The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-03-02

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WAN.
The rebel press, of the South, il defiant
and rampant, in threats OF resistance to the
authority of the Government, and the law OF
the land, in case of the adoption and en-
forcement of the Reconstruction Bill, just
vetoed BY the President And the Copper
head press, of the North, encourage ana JUS
.;fv the late rebel States, and they insist tnat
Il iisthe duty Of their friends in sss nesss' 20
na.r than .ct;ve and efficient aid in their
rebellion. :
Even our sweet tempered contemporary u
.rou,ed in this emergency, and appeals to the
rebels, in earnest exhortations, to resist the
.recutiou of the law, by force Of arms, DE-
Glazing that they would "not only be lush>
s.d in maintaining their liberty, as citizens
of the United States, by force" bat that
thew will prove themselves unworthy sons or
natr;ot sires, If they fail 10 do so-and mot
only so, but that it would be the most sacred
duty of every patriot Of the North, 70 unite
with them and aid them
! Where such spirit Of desperate reslst>
.uce to law, and the authority OF Govern
neut, is openly proclaimed in the North, by
the friends Of the rebels, how can 1t be otn-
erwise than that the traitors OF the South
sbould be filed with intenss hatred OF the
Government, and full of plots OF violence
aud massacre, and open resistance to those
who seek to uphold the authority OF the
Government, and enforce the laws. And
how can il be otherwise than that such SEN
timenss, as those proclaimed By their friends
lin the North, and circulated in thu press Of
The South, should stimulate the rebels theirs
to bloody resistance. 1t mus: have now the
same effect that similar sentiments uttered
by the Copperheads Of the North had on
their Southern friends in the South during
the war
Our soldiers have lively remembrance
even 70 this day, of the aid and comfort rem
dered by the Copperhesds, to the rebel cause
bv opposition 10 the war and the measures o
Government. And they can, better thai
others, appreciate the effects of sucl
sentiments as we. have quoted, in stimulating
those same rebel soldiers TO bloody resist
ance to Gen. Grant, and the soldiers still il
the South, in their efforts TO enforce tn
laws. They know, as everybody must see
that such exhortations to resistance, comm
, from the North, and such promises of aid
will result in resistance, to q greater or les
r extent, and in the murder and massacre Q
Union soldiers, stationed in small force, q
various points in the South.
Buttbe reconstruction measure, which
made the occasion of these exhortations /
treason, rebellion and civil war, xss passe
by n vote of more than three to one, throug
Congress. And Reverdy johnson, who hs
acted with the Copperheads and Johnsoniif
for some time psst-who is also Sonther
man, and most un questionably the able
, Constitutional lawyer opposed to the Rad
Gals, supported this Reconstruction Bill, DO,
in q speech, and by his vote. 1t canno
, therefore, we apprehend, be palpably uncor
) stitational, whatever Rebels and Cope
heads and Johnson renegades may assert.
Moreover, it is approved and commende
, by General Grant, whose official knowlede
? tof the condition of affairs in the South an
> Of the proper measures to meet them, is Ell
. titled to some weight, on the question {
, expediency, if not Of policy.
! "But," in the words of General Jackson
proclamation against the South Carolin
, blood>snd- thunder nulli6ers, reasoning o
this subject is superfuous, when the Const
tuition expressly declares that the Laws Of th
United States are the supreme Law of th
land" For, if portion of the people ma
resist the execution Of one law, by violence
: upon their presumption of its uneonstitu
tionality, another portion may resist snothe
lapof the United States, upon their privat
: Judgment, and so on, till no law can hav
any binding force upon anybody who is POI
sessed by Constitutional CROCHET" in OF
position TO it. And if that is to be the ties
why We have no important law placed on Ii
Statute Book, for the last FIVE years, but tbs
Rebels and Copperheads have Justify denour
< ced as unconstitutional