The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-10-23
The Present Political Contest.


The Present Political Contest.
In stating the issue upon which the con-
test in New York mainly hinges, the radical
organ repudiates the resolution of Congress
passed almost unanimously three days after
the disaster Of Bull Run. 1t now charges the
conservative party with seeking to accomp-
lish what Congress solemnly avowed to be the
object Of the war which, when the avowed
object should be accomplished, was to cease
1t says-the democrats ard conservatives
insist that the Rebels, from the moment
that they were compelled by Grant and Sher-
man to lay down their arms, had a perfect
right to resume all the power and privileges
in the Union, which they renouncel aud re-
linquished by secession and treason Here is
an admission, that the acts of secession of the
Southern States were valid aud effectual in
their renunciation and REIMBURSEMENT of all
their power and privileges in the Union or, in
other words, that the South accomplished her
purpose in the effort to separate herself from
the Union. But this was always denied by
Congress and the Government, during the ad-
ministration of Mr.. Lincoln, and now by his
successor in Office 1t was doctrine which
the recent letter Of Judge Bates shows was
utterly repudiated as unconstitutional, and
therefore untenable, and was not held, as
Judge Bates tells US in his recent letter, by
any Republican. Indeed, had the doctrine
cd hot ba INV,
renounce and relnquish all the power and
privileges to which She was entitled in the
UnrUn, UIrct0 ovt,,a ii Aaaitsnad M,
reason for resistance by the Government. But
it was because it was held that she could not
so separate herself from the Union, and thus
renounce such power and privileges that it
was deemed necessary to resist her attempt
to do SO. And having defeated that attempt,
the South having laid down her arms and
abandoned all resistance, and peace having
been declared by the. Executive as prevalent
between the contending parties, the position
of the South, according to the theory of Con-
gress, becomes politically or relatively to the
Onion, that which she occupied previous to
her acts of secession. So that the radicals,
who are now opposing the admission of the
representatives of the South, and the full en-
ioyment of her "power and privileges" in
the Union, occupy precisely the position
which the South took in passing her acts Of
secesslon-because they admit, by their pre-
sent course, that the South succeeded in her
REIMBURSEMENT of her "power and privileges
in the Union, which the South conceived she
did when she passed her acts of secession
But not only are the radicals opposed to The
doctrine upon which was based resistance to
the claim of the South to renounce and re-
linquish" her "power and privileges in the
Union" they also repudiate the resolution
of Congress passed in 1861, after the disaster
of Bull RIM, as we have stated in the COM
mencement of this paper
That resolution is in accordance with the
position of those who, in the canvass in New
York, as the radical organ states, "insist that
the rebels have perfect right to resume all
the power and privileges in the Union which
they renowned and relinquished by secession
and treason" Why, the right to renounce
them by the South was never and has never
yet been admitted The radicals in Congress
never admitted it,
How then can the right to resume be refu-
sed when the right to renounce has never been
admitted The conservative party in NewYork
and elsewhere simply stand upon the ground
embraced by the resolution Of Congress itself
when the Republican party and the radical
wing were all powerful. And that resolution
proclaimed then what the radicals now repu-
date-"that the present deplorable civil
war has been forced upon the country-that
in this National emergency, Congress, ban
ishing all feelings of mere passion or resent
ment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
country-that this war is not prosecuted on
Our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for
The purpose Of conquest or subjugation, nor
for tie purpose Of o0e,Ad'o~ing or interfering
2rih the rights or established Institutions of
those States, but to defend and maintain the
supremacy OF the Constitution and all laws
made in pursuance thereof, and to prese,Ve The
Union with all the dignity, equality, and
rights of the several States unimpaired"