Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-03-01
MIR. CONWAY AT THE CAPITOL.

pointment, at the Capitol, last night, on the political
issues of the day.
He commenced by returning his thanks to the
members of the House for the use of the Hall, a
courtesy of which he avsiled himself, he said, from
no vain desire to make 4 display, but because he felt
that, in the present ~exigency of the country, it was
the duty Of every citizen to contribute his aid in sup
port of the President: ST.
Since the termination of the late war; question
has been raised OF n most radical character, and
pregnant with mOmentOus consequences 10 the iu-
ture destinies Of this Republic. The States, the peo-
pie of which have recently been at war with the au-
thority of the Federal Government, are SAID To have
irrevocably severed their constitutional connection
with the other States, and to have fallen INTO 4 con
dition similar To that of provinces subject 10 the
Government of the United States.
This proposition has excited widespread interest,
and threatens to renew the contentious of past years
between the two sections of the country.
The Federal Executive has taken O position firmly
against the proposition. lie maintains the indie:
structibility of the States, as constituent elements OF
the Union; and demands a recognition of the Repre-
sentatives and Senators from the States said to be
sundered equally with those from the other States,
according to the terms of the Federal Constitution
and laws.
MIR. &. quoted n passage from the annual message
of the President defining his position, and then cited
the resolution now pend ng in the Senate declaring
that no Senator or Representative shall be ad.
| mltIeu INTO cllIcE DEdnGu VI OOuEItSS. llOlu any u
the said States, until Congress shall have declared
such States entitled TO such representation" as de-
scribing the views of his opponents in Congress-
The issue thus raised, Mr.. c. remarked, not only re-
lates TO the right of the eleven States mentioned in
the resolution to representation in Congress, INT al
so their right to participate in the choice of PreSi-
dent ut the next election. For if Congress can de-
nv them the one, it can also deny them the other.
The President will, in that case, be found at issue
with the Congress on the legality of the vote neccs-
sary for the choice of President. They will claim
the right to inauSurate a person elected b.. the vote
of their own States, while the President will he com
PEELED to insist that that person only is lawfully chO-
sen who would have received Il majority Of votes
with a full representation from all the States.
The ma gnitudc of the question IS therefore appa-
rent.
IL is. in my Judgment, destined to determine whe.
Their this continent is to be preserved for that higher
development of the human race which can be
worked out only through republican institutions, or
be given over entirely to the anarchy of the South
American States, ana TO maj domination by Euro
pean despOtism.
Mr.. C.. then referred to the transposition Of par
ties that had occurred-tlIe South having been en-
gagged for four years in Il deadly struggle in main
tenlnce of the right claimed to withdraw from the
Union, and the North in an equally deadly struggle
in denial of that claim. New, the South acknOwl-
edging itself defeated, and abandoning its doctrine,
is met by the dominant party in Congress by Il re-
fusal when it seeks for the place in the Union to
which it was compelled, by the overthrow of its
lHCOll anu Wv VI WY tHSNy Va WV
Government party.
The Southern States have duly chosen their Seua.
tors and Representatives, according to the terms Of
the Constitution and laws, but they are persistently
refused admission to the places To which they are
entitled.
The question upon which the existing controversy
depends is whether the States, the people of which
have recently been in revolt against the Federal an!
thority, are still constituent elements of our Federal
Union, endowed with capacity for local self govern
| mpnt and Federal representation, as prescribed IN
the Federal Constitution.
This is, in other words, simply an enquiry whether
the Union or the COufederacy was successful i'll the
late war; for any one who is mt all cOnversant with
the character aud history of that war, is aware that
this was exactly the issue upon which the war oc-
Cured and was maintained throughout.
The difference between the contending parties
arose in consequence of an effort to convert States
of our Federal Union into States of a Southern Con.
federacy, and ceased, by constitutional limitation,
when that effort was abandoned.
The persons who maintain the negative of this
Question assume that the attempt to dissolve the
Union was successful. Upon no other ground can
it he maintained.
Was the Union dissolved in the recent war; Did
the sovereignty of the States of our Union, the peo-
pie of which were in revolt against the Federal Gov
eminent, become vested in the Confederate States2
In answering this question, the speaker took a sur
vey of the origin and progress of the war, advertinE
to the different causes that lay open for the North to
pursue when il was ascertained beyond d0nbt that
tile attempt NJ secession WOUlu nc maUe. lie
course which was adopted, he said, TO consider no
prOpOsition-to consent to no terms-but TO main
tain the Federal power-to execute the Federal
laws in every State, regardless OF the obstacles pre-
sented thereto, and at whatever expense of blood
and treasure required. This was the course deter
mined on and carried out by the Government. Re-
ferfing, however, to the variety of theories which at
the time were floating through the Northern mind,
Mr.. c. said:
The extreme anti-salvery, or abolition class, who
were exceedingly influential in the Republican par
~, were, for the most part, in favor OF peaceable
separation. Indeed, the leading idea of the Garriso-
man abolitionists, had been, from the first, a disso-
luton of the Union. Mr.. Garrison kept ut the head
of his paper, the motto, No union with slavehOld-
ers," as Indicative of the object he had in view.-
The first dsuniOn speech | ever listened to was de-
livered by Wendell Phillips in fremont Temple, in
1896, In which the orator announced his object 10 lie
to educate the mind of the country to such hostility
TO the Union as that, when the crisis Of disnnion
came, as come it must, there would be no effort
made which would be sufficient to prevent the ca
tastrophe. The position taken by Mr.. Greedy is
widely known. lie shrank from the terrible conflict
which impended, and also from the inconsistency
which seemed involved in an effort, by a nation like
ours, TO impose a government upon twelve millions
of people against their will. He proposed to hold a
National Convention to consider and arrange terms
Of separation. Such was also the ground first as
sumed by Mr.. Sumner and by Mr.. Chase. Mr.. sum
ner's views were so far matured in this direction that
he had a plan prepared to submit to the country,
looking ~ this result, but was deferred from bring
ing it forward, and ultimately abandoned it.
The course pursued by the Government is we'll
known. Peaceable separation was rejected. RecOg-
milton was rejected. Compromise was rejected
The flow of events brought on the conflict between
Federal law and Confederate resistance; aud the
conflict continued between these two forces until the
latter succumbcd.
The nation planted itself on certain principles. It
assumed bhat the Executive was bound by the Con-
%stitution to maintainats authority, as that authority
had always eXisted-that AN attempt to supercede or
annul it, however formidable soeyer it might prove
itself to be, could he recognized only rs insurrec-
tion-that the Constitution gave the Executive no
authority to declare war, but empowered him to in
yoke the military force of the country to suppress
armed resistance TO the Federal laws.
II was by these principles that the action of the
nation was governed and the issue determined.
From the beginning 10 the end of the war, the
Government, in all its departments, throughout all
the qualifications of its influence, was committed TO
these principles. They were set forth in the first an
nual message of the Executive in his second an
nual message in his third and fourth annual mes
sage; and in all the intermediate special messages
in which allusion to the subject was allowable. Also
in his first proclamation in his second proclama-
ton; in all his prOclamatiOns, including the great
proclamation of emancipation, in which he justified
that act by virtue OF a military necessity, under the
Constitution, TO suppress insurrectlon. Also, in va
riOus epistles TO private associations and individuals,
including Il very notable one 10 Horace Greeley.
These same principles were also communicated in
elaborate phraseolOgy by the Secretary of State to
the Ministers of the United States at the various for
eign' counts. They We're enunciated by all the mem
beis of the Cabinet in their annual reports. They
were announced at the head of our armies by pro-
clamatiOns of commanding generals. They were
solemnly affirmed by both Houses of Congress in
formal resolves and in other ways. They were Ie-
cognized and adopted by state Legislatures, by po'
litical conventions, by leading citizens, by the en-
tire press of the country. And finally they were re-
affirmed by the great National Convention of Balti-
more, in May, 1864, and by the nation at large the
November following, in the almost unanimous cleo
ton of Lincoln and Johnson for President and Vice
President of the United States.
Upon these principles the Federal authority tri-
umphed. This is the record. No revolution was
made. No other civil authority than that of the
United States was recognized. Nothing was done
or permitted upon which could be based 4 legal as
sertion of the right of any other government, in the
consideration Of nations, on the principles of public
law, over that of the Government of the United
States. What further proof is necessary to demon
strate that the Union was not relinquished -! or that
the Confederate States never, for a mement, held a
status which implied capacity TO be the recipient OF
sovereignty
Mr.. c. then sketched the action of Congress during
the first two years of the war, (when lie was a men,
Der of the body,) adverting with some PARTICULARLY
to the opinions held and the course pursued by him
self at the time. He then proceeded:
--a.-a - . N.Iaa tLA Recommendation Nran ENn ~ e |