The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1867-03-29
The Stevens cortiscation Bill.

@ trace tNe regular and rons'Anl GcN"ipp
ment Of the Northern iiea," from lis underlined
germ to its present maturity, may be interesting
to the future hi. torian, hut ,ce have more vital
duties. When the fierce tornado is upon us,
present security is the important object. 1t boots
not then to discuss who first saw the cloud no
bigger than n mans hand above the horizon, Nor
how and with what fantastic shapes that cloud
grew till it enveloped the entire armament it is
no time for regrets or reproaches, ordinations
or rccriminations, but every energy should be
used in the best way to escape its violence
Whatever uncertainty may have heretofore at
tached to the objects Of the Black Republican
p,rty is surely gone now; those objects stand
forth uncovered and fully defined. The Consti-
tuition has been annGlIed sovereign Stales which
freely gave their hest and br,veSt to achieve our
Independence have been blotted from existence;
the government instituted by our fathers to Sc.
cure our lives, our liberties and our property,
has been changed into an engine of destruction,
crushing what it was meant to protect Congress,
from representative body chosen by the free
votes of free constituencies, has been converted
into close corporation, claiming and exercising
the right TO elect its own members. And all for
what? Primarily, as ayowed by the bill and
speech before us, to give homeseads and the
right of suffrage to The negroes, and ultimately
to secure supreme power to the Black Republic
can party. The issue is clearly made up; the
| disguises and concealment heretofore practced
! TO satisfy the conslcnces of those weak in tie
! faith have been thrown aside the way iaging
man though fool cannot mistake tie termina-
ton of tie road we are travelling; there is no
| possible excuse for any mans voting or acting
with the party now, unless he iavors Its objects
there is no room for mistakes.
| The hill recently introduced by Mr.. Stevens
into the House ofRepresentatves provides simply
to confscate the land in the Southern States and
give homesteads of forty or eighty acres, and
| fifty dollars in money, to each adult male negro
and distribute five hundred millions of dollars
among the soldiers and loyal sufferers by the
war; "To this ISSUE" Mr.. Stevens tells us he
'desires.to devote the small remnant of his life"
He says mo committee or party is responsible
for this bill. 1t is chargeable TO the President
and myself Whatever merit it possesses is due
TO Andrew Johnson In the summer of 1864 he
said in public speech Let me say, now is the
time to secure these fundamental principles, while
the land is rent with anarchy and upheayes with
the thrOes of mighty revolution While soc-
ETY. is in this disordered state and we are seeking
security, let us fix the foundations the govern
ment on the principles Of eternal Justice, which
will endure for all time.'' Now the Presidents
| and Mr.. Stevens ideas OF Fundamental prn-
ciples" and ''eterna justice" are undoubtedly
radically different and they mean very different
things, even when using the same words But
"A little further on ANDREW johnson was the
apostle whose preachlugs | followed His doc
trine pcryades aud aninaIe5 this whole till.
| Hhaterr Of justice Is N Il is due 10 ham," The
| Presidents share is thus reduced 10 IL minimum
and being less than any assggablo quantity may
henceiorih on mathematical authority b. disre-
enrded from the question. Again ''This bill
it seems to me, can be condemned only by Il
and those "who forget that the essence of
| religion is 10 do unto Others what others have a
right to expect from you" Exactly If YOU
happen to fall into the hands of ctnnibals Won
have clear right to expect to be broiled ana eat
en-; if you should be SO unfortunate as to re-
| ceive visit from General Butler you would
hare right TO expect to lose your spoons and in
either case there would be enough of this Yankee
'essence Of religion 10 prevent disappointment
The country certainly has no right to expect
anything good from NJ. Stevens and his friends.
but God save us from having the full measure
OF our expectations realized Along with his
'essence Of religion he also gives us his notions
OF "strct law and good common sense" "Ihe
laws OF war, says ne, ''authorise lis to take this
property by our sovereign power; by II law now
10 be passed. We have IA subdued enemy in our
power all their property and lives ure at our dis
posal." 1t is useless to reason about law, religion
or common sense with men who constantly keen
open their lines Of retreat into the regions of
"liigher Law" and Eternal Justice" whittier no
logic in the world can follow them but how
oft.n and how earnestly have Mr. Stevens and
his friends declared that the war they wagcd was
solely for the preservation of the Union, and how
can their "essence Of religion" now escape the
expectations which such professions were calcula-
ted to inspire, unless they plead Their own turpi-
tude-that they never were worthy of credit?
But Mr.. Stevens might with the same reason
have said, "the laws OF war authorize us TO eat
these people, and proved it by good Fejce author
ity; or to scalp and roast them alive" and cited
the customs of the Choctaws and Chicasaws;
"or 10 sell them into slavery" and relied upon
the decidedly. African proclivity of the day.
With his ''incomparable logic" he proved his
position by European authorities and with the
history of Poland, Hungary and Ireland before
us we cannot well deny the truth of that posi-
ton from European stand point, any more
than we could deny any one of the above propo-
sitions from Fejee, Indian, or African stand
point. The real trouble is that in this question,
European and Fejee authorities have precisely
the same applicability, and no more ard no less
because the spirit of European institutions is
Numerically opposed to ours. In monarchcal