Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-06-06
Wow. ot..s.,st bI..r .asiks s'~


subjoined resolution, accompanied and
followed " the remarks given herewith
Mr.. Dixon-Mr. President, l ask leave
to give notice Of my intention to offer, by
way of amendment, to the bill and reso-
lutons reported by the joint committee on
reconstruction, and as a substitute there
for, the following joint resolution:
"Resoired by the Senate and House Of
Representatives. Of tho United States Of
America IN Congress assembled, That the
interests of peace and the interests Of the
Union require the admission of every
State to its share in public legislation
whenever it presents itself, not only IN an
attitude Of loyalty and harmony, but in
persons OF representatives whose loyalty
cannot be questioned under any constitu.
tional or legal test"
I ask the consent of the Senate to say o
few words in explanation Of my views on
the subject a.
What the country expected from Con-
gress was q practical scheme for Fastening
the re-establishment Of all the States in
their full constitutional relations. This
report produces q plan which must inevi-
tably put off this end, SO strongly desired
and demanded. Does any one believe
that the Southern States will accept the
proposed constitutional amendments Ger
tainly they will decline. They will say,
"Let US see what the next elections in the
North develops. This Congress may
recommend the amendment; the mex
Congress, which is to be chosen in the fall
of the present year, and which may meet
on the 9th of March, 1867, may be Of a
different mind. It may repeal all that
this Congress has enacted we had better
wait"
The restoration of the States to their
practical relation in the Union" as Mr..
Lincoln happily phrased It, is therefore
put off, II this report is accepted, for at
least another year; and the practical re-
suit Of the labors Of the Reconstruction
Committee will DO to have made up q
platform on which those who choose to
stand upon it may 60 before the country
at the fall election. This is all; and, in
our judgment, that is not enoughto satisfy
the country.
1t is hardly worth while to discuss the
merits Of measures which TO be valid must
be accepted by communities which are
sure 10 reject them but we may remark
that it is not probable so heavily taxed
and SO poor a people as those Of the
Southern States will assume the payment
of the enorm and was.efully contracted
rebel debt, and that no party would ever
dare to 90 before the people Of this
try with o. proposition for the United
States to assume this debt, whose certi6-
Gates are held chiefly by foreign specula-
tors upon our national ruin. Further,
that it is scarcely probable the people who
have a majority in the South will volun-
,aril5 d~isfranchise themselves ; and that
the extremes to which partisan passions
have been inaamed'i in Tennessee by the
Acknowledgement Of the greater part Of the
population there, does not encourage prac-
teal men to look for the fruits Of peace
from such a policy enforced elsewhere.
Even the Reconstruction Committee &C.
knowledged that 'it 10 e~xpedient that the
States lately in instruction should, at the
earliest day consistent with the future
peace and safety Of the Union, be restored
to full participation in all political rights"
| Now, wha, have we already to " secure
future peace and safety: !" It the first
place. we have the Civil Rights act, under
which any citizen who is denied justice
by local or State Courts us empowered to
| appeal to the Uuited States Court, which
is commanded, with all its machinery, to
interfere in his behalf, and il necessary, to
use the military power Of the United
States to secure him justice. Surely no
citizen need suffer wrong while this act
remains. In the next place, we have a
form Of oath, prescribed by Congress,
which makes it impossible for any one
who voluntarily engaged in rebellion to
enter Congress or to hold any Federal
office without committing perjury, for
which he may and ought to be indicted
and punished. Finally, we have the
Freedmen's Bureau for o whole year, dur
ing which, with a wise and conciliatory
policy, we may hope the labor question in
the South will assume something of its
normal condition.
But let US not forget, on the other hand,
the dangers which attend impracticable
measures. Suppose, going before the
people on this platform, built by the Con-
gr~essional Committee, we are beaten. In
that event we may be sure that the next
| Congress will not only refuse to make the
demands which this one makes, but it will
most probably repeal the Civil Rights act
and the test oath; and thus our own i'm
prudence will have sacrificed the great OBJ
jects we have already gained.
The amendment proposed is fright enough
if the reconstruction committee can get
any Southern State to accept It. But un-
less they do 80, 1t is Of course only q shot
in the air, which may be right and true.
| but will hit nowhere-unlcss indeed il
falls upon the heads Of the gunners. Is it
not far wiser for Congress to mako sure Of
what i, has done; to cry Enough for this
time;" to be content that it has secured
the supremacy Of law and justice in all our
territory ; and to admit at once to their
seats all Representatives and Senators who
can take the prescribed oathsi
One Congress cannot bring about the
millennium there are years to come in
which we may all join upon a platform Of
larger liberty, and argue the questions and
urge the reforms which still remain. For
| this time we have reason to be content ;
for we have put down armed resistance to
the laws, and Congress has given US, in
the Civil Rights Act, q guarantee for free
speech in every part Of the Union. It is
our own fault II, having thus secured the
right to argue, we do not enlighten preju-
dice and mere opposition, and show that
equal liberty is the best for all"
What I have read seems to me so wise
and just, that I have adopted il rs the best
expression whichr1 can makeof my own
views. It 10 theleading editorial article
in the New York Evening Post Of May /.
a journal which certainly is not excelled
in ability, patriotism, and influence by any
newspaper in this country. Coming from
such a source, I canuotb but hope that these
wise, calm and statesmanlike views may
have some influence even in this body, as
they certainly will have among the intelli-
gent people Of the United States. They
express, in my judgment, the calm and
resolute convictions Of thinking men, and
will, so soon as public opinion can legiti-
mately declare itself, IKE the form and DO
clothed with the authority Of public law.
c.,,.r o,,nySr IA In TuoxAR.-