The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-09-25

ment, an entire year was added to tntlr
already along estrangement Tom IL 20
| fore any conditions of return were oner'
cd To them. and when these conditions
were at last announced they contained
terms which proposed to make the es-
arrangement of large portion OF our pop
ulation perpetual. The youth OF the
South. who had never known when the
rebellion commenced, or what it was to
share in the duties and business OF ma
tional citizens, have grown to manhood
and influence in its affairs, and still are
| stran GERS in, their own land and exclud-
ed from the instruction Wnlcn ntgno
make them patriots. The Union Oh tness
States, for which these partisans deemed
YOUR lives not too great q price,
| is vet as incomplete as when
YOU marched home, and by their
measures its restoration is still lu-
definitely postponed. They say to you,
if our terms are not accepted by the
Soutb. we can wait. 1t becomes there
fore your peculiar duty, since you pre-
pared the ground for this final work, TO
INQUIRE how it has been done, and to
consider whether it is wise or safe to
wait. Meantime, whether you deter
mine to wait or move, it is indispensable
first to intrench yourselves in position
of impregnable facts. The power of tie
| National Government over the affairs OF
it's insurgent citizens, except for the pur.
pose of judicial punishment, is purely
of a belligerent character, and Its Del
ligerent right concerning them Is Ia
ciEded in, while it is also limited by one
of the grants of the Constitution. The
| Government is authorized to suppress a.
insurrection by military means, aud
these include all belligerent functions
and capacities which may be necessary
for that end. Ia the exercise of its nee
essary belligerent right it is as compe-
tent to require of its insurgent citizens
as it would be to require OF foreign
enemy not only the laying down OF arms,
but the surrender of every position
which threatened renewal OF the con-
aict. The right is perfect and complete
for its purpose, but it is limited by It's
purpose. The Constitution directs that
armies and belligerent law shall be used
for the suppression of Instruction. With
this complete suppression, which includes
the prevention of renewal, the legiti-
mate application of compulsion to their
fnture course as communities must cease
II is not true that in case Of war this
Government acquires all of the belllg-
erent rights known to international law.
1t has that kind of right over its own
people as it fines embodied in its own
Constitution. j. derives from this source
SO much as is necessary in suppressing
insurrection, AID this does not include
the right to tale and hold its rebellious
citizens and their territory as n conquest.
1T is authorized TO employ war to yinGi-
cate its old title 20 allegiance, not to &C
uuire q new ono In accordance with
this rule the Pr sident, as Commander
in. Chief, compelled the insurgents, after
they had laid down their arms, to abol-
ish by their local laws the institution
of slavery, the agitation of which had
been he cause ct this war and might he
the cause of auo her to declare null and
| void their acts Of secession, which had
been part of heir belligerent action,
and until Tescinded embodied claim
which threatened future conflict, and
finally to repudilte their war debts, the
recognition Of hich would have been q
I of resurrection and threatening Its re-
newal The institution Of slavery, the
ordinances of secession, and the main
tenance Of an iusurrectionary war debt
were strictly hostile positions, and
threatened possible renewal of the war
until they should be surrendered There
could be no complete surrender OF the
belligerent attitude of the insurgent
communities of Ihe Sonth; therefore, the
| Commander inChief, clothed with the
double function of Military Commander
and the Chief E. ccutive of the laws of the
Union, compel, d this surrender, and
at this point the belligerent power of
| the National Goyernment-the power to
apply compulsion in any form to the
| political future Of the lately revolted
States-was exhausted. This legitimate
: and restricted use of compulsion ap
peareH to accomplish the desired end.
| 1t il (, 10 tkat tie subdued and imp0ver-
isbed i,e0ple OF the South did not and
could not at o. 20 pass from hostility to
| friendship Tb. ir homes were darkeued
with sorrow witch no sense of error
could mitigate; their fields were ceme-
tIies. ,her fLras were The burnt path
Of our armies and they could not
love us in the dist of their desolation.
But tboy knew hat the issue ofthe appeal
| to arms had ieon determined forever
against them. they saw that they had
lost by war what they had attempted by
war 10 save. they had suffered too
much 10 dream of renewing the strife,
and, seeing no future before them but
that Of citizens Ct the United States, they
we're eady to rcturn to their allegiance
as defined to them anew by the event Of
the struggle. When Congress first as
sembled they hal acquired temper to-
ward the National Government as healthy
as it Was possible for any people to at
tain after such - conflict and such eX-
periences. la this respect the result of
the war was un, xampled in the history of
nations. Their disposition was eyinced
by their acts, they had, upon the re
quirement of the Commander in Chief,
surrendered evcry position which could
truthfully be d, med hostile TO the Gov
eminent, and hy his advice, not under
his compulsion, hey went further, and,
in common with the loyal States, ratified
n constitutional amendment which for
ever abolished avery, and gave to Con
gross the power, by appropriate legisla
tiou, o prevent its establishment.
They might have conceded still more ;
but month attci month passed without
action, and inca time they were subject
ed to military government. No system