The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1867-12-07

or were states out Oh the MON, tnelr consent
to change in the fundamental law Of the
Union would have been nugatory, and Congress,
in asking it, committed a political absurdity.
The Judiciary has also given the sanction Of its
authority to the view of the case. The
Judges Of the Supreme Court have included the
Southern States in their Circuits, and they are
constantly, in banc and elsewhere, exercising
jurisdiction which does not belong to them un.
less these States are States of the Union. If the
Southern States are component parts Of the
Union, the Constitution is the supreme law for
them, as it is for all other States They are
bound to obey it, and so We The right of
the Federal Government which is clear and I'M
questionable, to enforce the Constitution upon
them, implies the correlative obligation on our
part to observe its limitations and execute its
guarantees. Without the Constitution we are
| nothing BY, through and under the Constitu-
| ton, we are what it makes us. We may doubt
the wisdom of the law we may not approve of
its provisions; but we cannot violate it merely
because it seems to confine our powers within
| limits narrower than We could wish.
II is not question of individual, or class, or
sectional interest, much less of party predomi-
nance, but Of duty-of high and sacred duty
which We are all sworn to perform. If we
cannot support the Constitution with the cheer
full alacrity of those who love and believe in it.
we must give to it at least the fidelity of public
SERVANTS WIN dCt uHucT solemn ODllgat1OnS ana
commands which they dare not disregard.
This constitutional duty is not the only one
which requires the States to be restored; there is
another consideration which, though of minor
Importance, is yet of great weight. On the 22d
of July 1861 Congress declared, by an almost
| unanimous vote of both Houses, that fine war
| should be conducted solely for the purpose of
preserving the Union and Mentioning the SUI
premacy of the Federal Constitution and laws,
without impairing the dignity, equality, and
rights of the States or individuals, and that,
when this was done, the should cease.
do not gay that this declaration is personally
binding on those who joined in making it, any
more than individual members of Congress
! personally bound to pay public debt created
/ under law for which they voted but it was
solemn public official pledge of national honor,
and | cannot imagine upon what grounds repu-
dation Of it is to be justified If it be said that
we are not bound to keep faith with rebels, let
| it be remembered that this promise was not made
! 10 rebels only. Thousands OF true men in the
South were drawn to our standard by it, and
| hundreds of thousands in the North gave their
lives in the belief that it would be carried out.
| 1t was made on the day after the first great bat
| tie of the war had been fought and lost. All
patriotic and intelligent men then saw the ne
cessity of giving such AN assurance, and believ.
ing that without it the would end in disaster
to our cause. Having given that assurance in
| the extremity Of peril, the violating of it
| now in the day Of our triumph would be a rude
| rendng Of that good faith which holds the
moral together. Our country would cease to
have any claim upon the confidence of men.
| 1t would make the not only failure, but
| fraud.
| Being sincerely convinced that these views are
correct, would be unfaithful to my duty if I
did not recommend the repeal Of the acts of Con-
gress which place ten Of the Southern States
under the domination Of military masters. If
oalm reflection shall satisfy a majority of your
honorable bodies that the acts referred to are not
| only violation of the National faith, but in
direct conflict with the Constitution, dare not
| permit myself to Doubt but that you will imme.
| diately strike them from the statute book
UNCoNsTrrUI1oNALFrY or THE RECONsTRUC.
| TION ACTS.
To demonstrate the unconstitutional character
! Of those acts, need d. no more than refer to
! their general provisions. It must be secn at
sncs that they not authorized to dictate what
alterations shall be made in the Constitutions of
several States; to control the elections Of State
| legislators and State officers members of Con-
gress and Electors Of President and Vice-Presi.
don't, by arbitrarily declaring who shall vote and
| who shall be excluded from that privilege; to
dissolve State Legislatures prevent them from
assembling; to dismiss Judges and other civil
functionaries Of State, and appoint others it'll.
out regard TO State law; to organize and operate
all the political machinery of the State; to regu.
| late the whole administration of their domestic
and local affairs, according to the mere will of
| strange and irresponsible agents, sent among
them for that purpose. These are powers not
granted to the Federal Government or to any
| one Of its branches Not being granted, we vio-
late our trust by assuming them as palpably AZ
we would by acting in the face of positive in.
| terdict; for the Constitution forbids us to do
whatsoever it does not affirmatively authorize,
either by express words or by clear implication.
| II the authority we desire to use does not come
! to us through the Constitution, we can exercise
it only by usurpation; and usurpation is the
most dangerous OF political crimes BY that
crime the enemies of free government in all ages
have worked out their designs against public
liberty and private right. 1t leads directly and
Immediately TO the establishment Of absolute
rule for undelegated power is always unlimited
| and unrestrained. The acts of Congress in Ques-
ton are net only Objectionable for their assump-
| ton of ungranted power, but many of their pro-
visions are in conflict with the direct prohibi-
| lions Of the Constitution. The Constitution
commands that a republican form of government
shall be guaranteed to all the States; that no
person shall be deprived of life, liberty or prop.
| erty without due process of law; arrested with.
out a Judicial warrant, or punished without
fair trial before an impartial jury that the priv
lege of hdbeds corpus shall not be denied in time
of peace, and that no bill of attainder shall be
passed, even against single individual yet the
| system of measures established by these acts of
Congress does totally subvert and destroy the
form as well as the substance of republican form
| of government, in the ten States TO which they
| apply 1t binds them hand and foot in absolute
slavery, and subjects them to a strange and hos
! tilc powcr more unlimited and rnnrn lkply tn