The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-03-15
The 8edfurd Gazette.
THE PRESIDENTS VETO OF THE MIL
ITARY RECONSTRUCTION BILL.


WASHINGTON, March 2.-The fol-
lowing is the message of the President
of the United States, returning to the
House of Representatives bill entitled
''an act to provide for the efficient gov
ernment of the rebel States :"
TO the House Of Representatives.:
[ have examined the bill to provide
for the more efficient government OF
the rebel States with the care and anX-
iety which its transcendant importance
is calculated to awaken. | am unable
to give it my assent, fol. reasons SC
grave that | hope statement of them
may have some influence on the minds
of the patriotic and enlightened, with
whom the decision must ultimately
rest. The bill places GUthe people Of the
ten States therein named G11der absolute
! domination Of military rulers, and the
preamble undertakes to give the reas-
Ons upon which it is justified. 1t de-
clares that there exists in those States
no legal government and no adequate
protection to life property, and asserts
the necessity of enforcing peace and
good order within their limits. 1t is
true, as a matter of fact, that it is not
denied that the States in question have
each of them an actual government with
all the powers executive, judicial and
legislative, which properly belong to a
| free State. They are organised like
other States of the Union, and like
them, they make, administer and eX-
ecute the laws which concern their do
mestic affairs. An existing de fdctO
government exercising such functions
as these, is itself the law of the State up
on all matters within its jurisdiction.
| To pronounce the supreme laW-making
power of an established State illegal, is
to say that the law itself is unlawful.
The provisions which these govern
ments have made for the preservation
of order, the suppression of crime and
and the redress of private injuries, are
in substance and principle the same as
those which prevail in Northern States
and other civilized countries, they GER
tainly have not succeeded in prevent
ing the commission of all crime, nor
has this been accomplished anywhere
in the world. There, as well as else
where, offenders sometimes escape for
| want of vigorous prosecution, and Occa-
siOnally perhaps by the inefficiency of
courts or the prejudice of jurors. 1t is
undoubtedly true that these evils have
much increased and aggravated North
and South by the demoralizing intiu-
ence of civil war and by the rancOrous
persons which the contest has engen-
dered; but that these people are main
taing local governments for themselves
which habitually defeat the object of
all government and render their own
lives and property insecure, is in itself
utterly improbable, and the averment
of the bill to that effect is not supported
by any evidence which has come to my
knowledge. All the information l have
on the subject convinces me that the
mass of the Southern people and those
who control their public acts, while
they entertain diverse opinions on the
questions of policy are completely uni
ted in their effort to reOrganize their
society on a basis of peace, and restore
mutual prosperity as rapidly and as
completely as their circumstances will
permit. The bill, however would seem
to show upon its face that the estab-
lishment of peace and good order is not
its real object. The fifth section de-
cIarps that the preceding sections,s
cease to operate in any State where GER
tain events have happened. These are:
First, the selection of delegations to
State convention by an election, at
which negroes shall be allowed to vote.
Second, The formation of State Con-
stitutiOn by convention SO chosen. Sd.
The insertion into the State Constitu-
ton of a provision which will secure
rights of voting. at all elections, to ne
groes and such white men as may not
be disfranchised for rebellion or felony.
4th. The submission Of the COnstitu-
ton for ratification to negroes and
white men not disfranchiSed, and its
actual ratification by their vote. 9Th,
The submission of the State COnstitu-
ton to Congress for the examination
and actual approval of it by that body.
9th. The adoption of certain amend
ments to the Federal Constitution by a
vote of legislation elected under the
new Constitution. 7th, The adoption
of said amendment bya sufficient num-
ber of other States to make it a part OF
the Constitution of the United States.
All these conditions must be fulfilled
before the people of any of these States
can be relieved from bondage by mill
tary domination but when they are
fulfilled then the pains and penalties of
the bill are to cease, no matter Wheth-
er there be peace and order or not,
without reference to the security of life
and property. The excuse given for
the bill in the preamble is admitted by
the bill itself not to be real. The mill
tary rule which it establishes is plainly
to be used, not for any purpose of order
and the prevention of crime, but solely
as means of coercing the people into
the adoption of principles and meas
ures to which it is known they are op-
posed, and upon which they have an
undeniable right to exercise their own
Judgment. submit to Congress Wheth-
er this measure is not in its whole
scope and object without precedent and
without authority, in palpable conflict
with the plainest provisions of the
Constitution, and utterly destructive
to those great principles of liberty and
humanity for which our ancestors on
both sides of the Atlantic shed so much
blood and expended so much treasure.
The ten States named in the bill are
divided into five districts. For each
district an officer of the army not below
the rank of Brigadier General is to be
appointed to rule over the people, and
he is to be supported with an efficient
military force to enable him to per-
form his duties, and that the authority
as defined by the third section of the
bill is to protect all persons in their
rights of person and property, to sup
press disorder and violence, and to pun
ish ali disturbers of the public peace or