Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-07-24

ward, that the constitution and laws of the
State, as before the rebellion, are in full |
force, except that the constitution is so
modified as to declare that there shall be
neither slavery or involuntary servitude,
except in the punishment of crimes where
of the party shall have been duly convict
ed: that the General Assembly may make |
such provisions for the freed people as
shall recognize and declare their perma-
nent freedom, and provide for their educa-
ton, and which may yet be construed as
temporary arrangement, suitable to their |
present condition as labOring, landless, |
and homeless class; that said election shall |
be held on the 2Sth March, 1864, at all the |
usual places of the State, for all such |
voters as may attend for that purpose; that
the voters attending at each place at eight
o'clock in the morning of said day may
choose judges and clerks of election for
that purpose; that all persons qualified |
by said constitution and laws, and taking
the oath presented in the Presidents proc
lamation of December 8, 1868, either before
or at the election, and none others, may be
voters; that each set of judges aud clerks
may make returns directly to you on or be-
fore the = day of -- next; that in all
other respects said election may be con-
Quoted according to said modified constitu
ton and laws; that on receipt of said re-
turns, when nve thousand four hundred
and six votes shall have been cast, you can
receive said votes, and ascertain WHO shall
thereby appear to have been elected; that
on the = day of - next, all persons so
appearing to have been elected, who shall
appear before you at Little Rock and take
the oath, to be by you severaliy admins
tered, to support the Constitution of the
United States and the modified constitution
of the State of Arkansas, shall be declared
by you qualified and empowered to imme-
diately enter upon the duties of the offices
to which they shall have been respectively
elected.
you will please order an election to take
place on the 2Sth of March, 1854, and re-
turns to be made in fifteen days thereafter.
"a. LINCOLN"
Such, Mr.. Speaker, were the views of
Abraham Lincoln, as President of the
United States, acquiesced in by his entire
party, in relation to the status of the rebel
States during the war, even at a time when
the continent resounded with the roar of
hostile cannon and the tramp of mighty
armies. will not enter into an argument
now to show that these views were corr ect.
[ simply present them to the consideration
of honorable gentlemen on the opposite
side of the House, to remind them that
their present position, at a time when there
is not rebels musket cleaning in the sun
from South Carolina to Texas, and when
conquered peace reigns throughout the
onciled with their position in 1864. Sir,
need not reproduce here other clear official
recognitions of the fact that the Southern
States were never potentially out of the
Union. and which have already been cited
| by my honorable colleague, (Mr. Morgan)
Enough to say that it is quite too late now
| tor the so-called Republican party to as
sumo that they are out of the Union as
States. Mr.. Lincoln always persis-
tently claimed that unless they
| had the Constitutional right to secede they
| never could withdraw except by the sue
cessful force and power of arms, in the
common process of revolution; and as to
that position the Democratic party held no
dissimilar opinion.
Sir, l will notice one other significant
but false recognition by the Republican
party of the fact that the Southern States
are still legitimate esovereignties within the
Union. In looking over the certificate of
States ratifving the late amendments to the
| Constitution of the United States, by the
Secretary of State, with the broad seal of
! the Union attached, and to which the hon
! orable gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Kelley so much objects. / find the name of
a so-called State of the Union voting upon
said amendment, to which, suppose, the
honorable gentlemen will not object.
mean, sir. the so-called State of West Vir-
giuia. West Virginia, by act of Congress,
was attempted to be erected into a State in
July, 1862, one of the most doubtful and de-
spending periods of the war. In order to
| impart to it the semblance of Constitution
al existence the huge legislative mendacity
was resorted to of reciting that it was done
| with the consent of the sovereign legisla-
tive authority of the State of Virginia.
West Virginia, indeed What whitening,
! lirrepressible scorn must any honest mind
feel for the miserable, inconsistent,
and ridiculous assumption which claims
West Virginia to be State constitu-
t;onally within the Union, and that Ar
kansas is mere waif upon the sea of ma
tional life, an unorganized colonial depen-
dency outside of the Union. West Virgin
ia, sir she has no constitutional home; no
rightful, legal abiding place in the great
| family of States; she is a bastard Common
wealth, mere political foundling, without
Il drop of constitutional blood in her veins
she is an illegitimate star in our political
constellation she was conceived in the
sin and born in the iniquity of modern
radical republicanism; and the whole
rightful constitutional theory of our con-
federate SYSTEM the whole original frame
work of our Government as designed by
our fathers is disturbed and dislocated by
this horrid burlesque of State. And yet
sir, its erection, however revolutionary anC
unconstitutional, when you look to the an
imus and mode Of its accomplishment, a;
against those who perpetrated the out
rage, is clear an unPquivocal recognition
of the fact that Old Virginia was ana is
State within the Union, unshorn of any o
its original sovereignty.
Mr.. Speaker, these memorialists, as citi
zens of the United States and of the Stat,
of Arkansas, not only have the clear anC
unequiyocal constitutional right to petition
the Congress OF the United States; bu
tnere are other reasons, outside of the nake(
question of right, why their claim to b.
heard before the Representatives of th
people in this mode should be favorablN
and equitably considered. And l limit M
proposition to the claim of being heard on
ly, because do not intend now to commi
myself upon the merits of their case a
being entitled to the relief they seek at ou
hands. / ask gentlemen on the other sid
of the House not to forget that they alway
claimed, during the war, Arkansas to b
one of the seeded States holding a larg
Union sentiment within her borders. Th
history of her secession will not contro
vert this proposition. On the 18th day @
January, 1851, the Legislature of Arkansa
passed an act calling convention. Tha
law was submitted to the people for ratiti
cation or rejection, and 27,4I2 votes wer
cast for it and 1926 against 1t. That con
vention net on the 4th day Of March, 1856
the day of the Inauguration of Abraham
Lincoln as President of the United State
An ordinance of secession was put to vot
in convention on the 18th day OF March
1861, at time when Mr.. Lincoln, from tn
spirit of his inaugural address and othe
manifestations, was considered to be quit
conservative in his views in relation to til
very critical condition of the country, an
the ordinance was defeated by vote of 8
to So. The fatal meeting of the Norther
Governors took place Immediately therea
ter and a new policy was inaugurated
the North. 1t was not, however, unit
hostilities had commenced between til
two sections, and the stern realities of wf
actually existed between them, that Tn
Arkansas convention, on the 9Th day