New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-11-07


Since your last adjournment, little progress has
been made either in the reconstruction Of q dis.
meMDered government, or in the restoration OF
material prosperity 10 that portion OF the country
desOlated by recent civil war However produced |
the fact is indisputable, that the government, Of
the United States this day stands before the civil
lied world in the lamentabe condition OF dismem-
berment Four Of the thirteen States that origi.
nally took part in the formation Of the Union, and
six that have been added in the progress Of mar
velous development, are now totally excluded
from participation in its legislative and admins
tratve functions
1t is true that the now excluded States did vol
unfairly abandon such participation by what was
designed as peaceful and permanent withdrawal; |
but the right so to DO was denied to them, aud
upon that question Of right the war ensued. The |
party denying the existence of the right main
tanned that the Union was indissOluble by such
means, that it still existed in full force, and moth
ing more was necessary than the suppression OF
irregular resistance to its authority. That resist
ance having been suppressed after a struggle OF
five years. CONFERENCE.-The resistantS having
grounded their arms-submitted in word and act
to the authorities Of the United States-resclnded
all constitutions, ordinances laws and resolutions
asserting independence of, or antagonsm to that
goyerpment-declared its Constitution their
supreme law, and elected senators and representa-
tiVes to the federal Gongress-the logical conc!u-
sion from the premises Of the ylctors IS, and the
practical result should be, that the attempt has
failed and that the Union stands mistaken.
All that the rcsistants may have done towards
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, thGy nave QnQOue- Ing ttLlpu
Tary breach they made, they have repaired. Why,
then, are they not i'll the Union as formerly! Inc
answer is, that the dominant States, through their
representatives in Con gress positveyretuse their
admission to the national councils, and the con-
clusion is inevitable, that from this refusal the
present Acknowledgement results. Reasoning upon
their own theory, if the Southern States be not
now within the pale of the Union, they nave been
elected by this Congress. II they DE, tnelr CON
stitutional right of representation is denied them
by the same authority.
The President Of the United States, second to
none in devotion to the Union, though placed dur.
ing the war, by the intensity of that feeling IN op
position to his native section, consistently illus
trates it in restored peace He distinctly ahirm'
the right of the Southern States to representation
in Congress and, for this adherence to principle
has been abandoned and denounced by those whit
placed him in power. The legislative and exeCu
tive departments of the government are thu
brought into conflict, seemingly irreconcilable an
daily increasing in bitterness.
The people, too, of the dominant States nov
welding the whole power of the government, ar
themselves divided and we, the excluded, agains
whom they recently presented the unbroken from
of relentless war, though now passive and unre
sisting, have suddenly become to them an apple c
discord. In this contest, our position, our motive
and our purposes are severely scrntiniZed. Thes
are all aagranty misrepreseuted by unscrupulou
demagogues, aud many very many, well meanln
nersons are undoubtedly deceived by them.
The pending issue may not find a very earl
solution. Meantime, we pass through an orde'
Thoroughly auhpiCu W NY iNCAl ~
we must be true ourselves, to those who, thong
not of u.s. arc fighting our battles, and to tn
country; we must steadily and calmly pursue III
course upon which we have started, neither o.
trayed into error by false representations OF I'll
malignant and consequent injurious suspicious
the credalous nor yielding to Illuminating d
mands, against which justice eXcialms and ma
hood reYols. Pursuing this course, we snail
time live dow n both detraCtion and deluslnn, al
achieve moral victory far more enduring az
ennobng than any triumph OF mere physIc
force.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONS
As germain to she subject already discussed
call yOur attention to another proposed amen
menf of the Constitution OF the United state
ted to me by the secretary Of state, a
accompanying this communication. The fact III
yyur action upOn it is thus invoked, imposes
YOU an Obligation to consider it respectfully.
This amendment, designed like all of reGe
origin, to unarute especially on the Southe
States. contains several sections, to some OF VIII
Invite special attention.
l. The prOminentfeaturG OF the first IS tha
settles definitely the right OF citizenship IN
several States as political communities there
deprivug them in the future OF all discreuonf
power over the subject within their respect
limits, aud with reference to their State COVE
ments proper. 1t makes all persons of col
born in the United States, citizens
2. The second changes the ba9Fs 81 EePfeseu
ton in Lte popular branch NJ Inc Congress, {
in Presidential electoral colleges. 1T Prov
that in apportoniag representation among