Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-08-08

Dls Attorney Uenerdl mat unUer these ihN
the Military Commanders were mere police
men, subordinate TO the Provisional Gov
ernments over which they had been plac-
ed, the army, but posse cOmitdtus 10 en-
force the DEGREES ofthe rebel Governors and
Mayors, and that every rebel was to be his
own registrar. The people surprised at
these decisions, appealed to the Congress
in which they placed such deserved conf
dence to assemble, and from Maine to Cali
fornia they came hither to resume their
legislative authority, and to so declare the
meaning of their legislation that no legal
sophistries of any Attorney General could
mistify it. Vetoed again, they re-passed il
by vote of four to one, and it has goae
on the statute as ono Of the laws which tho
President, by his constitutional oath, must
take care to have faithfully executed
Some know condemn Congress for hay-
ing done too much in its past legislation,
and some for having done too little; but
think ii has struck the golden mean; firm
and yet prudent, courageous without undue
excitement, intlexible and yet wise. The
+ President in his last veto denounces this
military despotism, as he calls it, and de-
clares that Congress has subjected the
South to a tyranny most intolcrabie. We
have heard of these charges of military
despotism before, during the war, iron, the
party which so bitterly opposed his cleo
ton three years ago. Every act tending to
strengthen the Government, such as the
suspension of the hdbcos corpus, trials
by couyi martial and so forth, was de-
nounced as a military dcspotism; but the
people rendered their verdict and it could
not be reversed. Instead OF tyranny, the
keynote OF the Congressional policy is
protection to all, and the vindication and
triumph Of loyalty, and God keeping us
We shall stand by ii until it Is crowned with
! triumph. / will use no word of dlsrcspeci
towards the President, for. although DIFF
ferring with him in policy as wide as the
poles, respect the office which he fills. and
prefer argument to invective.
When | listened yesterday to Mr.. Nc
Pherson, the Clerk Of the House, as he
read the defiant message uf the President
could no but feel that in the whole OF il
he arranged himself far more than the
Congress which he addressed. All parties
agree that he spoke correctly when in his
North Carolina proclamation of May, 1867
he declared that all the civil Governments
Of the South had been destroyed by the
rebellion. He then without calling Con
gress together, went on with the work oil
reconstruction in the absence of all law
upon the subject. Has Congress made
State Governments subordinate to the
military power? So did the President
Has Congress provided for the calling OF
State Conventions? So did the President
Has Congress authorized the ratification:
So did the President But he ordered
Conventions by his executive fiat, and re-
cognized their Constitutions without theiI
being submitted to the people. Congress
required the people and registered voters,
to call the Convention themselves, and then
10 approve or reject their work by popu
lar vote. Has Congress required the rati-
fication of a Constitutional Amendment:
So did the President. Has Congress estab-
lished test oath? So did the President.
Our crime is, | suppose, that we provided
that inose whom the nation has made free
should have the freeman S ballot for their
protection, while the President did not.
But the result of his policy strikingly con-
trasts With the results of ours. The nation
looked on TO see what fruits would result
from his action, and what they were. In
nearly every State the rebel pOwerresumed
its authority, and became dominant in their
executive, legislative and judicial depart
ments. The vagrant and labor laws. vir-
tually re-enslaying the emancipatcd, fol-
lowed by murders, outrages, riots and
massacres, crowned the whole. Loyal
men were under foot, and the revivified
spirit OF rebellion was triumphant With
our duty TO our country, md our Oaths,
we could not affirm and legalize this policy,
and hence the legislative action we have
since taken. Approved in the past VIC
have been. cannot doubt even more
triumphant endorsement hereafter. The
President appeals to the ballot box; SO do
we; and by lis decision We are willing to
stand or fall. In 1862, IN the darkest hour
of the war, amid disaster and reverse, the
ballot-box sustained us and returned a
Republican majority to Congress. In 1864,
we were compelled to accep: all the odium
OF consciption, the heavy burdens of taxa
ton necessary to our national credit and
to keep our flag flying in the field, the
charges OF our enemies that men were be-
ing drafted from their homes TO free the
negroes, and the denunciations against the
war as failure; but with the simple motto
of "Our Country" uuder the lead of our
noble President-would to God he were
living to-day-we won magnificent tri-
umph. In 1866, when President Johnson
turned his back on the party which elect
ed him, traversed the country making
speeches TO be read by millions, denOuncing
u.; with his whole Cabinet against us, with
but an honored exception; with ;he whole
power and patronage of the Government
thrown in the scale of our enemies, we Ie-
paired again TO the 5allot-box, winning the
most MAGNIFICENT victory ever known in
our political history. But this will be
eclipsed by the coming victory of 1868,
when we shall place in the office of the
Government one who will be faithful to
liberty, justice and loyalty. We ask no
more ard will accept no less, and this
victory will be swelled by the votes of the
reconstructed South. When they return,
as they will, in accordance with the terms
prescribed in our legislation. they will
return with magnificent maiorities for the
right, They will come back led as they
must be by those who have been faithful
10 the Union in its darkest hours. They
will Join with us of the North under
the inspiring influence Of free labor and
free men in the march of prosperity and
power, and will join us in so legislating,
that hereafter in this noble land there shall
be no man so poor, 80 humble. go obscure
that he cannot look upto the American flag
as his unfailing protection, and with the
ballot which shall vindicate his rights i'm
his own right hnrd-and all the loyal peo-
pie shall say Amen and Amen.
The serenading party then proceeded to
the residence of Senator Sumner and paid
him like compliment.