Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-04-09


persons in their rights of person and
property, to suppress insurrection and vio-
leFice, TO punish crimes, and to establish
tribunals; in short, the whole in
teTnali policy and the entire domestic con-
Germs of the State are placed under his con-
troll; this,i too, without any law to guide
him but his own will. with strong armed
force to carry out his will. The Legisla-
ture of the State and its judicial system are
to be annulled, and the rights of property
unsettled,i even arbitrarily destroyed. IF
this state OF things does not lead to a train
of evils that defy enumeration, then the
history of unbridled military power in all
ages of the world will have been belied.--
Wherever it has prevailed it has been the
irresistible instrument of wrongs aud out
RACES, and the power byu which Govern
ments have been subverted. Are men bet-
ter now than they have been? They are
in passions, in faculties and in temper the
same. At one time the kingdom of Eng
land was divided into military districts,
with General in command of each; and
the historian informs US the people became
sick and tired of government by the sword,
and pined for government OF laws. And
this is to be the fate of the Southern people;
perhaps, at no distant day, the fate of the
whole people of the United States, if this
system becomes precedent in the Govern
ment. Already Maryland, State that did
not Secede, has been threatened and tOre-
warmed that she, too, may soon be VIC
tim; the sword hangs over her by single
thread And can it be that for such i'm
pending injuries there is no remedy p
What an idle ceremony it was to declare
that the powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor pro-
hibiUed by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people,"
If Congress may convert the regular Gov.
ernment of a State into mere Provisional
HGovernment, why may it not just as well
prescribe permanent Government for it /?
And does it not do so in this case, by regu
lating the right of suffrage, and by claim
ing the right to determine when the State
shall be restored? What secession failed
to accomplish, what the war was inaug-
urated TO prevent, has been brought about
by very plain and simple process.
| . An additional source of probable mis-
chief should not be overlooked. Suppose
the officers appointed should proceed to
carry out these acts to the full extent of
their powers by removing all the officers
IOf the State, by adjudicating on the rights
/ of property according to their own crude
ideas of right by trying and Furnishing in
dividuals, by calling Conventions and es-
tablishing Governments, and by doing
whatever military officers may think prop
er to do, and then these acts should be de-
clared void, as they surely will be, sooner
or later, then all that may have been done
under them must tail. 1t will follow that
Ia state of anarchy must have INTERVIEWED
| from the time the Government was dis
lplaced. And what may have been done
loan derive no validity from the real or sup
posed assent of the people; these measures
are put upon them by force or under dt1-
ress. No one can foresee the evils, the ut
ter confusion that must prevail. This con-
1 siderati0n should present persuasive rea-
son tor speedy settlement of this ques-
| tion, so that the harmony and good order
of society may not be broken up, and this
humiliating spectacle presented to the
world to the reprOach of American instita-
/ tions. "t 900 -'
, May we be permitted to add another
idea? These acts are harsh. oppressive in
/ the extreme. They are acts of pains and
penalties for past offenses; they are bills OF
attainder, e1 post JdctO laws. This Govern
ment must have its strong foundation In
public opinion, in the attachment of the
| people for it, in the protection it affords
them in the enjoyment OtScivil and reli-
gious liberty. Is it wise, is it polite
| further to Oppress, to punish ahelpless peo-
| pie who have already drank of the cup o.
bitterness toits very dregs for their errors
| Is il expected thus to win back their affec-
! tions for the Government of their fathers
/ Is it expected that an oppressed people will
love the Government that oppresses them
| ed? Does Ireland love England, or will
she ever do so, after having been so Ions
enslaved by military rule and parliamenta
ry oppression? We, too, may be laying
the foundation for similar resentments be-
tween the South and the North, to culmi
nate in future revolutions, and possibly Il
the utter overthrow of the Government.
| aFourtk-As this legislation must have
proceeded on the idea that the Southern
States are not members of the Union, le
u.s. in the last place, inquire whether they
were in the Union during the rebellion
have. been in ever since, and are so now
If they have continued to be and are 81
now, then surely these acts have no consti
tutional basis ~ft
The union Of the States under the article.
of confederation of 177S, as we'll as unde
the Constitution, was "a perpetual Union,
and could not be dissolved by act of Con
gress or the attempted withdrawal of any
portion of the people of a State. If Con
gress cannot dissolve the Union, it canno
texclude any State from the Union. for if i
may exclude one State, it may exclude an,
number of States, and thus accomplish
result forbidden by the Constitution. Tht
Isecession ordinances, so far as their lega
effect was concerned, were mere nullities
These ordinances were DullitleS when en-
acted, and they acquired no legal or con
stitutiOnal force by subsequent events. Th
v
had no more legal or constitutional powe
than popular meetings. They were no
lonly illegal, but insurrectionary. Th
State Constitutions, framed under these or
1dinances, were nullities also, because tn
Federal Constitution expressly declares i
imperative language that "tnis Clnstitu
tion shall be the supreme law of the lanC
anythingin the Constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary Notwithstanding.
1.-The secession ordinances being nullitie!
the subsequent State Constitutions base
upon them were nullities, because the Con
1stitutions of all the States are required, a
we have seen, to be always subordinate t
the Federal Constitution. The subsequen
So called Legislatures. and Governors, an
all other officers, civil and military, actin
/ under these insurrectionary proceeding
| whether at Montgomery, Richmond, tn
State capitals, or elsewhere, had no legi
or constitutional authority, not only fo
the above reasons, but also because the
lWere all required first to take an oath {
1support the Constitution of the Unite
Estates. In fact, the whole proceeding
commencing with the secession ordinance
down to the last act of the drama, wer
part and parcel of a great insurrectiOl
wholly illegal, and totally forbidden by tt
Constitutions. But surely an unsuccessful
insurrection in any State, although it migf
subject the individuals concerned to pur
ishment, could not force any State froI
the. Union, confer any such power on Con
gress, or affect in any way the Federal n
lations of the State. ls-aa-is q,
Although Congress can suppress insul
rection, whether of a minority or majorit
of the people in any State, yetitcannotd dt
jclare war against a State, or treat it as
foreign power, or coerce or punish Sta
| in its corporate capacity. Such a power,
!shown by the Madison Papers, recordin
II the proceedings of the Convention whic
| framed the Federal Constitution, was the
asked from that Convention, and eXpressl
irefused. The principal reasons 1or this re
3fusal were
First-Because (unlike the Confederate