Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1867-12-06

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Of congress does totally subvert and destroy
the form as well as the substance Of republi-
can government il the ten States 10 which
they apply. It binds them hand and foot
in absoluts slavery, and subjects them 10 .
strange and hostile power, more unlimited
and more likely to be abused than any other
now known among civilized men. 1t tramples
down all those rights in which the essence Of
liberty consists, and which afree government
is always most careful to protect. It denies
the habens corpus and the trial BY jury. Per-
sonal freedom, property, and life, if assailed
by the passion, the prejudice, or the rapaci-
ty ofthe ruler, have no security whatever.
It has the effect of bill Of attainder, or bill
of pains and penalties, not upon a few indi-
viduals, but upon whole masses, including
the millions who inhabit the subject States,
and even their unborn children. These
wrongs, being expressly forbidden, cannot
be constitutionally inflicted upon any portion
Of our people, no matter how they may have
come within our jurisdiction, and no matter
whether they live in States, Territories, or
districts. assy j 81 m. 500
have no desire to save from the proper
and just consequences of their great crime
those who engaged in rebellion against the
Government; but as mode of punishment
the measures under consideration are the
most unreasonable that could be invented.
Many of those people are perfectly innocent;
many kept their fidelity to the Union un-
tainted to the last; many were incapable Of
any legal offence; large proportion even
of the persons able to bear arms were forced
into rebellion against their will and Of
those who are guilty with their own consent
the degrees Of guilt are as various as the
shades of their character and temper. But
these acts Of Congress confound them all
together in one common doom. Indiscrim-
mate vengeance upon classes, sects, and
pa rites, or upon whole communities, for of
fences committed by a portion of them against
the governments to which they owed obedi-
ence, was common in the barbarous ages of
the world. But Christianity and civilization
have made such progress that recourse to a
punishment so cruel and unjust would meet
with the condemnation Of all unprecedented
and right-minded men. The punitive JUS
lice Of this age. and especially Of this coun-
try, does not consist in stripping whole States
of their liberties, and reducing all their peo-
pie, without distinction, to the condition. of
slavery. It deals separately with each IN
dividual, confines itself to the forms Of law,
and vindicates its own purity by an impair
tial examination of every case before COM
pentent judicial tribunal. Ifthis does not
satisfy all our desires with regard to South
ern rebels. let US console ourselves by reflect
ing that a free Constitution, triumphant in
war and unbroken in peace, is worth far
more to US and our children than the gratif-
cation Of any present feeling. tssi0A
I am aware it is assumed that this system
Of government for the Southern States is
not to be perpetual. 1t is true this military
government is to be only provisional but it
is through this temporary evil that greater
EVIL is to be made perpetual If the guar
antees of the Constitution can be broken
Professionally to serve temporary purpose,
and in part only of the country, we can
destroy them everywhere and for all time.
Arbitrary measures often chan aoe, but they
generally change forsthe worse. It is the
curse of despotism that it has no hating
place. The intermitted exercise Of its pow
er brings no sense Of security to its subjects;
for they can never know what more they
will be called to endure when its red right
hand is armed to plague them again. Nor
is it possible to conjecture how or where
power, unrestrained by law, may seek its
next victims. The States that are still free
may be enslaved at any moment; for if the
Constitution does not protect all, it protects
none. aA
It is manifestly and avowedly the object
of these laws to confer upon negroes the
privilege of voting, and to disfranchse such
a number Of white citizens as will give the
former clear majority at all elections IN
the Southern States, This, to the minds Of
some persons, is so important, that viola
ton Of the Constitution is justified as
means Of bringing it about. The morality
is always false which excuses wrong be-
cause it proposes to accomplish desirable
end. We are not permitted to do evil that
good may come. But in this case the end
itself is evil, as well as the means. The
subjugation Of the States to negro dolnina-
ton would be worse than the military des-
potism under which they are now suffering
1t was believed beforehand that the people
would endure any amount Of military oppres-
sion, for any length Of time, rather than de-
grade themselves by subsection to the negro
race. Therefore they have been left with
out a choice. Negro suffrage was established
by act Of Congress, and the military officers
were commanded to superintend the process
Of clothing the negro race with the political
privileges torn from white men, M
The blacks in the South are entitled to be
we'll and humanely governed, and to have
the protection Of just laws for all their rights
Of person and property. If it were practi-
cable at this time to give them government
exclusively their own. under which they
might manage their own affairs in their own
way, it would become grave question wheth-
er we ought to do SO, or whether common
humanity would not require us to save them
from themselves. But, under the circum-
stances, this is only speculative point. It
is not proposed merely that they shall govern
themselves, but that they shall rule the white
race, make and administer State laws, elect
Presidents and members Of Congress, and
shape to greater or less extent the future