Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-07-04

TO lay down our arms and sue for peace. 1t wa
throwing m' untain into the confederate scale Z
lie make the Union kick the beam. 1t was bold anC
desperate interference in behalf of the rebellion
at the very crisis of the fight 1t was an insult L
=, the loyal armies of the nation, vast, malignant
and deadly, that language can convey no adequate
idea of its wiekedness. And in future times the
II historian will record the fact with astonshmen
e that the Government at the most critical moment
Ie Of its life, when few hours few days at the
iurthest, must determine whether il should liv
II die could permit large body of its enemies tc
meet upon its soil in peace and security and pub
o Iish hagrant manifesto in behalf Of the rebel
: Now. do not mean to say, that all the Demo-
cratic leaders have done all these things. but what
: do say is this, that the men who have done these
e things are combined together. and constitute the
= real leaders Of the Democratic party The few
o moderate men of the party have teen stripped Of
2 all power and influence, and are carried along
with 1t merely for mum bers and policy, while the
living and aggressive element which controls it are
. the Sons of Liberty" and those who acted in
5 sympathy and concert with them
They are the men who have perverted the word
Sag & from its once nc 19Es6ls en- meaning; an to
crime that attaches to causeless and atrOeious
civil war.
WHO CALLED THEMSELVES DEMOCRATS.
Every ungenerate rebel, lately in arms against
) his Government calls himself Democrat.
Every bounty jumper" every deserter, every
sneak who ran away from the draft. calls him
J self Democrat. BowleS. Milligan, Dodd, Horsey
and Humphries. call themselves Democrats =
burn, rob arsenaIs and release rebel prisoners
( calls himself Democrat. John Morgan, Sue
, Mundy, Champ Ferguson. Wirz. Payne and Booth.
proclaimed themselves Democrats. Every man
lab OIed for the rebellion in the field, who mur-
dered Union prisoners by cruelty and starvation,
who eonspired to bring civil war into the loyal
burn steamboats, and Northern cities, who con-
Jrived hellish schemes to introduce into Northern
cities the wasting pestilenee of yellow fever calls
himselfa Democrat. Every dishonest contractor
who has been convicted of defrauding the Govern
ment-every dishonest paymaster or disbuTsing
officer who has been convicted of squandering the
public money at the gaming table or in gold gam
beling Operations-eVeTy Otncer In the army who
| was dismissed for cowardiee or disloyalty calls
himself Democrat. Every wolf in sleeps cloth
ing, who pretends to preach the gospel. but pro-
claims the righteousness of man-selling and sa-
| very-eyeTy one who shoots down negroes in the
Streets burns negro schOOl-hOuses and meeting
houses. and murders women and children by the
light OF their own flaming dwellings, calls aImselt
| a Democrat. Every New York rioter in 1868, who
burned up little children in colored asylums-whO
robbed, rayished and murdered Unfortunately
IN the midst Of blazing city, for three days and
nights, call ed himself Democrat In short, the
Democratic party NAV be described as a common
sewer and loathsome receptacle, into which Is
emptied every element of treason North and South
and every element of inhumanity and barbarism
which has dishonored the age.
And this party composed of the men and ele- |
ments have described. in defiance Of truth and
decency asserts itself as the special champion of
the Constitution and the Union. which, buta short
six months ago. it was in arms to destroy. and
proclaim to an astonished world that the only eff
feet of vanquishing armed rebels In the field is to
return them to seats in Congress- and to restore
them to political power. Having failed to destroy
the Constitution by force. they seek to do it by
construction, and assume to have made the remark
able discovery that rebels who fought to destroy
the Constitution were its true friends and that the
men who shed their blood and gave their substance
to preserve it were its only enemies.
RECONSTRUCTION
II is impossible to adopt plan of reconstruction
which will fully meet the views Of all loyal men,
and Al approximation is the utmost that can be
n Wo1id. in nv opinion, have been inst and no.
70 how nd
Representatives elect from the State of Tennessee,
at an early period in this eession. Such action by
Congress would have saved much evaporation of
feeling and given general satisfaction to the eOun
try and should be glad yet to see It taken before
the final adoption OF any LEGISLATION IN connection
be submitted to the States. They are loyal. have
been properly elected: have a loyal constituency
behind them, and can honestly take the oaths pre-
scribed by law.
orty of tN Othirds in each House, containing four
sections amending the Constitution of the United !
States, which. when 1t shall be ratified by three
fourths of the States. will become part of the
fundamental law Of the land. IL
The first section of the amendment declares that
"All persons born or naturalized in the United !
citizens Ofhe United States and ofthe State where
in they reside. No State shall make or enforce I
m1nites of citizens of the United States nor shall
any State deprive any person of life, liberty or I
property. without due process of-law nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the equal pro-
lection of the law. 4
Oppose this section who can. can not compre- !
hend how any right-minded man, who is not be- I
lever in monarchy or slavery. can take issue 4
with any portion of it. It establishes the funda- :
mental principles upon which the Union is based,
and is an expression OF pure and unalloyed De- I
m ocracy. 4
The second section equalizes representation in !
Congress and in the Electoral College, by taking
from the white people of the States lately in rebel
lion the right to represent in Congress than
four millions of negroes living in their midst. I
whom they deprive Of all political rights what I
ever. As the matter now stands, the white people
of the Southern States have sixty per cent. more
of political power in the House of Representa- :
tives, and in electing the President and Vice :
President, than any equal number Of white people :
in the Northern States. This is a gross and un- i
righteous inequality, and absolute injustice to
the Northern people. Even if the Southern peO- 4
pie were all loyal, they could not have the slight
consider that nearly all of them are Democratic Z
rebels. and but few months ago waged a bloody +
war against the Government, the idea of their
-ainlng such an enormous and unholy advantage e
IS too monstrous to be calmly considered a
If all were equally loyal. North and South. the a
proposed amendment would be measure Of sim =
BE put imperative justice; but when we consider q
he character of the Southern people and of their n
Northern allies. and the terrible ealamities they
ice are intensified and longer submission to the ?,
on our part becomes humiliation Il
The Democratic leaders Of Indiana have declared a
themselves against the amendment, and their b
members of Congress opposed it BY their votes III
The personal degradation which they suffer, which a
zach of them suffers IN being practically trea ~
ed as sixty per cent. less OF man than his fell n
ow Democrat Of Georgia they care nothing about. h
They will swallow with aVidlty this any other Ie
ndignity tn at may be thrust upon them, provided -
t comes from men who have been Shareholders m
md rebels in arms. AMI who give reasonable assu IN
ance that they will vote the COpperhead ticket m
greater political degradation toward the people oI
# Gection of the country than that which now n
e imagined. and the cheerful submission to it By n
Northern Democrats for the low and selfish pur- Ia
ose of reaping little political gain presents eff
pectace which it is not pleasant to contemplate IN
he ratification of this amendment is one of the ~
most important issues submitted to the people of n
indiana at the next election. The Justice of it II.
nd the necessity for it. lie upon the surface and h.
re too plain for argument. We might as well
rgue that two and two make four, or that whole q,
equal to all its parts. L0l
The third section provides, in substance that ~
very person Who as member Of Congress, officer Tl
ature or judicial officer of any State, had ia ~
EN- an oath to support the Constitution of the -
United States. and afterwards committed perjury co
y engaging in the rebellion, shall be ineligible to m
Ly officer under the United States. or any State r
he object ofiti to exclude perured rebels from n
over If a man has once taken an oath to sup - -
orr the Constitutou and broken H. he sbonId NOT 20
e permitted to take 1t again in the same way ~
-ou will doubtless agree with Congress that men
ais wicked and bloody perjury to fill the Offices m
9th State and National and that it is but a rea-
Dnable precaution for public safety to prevent GC
lese men from again coming into power. There IA
no political or moral obligation to trust them I'm
gain and every dictate of prudence justice love to
Jr the Union, and abhorrance of the rebellion,
emand that they should not be again frosted. So
The fourth section proelaims the validity -
the public debt of the United States. including 1
ebts incurred for payment of pensions and boun- 80
es for service in suppressing the rebellion, and ~
rohibits the United States. or any State from
ssuming or paying any debt incurred in aid of the
sbeIiOn, or any claim for the loss or emancipa-
on of slaves. &c
The strong sympathies manifested by the Nor oe
lern Democratic leaders for the holders of the Ia
ebe war debt. and their malignant hostility to 20
le holders the bonds of the United States make un
lis amendment necessary. Should the great ca 20
mitv happen that the National Governnsr. ~
,onld pass into the possession of the Demoerot IN
avtv we are not at liberty to doubt but what tb m,
onid cause it to assume the payment of the ei ~
% daht Not only are the inclinationS ~ ~ ~,
orthern members already in that direction b1i an
er we'll known pusillanimity in the presenss f to
,nthern men would overcome anv fears ~ ~ ~ ~,
onnIsTity at home, and they would nsrcb m | -,
-amDty TO the support Of the measure as soon ~ ei
vas demanded by the Southern wing Of The ns-- nm
ShouId the Southern wing demand ne \ Con n.
ion for their support that they shOuld he noid on
= their slaves who can doubt for amoment when In
ev Considered the love and devotion of North tht
n Democratic leaders to slavery the history pa
the massage of the Nebraska bill and bnndTed 20,
her political events which have occurred in The ba
rty years. that the demand will be promptly ae- an
ded. me
The amendment is, therefore, imperatively re- tea
Tired, by the sympathies, eowardiee, and the ne.