force of any legislature chosen
under the Rebellion which should assume
power to make laws after that Rebellion
had fallen. 1t was he who referred to
Congress all inquiries as to the probability
Of Representatives from the States lately in
revolt being admitted to seats in either
House, and suggested that they should pre-.
sent their credentials. And finally. il
was he, and not Congress, who suggested
to bis Governor Sharkoy of Mississippi,
that elf you could extend the elective
franchise to all persons of color who can
read the Constitution of the United States
in English and write their n1mes, and to
all persons of color who own real estate
valued at not less than $3.50 and pay
taxes you would completely disarm the
adversary aud set an example that other
States will follow.
If then, ehere be apy controversy as Ia