Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-01-18

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without their full participation and concur
renee? Possibly the people would not have
inaueurated this revolution to correct the
palpable ineongruities and desp0tie proyis-
ions of the Constitution. but having it fore
ed upon them, viii they be so unwise as TO
suffer it to subside without erecting this ma
ton nto q perfect TepublicY
Since the surrender Of the armies Of the
Confederate States Of America, little has
been done towards establishing this Govern
inent upon the true principles of liberty and
Justice and but little if we stop here We
have broken the material shackles of four
millions of slaves. We have unclaimed Gneni
from the State so as to allow them locomo-
ton, provided they do not walk in paths
which are trod by white men. We have
allowed them the unwonted privilege of
attending church If they can do so without
offending the sight OF their former masters
| We have even given them that highest and
most agreeable evidence Of liberty as defined
| by the great plebeian" the right to
work ~ But in what have we enlarged
| their liberty Of thought ? In what, have
we taught them the science and granted
/ them the privilege of selfgoyernment We
have imposed upon them the privilege Of
! fighting our battles of dying in defence OF
lp
| Of taxes but where have we given them
the privilege Of ever participating in the
formation Of the laws or the government of
their native land? By what civil weapon
have we enabled them to defend themselves
against oppression and injustice? Cali you
this liberty Call you this free republic
where 100000 are subjects but not eiti-
zens d? Then Persia, with her kings and sa-
traps, was free then Turky IS free. Their
subjects bad liberty Of motion and Of labor;
but the laws were made without and against
their viii. But ! must declare that, in my
Judgment, they were as really free govern
ments as ours is to-day. | know they had
fewer rulers and more subjects. But those
rulers were no more despotie than ours, and
their subjects had just as large privileges in
governing the country as ours have. Think
not / would SANDER my native land. would
reform it, Twenty years ago / denounced
it as q despotism. Then twenty millions of
white men enchained four millions Of black
men. | pronounce it no nearer to true re-
public now, when twenty-five millions of a
privileged class exclude FIVE millions from
all participation in the rights Of govern
ment.
The freedom of government does not de-
pend upon the quality Of its laws but upon
The power that has the right 70 enact them.
During the dictatorship Of Pericles his laws
were Just, but Greece was not free. During
the last century Russia has been blessed with
most remarkable emperors, who have gene
rally decreed wise and just laws but Russia
is not free.
No government can be free that does not
allow all its citizens to participate IN the for
are degrees of tyranny. But every other
government is despotism. 1t has always
been observed that the larger the number
of rulers, the more cruel the treatment Of
the subject races. 1t were better for the
black man if he were governed by one king
than by twenty millions
What are the great questions which now
divide the nation In the midst OF the pO-
litical Babel, which has been produced by
the intermingling Of seeessiQnists, rebels,
pardoned traitors, kissing Copperheads and
apOstate Republicans, such a confusion of
tongues is heard that 1t is difficult TO under
stand either the questions that are asked or
the answers that are given. Ask what is
the Presidents policy?' and it is difficult
to define it, Ask what is the policy of
| Con- Aress ? and the answer is not always at
| hand.
A few moments may be proitably spent
| in seeking the meaning of each of these
| terms. Nearly six years ago q bloody war
arose between different sections Of the Uni
ted States Eleven States, possessing a
very large extent Of territory, and ten or
twelve millions of people, aimed to sever
| their connection with the Union, and to form
an independent empire founded on the
avowed principle of human slavery, and
| excluding every free State from this confed-
eracy They did not claim to raise an in
surrection to reform the Government Of the
country rebellion against the laws-but
! they asserted their entire independence of
! that Government, and of all obligations to
! its laws, They were satisfied that the Uni
! ted States should maintain its old Constitu-
| tion and laws. They formed an entirely new
| Constitution a new an1 distinct govern
ueut called the Confederate States of
/ America They passed their own laws,
without regard to any former national con
nection. Their government became perfectly
/ organized, both in Its civil and military de-
/ pauments Within the broad limits of
/ those eleven States the Confederate sta es'
/ had as perfect and absolute control as the
/ United States had over the other twenty
1 five. The Confederate States refused to
negotiate with the United States, except
upon the basis OF lndependence-of perfect
/ national equality, The two powers mutu.
I ally prepared to settle the question By arms.
! They each raised more than half a million
! Of armed men. The war was acknowledged
| by other nations as public war between in
| dependent belligcrents The parties ac-
! knowedged each other as such, and claimed
to be governed BY the law of nations and the
| laws of war in their treatment Of each other.
/ On the result of the war depended the fate
4 and ulterior condition of the contending par
| ties No one then pretended that the eleven
| States had any rights under the Constitu-
/ ton Of the United States, or any right to
/ interfere in the legislation of the country
! Whether they should ever have, all men Of
| both sections, without exception, agreed
would depend on the will Of Congress, If the
/ United States were victorious. The Con
| federate States claimed no rights unless they
! could conquer them by the contest of arms.
/ President Lincoln, Vice President johnson
and both branches of Congress repeatedly
4 declared that the belligerent States could
never again intermeddle with the affairs Of
( The Union, or claim any right as members
4 Of the United States Government until the
4 legislative power of the Government should
declare them entitled thereto Of course
/ the rebels claimed no such rights for
! whether their States we're out Of the Union
! as they declared or were iisorganized and
I out OF their proper relations to the Gov
/ ernment, as some subtle metaphYsicians
contend, their rights under the Constitution
| had all been Tenounced and abiured under
! oath, and could not be resumed on their