Buchanan County bulletin and guardian. (Independence, Iowa) 1866-1869, 1867-12-13

snS eOifciatHc obi3g Alicn Oi3 our par W UU'
serve its limitations and execute is guaran-
tees, Without the Constitution, we are moth
ing. BY, through, and under the Cunstitq-
ton, we are what it makes us. We may
doubt the wisdom Of the law; we may No,
approve Of its provisions but We can no,
violate it merely because it seems to confne
our powers within limits narrower than We
could wish. Ii is not a question Of ind.vid>
ual, or class, or sectional interest-rnuch
less Of party predotniuance-bu Of duty. OF
high and sacred duty, which We are all sworn
70 perform. live can not support the Con-
stitution with the cheerful alacrity Of those
who love and believe 10 it, We must give TO
il, at least, the fidelity Of public servants who
act Under solemn Obligations and command.
which they dare not disregard.
Constitutional duty il not the only on.
which requires the s;ta,es to be restored
there is another Consideration, which. though
ofminor importance, is ye, Of great wei rh.
On July 22d, lssl, Congress declared, b,
an almost unanimous vote Of both houses,
that the war should be conducted solely for
the purpose Of preserving the Union and
maintaining the supremacy Of the federal
Constitution and laws, without i'm mpairing the
dignity, equality and rights Of the States CT
Of individuals ; and that when this was done,
the war should cease. DO not say that the
declaration IS personally binding on those
who joined in making il, any more than in,
dividual members Of Congress are PERSONAL
ly bound 10 pay pubic deb, created under
q law for which they voted but i, was sol
emn, public, official pledge of national bon
or, and can not imagine upon what grounds
repudiation Of it is 10 be justified. If it be
said that we are not bo4isd to keep faith with
rebels, let j; be remembered that the promise
was not made to rebels only. Thousands of
true men in the south wese drawn 10 our
standard by il, and hundreds Of thousand.
in the north gave their lives in the belief
that it would be carried out u was made
on the day after the FIRST .yrea. battle Of the
war had been fought and lost. All patriotic
and intelligent men then saw the necessity
Of making such an ass sslrance-belieying that
without il the war would end in disaster to
our cause. Having given that assurance in
the extremity Of our peril, the violation of
it now, in the day of our power, would be a
rude rending Of that good faith which holds
the moral world together. Our country
would cease to have any claim upon the CON
fdence Of men. 1t would make the var no,
only a failure, but fraud.
Being sincerely convinced that these views
are correct, / would be unfaithfal TO my du>
ty if did not recommend repeal Of the
acts Of Congress which place ten Of the South
ern States under the dominion of military
masters. If calm reflection shall ss,isfy Q
majority Of your honorable bodies tha, the
acts referred TO are not only violation Of
the national faith, bu, in direct eonfiict with
the Constitution, dare not permit myself TO
doubt that you will Immediately strike them
from the statute book. To demonstrate the
unconstitutional character Of those acts, /
need no more than to refer to their general
provisions. 1t must be seen at once that
they are not authorized to dictate what al>
terstions shall be made in the constitutions
Of the several States to control the elections
of State legislators and STATE officers, men,
bers ofCongress, and electors ofPresidens al d
Vice President, by arbitrarily declaring who
shall vote, and who shall be excluded from
that privilege to dissolve State legislatures,
or prevent them from assembling to dismiss
judges, and other civil fgnctionaries Of States,
and appoint Others, without regard to State
law; to organize and operate al political
machinery Of States; TO regulate the whole
Of domestic and local Affairs
according to the mere will of strange and ir-
responsible agents, sent among them for that
purpose hese are powers rot granted to the
federal government, or to any one of its
branches. Not being granted, we violate
cur trust by assuming them, as palpably a.
we would by acting in face Of q positive in
terdict; for the Constitution forbiis Us TO do
whatever it does not anirmatively authorize.
either by express words or BY clear implica-
tion. If the authority We desire te use does
not come to US through the Constitution, We
can exercise it only by usurpation, and
is the most dangerous Of political
crimes. BY that crime the enemies OF free
government in all ages, have worked out
their designs agains, public liberty and pri>
vate right. 1t leads directly aud immedi-
ately to the establishment of absolute rule !;
for undelegased power is always unlimited
and unrestrained.
The acts Of Congress in question are no,
only Questionable for their assumption Of
ungranted power, but many Of their proyis>
ions are in conflict with direct prohibitions
Of the Constitution. The Constitution COM
mands that republican form Of government
shall be guaranteed to all States tha, no
person shall be deprived of life, liberty or
without due process of law; arrest
cd without judicial warrant, punished with>
out q fair trial before an impartial jury that
the privilege Of habeas corpus shall not be
denisd ia time Of peace aud that no bill Of
attainder shall be passed, even against sim
gle individual; yet tie system Of measures
established BY these acts Of Congress does
totally subyert and destroy form ss well as
substance OF republican government ia the
ten States which they apply. 1t binds them,
hand aud foot, in absolute slavery, and sub
jscts them to strange and hostile power.
more unlimited, and more likely to be abus-
ed, than any other now known among civil
lied men. Ii tramples down all those rights
in which the essence Of liberty consists, and
which free government is always most care-
ful to protect. 1t denies the habeas corpus
and trial BY jury. Personal freedom, prop
erty and lie, if assailed BY the pa ,sion, pref
udice, or ineapacity of the ruler, have no
security whatever. Il has the effect Of bill
Of attaiIder, or bill Of pains and penalties,
not upon few individuals, but upon whole
masses, including the millions who inhabit
the subject States, aud their unborn chil>
dren. These wrongs, being expressly for
hidden, cannot be constiiutionally inflicted
upon any portion Of our people, NO matter
how they may have come within our juris>
dic,ion, and no matter whether they live in
States, territories or districts.
! have no desire to save from the lust and
proper consequences os the great crime those
who engaged in the rebellion against the
government, but. rs mode Of punishment,
the measures under consideration are the
most unreasonable that could be invented.
Many Of these people are perfectly innocent !;
many kept their fidelity to the Union un-
tainted 10 the last many were incapable of
any legal offence. A large portion even Of
persons able to bear arms were forced into
the rebellion, against their win aud of those
who are guilty with their own consent, the
degrees of guilt are as various as the shades
of their character and temper. But these
acts OF Congress confound them altogether
in one common doom indscriminately. Ven
geance upon classes, sects, or parties, or up
on whole communities, for ofences commit.
ted by a portion Of them against the govern.
ment to which they owed obedience, were
common in the barbarous ages Of the world !:
but christianity and civilization have made
such progress that recourse to . punishment
so cruel and unjust would meet with the con.
demnation of all unprejudiced and right.
minded men. The punitive justice Of this
age, and especially Of this country, does not
consist in stripping whole States Of their lib
critics, aud reducing all their people. without