Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-12-04

uOW usdkfnE w AtibC0ulBt Hall OuI Ctuu
try. l would not put considerations OF
money in competition with justice and
right, but the expenses incident to recon
s,Tuc,ion under the system adopted By
Congress sygsavate what regard as the
intrinsic wrong Of the measure itseit IL
has cost uncounted millions already. and
il persisted in will add largely "a the
weight of taxation, already too oppressive
to be borne without just complaint, and
may finally reduce the treasury OF the IA
! ticn To state of bankruptcy. We must
not deluie ourselves II will require
strong standing army, and probably more
than two hundred millions of dollars per
anmum 10 maintain the supremacy Of negro
nyernnen,s after they are established
| The sum thus thrown away. if properly
used, form sinking fund, large enough
to pay the whole ational de bit in less than
| fifteen years 1t Is in vain to hope that
the negroes will maintain their ascen.
dency themselves without military power.
They are wholly incapable of holding in
subsection the white people Of the south.
l submit 10 the judgment of Congress
whether the public credit may not be in
jjuriousIy affected by system Of measures
| like this. With our debt and vast private
interests, which are complicated with it,
we cannot be too cautious Of policy
which might by possibility impair the
confidence of the world in our govern
mcnt. That confidence can only be re-
tanned by carefully intoxicating the prin
ciples OF Justice and honor on the popular
mind, and by the most scrupuous
fidelity to all our engagements OF
every sort. Any serious breach of or
ganic law persisted in for a considerable
time, cannot but create fears for the sta
| biliiy Of cur Institutions. Habtual vio
| lation Of prescribed rules which we bind
ourselves TO observe, must demoralzc the
pc pie Our only standard of civil duty
! being set at naught, the sheet anchor oi
our political morality is lost, the public
conscience swings from its mooriugs and
yields to every impulse Of passion aud in
tercst. lf we repudia.c the constitution
we will not be expected to care mitch for
mere pecuuiary obligations. The viola
ton of such pledge rs we made on the
22d day of July, 1861 will assurcily d.
minish the market value Of our other prom
iscs; besides if we now acknowledge tina.
that the national debt was created not to
hold States in the Union. a. tax PAYERS
were led to suppose, but to expel them
from il, and hand them over to be govern
cd by negroes, the moral duty to pay it
would seem much less clear. say it may
seem SO, for do not admit that this or
any other argument in favor Of repudla.
ton can be entertained rs sound, but its
influence on some classes of minds may
well be apprehcnded. eal
The financial honor Of a great CONNER
cial nation, largely indebted and with a
republican form Of government adminis-
tered by agents Of the popular choice, is a
thing of such delicate texture, and the
destruction of would be followed by such
unepeakablc calamity, that every true pat
riot must desire to avoid whatever might
expose it to the slightest danger The
great interests Of the country require i'm.
mediate relief from these cnactments.
Business in the South is paralyze by a
sense Of general insecurity, by terror Of
confiscation, and dread Of negro supreme
cy Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived SO much profit
under . government Of law, still lang uisll
cs, and can never be revived until il
ceases to be fetterel by the arbitrary pow.
or which makes all its operations unsafe
That rich country the richest in natural
resources the world ever saws worse
than lost, if it be not soon placed under
the protection Of free constitution. In.
stead Of being, as it ought to be, source
Of wealth and power, it will become an
intOleru5le burden upon the rest Of the
nation.
Another reason for rctracing our steps
will. doubtless, be sten by Congress IN
the late manifestations of public opinion
on this subject We live in country
where the popular will always enforce
obedience to itself sooner or later. 1t is
vain to think of opposing it with any
thing short of legal authority, backed by
overwhelming force. 1t cannot have rs.
capped your attention that from the day on
which Congress fairly and formally pre-
sented the proposition to govern the
Southern States by military force with a
view to the ultimate establishment of De-
gro supremacy, every expression of gencr-
al sentiment has been more or less adverse
TO it. The affection Of this generation
cannot l,c detached from the institutions
of their ancestors. Their determination
to preserve the inheritance Of free gov
eminent in their own hands, and transmit
it, undivided and unimpaired, to their own
posterty, is too strong to be successfully
opposed. Every weaker passion will dis
appear before the love Of liberty and law,
tor which the American people are distn-
guished above all others in the weird.
How far the duty of the President to pre-
serve, protect and defend the constitution
requires HIM to 20 In opposing an uncen-
sttutional act of Congress is II very seri-
Gus and important question, on which
have deliberatcd much and felt extremely
anxious to reach a proper conclusion
Where an act has been passed according
to the forms of the constitution, by the
supreme legislative authority of the
country, executive resistance to it, es
pecinlly in times Of high party excitement
would be likely to produce violent COLI
sion between the respective adhercnts of
the two branches of the government. This
would be simply civil war, and
civil war must be resortcd to
only as a last remedy for the wort of evils
Whattve might tend TO provoke it should
be most carefully avoided. A faithful and
conscientious magistrate will conccdc very
much to honest error, and something even
TO peryerse malice, before he will endanger
the public peace, and he will not adopt forci
| VIC ucasuIcS UI suCn as miEut iedu 10 IOfct
ss long - chances, which are peaocable, re-
\ main open to him or to his constituents 1t
Is true that cases may occur in which the
Executive would oe compelled to stand on
his rights and maintain them regardless of
consequences. II Congress should pass an
act which is not only in palpablc conflict
with the constitution. but will certainly If
carried out produce immediate and irfepar
able injury to the organic structure Of the
government, and il there be neither judicial
remedy for the wrongs it inflic,s, nor
power IN the people to protect themselves
without official aid of their elected defend
ers If, for instance, the legislative depart.
ment should pass an act, even through all
forms Of law, to abolish a coordinate de
partment Of the government; in such case
the President must take the high response
bility Of his Office, and rave the lie Of a ma
| ton at all hazards
The socaIled reconstruction acts,
Though ~ plainly Unconstitutional - any
that can be imagined, were not believed to
be within the class last mentioned. The
people were not wholly disarmcd Of the
power of self-dcfcnce. In All the North
ern States they still hold in their hands
the sacred right Of the ballot and it was
safe to believe that in due time they would
come to the rescue Of their own instisu-
tions. 1t gives me pleasure to add that an