Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-10-04

withdraw from the Union, and having sue
ceeded in crushing their military power
untif they surrendered and yielded their
pretensions-nowt when they have laid
down their arms and submitted to our
laws, Congress saystO them:g You were
right .alEt time.f You were ontso the
Union, and now, you shall stay out until
such time as you agree to make voters of
your negroes, a majority of yourselves be-
ing excluded from the right of suffrage,
and in our own good pleasure we will ad-
nit you back again Unto the Union.
Meantime4eyOu must submit to be ruled
over by such Generals as we may see fit to
invest with supreme command, whose will
shall in all things be the law unto you.'
What is this but fiat disunionism as well as
despotism? And this is precisely the posi-
tion to which we are brought BY, this RECON-
struetion legislation of Congress. ,Beauti-.
tiful reconstruction The reconstruction of
the architect who seeks not to repair the
breaches which the building has re-
leeived during the storm. but who
tears the whole structure to pieces and
builds from an entirely new foundation
and this without the consent and against
the express protest of the owners and in
habitants OF the building. Consistent Re-.
.publteans these, who TINS consign aswhole
people to the iron rule OF, five military des-
pots, who WELD with unbritileti power all
the functions of the Legislative, Executive
aud Judiciary. superadded to the sword
try by military commission wf1omsoever
.theyo@ills senteneeS and execute, without
Indictment, or counsel, or Judge, OF Jury
But we are told this State Of things is
pot to- be perrnanent--shat it is only to last
until certain-t things have been accom-
plished. Well, what are they? Only this:
thataout Of these ten 'idead Estates, now
out or the Union, new governments are to
be created. resting on the 'slOyal basis" of
the negro population in those States. who
are to be made voters and eligible to Office,
while large portion of the most inteili-
gent white Inhabitants are to be zdisfran-
Pchised and rendered ineligible, to office
I And upon what principle is this to be done?
We have seen that it is utterly inconsistent
with the pledges made to the people when
called on to rally to the support of the
Government. 1t is not in accordance with
the terms of surrender.-It is not required
by the Constitution; butts directly in con-
mere question of policy. We do not owe
it; to the negroes of the South. We are not,
their debtors, but directly the reverse.
q While 1 am no mourner at the funeral of
slavery, / question very much whether
the negroes will ever repay the debt they
now labor under. Look at it for moment.
While the people answered to call after
call, and draft after draft, until during the
whole period of the war they had put Into
the field two million six hundred and fifty
six thousand men, Che grand aggregate of
negrotroops enlisted, drafted, Sc, into the
service amouptel to lS6,097-apd large
proportion of those only came in during
the last year of the Dwar. being gathered
up and LITERALLY forced in to keep from
I starvation, and who rendered comparative
ly little service as soldiers. As TO particle
hot ttNnr 6cIr n
ing the whole war! but LOLA were killed
in action-only regiment and hall
whilst 14SS7 are reported as deserters.
Thiuk of that, We gallant Buckeyes, who
marched 240 regiments from Ohio alone to
! the field, OF whom, alas how many thou
sands Sleep9their. last sleep. These statis-
ttirS tell their own, story. would cast no
reflection on negro troops, but it is due to
the fair fame of the gallant soldiers VIII o
maGe such unparalleled sacrifices that this
magnifying the services of the negroes in
| the war, to the disparagement of those who
Ibid the real fighting, should be exposed
and the truth be told. Then, l say, on the
score OF gratitude for services rendered
we are not their debtors. On this subject
Lagainc ,calh your attention TO the views OF
Senator Sherman as expressed in his speech
before referred to. '-'1' -
1 hlHe said: "If we propose to exclude
btheSesS0utheEn States from the, Union un
! It'd we can compel three-fourthsi of all the
! States to vote for negro suffrage, then these
eleven States will be a Hungary, a Poland,
an ireland, to to be ruled over by the mill
/ itary,rod for years to come. You NAV, de-
pend upon it. ttepeople Of the United States
toill not dcquiesce I'll that demand. They will
not waste their energies and their money
In enforcing so impossible a proposition" =
/ This is the very thing Congress is now
doing, and which Senator Sherman declar-
ed an i'.impossible proposition that would
doom the eleven, Southern States. to the
1icondition Of Hungary, Poland and Ireland,
but which he then said the people of the
h United States would mot aequiesee in."-
I Now, why this change? Why is it that
these Republican party leaders have, one
after another, abandoned the position they
endeavored 4 to hold during the war OF
standing on Union ground, and to-day oc-
cupy position precisely analogous to that
of the secessionists before and during the
war? Let us, look moment and we shall
see it all. Being III possession Ofthe Govern
men5 during the war, it was matter of alb
solute necessity, as well as party policy,
that they should at least seem to be ''for the
CnioiB" else the Government not being
supported by the true Union men of the
country, the rebellion would prove a sue
cess, and they be driven from power.
Hence they could afford to be for the Union
| curing Lne war. Inc pressure OF the war
and its necessities kept them on Union
ground during the rebellion; but at its
close the case was different By the sup
preston of the rebelliOnsand the return of
peace, new issues were opened up and
| there was a loosening of party ties. Look
| ing over the ground, the leading Radicals
could not fail to see that with a restored
Union, under the Constitution, they would
go into a minority, when the people came
to dealwith the practical questions of rev.
enue, taxation, finance, &C.. resulting from
the war. BY the emancipation of the
slaves, and the prohibition of the revival of
the institution in the States where it had
formerly existed, they had lost their shib-
tboleth of - Freedom fOr-the slave" Not
only this, but the Southern States, after the
next census, would come into Congress
with an Increased representation, and in
like MANNER the electoral college for
President and Vice President. In the
Northern and Western States the Demo-
cratic party had p, rsstently refused to lay
aside its organization, preferring defeat to
victory attained at the expense OF cOnsti-
tutional right; and Indications were clear
that at. no distant day the West, es-
pecialy in Difference to its own paramount
interests. would be compelled tolwithdraw
its support from a party which by its leg
islation made the producing classes OF the
whole country tributary to combination
of capt. lists and manufa ,turers who had
taken good care, while the Western people
were pouring out their blood like water,
to secure to themselves such special privi-
leges as enabled them to amass fortunes and
WELD an influence and power, in contrOll-
ing the affairs of the country, utterly dis
proportionate to their true weight in num-
oers, or in any other respect. Even Penn
sylvania and New York began to b. con-
sidered as doubtful Republican States.
Casting about for recruits to sustain and
strengthen an enfeebled organization, the
immense negro population ofthe South, in
some of the States largely outnum bering
the white population, lay like prize to be
seized and appropriated as spoil of war;