The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1867-07-18
Notes on tho SituatiOn.-NO. 5.
By HON. B. II. HILL, OF GEORGIA.

Notes on tho SituatiOn.-NO. 5.
By HON. B. II. HILL, OF GEORGIA.
1t is said, in the next place, that il
we do not accept the present plan oil
rcconstr Iction proposed in these Mill.
tary Bills, another plan, o odious
and oppressive, will be provided. Fur.
Their disfranchisemcnt, it is said, Of the
white race will take place, and it may
be u total dislranchisemcnt Of all bu,
the blacks and their fellows in suffer.
ings and former bondage the persecu.
ted loyalists and who alone will then
have the government Of the State.
But if the present plan fails because
tits unconstitutional, how can q worse
plan--a plan still more unconstitution
al--succeed? Iii is not in the pow
er Of Congress to ~disfranchise a few,
how can it ~disfranchise all? Congress
can neither maize or anmdhe cleo
tors, and every member ofthc Congress
knows it. And every act which seeks
or pretends to make or unmake voters
in a State is void and will be declared
so and every election held, or consti-
tuition formed, or government organized
by voters who arc made voters only by
Congress, is void and will be declared
so. Every man who is made n votel
by the laws Of his State, and is denied
that vote by Congress is wronged, and
every agent OF officer of the Congress
or other person who cnforces the deni.
al is u wrong- d0er, and is responsible in
all the penalties and damages prescri-
bed by the State laws. The only dan
ger possible lies in the strange fear OF
the people to assert their rights, and
the consequent disposition to consent to
tile wrong. From consent alone can
wrong derive power, and when once
consented to its power becomes ire
sistiblc. If they did not sec, or think
they saw, Il fatal inclination in our peo-
pie to yield, Congress and the renegades
would not ask their consent, nor dare
to in1ict the wrongs. For to attempt
the wrong and fail (and without con,
sent they must fail, can only bring ul'
innate disgrace on those who make the
attempt. When the burglar knows the
owner of the house is awake and de-
termined to resist, he will not dare tc
enter; but if he knows the owner is
asleep or disposed to yield, he is sure
to enter; he is invited to enter. A
Congress or q fragmcntary conclavt
thereof, who breaks the Constitution
to infict wrongs on m unresisting peo'
pie, is more criminal and far more COW.
ardly than the burglar; and the mar
who is within-who is Of the people
and who counscls submission to the
wrong, is far more to be despised thar
q burglar or than even such q Con.
gress.
OF like character is the threat that
if we reject their plan, Congress will, in
q new plan, add coniscation. He is 10
be pitied for his simplicity who does
not know that Congress has no more
power to confiscate the property of a
peaceful citizen than has a political
meeting or a church mob and that the
very attempt would necessarily end the
existence of the Congress attempting
it.
But, unmanly and without iounda-
ton of either law or reason, as arc
these threats offurthcr attempts at dis
reimbursement and cOnfiscatiOn, they
arc of surprising Importance in other
respects, and demand the most serious
consideration of our people. The po-
sition urged upon us is this: We must
submit to a proposed wrong lest q
greater wrong follow. We must sur
render our franchises, because, if we
do not, our property will be taken also.
Now the first point to which l beg at
tention is this: These positions admit
that the party for power if you please)
which proposes the present wrong, has
already tile WiH 10 intlict further wrong /;
that the Congress which requires you
to consent to the destruction of your
franchise, has already the wiW to rob
you of your property
Thus, you are asking to place your
property for safety in the keeping of
that power which already has the will to
take it. You are importuned to escape
the power of the lion by rushing to his
embrace; to avoid the fang of the ser
pent by placing your hand in his
mouth!
This is precisely the point. Will ev-
cry mar in the South ponder it-repoat
it-ncver forget it2 Disfranchisemen.,
confiscation, and far worse evils will
not come-cannot come-through our
erishng State government. Never! But
they can come, and they will come