Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1867-02-21
penels and Federal ofiicers.

b;s sentbern friends is not so objec-
+;onahle for what it contains, as for
its omission of one important meas
ure contained in the Amendment
proposed by Congress. We refer to
the fact, that it imposes no disabili-
ties, political or otherwise, upon the
leading men Of the rebellion, but
leaves them, as they were prior to
their treason, eligible to any and all
offices under the Federal govern
ment. Reconstruction upon this
basis would render Jefferson Davis
eligikle to the Presidency of the Uni
ted States, and place it in the power
of the South to return to Congress
the very men, who in 1861, left il for
the avewed purpose Of destroying
the government. To such recon-
struction the loyal North can never
assent. There is something revolt
ing in the very thought. Honor
with the highest national Offices men
who have prostituted their talents
and ability in wicked and cruel at
tempt to destroy the nation-who
have entailed upen the people an
immense national debt, anil who
stand now, as they will in history,
accountable for the sacrifice of hun
dreds.of thousands of lives? So re-
store the movers and originators of
this long train of national disasters
to positions of power and trust un-
der the very government they sought
to destroy would disgrace us in the
eyes of the wsrld, and present an
anomaly without counterpart in his
terv.
Through no spirit of revenge or
persecution, but as a matter of strict
national justice and right, the loyal
people of the country demand that
the leaders of rebellion be declared
from political preferment under the
general government. Let them re-
tain their lives and their property
which we're justly forfeited by their
treason; let the law protect them in
all their rights of person and prop
erty; let them live among US in peace,
pursuing the ordinary avocations Of
life and forgetting their crime if they
can, but we believe we speak the
universal sentiment of the loyal
North, when we say that they can
never again be rulers in this country.
Having once taken a solemn oath to
support the Constitution and Gov
eminent of the United States and
having violated that oath by open
treason, they can never again be
safely trusted with political power.
We speak now of the leading men of
the rebellion, men who prior to their
treason occupied high and response
BILE positions in the government and
used the influence thus acquired in
fostering and cherishlng secession.
The masses at the South, who par
ticipated in the rebellion, will be re-
stored to their political as well as
civil rights. But the men who plot
ted and planed the rebellion, who
furnished its brains and vital force,
and who seduced the masses into its
support, these men are and must re
main politically dead. Office hold
ers, trusted and honored by the peo-
pie, they never again can become
Jefferson Davis may not be hanged
for his treason, but he can never
again be United States Senator.
The above we believe to be sound
doctrine and in accordance with the
views of the Union party. Our Dem
ocratic brethren think and act other
wise. They hold it unconstitutional
to shut the doors of Congress agains
the leading rebels. Mr.. Shellabar
ger, in late speech in Congress, ha:
aptly reduced the Democratic creed
on this subject to plain, yet truthful
terms. He affirms that if the doc
trines held by that party were aetu
ally embedded in sections and pu
into Constitution of the United States
they would read as follows:
"Art. 9, Sec. L. If the people o.
a section shall raise a rebellion
against the Government of the Uni
ted States. shall overthrow the Con
stitution and laws, shall use the State
governments to carry On war agains
the United States, shall set up an in
dependent national government, shsl
assume and exercise all the belliger
ent rights of foreign alliances and
invite the aid Of foreign powers tC
divide this Republic, shall continu,
to wage war for four years, ant
thereby kills quarter of a million o
loyal men, destroy $4,000, 600, coo o
property, inflict upon the people
debt of S4,000,00 900, and shal
persist until they are so utterly de
feated that they cannot wiring from
their section any more means to con
tinue resistance, and shall aggravat
this bloodshed by the most atrociou
cruelties, they shall not thereby for
felt any power or privilege Of cit
zens of the United States, nor shal
they thereby be disqualified as cleo
tors, nor from being elected to an
office in the United States, nor sha
it be in the power of the Unite