Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-02-27


feelingsher people entertained for as free-,oil-
erswhoweretheirmostearnestadvocate. We
gave her ten years Of pro-slaveiy, Demo
cratic rule The ten years are now up and
she Is calm, perhaps diEtrustfal Of some Of
US yet, because we are willing 10 admit the
: States that have sinned and repented as she
did. Il ever this thing Of keeping out
States BY joint resolution of Congress could
have had any chance of permanent success,
that time has passed away. No State has
ever been hindered in coming into the Union
except upon questions grown out Of the sys-
tenn of African bondage But African
bondage has now gone TO the dogs, and they
have made a sure finish of it. Not even
enough Of its shriveled skin or disjoiuted
limbs remain to sharpen the cupidity of the
race that were once called shareholders, or
of that other race which was known to the
country as "dough-faces." No State, there
fore, viii ever, hereafter, be hindered or de-
layed in coming back into the Union upon
the ground of slavery. You may think that
the irresistible tendency to Union which
have described may have something alarm
ing in it. This would be grave error
think no such thing. 49,. -.
The people in any Territory wantto be a
State because it is pleasant thing and
good thing to have the municipal powers
and faculties which belong 60 State within
the American Union, and to provide BY its
own laws for the maintenance and security
of life, liberty and property. A Territory
wants to be a State and q member of the
Federal Union because it is pleasant thing
and a good thing to have its protection
against foreign enemies. and to possess the
privileges and immunities guaranteed TO a
State by the national Constitution. / there
fore would not consent to hold State in a
territorial condition, or to deny it the adj
vantages of Fellowship in the Union day
longer thbn should be compelled. Nor do
| see anything calculated to excite alarm,
anything transcending the political ability
of our statesmen, in the present situation Of
the freedmen. In the beginning, practically,
every State in the Union had slavery. We
abolished it in several States without dis
order or civil commotion, until slavery
raised in rebellion against the Government
of the Union. When it took that attitude
we abolished it out and out, through and
through, completely and effectually forever
This is what the American people have had
the sagacity and the courage to do in
period of ninety years. These American
| people are great deal better and great
deal wiser to-day than they were ninety
years ago.
Those of the generation that is now crowd
ing us will be great deal wiser and great
deal better than we who are on the stage
to-day. Do think, therefore, that we shall
lack the wisdom or the virtue to go right on
and continue the work of melioration and
progress, and perfect in due time the deliv-
erance of labor from restrictions, and the an
Inhalation of caste and class We have ac-
complished what we have done, however,
not with an Imperial Government--not with
a pro-consular or territorial system. We
have done it in States, by States and through
States, free, equal and untrammeled, and
presided over by Federal, restricted Gov
eminent, which will continue to the end the
constitutional principles with which We so
wisely began. They are settling the whole
case Of the African in the West Indies just
as we are, and it will be done with the same
results and the same beneficent effects. 4
have not given prominence in these re-
marks to the conflict Of opinion between the
President and Congress in reference to the
Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Ref
ugees. That conflict is, in its consequences,
comparatively unimportant, and would ex-
cite little interest and little division if it
stood alone. 1t is because it has become
the occasion for revealing the differences |
have already described that it has attained |
the Importance which seems to surround it.
Both the President and Congress agree that,
during the brief transition which the coun-
try is making from civil war to internal |
peace, the freedmen and refugees ought not
to be abandoned by the nation to persecu-
ton and suffering. 1t was for this transit |
ton period that the Bureau of Freedmen !
was created by Congress- and was kept and
is still kept in effective operation. Both |
the President and Congress, on the other |
hand, agree that when that transition period |
shall have been fully passed, and the har-
monious relations between the States and
the Union fully restored, that Bureau would
not only be unnecessary, but unconstitution-
al, demoralizing and dangerous, and there
fore that it should cease to exist.
The President thinks that the transition |
stage has nearly passed, and that the original |
provision for the bureau is all that is neces-
sary to secure the end in view, while the |
bill submitted by Congress seems to him to
give it indefinite extension in time of peace |
and restoration. He vetoed it for that req
son. He declines to accept. as unnecessary |
and uncalled for, the thousand or ten thou
sand agents, the increased powers and the
augmented treasure which Congress Insists
on placing in his hands. Congress, on the
other hand, thinks that the Freedmen's Bu-
reau is not adequate, and that more patron
age, more money and more power would,
like Thomson's door-plate, purchased at
auction by Mrs. Toodles, be good thing to
have in house. | agree with the Presi-
dent in the hope that the extraordinary pro-
vision which the bill makes will not be
necessary, but that the whole question may
be simplifed by simple reference to the
existing law. The law of March g. 1865,
which created the Freedmen's Bureau,
provides that il shall continue in force du-
ring the war of rebellion and one full year
thereafter. When does that gear expire?
In the Presidents judgment, as under
stand the matter, the war of the rebellion
has been coming and is still coming to an
end, but is not yet fully closed. II is on
this ground that he maintains an army, con-
tinues the suspension of the writ of hdbeus
corpus, and exercises martial law, when these
things are found to be necessary in rebel
States HHtlH anna
The existence of the rebellion was legally
announced by Executive proclamation in
1861. The end of the rebellion ocgIt to be,
announced by competent declaration of the
President and of Congress, or Of both. For
all prdctlcdl purposes, the TtbeiilOu Will, III
law, come to an end if the President or Con-
gress, one or both, officially announces its
termination. Now, suppose this announce
ment to be made by the President and by
Congress, or by either of them, tomorrow.
In that case, the Freedmen's Bureau is con-
tinued by virtue of the limitation pre-
scribed in the act of March 3, 1865, one
year after such proclamation shall have been
made Thus the Freedmen's Bureau would
continue, by the original Limitation, until
the 22d day Of February, 1861 very
proper day on which to bring il to an end.
If Congress should then find it necessary to
prolong its existence, it can at once take the
necessary steps, for it will at that date have
been in session nearly three months. Ought
the President of the United States
to be denounced in the house Of his
enemies-much more, ought he to be
denounced in the house of his friends,
for refusing, in the absence of any necessity,
to occupy or retain, and to exercise powers
greater than those which are exercised by !
any imperial magistrate in the world?
Judge yel / trust that this fault of declin-
ing imperial powers, too hastily rendered by
a too contiding Congress, may be forgiven by
a generous people. 1t will be a sad hour for
the Republic when the refusal Of unneces-