Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-12-04

should be conducted solely for the pur-
pose OF preserving the Union and main
tanning the supremacy of the Federal
Constitution and the laws, without inn
pairing the dignity, equality and rights
of the states or individuals, and that
when this was done the war should cease.
| do not say that this declaration is person
| ally binding on those who Joined in max
ing it, any more than the individual mem
beIs ofCongress are personally bound to
pay q public debt created under a law for
which they voted; but il was a solemn
public official pledge ofnational honor; and
| cannot imagine upon what grounds the
| Reputation Of ii is to be justified. lit be
said that we are not bound TO keep faith
| with the rebels, let it be remembered
! that this promise was not made TO
| rebels only but to thousands of true
| men in the South, who were drawn to
our standard by it, and to hundreds OF
| thousands in the North who gave
their lives in the belief that il would be
| carried out. 1t was made on the day
after the first great battle of the war had
| been fought and lost. All patriotic and
| intelligent men then saw the necessity OF
giving such an assurance, and believed
| that without it the war would end in dis
aster to our cause. Having given that as
surance, in the extremity of our peril, q
violation of it now in our day of power
would be a rude rendering of that good
| faith which holds the moral world togeth.
er. Our country would cease to have any
claim upon the confidence of men. Il
would make the war not only a failure bui
a fraud.
Being sincerely convinced that these
views are correct, / would be unfaithful tC
my duty If did not recommend a repeal
of the acts of Congress which place ten o.
the Southern States under the dominion
of military masters. II calm reflection
| shall satisfy a majority of your honorable
/ bodies that the acts referred to are not only
a violation of national faith, but in direci
conflict with the Constitution, l dare moi
/ permit myself to doubt that W" In I'M
mediately strike them from the statute
! book. To demonstrated the unconstitu-
tiOnal character of these acts, l need
do no more than refer to their general
provisions. 1t must be seen at once that
they are authorized TO dictate what
alterations shall be made in the COnsti-
buttons of the several States TO control
| elections of state legislature and state Off
| GERS, members of Congress and electors of
| President and Vice-PTesident, bv arbitra-
rily declaring who shall vote, aud who
shall be excluded from that privilege to
dissolve state legislatures, to prevent them
from assembling; TO dismiss Judges and
other civil nnctiOnaries of the state, and
appoint others without reference to state
law TO organize and operate all political
machinery of the states; to regulate the
whole administration of their domestic
and local affairs according to the mere win
of strange and IRRESPONSIBLE agents, sent
among them for that purpose. These are
powers not granted to the federal govern
ment, or TO any one of its branches not
being granted, we violate our trust by
assuming them, as ~palpably as we
would by acting in the face of q positive
interdict, for the Constitution forbids us
TO do whatever it does not a~ffilmatively
authorize, either by express words or by
clear implication. The authority we de-
sire to use does not come to US through the
Constitution. We can exercise il only by
uSuTpation, and usurpation is the most dan
geTous of political crimes. By that crime
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 establish
ment of absolute rule, for undelegated
power is always unlimited.
The unrestraIncd acts of Congress in
question are not only Objectionable for
their assumption of ungranted power, but
many of their provisions are in conflict
with the direct prohibition of the consti-
tuition. 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
F-0Pe=t$githout due process of law, ar
rested without a judicial warrant, or pun
ished without a fair trial before an i'm
partial jury that the privilege of habeas
corpus shall not be denied in FINE ofpeace,
and that no bill of sttaiEJIer shall be pass
ed even against a single individual; vel
the system II measures established by
-e.Ssc acts of Congress does totally sub
vert and destroy the form as well as the
1 Substances of a republican govern
ment In the ten states to which
they apply. 1t binds them hand and
foot in absolute slavery, and subjects them
to a strangea and hostile power more unlim-
tied 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
free government is always most careful to
protect. II denies hsbeas corpus and trial
by jury. Personal freedom, property and
life, if assailed by the passion, prejudice or
incapacity OF rulers, have no security
whatever. lthas the effect of a bill of at
tainder, or bill of pains and penalties, not
on a few individuals, but upon the whole
mass, including millions, who inhabit the
s%ubiugated States, and even their unborn
children. These wrongs being expressly
forbidden, cannot be constimtionally in
fiicted upon any portion of our people, no
matter how they NAV have come within
GU jurisdiction, and no matter whether
they live in States, Territories or Districts.
have no desire to save from the proper
and Just consequences of their great crime
those who engaged in the rebellion against
the Government, but, as a mode of punish
ment, the measures under consideration
are the most unreasonable that could
be invented. Many of these peo-
pie are perfectly innocent; many kept
their fidelity to the Union untainted
to the last, and many Wera incapa-
BILE of any legal offense. A large portion
even of thepersons able to bear arms were
AOANLa A4NOA AS ACbLAAlOh u-dAAA-L lutlI 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. Indiscriminate vengeance upon
classes, sects and parties. or upon whole
communities for O~ffenses committed by a
portion of them against the governments
to which they owed obedience, was com
mon in the barbarOus ages of the world,
but christianity and civilization have made
such progress that recourse to a punish
ment so cruel and unjust would meet with
the condemnation of all unprejudiced and
right-mnded men. The primitive Justice
of this age, and especially of this eoun-
try, does not consist in stripping whole
States of their liberties, and reducing all
their people, without distinction, to the
condition of slaves. 1t deals separately
with each individual; confines itself to the
forms Oflaw, and yindicates its owR purity
by an impartial examination of every case.
This does not satisfy all our desires with re-
gard to the Southern rebels. Let us console
ourselves by rejecting that a free consti-
tuition, triumphant in wal and unbroken
in peace, Is worth far more to us and our
children than the qualification of any pres
ent feeling. / know it is assumed that
this system of government for the South
ern States is not ito be perpetual. 1t is
true this military government is to be
only provisional, but it is through this
temporary evil that a greater evil is to be
made perpetual. If tie guarantees of the
Constitution a be broken Professionally
to secure a temporary purpose, and in a