Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-12
obtained complete control of the rebel ter

obtained complete control of the rebel ter
ritory.
2. That every vestige of municipal au-
thority in those States was, by secession,
rebellion, and the e~onquestof the rebellion,
utterly destroyed.
3. That the state of war did not termi-
nate with the actual cessation of hostili-
ties, but that under the laws of war it was
the duty of the President, as Commander
in-Chief, TO establish governments over
the conquered people of the insurgent
States, which governments, no matter
what may be their form, are really mill
tary governments, deriving their sole
power from the President.
4. That the governments thus estab-
lished are valid while the state of war con-
tinues and until Congress acts in the case.
8. That it belongs exclusively to the
legislative authority of the Government
to determine the political status of the in
surgent States, either by adopting the
governments the President has estab-
lished, or by permitting the people to form
others, subject to the approval of Con-
gress.
The President might have sent a major
general or any other military officer to
govern each one of the rebel States. But
he chose to consult the people and allow
them to adopt q form of government so
nearly resembling civil government that
they might the more easily come back to
their places by and by. But it was none
the less a military government for that
reason. On any other ground the whole
course Of tho President would have been
an unwarrantable usurpation.
Now, holding first that the President
hap full authority in the matter, l ask,
how long does his authority last? 1t is
clearly settled by the authorities to which
1 have referred that his authority lasts
until Congress speaks. So long as Con-
gress is silent, the governments estab-
lished by the President will remain.
1t is now time, Mr.. Speaker, that Con-
gress should make its declaration of policy
and principle in reference to these govern
ments.
Let us not quarrel with the past. Let
US not endanger the future because the
Presidents policy in the past has not been
all we could desire. In one important
particular / wish it had been different.
When he appealed to the people of the
0OhbA W tObBNldlI WIN nm III CoNobAl1A
ing his military governments greatly re-
greet ne did not appeal to all the loyal PEG
pie. l regret he did not recognize the
rights and consult the wishes of the loyal
millions who were made free and made
citizens also by the events Of the war.
But let that pass. What he did he had
a right to do; what remains to be done is
for Congress and the President in their
legislative capacity to determine. Our
rights in this direction are as ample as the
rights of conquest. What are they? l
read from Woolsey, page al, the latest
utterances of public law, made with direct
reference to our war;
"Wheu an internal war breaks out the
government must determine whether the
municipal or international code, in whole
or in part, shall be adopted. In general the
relation of the parties ought TO be nearly
those of ordinary war which humanity de-
mands, and will be. because otherwise the
law of retaliation will be applied. Munich
pal law may be enforced with less evil in
the way of pecuniary than of personal pen
alties fines or confiscations may be efica-
cious in Strengthening the government and
lettering from rebellion. II slaves, as with
US, form a part of the property of the rebels,
since slavery is local and the law Of ma
tons knows ofnO such thing, the advancing
military power of the Government may set
them free and use and protect them and,
indeed, if force overthrows the local laws on
which slavery rests they are free of course.
The same rules of war are required in such
a war as in any other, the same way of fight
ing, the same treatment Of prisoners, of
combatants, of non combatants, and of pri-
vate property by the Army where it passes.
So also natural justice demands the same
v~eracity and faithfulness which are binding
in the intercourse of all moral beings.
"Nations thus treating rebels by no means
concede thereby that they form a State, or
that they are de faeto such, There is Il diff
ference between belligerents and %belligerent
States which has been too much overlooked.
"When a war ends 70 the disadvantage OF
the insurgents, municipal law may clinch
the nail which war has driven, may hang,
after legal process, instead of shooting, and
confiscate the whole instead of plundering
a part. But a wise and civilized nation will
exercise only so much of this legal ven
geance as the interests Of lasting peace i'm
periously demand"
These capacious powers are in u
hands. How shall we use them2 l
agree with my friend from Connecticut
Mr.. Deming) that we need not apply the
strietissinlum jus to these conquered peo-
pie. We should do nothing Inconsistent
with the spirit and genius of our ~institu-
tiOns. We should do nothing for revenge,
but everything for security; nothing for
the past, everything for the present and
the future. Indemnity for the past we
can never obtain. The four hundred
thousand graves in which sleep our fathers
and brothers, murdered by rebellion, will
keep their sacred trust till the angel of
the resurrection bids the dead come forth.
The tears, the sorrow, the unutterable an
guish of broken hearts can never be atoned
for. We turn from that sad but glorious
past, and demand such securities for the
future as can never be destroyed.
And first, we must recognize in all our
action the %stupendous facts of the war.
In the very crisis of our fate God brought
US face to face with tho alarming truth,
we must lose our own freedom or
grant it to the slave. In the extremity
of our distress We called upon the black
man to help US save the Republic, and
amid the very thunder of battle, we made
a covenant with him, sealed both with his
blood and ours, and witnessed by Jehovah,
that when the nation was redeemed, he
be free and share with US the
and blessings Of freedom. In the
solemn words of the proclamation of
emancipation, we not only declared the
forever free, but we pledged the
of the nation "to maintain their
freedom"-mark the words, "to maintain
their freedom" The 0mnisoient witness
will appear in judgment against US if wedo
not fulfill that covenant. Have we done
it, Have we given freedom to the
black man? What is freedom2 Is it q
mere negation the bare privilege of not
being chained, bought and sold, branded
scourged2 If this be all, then free
is a bitter mOckery, a cruel delusion,
md it may well be questioned whether
were not better.
But liberty is no negation. 1t is a sub
tangible reality. 1t is the re-
l~lization of those imperishable truths of
he Declaration "that all men are created
,euai," that the sanction of all just gov
is the consent of the governed
these truths be realized until each
nan has a right to be heard on all matters
to himself?
Mr.. Speaker, we did more than merely
o break off the chains of the slaves. The
of slavery added four millions
itizens to the Republic. By the decision
# the Supreme Court, by the decision of
he Attorney General, by the decision of
II the departments Of our Government,
hUse men made free are, by the act of
made citizens. As another hos