The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-04-17
The Present Governments in the Rebel States
.... are Illegal.

| -. are illegal.
| Take the cases of North Carolina, South Car
DINA, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi
| and Texas. All these have been organized un-
DER the military power by President johnson
except Texas where the organization is not
yet completed. The first movement in this
direction was on the 10Th of May, 1865, when
the President appointed William w. Holden,
Provisional Governor of the State of North
Carolina by proclamation. By that proclaim
alton, the President imposed on Mr.. Holden
the duty of assembling a convention at the
earliest practicable period, in order to alter
and amend the constitution of North Caroli-
ma. As reason for this extraordinary course
the President asserted, that 'the rebellion had
deprived the people of North Carolina of all
civil government" In that proclamation, he
undertook to prescribe the qualifications of
voters for delegates to his proposed Conven-
ton. He says:
mo person shall be qualified as an elector,
or shall be eligible as a member OF such Com
vent1on, unless he shall have previously taken
and subscribed the oath of amnesty as set forth
IN the Presidents Proclamation, May %. 1865,
and is voter qualified as prescribed by the
Constitution and laws of North Carolina in
force immediately before the Goth of May, A
ID. 1860, the date of the so-called ordinance of
secession" Gf--l f'l .i ''-
Afterwards the President issued similar pro-
clamations, appointed Provisional Governors
for each of the states of South Carolina, Geor-
gia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas,
imposed corresponding duties on each OF his
agents so appointed, and defined the qualifica-
tons of voters for delegates to each of the con-
ventions to be assembled in said States in the
same manner.
The President claimed power to do all this
as president of the United States and Com
mander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the
United States" We do not deny the power
of the President, to do this by virtue of his
position as "Commander-in-chief of the Ar
N.Y." But we do deny his authority to do any
OF these things by virtue of his power as a civil
magistrate. Where is the authority for the
President as civil magistrate to order an ell
ection in State? to call on the people of
state to change their constitution or make a
new constitution to determine the qualifea-
tions of voters or officers in state? 1t is GER
tain the President has no such power, as a civ
Il magistrate. When the President insists
that these military organizations he has set
up, are loyal as civil establishments, and that
Congress is bound to recognize them as such,
he is guilty of the grossest usurpation. All
trate the President has omore right to ex-
was set At fAR BerH ss bJ hY%Hsst eBg %sr freedman that
fhoD
lion had deprived the people in those states
OF all civil government" and required that
they should change their old constitutions, he
thereby admitted that their old constitutions
were oyerthrown and no longer in force as
lawful. In this he was correct When he di-
rected that none should be electors, except
those who would have been voters immediate
~ before the ordinance of secession, according
to the old constitution, and who were then
ready to take and would take an oath pres
cribed him, he claimed the right to define the
qualifications of voters and that the old
constitution which defined the qualifications
OF voters was no longer in force, and that no
persons in the state were legally authorized to
vote. In this he was correct. But in assum-
ing the legislative power of defining the quail
hcations OF voters for the purpose of inaugu-
rating civil government, he usurped the power
of Congress. He not only usurped the power
but 1t Is manifest he intends to hold it for the
future. The present state organizations in
the rebel states are simply the creations of his
military power, and he has provided that they
should be perpetuated. sf uE
In the proclamation appointing William W.
Holden, Provisional Governor, he declares,
that "the said convent on, when convened, or
the legislature thereafter assembled;w pres
cribe the qualifications of electors and the
eligibility of persons to hold Office under
the constitution and laws of the State" He
makes the same declaration as to his conven-
ton in each of the other states. Those states
organized by President johnson by the mill
tary power he insists, are legally organized;
that his military governments are civil govern
ments; that they are selfperpetuating and
that Congress is bound to recognize them
He might just as well have made all the con-
stitutions himself, as Louis Napoleon did the
constitution for the French. The constitu-
tions are all Illegal, because the conventions
were illegal. The conventions were illegal,
because there were no legal voters in the
states, and the qualifications of voters were
not prescribed by Congress but merely by mil
itary power. ',5 h. a.. j. @. W.
ANEcDoTE OF WEBSTER. - The Barre,