Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-06-14

50 OHousAfS bAhb tA6 press slioutiJ AllOW
him to enter upon his official duties. II
another State the leading General OF tn,
rebel armies is openly nominated fol
Governor by the Speaker of the House o
Delegates, and the nomination is hsileC
by the people with shouts of satisfaction
and openly endorsed by the press.
Looking still further at the evidence
taken by your Committee, it is found tC
be clearly shown by witnesses of the high.
est character and having the best mean.
of ~informstion, that the Freedmen's Blu,
reau, instituted for the relief and protec-
ton of the freedmen and refugees, is al.
most universally opposed by the mass oI
the population, and in an efficient condi.
ton only under military protection,
while the Union men of the South are
earnest in its defense, declaring in one
voice that without its protection the col
ored people would be unable TO obtain Ia
Dor at fair prices, and could hardly live
in safety. They also testify that without
the protection of the United States troops
Union men, whether of Northern or
Southern birth, would be obliged TO aban-
don their homes. The feeling in many
portions of the country toward emanci-
pated slaves, especially among the uned-
ucated and ignorant, is one of vindictive
and malicious hatred. This deep-seated
prejudice against color is ~assiduously cul-
tivated by the public journals, and leads
to acts OF cruelty, oppression and murder,
which the local authorities are at no pains
TO prevent or punish. There is no dispo-
sition to place the cOlored men, constitu-
Tina of laast fafnr n III he Of shn 1Ar,1aN.,.
upon terms of ever civil equality. While
many instances may be found where large
planters and men of the better class ac-
cept the situation and honorably strive
TO bring about a better order of things by
employing the freedmen at fair wages
and treating them kindly, the general
feeling and disposition, among all classes,
is yet totally averse to the liberation of
any class of people friendly to the Union,
be they white or black, and this aversion
IS not u~nfrequently manifested in an Of
fensiye and insulting n
The witnesses examined as TO the will
lingness ofthe people of the South TO con-
tribute 10 render existing laws, TO the
payment of the national debt, prove that
the taxes levied by the United States will
be paid only OF eompulsiOn and with
great reluctance, while there prevails, to
a considerable extent, the idea that COM
pensatIon will be made for slaves eman-
cipated and property destroyed during
the war. The testimony on this point
came from officers of the Union army, of
fcers ofthe late Rebel army, Union men
of the Southern States, and avOwed Sc
cessionists, almost all of whom state that,
in their opinion, the people of the rebel
lious States would, if they should see a
prospect of success, repudiate the National
debt.
While there is scarcely any hope or de-
sire among leading men to renew the at
tempt at Secession at any future time,
there is still, according to q large number
Of witnesses, including A. IL. Stephens,
who may be regarded as good authority
on that point, a generallyprevsiling opin-
ion which defends the legal right of Sc
c%ession, and upholds the doctrine that the
first allegiance of the people is due to the
States, and not to tho United States. This
belief evidently prevails among the lead
ing and prominent men as well as among
the masses, everywhere, except in some of
the northern counties of Alabama and the
eastern counties of Tennessee.
The evidence of an intense hostility to
the Federal Union and an equally intense
love of the late COnfederacy, nurtured by
the war, is decisive. While it appears
thrt nearly ell are willing T. submit, at
least for The time being, to Federal au-
thority, it is equally clear that the ruling
motive is . desire to ohtain the advantages
which will be derived from a representa-
ton in Congress. Officers of the Union
army on duty, and northern men who go
there TO engage in business, are generally
detested and prescribed. Men who ad-
here TO the Union are bitterly hated and
%relentlessly prosecuted. In some lacali-
ties prosecutions have been instituted in
State Courts against Union officers for
acts done in the line of official duty, and
similar prosecutions are threatened else
where as soon as the United States troops
are removed. All such demonstrations
show a state of feeling against which it is
Enthusiastically necessary to guard.
The testimony is conclusive that after
the collapse of the Confederacy the feel
ing of the people of the rebellious States
was that of abject submission. Having
appealed to the tribunal of arms, thew
had no hope except that, by the magnan-
unity of their eonquerors, their lives and
possibly tLeif property might be pre-
served. Unfortunately, the general issue
Of pardons TO persons who had been pro-
minent in the rebellion, and the feeling of
kindliness and Cancellation manifested by
the Execu i've, and very generally indi-
Gated through the Northern press, had
the effect to render whole communities
forgetful of the crime they had committed,
defiant toward the Federal Government,
and regardless of their duties as citizens.
The coneiliatOry measures of the Govern
ment do not seem to have boon met ever
half way. The bitterness and defiance
exhibited toward the United States, I'M
der such circumstances, is without a par
allel in the history of the world. In re-
turn for our leniency we receive only an
insulting denial of oHr sgtharity, In re-
turn for our kind desire FOR the resump-
tion of fraternal relations, we receive only
an i%nsolent assumption of rights and pri-
vileges long since forfeited. The crime
We have punished is paraded as g virtue,
and the principles of Republican Govern
ment which we have indicated, at so ter
rible a cost, are denounced as unjust and
oppressive.
If we add to this evidence the fact that,
although peace has been declared by the
President, he has not, to this day, deemed
il safe to restore the writ Of habeas corpus, /
TO relieve the discretionary States of
martial law, nor to withdraw the troops |
from many localities, and that the Com
handing General deems an increase ofthe
army indispensable TO the preservation of
order and the protection of loyal and we'll
people in the South, the proof of
he existence of feeling hostile 20 the Union
and dangerous to the Government through
put the insurrectionary States, would seem
10 be overwhelming.
With such evidence before them, it is
he opinion Of your Committee:
l. That the States lately in rebellion
we're, at the close of the war, disorganized
communities, without civil government,
without constitutions or other forms
BY virtue Of which political relations
legally exist between them and the
Federal Government.
II. That Congress cannot be expected
o recognize as valid the election of men
rom d~isorgsnized communities, which,
rom the very nature of the case, were un-
bile to present their claim to representa-
ion under those established and recogniZ-
d rules, the observance of which has been
required.
III. That Congress would not be justi-
in admitting such communities to a