Litchfield enquirer., 1866-09-27
Addresx of the National Union Commit
 tee.
THE ISSUES DEFINED.
10 tie American People !:

70 kse American People
 Fellow-citizens Very grave differences having arisen between your immediate repre- sentatives in Congress and the President, whc owes his position to your votes. we are impell cd to ask your attention thereto, and to sug- eest the duties to your country which they ren- der imperative >a7-,ss,- oe We shall avoid the use of hard words. Of these there have already been too many And. that the matters in issue may be brought With in the narrowest compass, let us first eliminate from the controversy all that has already oeen settled or has never been m dispute. :,
 The republc has been desperately assailed from within, and it's very existence seriously imneriled. Thirteen states were claimed as having withdrawn from the Union, and were represented for years in a hostile Congress meeting at Richmond. Ten of these states were, for time, wholly in the power of hos tile confederacy; the other three partially so The undoubtedly loyal states were repeatedly and formiably invaded by rebel armies which were only expelled after obstinate and bloody battles Though four years of arduous, des- perate civil strife, the hosts Of the Southern ConfedeYacy withstood those of the Union.- Agents of that Confederacy traversed the civilized world, seeking allies in their war against the republic and melting the rapacous and uuprincpled to fit out armed cOrsalrs to preyupon her commerce. By state authority. and in the perverted names of patriotism aud loyalty, hundreds of thousands of our country men were conscripted into rebel armies and made to fight desperately for our national ruin And though, by the blessing of God and the valor and constancy of our loyal people, the rebellion was finally and utterly crushed it did not succumb until it had caused the de struction of more than half million of pre- cious human lives, not to speak of property to the value of at least five billions of dollars.
 At length the rebel armies surrendered, and the rebel power utterly collapsed and vanished. What then 2 @-"t -;-+
 The claim of the insurgents tha: they either now reacquired or had never forfeited their constitutional rights in the Union, including that ot representation in Congress, stands in direct antagonism alike to the requirements of Congress and those of the acting President.- It was the Executive alone. who, after the re- bellion was no more, appointed provisional governors for the now submissive, unarmed southern states, on the assumption that the re bellion had been Revolutionary" and had de- prived the people under it's sway of all civil government. who required the assembling of "s Convention composed of delegates to be chosen by. ....lat portion of the people of said stE.se who are loyal to the United States and no others, for the purpose ol altering and amending the constitution of said state" It was President Johnson who, so late as Oct O. Der last-when all shadow of overt resistance to tbe Union had long since dIsappeared-in- sisted that it was not eno1gh that a state which had revolted must recognize her ordinance of secession as null apo void from the beginning, and ratify the Constitutional Amendment pro- hibiting slavery evermore, but she must also repudiate every dollar of indebtedness created to aid in carrying on the rebellion" It was he who ordered the dispersion by military force of any legislature chosen under the rebellion which should assume power to make laws after that rebellion had fallen. It was he who re- ferred to Congress all enquirers as to the prob- ability of representatives from the states lately in revolt being admitted to seats in either House, and suggested that they should present their credentials, not at the organization ot Congress, but afterward. it was he, and not Congress, who suggested to his Governor Sharkey of Mississippi. that
 "If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can read the cons titution of the Upited States in English and write their names, and to all persons of color who owned real estate valued at not less than $250 and pay taxes thereon you would com pletely disarm the adversary, and set an ex- ample that other states will follow"
 II, then, there be any controversy as to the right of loyal states to exact conditions and require guaraAties of those which plunged madly into secession and rebellion, the sup porters respectively of Andrew Johnson and Congress cannot be antagonstic parties to H~ cs. kh-s. 1~l vla fhno on the same side. ..-.
 It being thus agreed that conditions of resto- ration and guaranties against future rebellion the right of Congress to a voice in prescribing those conditions and in shaping those guaran- ties is plainly incontestible. Whether it takes the shape of law or of constitutional amend msnt, the action of Congress is vital. Even ifthsy were to be settled by treaty, the rati6- cation of the Senate, by two thirds vote, would be indispensable. There is nothing in the Federal constitution, nor in the nature of the case, that countenances an Executive monopoly of this power.
 What, then, is the ground of complaint against Congress?
 It is. charged that the action of the two Houses was tardy and hesitating? Consider how momentous were the questions involved. the issues depending. Consider how novel and extraordinary was the situation. Consider how utterly silent and blaLk is the Federal Constitution touching the treatment of insur- gent states, whether during their fragrant hos tility to the Union or after their discom6 ure. Consider with how many endorsements and difficulties the problem is beset, and you will not wonder that months were required to de- wise, perfect and pass, by a two thirds vote in either House, just and safe plan of recon struction. eT"
 Yet that plan has been matured. It has passed the Senate by B to II. and the House by l38 to 26. It is now fairly before the country, having already been ratified by seve- ral of the legislatures of several states and re- jected by none. Under it the State of Ten nessee has been formally restored to all the privileges she forfeited by rebellion, including representation in either House of Congress- And the door thus passed through stands in- vitingly open to all who still finger without.
 Arc the conditions thus prescribed intoler- able, or even humitating7 They are in sub stance these:
 I. All persons born or naturalized in this country are henceforth citizens of the United States, and shallepjoy all the rights o! citizens svermore, and no state shall have power ,c contravene this most righteous and necessary provision.
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