The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1867-12-12

q ut the expenses incident to reconstruction,
under the system adopted by Congress to ag-
gravate what l regard an intrinsic wrong
OF the me asure itself. 1t has cost millions
already, and if persisted in, will add largely
to the weight of taxation already too ep-
presslVe to be borne without Just complaint,
and may finally reduce the treasury of tho
nation to a condition of bankruptcy. We
must not de'ude ourselves. 1t will require
strong standing army, and probably more
than two hundred millions of dol lars per
annum to maintain the supremacy of a negro
government after it is established. The sum
thus thrown away would. if properly used,
form sinking fund large enough to paw the
whole national debt in less than fifteen wears
1t is vain to hope that the negroes will main
tain their ascendancy themselves without
military power; they are wholly Incapable
OF holding in subection the white people of
the South. l submit to the Judgment of
Congress whether the public credit may not
oe lnJurlous!y affected by system Of meas
uTes like this. With our debt and vast pri-
vate interests, which are complicated with
1t, we cannot be too cautious of policy
which might by possibility impair the conf
dence OF the world in cur Government.-
Ihat confidence can only be retained by
carefully inculcating the principles of Justice
and honor on the popular mind, and by the
most scrupulous fidelity TO all our engage
ments of every sort. Any serious breach of
the organic law, if persisted in for a consid-
cradle time, cannot but create fears for the
stability Of our Institutions. The habitual
violation of the prescribed rules which we
bound ourselves to observe, must demoralize
the people; our Only standard of civil duty
would be set at naught, and the sheet an
Choir OF our political morality is lost public
conscience swings from IFS meorings and
yields to every impulse, passion ard interest.
III we repudlate the Constitution we will not
be expected to care much for mere pecuniary
obligations. The violation of such pledge
as we made on the 22d Of July, 1861, will
assuredly diminish the market value of our
other securities. Besides, if we now ackuowl-
edge that the national debt was crea teG, not
to hold the States in the Union, as tax pay
erS were led to suppose, but to expel them
from it and hand them over 10 be governed
by negroes, our moral duty to pay it may
seem much less clear. l say it may seem so,
for do not admit that it or any other argu-
ment IN favor of repudatiOu can be enter
tanned as sound, but its influence on some
classes of minds may we'll be apprehcnded
The financial honor of this great commcr-
cial nation is largely indebted, and with a
republican form OF government, administered
by agents OF popular choice, is thing of
such delicate texture, and the destruction of
1t would be followed by such an unspeaka-
6le calamity, that every true patriot must
desire 10 avoid whatever might expose it to
the slightest danger. The great interests of
the country require immediate relief from
these enactments.
Business in the South is paraiyzed by a
sense of general insecurity, by the terror of
conhScatiOu and the dread of negro suprem-
acy. The Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived so great q profit
under government of law, still langushes,
and can never be revived until it ceases TO be
fettered by arbitrary power, which makes
all Its operations unsafe. That rich country,
the richest in natural resources the world
ever saw, is worse than lost if it be not sosn
placed under the protection of free Consti-
tuition. Instead of being, as it ought to be.
a source of wealth and power, it will become
an intolerable burden npon the rest of the
nation. Another reason for retrieving our
steps will doubtless be seen by Congress in
late manifestations Of public opinion upon
that subject. We live in a country where
popular will always enforces obedience to it
self sooner or later. 1t is vain to think of
opposing it with anything short of legal au-
thority, backed by overwhelming force. 1t
cannot have escaped yoUr attention that
from the day on which Congress fairly and
the Southern States by military force, with
a view to the ultimate establishment Of ne
gro supremacy. every expression of general
sentiment has been more or less adverse to
it. The affections Of this generation cannot
be detached from the institutions Of their
ancestors. Their determination to preserve
their Inheritance of free government in
their own hands, and transmit it undivided
and unimpaired to their own posterity, is too
strong to be successfully opposed. Every
weaker passion will disappear before the love
of liberty and law. for which the American
people are distinguished above all others in
the world.
How far the duty of the President, to pre-
serve, protect and defend the Constitution.
requires him to go in opposing an unconsti-
tutional act of Congress, is a very serious and
important question. on which l have delib-
Grated much and felt extremely anxious 10
reach proper conclusion. Whele an act
has been passed according to the forms of
the Constitution by supreme legislative an
Ihority, and is regularly enrolled amon5 the
public statutes of the country, Executive re-
sistance to it, especially in times of high
party excitement, would be likely to pro-
duce violent collision between the respective
adhereEtS Of the two branches Of the govern
.nent. This would be simply civil war, and
civil war must be reSorted to only as a last
remedy for the worst of evils. Whatever
might tend to provoke it should be most
carefully avoided. a faithful and conscien-
tious magistrate viii concede very much to
honest error, and even something 10 perverse
malice, before he will endanger the public
peace; and he will not adopt forc;ble meas
ures, or such as might lead to force, as long
as those which are peaceable remain open To
linn or his constituents. 1t is true that cases
may arise in which the Executive would be
compelled to stand upon it's rights, and
maintain them regardless of consequences.
If Congress should pass an act which is not