American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-02-28

ant rebels in the South that these disor
ganized States have never ceased to be
members of the Federal Union That
is the present theory of every traitor
North and South, who has been insisting
for four long years of war on the right as
well as the fact OF secession With. as.
surances Of pardon they can afford to
risk their plea of bellgerency upon which
they claimed immunity for their crime, il
it will restore them to their rights
Grant that secession was not fact, and
if they caunot invaillate the war and the
debt made by il, they will stagger your
courts with the question, by what author
lily you have deprived the people of a
State in the Union by proclamation and
without judgment of law, of their fran
chlses and property Once in, they will
insist that all your intermediate acts as
well as theirs are utilities.
The next inquiry is whether they are
IN condition to return, and what agen-
cies and terms through and upon which
the consummation is TO be effected. This
question more than any other belongs to
the people of the loyal States. Eleven
OF the coIumnar supports Of our political
edlfice are lying around us in ruins. Who
| IS to lit these columns to their places ?
The questions arising out of this are
problems which might we'll embarrass the
| profUundest of our statesmen, and will
require the wisdom of the nation to solve
The war itself was nothing in compari-
son There never was a reasonable doubt
OF the suppression of the rebellion, if
thcbyal States proved true to themselves.
| I he only real danger was in the process
OF reconstruction. Although the rebel
lion, so far as armed resistance is concern
| ed, is over, we still tread on the ashes of
an unextinguished volcano. If these
State governments have been destroyed
and must be organized Gnsw, nothing
short of an act Of Congress can accom-
plish that work. But there is no hurry
even as to this To heal the wounds in
tilctcd by four years civil war, is not
tho work OF day We must begin at
the bottom and work slowly to the sur
face
The President, acting or the prevail
ent idea that it is the duty of the Govern
ment to take the initiative in the process
of restoration, without waiting for an
| expression from the people of the rebel
! States Of their desire to return to the
Union, has, in the recess of this body,
ordered their organization, aud has Gin
dica,ed his plan in series of proclama.
| tions, which are all of the like tenor,
though differing in some respects from
| the plan Of his predecessor" II was pre-
sumed that this would conform to the
law he prescribed, and having completed
that he, although admitting the alternate
| decision to rest with Congress alone
would recommend and enforce their ad
nilsson with all the power he could law
fully exert.
The prochmations rest on the idea of
assuring to all these States republican
form of government. They do not de
clare the war to be at an end, but the
contrary. MIR. Williams makes the fol-
lowing analysis OF the prop sitious con.
tajneJ in the proclamations
81. They admit the continuing exis,
tence Of a state of war, and profess to
rest on the two fold authority of the Pres.
ldent as Commanderin Chief Of the Ar.
my and Navy of the United States, as
well as supreme civil executive magis
trate of the Union
y. They declare the people of these
States to have been deprived by their
own acts of Ill civil governments What.
ever.
"3. They confess the necessity of a
new organization for the purpose of re-
storing their constitutional relations with
the Federal Government, and presenting
such. form of Government as will enttle
them to the beEafit of its guarantees, and
therein admit that they are not so enti-
tied in their present condition.
Il. They concede that the new organ
ization must receive its impulse and di-
rection from without, and be assisted by
the cooperative action of the Federsl
authorities
So Confessing, however, that these
States are not nov entitled to the benefit
of the constitutional guarantee, they as
sert, in effect, that under it the Federal
| Government is bonnd to place them in .
position which will enable them to claim
it, and assume that the ful6llment of that
guarantee, is purely executive function
to be performed in such way as the
judgment of the President may determ.
inc.
| "6. They direct accordingly, the as.
semblage of conventions at the earliest
practicable day, and define and ascertain
the qualifications of the voters,
~. In fixing these qualifications, they
adopt standard that is entirely new, by
limiting the franchise, not to the white
mea generally, but to such only of the
people who were invested with that pre-
rogatiye under the government that il
admitted to have been destroyed as ar,
loyal, and will swear to support, not tn,
Constitution only but all laws aud proc
lamations during the rebellion having
reference to the emancipation of slaves
''S. Admitting, moreover, that thes,
States are without any civil government
!, whatever, and that they pust necessari
ly organize anew, they insist that it shall
be done upon the partial recognition of
government that has been destroyed, b,
a p ocess, not of organization at all, ba
OF amendment and alteration only, tina