The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1866-10-09

and that the traitor shall not conquer us in
the legislative halls.
Another clause was to prevent any one
who held Office under the United States,
and had sworn to support the Constitution
and laws, and then went into the rebellion,
shall not again hold Office, unless permit
ted by vote of two thirds of Congress
No one ought to object to that except a
Copperhead. As we'll might we put
man, who has been convicted of perjury,
into the witness stand, and permit him to
give evidence, or to put convicted muir
derer into the jury-box to try another muir
derer.
Johnsonites are fond of quoting the par
able of the prodiga son, and saying that
we should receive the South as he was re-
ceived by his father. Let the rebels eat
husks until they come back like the prodi-
| igal son. Why cannot the loyal men gov
ern the country without the former nj gger
dlrverss The Democrats have been SO ac
customed to look to this class for instruct
ions, that they want them back to lord it
OfCI GllSll ODCG IuOIcs OOlllloOIl SbCdo lCSAi D
over the sad condition of the rebels. But
five years ago the rebels swore they never
would come back, and would never aSsoci-
ate with Northern men no more than they
would with hyenas. Jeff Davis said so in
his message to the rebel Congress. Now,
they say if we don't let them come back
with increased power, they will have
another war.
Another pledge demanded was the re-
cognition of the inviolability of the national
debt, and the pledges to the soldiers, and
widows and orphans, and the declaration
that the rebel debt should never be paid.
The Democrats want to know whe we want
that. They say the August Convention
said the same thing. That convention sat
with muzzles and did not allow any one to
talk. If the South make the payment Of
the rebel debt an issue, their Northern al
lies the Coppeaheads, will make the issue
with them. precisely as they have assisted
the south for twenty-five years. The reb-
els say, pay our debt or we will repudiate
you. In the same way that their muz
zled convention passed the resolution that
they would pay the national debt, was that
returning thanks to the soldiers Of the
Union who had beaten them in the battle
field. Both were equally sincere.
Though the war of shot and shell is
closed, the war of ideas goes or, the war
of opposing forces, and one or the other
must succumb. Slavery may be dead in
form, but it lives in spirit; the Democratic
party is dead in spirit but .livess in form ::
and the rebels hope to infuse the spirit Of
slavery into the carcass of Democracy. Here
lies the danger to the Union party; but
they will succeed over it.
The last article of the amendment was
that the slaves made free by the war should
never be paid for. This was demanded by
the voice of the loyal people. Slavery
caused the war. The Southern men, fired
by the ambition born of slavery. tried to
overturn the Government, and when that
institution went down in the fire and smoke
Of battle, it was just retribution on the
cause of the war;
The congressional policy had proved
successful in the case of Tennessee, which
had ratified the bond, Notwithstanding the
efforts of Andrew johnson to prevent her
His own State repudiated him and his
policy.
Hon. G. B. Curtis was the next speaker
He contrasted the present condition of
public affairs throughout the world with
! the past, and contended that the improved
tone and sentiment were the natural result
of superior civilization. Once it was the
custom of a conquering power to ensIave
the people it subdued, but now such was
not the case. The war of rebellion aud the
war between Prussia and Austria ale nota-
| bic instances Prussia had absorbed minor
States, and had brought their populations
under her own government. With the
United States, however. justice and right
were to be the corner-stones of the new
policy of reconstruction, and this would 90
on until every man in the country was re-
cognized as citizen of the United States.
1t was not only the colored man who was
affected, but every resident of the country,
no matter what his race or condition. Civil
rights were due not only to the negro but
to every man North and South. The
Northern man, even now, may hardly dare
avow his views in the South. But a few
years ago he had witnessed a scene in Lou
isville, where four colored men had been
tried for some offence by court, and were
acquitted. Notwithstanding the verdict
Of the jury, these same four men were taken
by the rufiian mob and hanged. One OF
the ringleaders in the butchery asked him
if he was Northern man, but he followed
the example of Peter, and denied being of
that class, else, as he was assured BIZ his
interlocutor, be would have shared the fate
of the colored men. Such were the men
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