The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-09-24
ADDRES SIS
of the National Union COmmittee' 10 'ne
American People,
PORTLAND.


American People,
FeUoao Citizens.-Very grave differences hav-
ing arisen between your immedlate represent
tatives in Congress and the fresiueht VINO
owes his position to your votes, we are lmpeli-
ed to ask your attention thereto, and to sug-
lest the duties toyour country which they rem
iler imperative.
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 been
settled or has never been in dispute.
The republic has been desperately assailed
from within, and its very existence seriously
imperiled Thirteen States were claimed as
having withdrawn from the Union, and were
represented for years in hostile congress meet
ing at Richmond. Ten of these States were,
for time, wholly in the power OF hostile
confederacy; the other three partially So Inc
undoubtedly loyal States were repeatedly and
formidably invaded by rebel armies, which were
only expelled after obstinate and bloody bat
ties. Through four years of arduous, desperate
civil strife, the hosts of the rebel coAfederacy
withstood those of the Unoin. Agents of that
confederacy traversed the civilized world, seek
ing allies in their war against the republic and
inciting the rapacious and unprincipled to fit
out armed corsairs to prey upon her commerce
BY State authority, and in the perverted
names Of patriotism and loyalty, hundreds of
thousands of our countrymen were conscripted
into rebel armies and made to fight desperate
ly for our national disruption and ruin And
though, by the blessing of God and the valor
and constancy of our loyal people, the rebel
lion was finally and utterly crushed, it did not
succumb until it had caused the destruction of
more than half a million precious 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?
The claim of the insurgents that they either
now reacquired or had never forfeited their CON
sntutional rights in the Union, including that
OF representation in Congress, stands in point
ed antagonism alike to the requirements of
Congress and to those of the acting President.
1t was the Executive alone who, after the rebel
ION was no more, appointed provisional gov
ernors for the now submissive, unarmed South
ern States, on the assumption that the rebel
lion had been revolutionary" and had depriv-
ed the people under its sway of all civil govern
ment, and who required the assembling of "a
convention, composed of delegates to be chosen
by that portion of the people of said State who
are loyal to the United States, and no others.
for the purpose of altering and amending the
Constitution of said State" 1t was President
johnson who, SO late as October last-when all
shadow of Sc -
long since disappeared insisted that it was
not enough that State which had revolted
must recognize her ordinance of secession az
null and void from the beginning, and ratif,
the constitutional amendment prohibiting slav.
cry evermore, but she must also repudiate 3ey
cry dollar of Indebtedness created to aid in
carrying on the rebellion" 1t was he who or
dered the dispersion by military force of any
legislature chosen under the rebellion which
should assume power to make laws after that
rebellion had fallen. 1t was he who referred
to Congress all inquirers as to the probability
of representatives from the States lately in re-
volt being admitted to seats in either house,
and suggested that they should present their
credentials, not at the organization of Congress,
but afterward. And finally, it was he, and not
of Mississippi, that
IF you could extend the elective franchise
to all persons of color who can read the Con-
sttution OF the United States in English and
write their Names and to all persons of color
who own real estate valued at not less than
SLoo and pay taxes thereon, you would COM
pletely disarm the adversary, and set an EXAM
pie that other States will follow"
If then, there be any controversy as to the
right of the loyal States to exact conditions
and require guarantees of those which plunged
madiy into secession and rebellion, the sup
porters respectively of Andrew johnson and
OF Congress cannot be antagonist parties to
that contest since their record places them on
the same side HF
1t being thus agreed that conditions of res
toration and guarantees against future rebellion
may be exacted of the States lately in revolt.
the right of Congress in prescribing these con-
ditions and in shaping those guarantees is
plainly incontestible. Whether it take the
shape of law or of a constitutional amend
ment, the action of Congress is vital Even if
they were to be settled by treaty, the ratifica-
ton OF the Senate, by two-thirds vote, would
be indispensable There is nothing in the Fed
eral Constitution, nor in the nature of the
case, that countenances an Executive monopo-
ly of this power. L)
What, then, is the ground of complaint
against Congress? -
LIS it 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 blank is the Federal
Constitution touching the treatment of insur
gent States, whether during their fragrant hos
tlity to the Union or after their discontinue.
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 two thirds vote in
either house, just and safe plan of recon-
struction.
Yet that plan has been matured 1t has mass
ed the Senate by SO to IL, and the House by
1873 to Sc. 1t is now fairly before the countrv.
having already been ratified by the legislatures
of several States and rejected by none. Under
it, the State of Tennessee 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 invitngly open to all who still
inger without. .sft.F9
Are the conditions thus prescribed intolera-
BILE, or even humiiatng? They are in sub
stance these
i. All persons born or naturalized in this
country are henceforth citizens of the United
States, and shall enjoy all the rights of citi-
zens evermore; and no State shall have novvar
to eontravene this most righteous and necessa-
ry provision.
III. While the States claim and exercise the
power of denying the elective franchise to a !
part of their people, the weight of each State
in the Union shall be measured by and based
upon its enfranchised population. If any State
shall choose, for no crime, to deny political |
rights to any race or caste, it must no longer
count that race or caste as basis of political
power in the Union. ~-