The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1866-10-04

orately presented. The ground is tax
en-, that during the Rebellion the States
4 ia which it prevailed were as complete
. ly competent States ofthe United States
as they were before the Rebellion, and
were bound by alrthOobigalions which
the Constitution imposed, and entitled
to all its prisileges,s land that the Re-
belion consisted merely in series Of
"ilIegal acts Of the citizens of such
States" On this theory it is difficult to
fad where the guilt Of rebellion lies
The States are Innocent because, the Re
belion was rising Of individuals the
individuals cannot be very criminal, for
itsis one ofatbeif votes thatsthe-comnlit-
tee rely chiefly to build up the National
Union Party. Again, We are Informed
that, in respect to the admission Of rep
resentatives from such States" Con
gresS has no right or power to ask more
than tive questions These are H'liave
these States organized governments?
Are these governments republican in
f0nn1T The committee proceedgto say:
'Howthey were formed, Undcrwhat
auspices they werefonned, are inquiries
With which Congress has no, copcern.
Therightlo loEthe. >peopleto form agov-
crnment for themselves has never been
questioned" On this principle, Presi-
dent JohqS6n's qabQrs in Organizing
State governments were works of super
erogation. At the close Of active hos
tilities the Rebel States had organized,
though disloyal governments, as repub-
liean in form as they were before the
war broke out. The only thing, there
fore, they were required to do was to
send their Senator'S and Representatives
to Washington, Congress could not
have lightfupy refused TO receive them,
because all questions as to their beng
loyal or disloyal, and as to the changes
which thewar had wrought in the res
latioaS Of the States they Represented to
the Union, were inquiries with which
Congress. had no concern! And here
again We have the ever-recurring diff
Guilty respecting the. individuals" who
were alone guilty of the acts Of REBEL
ion. ."The rights of the people, We
are assured "to form government for
themselves, has never been questioned "
But it happenstbat ''the people here
indicated are the very individuals who
were before pointed out as lonerespon-
sible for the Rebellion. In the exercise
Of their right "to form government
for themselves" they rebelled; and now
it seems, by the exercise of the same
right they car Internationally return,
There is no wrong anywhere: it is all
"righC" The people are FIRST made
criminals, in order to exculpate the
States, aud then the INNOCENCE of the
States is used to exculpate the people.
When we see such outrages on common
sense grayely perpetrated by so eminent
lawyer as the ono who drew up the
commihee's Report, onei is almost in
cIined to define mind as of two kinds
thelegal nhnd and The human mind, ,and
to doubt if there is any possible connec,
ton in reason between the two. TO the
human mind il appears that the Fedora
government has spent thirty-fye hun.
dred millions OF dollars, and sacrificed
three hundred thousand lives, in con.
test which the legal mind dissolves into
a mere mist Of unsubstantlal phrases
and by skin in the trick Of substituting
words for things, and definitions fOl
events, the legal mind proceeds to show
that these words and definitions, though
scrupulously shielded from any contact
with realities, are sufficient to prevent the
nation from taking ordinary precautions
against The recurrence of calamitlesiresl
in its bitter experience. The phrase
"State Rights" translated from lega
into human language, is found to mean
the power TO commit wrongs on indi.
viduals, whom States may desire to ex'
press, or the power to protect the in.
habitants ofStates from the consequences
OF their own crimes. The minority oI
the committee, indeed, seem to have
forgotten that there has been any reaI
war, and bring to mind the converted
Australian savage, whom the mission
ary could not make penitent for a mur,
der committed tho day before, because
the trihng occurrence had altogether
passed from his,reOollection,
In fact, all attempts to discriminate
between Rebels and Rebel States, to the
advantage of the latter, are done in de-
fance OF notorious facts lfthe Rebel
ion had been merely rising ofindvid-
ual citizens of States, it would have been
an insurection against the States, as
well as against the Federal government,
and might have been easily put down.
In that case, there would have boen no
withdrawal of Southern Senators and
| Representatives from Congress, and
therefore no question as to their inherent
right to return, In Missouri and Ken.
lucky, for example, there was civil war,
waged by the inhabitants Of those States
against their local governments, ns well
as against the United States; and nobody
contendsthat the, rights and privileges
of those States were forfeited by the
eriminal acts Of their citizens But the
real strength of tue Rebellion consisted
in this, that it was not a rebellion
against States, but 4 rebellion by States,
No loose assemblage Of individuals,
though numbering hundreds Of thous.