Wyoming democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Wyoming Co., Pa.) 1867-1940, 1867-12-11

"itu OuT LIu0 lUIcIesto ohu WIN oo' o"O''
duties to the Constitution, is too natural
and too just to be easily relinquished.
STATUS OF THE REBEL STATES.
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 so! The "ordinances of ce-
cession," adopted by portion Tin most OF
them a very small portion) of their citi-
zens, were mere nulities. If we admit now
that they were valid and effectual for the
purposes intended by their authors, we
sweep from under our feet the whole
ground upon which we justified the war;
Were those States afterwards expelled
from the Union by the war; The direct
contrary was avered 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 can
not be that successful war, waged for the
preservation Of the Union, bad the legal
effect of dssolving it. The victory of the
nations arms was not the disgrace of her
policy; the defeat of accession on the bat
tie field 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, di-
rectly or indirectly, of separating the States
from each other To dissolve the Union is
to repeal the Constitution which holds it
together, and that is a power which does
not belong to any Department of this Gov
ernment, or to all of them united.
This is so plain that it has been acknowl-
edged by all branches of the Federal Gov
ernment. The Executive (my predecessor
as well as myself) and the heads of all the
Departments have uniformly acted upon
the principle that the Union is not only
undissolved, but indissoluble. Congress
submitted an amendment of the Constitu-
ton to be ratified by the Southern States,
and accepted their acts of ratification as a
necessary and lawful exercise of their high
est function. If they were not States, or
were States out of the Union. their consent
to change in the fundamental law of the
Union would have been nugatory, and Con
gress IN asking it, committed political alb
surdity. The Judiciary has also given the
solemn sanction of its authority to the same
view of the case. The Judges Of the Su
preme Court have included the Southern
States in their circuits, and they are con-
stantly, an banc and elsewhere, exercising
jurisdiction which does not belong to them
unless these States are States OF the Union.
Ii the Southern States are component
parts of the Union, the Constitution 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 unquas-
tionable, to enforce the Constitution upon
them, implies the correlative obligation on
our part to observe its limitations and ex-
ecutc its guarantees. Without the Consti-
tuition we are nothing; by, through, and
under the Constitution we are what it
makes US. We may doubt the wisdom of
the aw, we may not approve of its pro-
visions, but we cannot violate it merely
because it seems to confne our powers
within limits narrower than we could wish.
1t is not question of individual or class,
or sectional interest, much less of party
predominauce, but of duty--of high and
sacred duty-which we are all sworn to
perform. IF VIC cannot support the Cousti-
with the cheerful alacrity of those who love
aud believe in it. we must give it at least
the fidelity of public servants who act un-
der solemn obligations and commands
which they dare not disregard.
The Constitutional duty is not the only
one which requires the States to be re-
stored, There is another consideration
which, though of minor Importance; is yet
OF great weight. On the 22d day of July,
1861, Congress declared, by an almost
unanimous vote of both Houses, that the
war should be conducted solely for the puI-
pose of preserving the Union, and main
tanning the supremacy of the Federal Con-
stitution and laws, without impairing the
dignity, equality, and rights of the States
or of individuals, and that when this was
done the war should cease. do not say
that this declaration is personally binding
on those who joined in making it, any more
than individual members of Congress are
personally bound to pay public debt Gre
But it was solemn, public, official pledge
of the nations honor, and cannot imagine
upon what grounds the reputation of it is
to be justified. fit be said that we are
not bound 10 keep faith with the 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 stand
ard by it, and hundreds of thousands in the
North gave their lives in the belief that it
would be carried out. 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 dis
aster to our cause. Having gwen that as
surance IN the extremity of our peril, the
violation of it now, in the day of our pow
er, would be rude rending of taat good
faith which holds the moral world togeth.
er our country would cease to have any
CLAIM upon the confidence of men it would
make the war not only failure, but 6
fraud.
THE RECONSTRUCTION LAWS.
Being sincerely convinced that these