The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-01-04
Inaugural Address of Gov. Fairebid.

sworn in and assumed the duties of their
respective offices, on Monday evening last
Gov. Fairchild, after taking the oath of Of
flee and being duly installed, delivered the
following address:
Fellow CITIZENS; In entering upon the
discharge OF the duties of the high Office to
" hich | have been so recently elected bv the
people, | fully appreciate its responsibilities,
and in the discharge of its duties | shall
earnestly endeavor to execute faithfully the
the trust committed to my care; to honestly
enforce the laws of the State and to careful
y exercise the closest economy, consistent
with the public good, in the expenditure of
public money.
More important duties and graver re-
sponsibilties have devolved upon my i'm
mediate predecessors than will ever again
fall to the lot of the Executive of this State
10 the people,i it will ever be source of sat
istaction, that during the trials and dangers
of civil strife their Chief Magistrates have,
by their energy, ability and experience, so
managed the affairs Of the Commonwealth
as not only TO reflect credit upon themselves
but to place the State they have SO ably rep
resented among the foremost of its sister
State in rallying its force to the defense of
the Republic
With the return of peace, much of re-
sponsibility and care has passed away. The
marshaling Of armed forces is already thing
of the past. The great army of million of
men, the like of which the world had never
seen, in a little more than half year has
dwindled into comparative handful The
transition from the citizen to the soldier was
not half so rapid, nor half so wonderful, as
has been the transition from the soldier to
the citizen. The citizen soldier has become
the plain citizen, and as the former has new
er been wanting in the discharge of his mil
ltary duties, so we know that the latter
will ever be equal to the responsibilities and
cares of civil life The people of this State
will ever remember with pride that they
have so nobly answered the calls of the
General Government for men. Over ninety
thousand of Wisconsin's sous have gone to
the front, and whatever of danger Union
soldiers have risked, whatever privations
they have endured, whatever honors they
have won, the soldiers of this State have
fully shared. "a
AS they were good citizens at home, SO
they made good soldiers abroad, and where
ever the flag of the Union has gone, there
have gone Wisconsin regiments, carrying
with them and maintaining everywhere a
reputation for loyalty and bravery unsur-
passed. Loving hands have ministered to
the comfort of the sick and wounded
loving hearts mourn the loss of over ten
thousand of our brave boys who have gone
down to death in defence of their country.
| With the close of civil war, however, all
. i l. I
responsibilities ceased. Great political
problems still remain unsolved, and their So
luton requires not only the exercise of the
calmest Judgment and the keenest oiscrim-
ination of our greatest and best public men,
but also the earnest thought, and the un-
wearied effort, and the honest purpose of all
the intelligent citizens of the Republic
Two great and important questions have
already been determined by the late war.
The right of secession SO strenously claimed
by the people of the South, and so vigorous
ly maintained by their arms for more than
four yesrs, has been forever decided against
them; and from this Judgment, obtained by
the Union army at the point of the bayonet
there is no appeal
He who shall hereafter claim for any State
the right to withdraw from the Union, eth
er peaceably or forciby, will be a bold, bad
man, unworthy of the high privileges be-
slowed upon him by the Gnvernment, and
undeserving of the protection of its laws
The national unity has heen fully demon
strated, and the national honor fully vindi-
Gated, by the armed power of theR Govern
ment, and those who sought to divide and
destroy the country have been compelled TO
bow their heads before the majesty of the
law, and, on Bonded knees, ask pardon for
their crime. 7t'~
The verdict of the American people is,
that any attempt to right fancied or real
grievance by force of arms is treason, and
they ask, as they have the right to ask, that
the highest judicial tribunal in the land
shall give expression to that verdict by
trial upon a charge of that high crime, in &C
cordance with law, of the chief representa-
tive of the rebellion, AS the man vino stood
before the world as the acknowledged lead
er OF the traitors Not until Jefferson Da-
Wis shall have been tried, convicted and
hing for treason, and the fact that treason
is crime which cannot be committed with
IMMUNITY, shall have thus been fully demon
strated. will the people be fully content.
The slave holding interest of the country
and that alone, had the will and the power
to attempt the disruption of the Union, and
as the doctrine of secession grew out of
slavery, so the desire of the STAKEHOLDER to
establish that doctrine, and his power to
maintain it, came fromSth same source
The success of one was the success of the |
other; the failure of one-the failure of
both.
Slavery and treason died together so that
the American people, when they executed
Judgment upon the alleged right of seces-
sion, also determined that this great Repub-
lie could not and should not longer exist
half slave and half free. 3sa
The American people bave decreed. and
10y the force of arms have demonstrated.
tht the Union is one and indivisibIe: that
its people, of whatever race or color, shall
be forever free.
1t now devoles upon us to see to it. that
the freedom so established shall be some
thing more than mere name. 1t must be
so broad and comprehensive as to include |
its privileges and rights all races and
colors' and must be so guarded by, and |
hedged In with, constitutional enactments,
that no person, not even the highest in the
land, can with IMMUNITY trample upon the
sacred, natural rights of the humblest citi-
zen' whatever may be that citizens creed or
color
Congress has already SO amended the
Constitution that slavery can no longer
have an existence in the land. That amend
Inent has been ratified by three-fourths of
the sovereign States of the Republic and I
has now become part of the Constitution
itself
1t as enduring and as sacred as any
part of that great charter of American
rights; bat something yet remains to be
done to make it reach, with all its beneficial |
effects the class for whom it was intend
ed.
Special enactments must be passed for
the benefit of the freedman to protect him
against the oppression of his late MASTER
Whatever he earns should be absolutely his