Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-06
VOLUME XVII.

/ The party which, under the ironical des
ignation of the National Union party, now
proposes to take the policy and character
of Mr.. johnson under it's charge, is com
posed chiefly of Democrats defeated at the
polls, and Democrats defeated on the field
of battle. The few apostate Republicans
who have joined its ranks, while seeming
to lead its organization, are of small ac
count. Its great strength is in its South
ern supporters, and, if it comes into power
it must obey rebel direction. BY the
treachery Of the President it will have the
Executive patronage on its side, for Mr.
Johnson's conscience is of that particu
lar kind which finds satisfaction in array
ing the interest OF others against their con-
victions and having thus the power to
purchase support, it will not fail of those
means of dividing the North which come
from corrupting it. The party under which
the war for the Union was conducted is to
be denounced and prescribed as the party
of disunion, and we are to be edited by
addresses on the indissolube unity of the
nation by secessionists, who have hardly
yet had time to wash from their hands the
stains Of Union blood. The leading propo-
sition on which this conspiracy against the
|
absurdity that the rebel States have an in-
herent, d" continuous" unconditional, con-
stitutional right to form a part of the Fed
eral Government, when they have once &C
knowledged the fact of the defeat of their
inhabitants in an armed attempt to over
throw and subvert it-a proposition which
implies that victory paralyzes the powers
of the victors f; that ruin begins when sue
cess is assured that the only effect of
beating a Southern rebel in the field is to
exalt him into maker of laws for his an
| tagoni It.
In the minority report of the congress
slOnal Joint Committee on Reconstruction,
which is designed to supply the new party
with constitutional law, this theory Of
State rights is most elaborately presented
The ground is taken that during the rebel
lion the States in which it prevailed were
as completely competent States of the
| United States as they were before the re-
bellion, and were bound by all the obliga-
tions which the Constitution imposed, and
entitled to all its privileges" and that the
rebellion consisted merely in series of
illegal acts of the citizens of such States
! On this theory it is difficult to find where
the guilt of rebellion lies. The States are
innocent, because the rebellion was rising
of individuals the individuals cannot be
very criminal, for it is on their votes that
the committee chiefly rely to build up the
National Union party. Again, we are in
! formed that in respect to the admission of
representatives from "such States Con-
gress has no right or power to ask more
than two questions These are Have
| these States organized governments Are
| these governments republican in form 2"
The committee proceed to say How they
were formed, under what auspices they
were formed, are inquiries with which Con-
| gress has no concern. The right of the
people to form government for themselves
has never been questioned" On this prin-
| ciple President Johnson's labors in organ
| izing State governments were works of SUI
pererogation. At the close of active hos
tilities the rebel States had organized,
| though disloyal, governments as republican
in form as they were before the war broke
out. The only thing, therefore, they were
| required to do was to send their Senators
and Representatives to Washington. Con-
gress could not have rightfully refused to
receive them, because all questions as to
their being loyal or disloyal, and as to the
changes which the war had wrought in the
relation of the States they represented to
the Union, were inquiries with which Con-
gress had no concern. And here again we
have the ever-recurring difficulty respect
ing the individuals who were alone
guilty of the acts of rebellion. "The
right of the people," we are assured, "to
form a government for themselves has new
er been questioned" But it happens that
the people" here indicated are the very
individuals who were before pointed out as
alone responsible for the rebellion. In the
exercise of their right "to form govern
ment for themselves they rebelled and
now, it seems, by the exercise of the same
right they can unconditionally return
| There is no wrong anywhere it is all
fright" The people are first made crimi-
nails in order to exculpate the States, and
then the innocence of the States is used to
exculpate the people. When we see such
| outrages on common sense gravely perpe-
trated by so eminent a lawyer as the one
who drew up the committees report, one is
almost inclined to define minds as Of two
kinds, the legal mind and the human mind,
and to doubt if there is any possible con-
nection in reason between the two. To
! the human mind it appears that the FEEDER
! al government mas spent tnlrty-nVe nun
dred millions of dollars, and sacrificed
three hundred thousand lives, in a contest
which the legal mind dissolves into mere
mist of unsubstantial phrases and by
skill in the trick of substituting words for
things, and definitions for events, the legal
mind proceeds to show that these words
and definitions, though scrupulously shield
ed from any contact with realities, are suf-
fcient to prevent the nation from taking
ordinary precaution against the recurrence
of calamities fresh in its bitter experience.
The phrase State rights" translated from
legal into human language, is found to
mean the power to commit wrongs on indi-
viduals who States may desire to oppress,
or the power to protect the inhabitants of
States from the consequences of their own
crimes. The minority of the committee i'll
deed, seem to have forgotten that there has
been any real war, and bring to mind the
converted Australian savage whom the
missionary could not make penitent for a
murder committed the day before, because
the triiiing occurrence had altogether pass
ed from his recollection.
In fact, all attempts to discriminate be-