The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-12-04
| have had the misfortune to differ from

becoming Difference to the opinion OF
the Legislative Department.. Those
convictions are not only unchanged, but
strengthened by subsequent events and
further reflection. The transcendent
Importance of the subject will he suf.
ficient excuse for calling your attention
to some of the reasons which have SO
strongly influenced my own Judgment.
The hope that we may all finally concur
in mode of settlement, consistent at
once with our true interests and with
our sworn duties to the Constitution,
is too natural and too just to be easily
relinqulshed. hl HE
THE REBEL STATES STILL IN THE UNION.
1t is clear to my apprehension that
the States lately in rebellion are still
members of the National Union. When
did they cease to be sol The "Ordi-
nances of secession" adopted by q por-
tion lin most of them very small por-
tion of their citizens, were mere nulli-
ties. If we admit now that they were
valid and effectual for the purpose in.
tended by their authors, we sweep from
under our feet the whole ground upon
which we justified the war. We're those
States afterwards expelled from the
Union by the warf The direct contra
ry was averred by this Government to
be its purpose, and was so understood
by all those who gave their blood and
treasure to aid in its prosecution. 1t
cannot be that successful war, waged
for the preservation of the Union, had
the legal effect of dissolving it. The
victory of the nations arms was not the
disgrace of her policy; the. defeat of Sc
cession on the battlefield was not the
triumph of its lawless principle. Nor
could Congress, with or without the
consent of the Executive, do anything
which would have the effect, directly Of
indirectly, of separating the States from
each other. TO dissolve the Union is to
repeal the Constitution which holds it
together, and that is power which
does not belong to any Department OF
this Government, 90 to all of them uni
ted.
This is so plain that it has been ac-
knowledged'by all branches of the Fed
eral Government. The Executive (my
predecessor as we'll as myself and the
heads of all the Departments have uni
formly acted upon the principle that
the Union is not only uudissolved, but
indissoluble. Congress submitted an
amendment of the Constitution to be
ratified by the Southern States, and ac-
cepted their acts of ratification as ne
cessary aud lawful exercise of their
highest function. If they were not
States, or were States out of the Union,
their consent to change in the funda-
mental law of the Union would have
been nugatory, and Congress, in asking
it, committed political absurdity. The
Judiciary has also given the solemn
sanction Of its authority to the same
view of the case. The Judges of the
Supreme Court have included the South
err States in their circuits, and they are
constantly, IN bdnc and elsewhere, exer-
cising jurisdiction which does not be-
long to them, unless those States are
States of the Union.
THE CONSTITUTION UNIVERSALLY ST.
PRENfE.
If the Southern States are cOmpo-
nent parts of the Union, the Constitu-
tion is the supreme law for them, as it
is for all the other States. They are
bound to obey it, and so are We. The
right of the Federal Government, which
is clear and unquestionable, to enforce
the Constitution upon them, implies tho
cOrrelative obligation on our part to
observe its limitations and execute Its
guarantees. Without the Constitution
we are nothing; by, through, and un-
der the Constitution we are what 1t
makes us. We may doubt the wisdom
of the law, we may not approve OF It's
provisions, but we cannot violate 1t
merely because it seems to confine our
powers within limits narrower than we
could wish. 1t is not a question OF in-
dividual, or class, or sectional interest,
much less of party predomiuance, but
of duty-of high and sacred duty
which we are all sworn to perform. II
we cannot support the Constitution
with the cheerful alaority of those who
love and believe in it, we must give to
it at least the fidelity of public servants
who act under solemn obligations and
commands which they dare not disre-
gard.
TIE CONGRESSIONAL. PLEDGE.
The constitutional duty is not the
only one which requires the States to
be restored. There is another consider
alton which, though of minor import
ance, is yet of great weight. On the
22d day of Jaly, 1861, Congress dec ciared,
by an almost unanimous vote OF both
Houses, that the war should be con-
Quoted solely for the purpose of pre-
serving the Union, and maintaining the
supremacy of the Federal Constitution
and laws, without impairing the digni-
ty, equality, and rights of the States or
of individuals, and that when this was
done the war should cease. lido not say
that this declaration is personally bind
ing on those who joined in making it,
any moro than individual members OF
Congress are personally bosnd to pay q
pubiic debt created under % law for
which they voted, But it was a SOL
emn, public, official pledge of the ma
tional honor, and / cannot imagine
upon what grounds the reputation OF
it is to be justified. If it he said that
we are not bound to keep faith with
rebels, let it be remembered that this
promise was not made to rebels only.
Thousands of true men in the South
were drawn to our standard by it, and
lunuTeu6 VI III bhO 4NUAtA
gave their lives in the belief that it
would be carried ont. 1t was made
on the day after the first great
battle of the war had been fought
and lost. All patriotic and Intelligent
men then saw the necessity OF giving
such an assurance, and believed that
without it the war would end in disas-
ter 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 conf
dence of men; it would make the war
not only failure, but fraud.
REPEAL OF THE MILITARY BILLS RECON-
MEN9ED.
Being sincerely convinced that these
views are correct, would be unfaithtul
to nv duty if did not recommend the
repeal of the acts of Congress which
place ten of the Southern States under
the domination of military masters. Ii
calm reflection shall satisfy majority
of your honorable bodies that the acts
referred to are not only violation OF
the national faith, but in direct conflict