The tri-weekly standard., 1866-06-12
OF SECURITY FOR THE
FUTURE NECESSARY.
THE REBEL STATES NOT ENTITLED TO REP
RESERVATION IN CONGRESS.

The following is the report of the
Committee on Reconstruction, submit
ted in the Honse and Senate yester-
day:
The joint committee of the two houses
of Congress, appointed under the con-
current resolution ofDecemher l3, 1865,
with direction ''to inquire into the con-
dition of the States which formed the
so-called Confederate States of America
and report whether they or any of them
are entitled to be represented in either
house of Congress, with leave to report
by bill or otherwise" ask leave to re-
port:
That they have attended to the duty
assigned them as assiduously as other
duties would permit, and now submit
to Congress as the result Of their delib-
erations resolution proposing amend
ments to the Constitution, and two bills,
of which they recomend the adoption.
Before proceeding to set forth in de-
tail their reasons for the conclusion to
which, after great deliberation, your
committee have arrived, they beg leave
to advert, briefly, to the course of pro-
ceedings they found it necessary to
adopt, and to explain the reasons there
for.
The resolutions under which your
committee was appointed directed them
to inquire into the condition of the Con-
federate States, and report whether they
were entitled to representation in Con-
gress. 1t is obvious that such an inves-
tigation, covering so large an extent of
territory, and involving so many i'm
portant considerations, must necessarily
require no trifiing labor, and consume
very considerable amount Of time
! 1t must embrace tie condition in which
those States were left at the close of the
war; the measures which have been ta-
ken toward the organization of civil
government, and the disposition of the
people toward the United States; in a
word, their fitness to take an active part
in the administration of national af-
fairs.
AS to their condition at the close of
the rebellion, the evidence is open to
all, and admits of no dispute. They
were in state of utter exhaustion.
Having protracted their struggle against
Federal authority until all hope of sue
cessful resistance had ceased, and laid
down their arms only because there was
Ilo pow Sl " uSC liIS
people Of those States were left bank
rupt in their public finances, and shorn
Of the private wealth which had before
given them power and influence. They
were also necessarily in state of com
plete anarchy, without governments,
and without the power to frame govern
ments, except by the permission of
those who had been successful in the
war. The President of the United
States, in the proclamations under
which he appointed provisional govern
ors, and in his various communications
to them, has i'll exact terms, recognized
the fact that the people of those States
were, when the rebellion was crushed,
''deprived Of all civil government, and
must proceed to organize anew" In
his conversation with Mr.. Stearns, of
Massachusetts, certified by himselfPresi
dent johnson said: "1he State insti-
tutions are prostrated, laid out on the
ground, and they must be taken up and
adapted to the progress of events.'
Finding the Southern States in this
condition., and Congress having failed to
provide for the contingency, his duty
was obvious. AS President of the Uni
ted States he had no power, except to
execute the laws of the land as Chief
Magistrate. These laws gave him no
authority over the subject of reorgani-
zation, but by the Constitution he was
Commander-in-chief of the army and
navy of the United States These Con-
tederate States embraced a portion of
the people OF the Union who had been
in state Of revolt, but had been re-
duced to obedience by force of arms.
They were in an abnormal condition,
without civil government, without COM
mercial connections, without national
or international relations, and subject
only to martial law. By Withdrawing
their representation in Congress, by
renouncing the privilege of representa-
ton, by organizing a separate govern
ment, and by levying war against the
United States, they destroyed their
State constitutions in respect to the vi
tai principle which connected their re-
spective States with the Union, and sew
cred their federal relations and nothing
of those constitutions was left of which
the United States were bound to take
notice. For four years they had de
.tdcto government, but it was usurped
and illegal. They chose the tribunal of
arms wherein to decide whether OF not
it should be legalized, and they were
defeated. AT the close of the rebellion,
therefore, the people Of the rebellious
States were found, as the President ex-
presses it, deprived of all civil govern
ment.
Under this state of affairs it was plain
ly the duty of the President to enforce
existing national laws, and to establish,
as far as he could, such system ofgov-