Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-05-12
THE CONSTITUTIONAL.
AMFSDMENTS-THEF FAMOUS ssTHEIRD
SECTION,

at by any great corrective or reform move
ment; and the House certainly illustrated this
most pointedly the other night, when under
the lash Of party drill, as welded by Mr.. Ste
vens, the ''Third Section of the Joint resolu-
ton for the amendment of the Constitution,
went through with the rest That it can be
expected to be ratified by the requisite ''two-
thirds is simply preposterous calculation;
and makes it thousand pities, that what is
good in the balance of this measure, stands no
chance whatever, when placed in juxtaposition
with the President making provision, so bald
and deservedly offensive in its every aspect.
The purpose of the loyal men Of the nation
in wagng the late conflict with the earnestness
they did, was-we take ito restore the
Union; to make it, what never in the history
of the country it had been, a cordial partner
ship for the common good, and to defend the
Government against those who proposed to
bring in a principle which would have en-
couraged perpetual disintegration and civil
war. The originators and abettors of theories
so deadly hostile to anything like Government
at all, were signally defeated; beaten down.;
humbled: and after that, it was not the pur-
pose of the great body of the loyal people to
pursue the needed vindication of the integrity
Of the Government, to revengeful extremes
So long as the war lasted, the whole tenor and
substance of Mr.. Lincoln requirements, was
for the rebels to lay down their arms, and
come back to the observance of those laws
and that Constitution they were in the field to
overthrow. And when any exceptions were
made, these exceptions pointed to the leaders,
not to the great body of the misguided
Southern people; and there is not u man
amongst the radical leaders now who could
have expected, had Mr.. Lincoln lived, to see
him sanction measures for wholesale and
sweeping attempt to bear down on the people
of the Southern States with disabilities which
are to be maintained, as in this case, for years
Could he have had his wishes responded to in
the famous Fortress Monroe interview with
the rebel leaders, there is no doubt but that
the people of the South would have gotten
better terms than they have had any chance
of getting since from the present administra-
tlon-and when we know this, see the feeling
elected against President johnson for his
course, are we not compelled to the belief
that the late kind hearted and noble President,
had he lived, would be undergoing now all
the abuse and denunciation so lavishfy be-
slowed upon his successor? Let us hear from
an organ of Southern sentiment one of
those confessions Of errors committed in re-
gard to the past such as throws light on the
present; let us see what are the changes that
have been brought about as the consequence
OF war that has well been termed ''unnatu-
rail- from its beginning to its end. The Nash
vile Union says:
The Southern people are fully satisfied of the
bunder they made in talking up arms against the
Federal Government and have acquiesced in the re-
suit of the contest to wit: the emancipation of their
slaves, the wiping out of the doctrine of secession
the reputation of the re bel debt and the equality
of the negro before the law. By these results they
ara willing to abide, and become good citizens sup
porting the Government honestly and faithfully and
paying their full proportion of the public debt
More than this ought not to be demanded of them;
more than this they will not yield, unless from ne
cessity to superior force One thing is very certain
they will not ratify any amendment DISTINGUISHING
themselves and rendering the South a CIPHER in the
Presidential contest of 1865 They have done with
out representation far during the present session.
they can continue to do without it until the sober
second thought of the people of the North is heard
in Congress- and opens the doors of the National
Legislature to them"
Now, may it not be asked, in all candor
and truth and soberness, what more than the
spirit manifested here can be asked of any
people? Suppose by the one sweeping clause
or section of the constitutional amendment"
the great mass of the Southern people are dis
franchised; will this-as human nature is
constituted-have tendency to foster respect
and regard for the Government aciN it tend
to Reconstruction at all? What the Com
mittee of g Fifteen profess, is design to
foster loyalty! Yet here is a plan, than which
none could be more ingeniously devised, to
increase and perpetuate distrust, to continue
war of the sections;" to make these peo-
pie feel that all their concessions hitherto
made, have gone for naught; the good of the
whole, peace, harmony, all that American
citizens should value, sacrificed merely to the
machinery of parties, and to perpetuate party
rule. No assertions, and no logic or sopbistrv.
will convince the world otherwise; and the
Union party-by whatever name it is in f,ture
to be known-will be guilty of transcendent
folly if, under the lead of Thad. Stevens. OR
any other vindictive revolutionist, they 90 in
for so unwise a policy.
To quote the wisest of books again-"men
do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of
thlstles;" and if loyalty, is the thing desired,
1t will never come of seed like that in cues
ton. Sowing distrust and disappointment;
taking pains to keep alive memories and NOR
tlhcatlons poignant already to the last degree.
what can men expect who do these things but
an evil and mischeivous growth ?-and who
that loves his country, desires, now that the
war Is over, to put great section like that
permanently at enmity with the other section?
Why, look at its effects already, so far as the
Union party itself is in the case. Isittbe INIT
1t was at the beginning of the present session
of Congress, and is it not getting more divided
and less competent for good every day that
these extreme measures are in question? Do
we not see constantly, that moderate although
patriotic men, those who have been true
throughout as the defenders of the good cause.
cannot 60 with these vindictive, theserevenge-
ful extremists; and can men be blamed for re-
fuslng to be dashed into the ring by such men
as Stevens and Wade and Sumner, men in fact
who do not believe altogether in each other,
since Sumner has denounced cherished radical
measures without scruple, to be in turn de-
nounced by his halfway ALLY in the other
House?
What may be the result of all this to PARTIES.
is not so much the question now, as that other
and more important one-what will be the re-
suit to the country9 The country and its best
welfare must be considered, let parties come
to grief as theym and If men are so welded
to fierce and vindictive legislation, so intent
on perpetuating party rule, that they cannot
stop to consider what becomes of the true
unity OF the nationality, why, moderate men of
all parties must band together to rebuke them,
and to stay their rule.
So far as Maryland is in the case. no one
need suppose that she is going to be drapged at |
the chariot wheels of Sumner and Stevens No
matter at whose behest, amongst her local
politicians Whilst the war lasted, the Union |
party of the State went in bo.:I .