The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-02-27

| cOutn can settle tDlS Que6LlOn IN efgnt anC
forty houn." Isaid again and again. and
repeat it now, "Disband your armies in the
South, acknowledge ahs SUPREMACY. of the
Constitution of the United States, acknowl
edge the duty OF obedienee +, the laws and
the whole question is setled." (Applsuse.
What has been done since9a Their armies
have been disbanded, and they come forward
row ina proper spirit, and say, "We were
mistaken. We made IN effort TO carry ou,
the doctrine Of secession, and to dissolve thii
Union. In that we have failed. We have
traced this doctrine to its logical and physi
cal results, and we find that We were mista
ken. We acknowledge the Gag of our coun
try, and are willing TO obey the Constitution
and to yield to the supremacy Of the laws. y
[Grest applause. Coming in that spirit
say 70 them, When you have complied viii
the requirements ofthe Constitution, when you
have yielded to the law, when you have acknow
ledged your allegiance to the Constitution,
! will, so far as l can, open the door Of the
Union to those who had erred and strayed
FROM the fold Of their fathers for time.
! [Great applause.
have? | shall not repeat the story of the
wrongs and sufferings inflicted upon me- The
spirit Of revenge is not the spirit in which te
deal with . whole people. | know there hsl
been great deal said about the exercise Of
the perdoning power. So far as your Execo.
tive is concerned there is no one who has
labored with more earnestness than myself to
have the principal intelligent and conscious
traitors brought to justice, the law vindicated
aud the great fact judciously established thai
treason is q crime. [Applause.] But while
conscious, leading, and Intelligent traitors are
to be punished, should whole communitie,
and States and peoples be made to submit to
the penalty of death? ('No, no."] l have
/ perhaps IS much ssperity and as much re-
sentiment az men ought to have, but We mus,
reason in great matters of government about
man as he il. We must conform our actions
and our conduct TO the example of Him who
founded our holy religion. Not that would
any personal respect. came into this place
under the Constitution Of my country, and BY
/ the appreciation Of the people, and what did
find? found eight millions of people who
were, in fact, condemned under the law, and
/ the penalty was death. Was to yield to the
| spirit of revenge and resentment, and declare
that they should all be annihilated and de-
stroyed? How different would this have been
from the example set by the holy Founder oi
our religion, the extremes of whose divine
arch rests upon the horizon. and whose span
embraces the universe. He who founded
this great sehcue came into the world and
found man condemned under the law, and his
J sentence was death; what was his examplel
Instead OF putting the world or even a nation
to death, be died upon the cross, attesting by
his wounds and his blood that he died tha,
mankind might i've. Great appIausel Let
those who have erred repent: let them ac-
knowledge their aleeiance; let them become
7 III aal. Il
/ glorious stripes and stars. and OF the Consii.
tuition of our country. Let the leaders, the
! conscious, intelligent traitors, be punished,
and be subjected To the penalties of the law.
lApplause. But to the great mass who have
been forced into this rebellion. in many in.
stances, and in others, have been misled,
say leniency, kindness, trust and confidence.
! (,ireat applause
+ NJ Mycountrymen, when look back over the
/ history of the rebellion, am not vain when
ask you If have not gwen as much evidence
( Of my devotion to the Union as some who
croak a great deal about it7 When look
back over the bat,lefelds of the rebellion,
think of the many brave men in whose com.
I pany / was. l can not but recollect that
was sometimes in places where the contest
was most difficult, and the result most doubt.
/ full. But almost before the smoke has passed
shed has done reeking, before the bodies oi
the slain have passed through the stages Of
decomposition, what do we now find? The
rebellion has been pnt down by the strong
arm of the Government in the field; but il
that the only way in which you can have re-
bellion1 Our struggle was against an at
tempt to dissever the Union; but almost be-
fore the smoke Of the battlefield has passed
away, before our brave men have returned to
their homes and renewed the ties of affection
and love to their wives and their children, We
find almost another rebellion inaugurated.
We pot down the former rebellion in order to
prevent the separation of the States, to pre-
vent them from flying of, and thereby chang
ing the character of our Government, and
weakening its power; but when that struggle
on our part has been successful, and that at
tempt has been put down, We find now an eff
fort to concentrate all power in the hands OF
few at the Federal head, and thereby bring
about consolidation of the Government
which is equally Objectionable with separa-
ton. Voclferous applause.l
We find that powers are assumed and at
tempted TO be exercised of a most extraordi-
nary character. 1t seems that governments
may be revolutionized, governments at least
may be changed. without going through the
strife OF battle. l believe it Is fact, attested
in history, that sometimes revolutions most
disastrous to the people are effected without
the shedding of blood. The substance of your
government may be taken away, while the
form and the shadow remain TO you. What
is now being proposed We find that in point
of fact nearly all the powers of the Govern
ment are assumed by an irresponsible Central
Directory, which does not even consult the
legislative or the executive department of the
Government, by resolutions reported from a
Committee, in whom it seems that, practically
the legislative power Of the Government is
now vested; that great principle Of the Con
stltution which authorizes and empowers each
branch of the legislative department of the
Senate and the House of Representatives to
Judge for itself Of the election, returns, and
quaiifcations Of its own members has been
virtually taken away from the two branches OF
the Legislative department Of the Government
and conferred upon committee who must
report before either House can act under the
Constitution as TO accepting the. members who
are to take their seats as competent parts OF
the respective bodies By this rule it is as
sumed that there must be laws passed recog-
nizing State rs in the Union, or its practical
relations to The Union as restored. before the
respective Honses under the Constitution can
Judge of the election, returns, and qualifca-
tons Of their own members. What position
is that You struggled for iolr years to put
down rebellion. ! on denied in the begin
ming OF the struggle that any State could 60
out of the Union: sYoa nid that it had neither
the right nor the power to do 20. The issue
was made, and it has been settled that the
States had neither the right nor the power to
70 out Of the Union. With what eonsisten.
cy, after it has been settled BY the military
arm of the Government and by the public
Judgment that the States had no right TO 90
out of the Union, can any one now turn round