The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-09-01
Gov. cox Ar coLumBus, ONO

Il = y 81
4 structiye extracts from speech recently deliv-
cred by Gov. Cox, at Columbus Ohio. Gov
! Cox acquitted himself with marked distinc-
ton in the late war. He is known as a
moderate Republican. We are glad to find
him standing firmly by the great party that
saved the Union:
But what shall the terms be ? Here we
leave the general principle and descend to
practical detail, and here, as was inevitable,
differences of opinion arise. There were able
men among us who regarded the rebellion
and its subsection as favorable epoch grant
ed by Providence to give us the opportunity
of bringing the Constitution of the General
Government and of all the States to ideal
perfection at one swift bound. There were
others who believed that the changes made
should be the fewest which could possibly
consist with the revolution in the social sys-
tenn and the domestic institution of the
South made bv the war. Between these there
would of course be many shades of opinion,
and discussion and comparison of views ne
cessarilv preceded any general concert to any
policy whatever 1 shall not stop to inquire
whether the period of debate has been I'M
necessarily prolonged, for see no good to
result from such inquiry, and no important
influence it could have upon the discrlml-
nation ofour present duty. For the same
| reason I shall not discuss the spirit with
which the debate has been conducted, nor
ask whether one or another has 1ndulged IN
improper acrimony or blameable license of
speech I must, however, express regret
that what appears to be purely practical
question of detail, should have led into
discussion. almost entirely the oretic, of the
| powers and authorities of different depart
ments of the government over the subject OF
restoration or reconstruction. The constitu-
tional history of Great Britain is made up
| of an interminable series of disputes about
legislative privilege or executive preroga-
tive, and no other class of quarrels has pro-
ven so bitter and so passionate. The opera
ton of our Government in peaceful times is
so well regulated by our written Constitu-
| ton that such controversies cannot we'll
arise 1t is only in an anomalous and revO-
lutionary time that they become possible,
and for this very reason they ought not to
occur at all. If the terms on which the re-
bellion is ended and the country restored to
peace are acceptable to the loyal people of
the country, and so acceded as to be binding
upon all concerned, we need not care cop
per who began, conducted, or ended the pro-
cess. No examples to be set that may be dam
gerous in the future, because like circum-
stances cannot occur, and it would be nom
sense to attempt to provide for them if they
could Revolutions make no precedents.-
When they come, they break through all
rules and in your modes of dealing with
them it is impossible to reduce them to the
form of any statute, for g in such case'' there
is none I" made and provided" Let the peo-
pie be satisfied that the terms ofsettlement
are right, and accepted by the South SO as
to be binding, and they will make short
work of all debates of the kind 1 have spo-
ken of. They will pass the same Judgment
upon such wars of words as a celebrated old
English divine passed upon the discussion
of forms of worship, when he inquired what
they We're confending for: For religion ?
no for the body of religion not so much
for the garment of the body of religion no,
not for so much but for the fringes of the
garment of the body of religion ~
Let us then put away all these questions
about = tringes," and come practically to the
- body of the subject at least, asking what
terms have been proposed for the settlement
of our controversy with the South, and how
these plans or policies differ. Looking at the
matter in the order of time, we find the Pres
ident of the United States. soon after the
of Lee and johnson, indicating the
terms on which he would favor the restora-
ton of the political status of the Southern
people. He demanded of them, first, abso-
lutte submission to the authority as the Fed
eral Government second, the adoption of
the amendment to the Constitution abolish
ing slavery; third, the reputation of the
debts incurred by the South in prosecuting
the war against the Government fourth,
equal protection by law for the civil and
personal rights of the freedmen. By the
of amnesty large classes of per-
sons whose responsibility for the rebellion
was supposed to be greatest were left under
the penalties of the law, and were not reiev
ed of any of the disabilities they had incur
red. 1t is a noteworthy fact that the Presi-
dent demanded also the acceptance of these
conditions in the form which was at that
time the strongest that could be precribed;
namely, by the change of the Federal Con-
stitution so far as preliminary steps had then
been taken by Congress for its amendment,
and in the other cases by the change
of the constitutions of the several States
themselves. In short the doctrine was dis
tinctly and emphatically recognized that ''ir-
reversible guarantees should be given for the
observance Of the terms imposed. Had the
| hirty- eighth Congress embodied all these
in an amendment to the United
States Constitution as they did that OF the
abolition of slavery, it is impossible to enter
tain doubt that the President would have
insisted upon that form ratifying and qua
the whole 1t is moreover notori-
)us, and l believe it is not questioned, that
the administration plan involved the prob
able demand, through the legal forms, of the
equitable adjustment ofthe representation of
JIG Sch cIdl oCdtcS III SouSICoS. 1HcSC wv
other propositions, viz continuing disabili-
5ies for leading rebels, and equalization of
representation, properly make part of the
programme ofrestoration, and
nav therefore be numbered as the 9Th and
5th in the series.
II we turn to the plan and policy adopted
by the Union party of Ohio, in its State Con-
vcntion, we shall fnd Ito the establishment
Of some perhaps) that these identical terms
are embodied in it and constitute its essence.
If there IS any difference whatever it is in
form and not substance. The whole 6 may
be there enumerated in order: l. submission
to law ;2,abolition ofslavery ; 8, Reputation
of rebel debt ; 4, protection of freedmen 5,
of rebel leaders, and 6, equal
ization of representation. The tally is COM
plete And not only they all there, but
they are all that there. Will it be OBJ
jected that these terms are embodied in the
form of an amendment to the Federal Con-
stitution The answer is plain and conclu-
siye that if the Southern States in good faith
are willing to accept such terms as a fnality,
L