Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-07
VOLUME XVII.
REMARKS OF
HON. GEORGE LAND0N
ON THE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

huCIlCdA oO!l JIG pllNllCSC5 VI CiIl'
zenship, and the immunities of impair
tial justice before the law. They de.
clare, in substance, that if the color
ed people are allowed to vote, then
shall they be counted in the basis OF
Congressional representation if de-
MED the elective franchise, then they
shall not be counted. They affirm that
no person shall hold Office under the
United States, or under any State,
who having previously taken an oath
to support the Constitution, shall have
engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the same. They exclude, in
a word, from power and place, all
perjured, red-handed traitors. They
affirm the validity of our national
debt, contracted for the preservation
of the Government. They repudiate
the confederate debt, and all alleged
claims or losses arising from the
emancipation of slaves. They en-
power Congress with full authority
to enforce these provisions by all ne
cessary and appropriate legislation.
These provisions are so mild and
so necessary that the malignant hos
tility to them, from certain quarters,
would be surprising but for the re-
Election that there never was a cause
in the worlds long history, so good,
so Just, SO pure as to be exempt from
bitter opposition. The better the
cause the more violent its opponents
the sublimer the truth the more
virulent its falsifiers-the holier the
man the more diabolical his tradu.
GERS. Such is the perversity of some
sections of human nature. Once ex.
claimed a Scotch clergyman, 90!
that the Deity would present to the
world the embodiment of virtue then
would mankind worship it I" Anoth-
er responded, "The Deity has al
ready presented the incarnation of all
that is grand in virtue and truth, but
instead of worshipping, the world
cruciied it." The hostility of certain
classes to every proposed expedient
for the advancement of liberty and
the preservation of the country, expe,
dients suggested by necessity and
approved by wisdom, is but further
illustration of human moroseness and
illiberality.
1t is pitiable fact that the men who
OnDOse these amendments have per.
sistently arrayed themselves against
every other patriotic proposition, from
the raising of armies to the manumis-
sion of slaves. True to their origi-
nal instincts, they remain unmitigat-
ed and unchanged. That our Gov
ernment has fallen into serions diff
culties is known fact. Direful com
plications have involved us, compli-
cations striking home upon ten thous.
and hearts and hearths, and involv-
ing the very life of the nation itself.
We have passed through the first
chapter of woes-the first wild war
tempest has spent its force, leaving
the marks of desolation and disrup-
ton in its path.
Now, sir, what is the duty of every
man, of ever lover of the country,
statesman, the philosopher, the Christ
ian, the law-maker-of all, indeed,
without distinction-who have pres
ent interests to conserve and hopes
for the future to maintain Is not
this their duty To put forth every
possible effort, with perseverance and
painstaking, to extricate the Govern
ment from the present complications
uplifting it from the embodiment of
treason and crime, laying it's founda-
tions frmer, deeper, broader than ev-
er before. We should be guided by
enlarged, expansive ideas, not by
contracted, bigoted dogmas. We
should seek the good of all sections,
all classes, all eras.
Free from all vindictiveness, far
above and beyond all factions, firmly
Just but magnanimously generous, we
should now provide for the greatest
good of the greatest number for the
greatest length of time The South
ern half of the country has been for
ages diseased, debauched. Her edu-
cational theories were wrong, her la
Dor system ruinous, her politics en-
venomed, her Christianity a carica-
ture upon pure morality. Steadily
degenerating at heart, in 1851 the
malady came to the surface in the
form of treason, war, blood and anar-
chy. And now that section having
sowed to the wind has reaped the
whirlwind, and lies bleeding and
smitten by the inevitable consequen-
ccs of her own criminal follies. In
few words, her status is this: : Mar
TALLY crushed, financially impoverish-
ed, domestically vitiated and politi-
cally bedeviled. Yet with all her
guilt and degradation upon her, crush
ing her to the very dust, may we not
hope for brighter and better future
ia reserve. To this l look with most
unqualified faith. As the South has
all the. natural resources of great
ness, and wealth and progress, the
time shoxld come and will come,
when her public mind will be illumin-
ed and expanded with correct concep-
tions of government, of manhood and
liberty-when her undeveloped treas
ures shall be brought into the mark
cts of the world, when shackles and
plantation whips shall be hung up in
museums as painful mementoes of
abandoned barbarism, when olsen
thralled and regenerated, the resort
of capital, the theatre of enterprise,
the broad area of untrammeled indus
try, she shall stand forth beautiful in
virtue, venerable in wisdom, strong
in patriotism, opulent in productive
ness-the garden of the continent