The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1866-05-31

yield to TO man and no body Of men; and.
without desiring to boast at all, [ viii make
nay boast there ] viii never submit to
wearing the collar or the harness Of any
man, am willing 20 pay my obeisanco
humbiy to the levy. | am willing to Weld
to It's requirements, even when believe 1t
to he unconstitutional but I VIII obey the
law and never obey he 5ehests OF any
single man or body Of mea, unless they
are enforced upon he and cannot resist
lie.
The honorable Senator set out by trying
to show that Mr., Lincoin's plan Of recon>
strUction was not President } Johnson s plan
OF reconstruction. That was his Object
He proposed to set that question entirely
at rest, and l can state to YOU in a vey few
words how nearly he came to It. Presi-
dent Johnson, in his last annual message.
declared that it was for each house OF Cons
gress to determine for itself uDon the ad-
mission Of members Of Congress from the
rcbellious States. That was bis phrase :;
aud that was all. Nobody pretends that
President Johnson ever undertook to say
that We should admit this man or that man
or the other man. or that We should reject
dis one or the other one. Even the hons
orablc Senator himself did not pretend it.
What did he say? lie gave a legal opin-
ion in that respect. Was it good opin-
ion CT was it bad one What does the
Constitution provide in that case Does
it provide that this Senate shall determine
who shall BE members Of the Senate and
who shall not, or does it confer that power
jointly upon the Senate and the House p
1t is very expressive on that subject. 1t
is about as clear as it can be made. The
Constitutions coniers the power upon each
House separately. Then the Senator read
Nr. Lincoln's opinion on that point, and
Mr. Lincoln's phrase was the respective
houses" That does that mean: Does
hat mean the house jointly or the houses
separately? | should thini, It would not
require a very close or accurate criticism
to determine that There IS tie whole
oci.
Now, 3Ir. President, very brief state
mcrt will set all this matter night. The
states are corporations; they are legal
persons, having no actual physical exis-
tence. but existing in contemplation Of
lawsfor the purpose Of the trust, and the
citizens OF the several States are corpora>
tors; and in one OF il aspects, and il this
asrect, = State may b. Contemplated pre-
cisely a. you contemplate bank or a raii~
road or any other corporation The officers
Of these carporations. the officers OF rebel
States, and certain number Of the c9rpo-
Tat0ls, II YOU pleaSe-i an not here
disposed to quarrel as TO the number or to
dispute as to the number; that can be
talked Of herealter-undeytoo 10 peryert
the purpos of the corporation undertook
to carry the corporation bodily away from
origina! intent and purpose 10 which It was
bound by the Constitution and the laws
What was the duty Of thc United States
under these circumstances Was it not
their bounden duty to see that the citizens,
corporators, even if there were not more
than a dozen Of them faithful. should not
he deprived Of their franchise, and that
this corporation should not be carried away
without their will and consent? [ say if
there was one man from the rebel States
who camo up and protested against TINS
pervcrsion Of the State corporate authori-
ties and being carried away by secession,
the United States government would have
been bound t. listen to him and to rescue
him and restore him to his rights as guar~
antecd under the Constitution and the
laws. Well, sir, that was the view the
United States took 0E it. They took pre-
clsely the same view Of it that 4 Court Of
Chancery takes of trusts TheY were the
custodian OF the people, the general custe-
dian; and they intcrfcrcd that the trusts
might be preserved that the corporation
might not be perverted from It's original
uses? What then? War resulted and
war was successful; resistance ceascd.-
When that happened, there were two ways
by which those corporations could be re-
stored. Who could restore them? Gen
tlcmen talk here about Congress restoring
them; they talk about the President re-
storing them; they talk about anybody re-
storing them. [ can say to gentlemen
that in this country States not made
By Congress; State governments are not
made by them Neither the President nor
Congress, nor anybody else, when this war
was put down, had 4 right TO interfere IN
the restoration of the corporate rights of
the citizens of the Southern States. The
question was to be referred to them There
were two ways Of doing it. One was to
allow the corporate officers to continue
upon their profession Of repentance and
and coming back within the puryiow OF
tic original great charter.
Suppose, If you please, that Gov. Brown,
Of Georgia. and the Legislature Of Georgia,
who have been in rebellion, proicsscd re-
pentcnce and acknowledged the govern
ment of he Union and their obligations to
the Constitution and laws just rs before,
what would you have done with them Il
You could do one of two things. You
could say: "Very well, that is all right
YOU may 20 on just as you are, provided
YOU obey the Constitution aud the laws, |
subject, however, to our right to hang you; !
we have the right to hang you If we choose
to enforce it, but that IS a question we will
not decide now in the mean time we will
hold il in abeyancc over your head, and
you can go on and play governor and leg
isature" That was one way, and the
President had perfect right TO do that.
Nobody could quarrel with him if he had