Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-07-24
That Satanic Ola Wretch.

Previous to the passage of the Suppleme1
tal.aad Explanatory, Military Recons:ruction
s Ii, tha. sstnutc old wretch, Thad Stevens.
delivered himself of a speech, from which III
following is an extract. He says:
1t can be reduced, / think, to plain pgopo
sition, that Congress, and Congress alone, was
the power hG. can reconstruct; was the
power that can admit these outlying State.
/ dcnt that the Presi:en; has any right'to
cali ou the Attorney General, or on an,
other byanch Of the government, to interfere
III any act OF such reconstruction. There
was hl. one appeal that was to the agents
appointed BY Congress. II ought to beknnwn
h fore this to the President. J trust it j
known in every colored shool in this Qistrios
that the Constitution Of the United States
does not apply TO any Territory. The States
are D ,rties to the constitution, they are the
constructing powers; they are the substan
tive body. Territory, however acquired, by
purchase or conquest or by inheritance, is the
property only Of that substantive power and
that power bound up by the constitution (;
that power alone is gove ned BY the coDstitu'
tien, but does not extend for any purpose, into
any territory or conquered province. Wnv..
trca, talk about the Constitution regulating
the action of Congress 10 a province, in Ter
ri,ory in q. State, whether conquered froa
legitimate State or an Legitimate State?
NAV asl. how enc would treat the Confed
e:a,e States Of America. Why just as Con-
grcss chooses. They are cur property; their
citiz,hs are our subjects; their lives, their
lib .rties are subject to the supreme will
this body, always Controlled by the laws of
nations the laws tf war, and the laws of hu.
mainly. There is no other power on earth.
thercis no branch OF the government, there
i, no power in the government, except what
] bare mentioned, that has any right to inter
fere or to say one word on the subject. II
Won wish TO punish the ma!efactors for violated
majesty, that is another question. Possibly
you might do so through your courts of prac,
t;ce; at least YOU might attempt it, but do
not Suppose yea can do it. But there is one
thing clear, that territory rot yet declared by
Congress to be in State Of peace or restora
ton, it is under the military authority of the
government, and any tribunal constituted by
the military authority, any military tribunal,
any court martial, can try any one of those
who belonged to the belligerent forces. JEFF
ferson Davis, or any man of the army OF the
Coafederacy, conquered BY US, is this day sub.
iect to trial by military tribunal. If had
Inv way I would have long ago have organized
q military tribunal under military power, and
would have put Jefferson Davis and all the
members of his Cabinet on trial for the mur-
ders at AndersonFille, the murders at Salsbn-
r., the shooting down Of prisoners of war in
cold blood-every man OF them is responsible
for these crimes.
1t was mockery to try that wicked fel-
low Wirz, and make him responsible for acts
which the. Confederate Cabinet was guilty Of.
OF course they should be condemned; wheth-
er they should be executed aterward | give
no opinion. l would carry it out through the
legal tribunals that have mentioned, and
which are as much the legal tribunals of the
land as the Supreme Court OF the United
States That is my view exactly of what
would be logical. As to the question of con-
fscatiop, think that man who has muir.
dered thousand men, who has robbed
thousand widows and orphans, who has burned
down thousardhouSes, escapes we'll If, own
ing hundred thousand dollars, he is fined
fifty thousand dollars, as punishment andt
repair his rayages. l said before that was
not in favor of senguinary punishment trust
in saying tba: need not be supposed to con-
demn them when they are necessary.
For instance: the clanor that has been
raised against the Mexican Government for
the heroic execution Of murderers and pirates
: some applause and clapping. of hands. by
nicmhers, followed by some Kisses l-that
c,amor finds no favor with me. think that
while he has goue fur enough, though not hall
so far as he might be justified in going, yet
there is no Law nor policy under beavcn, and
no sense of justice that will condemn that
real heroic, much-enduring man, who for six
years has been hanted with reward upon his
head-has been driven from one. end Of hi,
empire to another, until he got to the very
border-who has no parallel in history thatI
know OF, except it be William of Orange, who
was driven from island to'island, and from
sand-patch TO saud-patch by just a5out as
bloody pcrsecutor as was to be found in
Macmillan when he decreed that every man
warring against him should be shot down
withoat further trial. am not going to
shrink from saying that think such punish
meDt proper"
At the close of tie speech, the bin was
passed.