Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1867-12-10

y
as well as the substance of republican govern
ment in the ten States to which they apply
1t binds them hand and foot in absolute slave
ry and subjects them to a strange and hostile
power more unlimited and more likely to be
abused than any other now known among
civilized men. 1t tramDles down all those
rights in which the essence of liberty consists
and which a free government is always most
careful to protect. 1t denies the hd6eas cor
pWS and the trial by jury. Personal freedom,
property and life, if assailed by the passion,
the prejudice or the rapacity of the ruler, have
no security whatever. 1t has the effect of a
bill of attainder or bill of pains and penalties
not upon few individuals, but upon whole
masses, including the millions who inhabit the
subject States, aud even their unborn children.
These wrongs being expressly forbidden
cannot be constitutiOnally inflicted upon any
portion OF our people, no matter how they
may have come within her jurisdiction, and
no matter whether they live in States, Terri
tories or districts. 1 have no desire to save
from the proper aud just consequences of their
great crime those who engaged in rebellion
against the Government but us a mode of
punishment, the measures under considera-
tiUn are the most unreasonable that could be
invented. Many of those people are perfectly
innocent; many kept their fidelity to the
Union UEtainted to the last; many were inca
pable Of any legal offence; large proportion
even OF the persons able to bear arms were
forced into rebellion against their will, and of
those who are guilty with their own consent,
the degrees Of guilt are as various as the
shades of their character and temper. But
these acts of Congress coniound them alto
gether III one common doom. ludiscriminGte
vengeance upon classes, sccts and parties, or
upon whole communities, for offences commit
ted 10y them against the Governments to which
they owed obedience was common in the
barbarOUs ages of the world. But Christian
ity and civilization have made such progress
that recourse to punishment so cruel and
unjust would meet with the condemnation of
all unprejudiccd and right.minded men,
The punitive justice of this age, and especially
Of this country, does not consist in stripping
whole States of their liberties and reducing
all their people, without distinction, 20 the
condition of slavery. 1t deals separately
with each individual, confines itself to the
forms of law, and vindicates its own purity
by an impartial examination of every case
before 4 competent judicial tribunal If this
does not satisfy all our desires with regard TO
Southern Rebels, let us console ourselves by
rejecting that free Constitution, triumphant
in war, ana unbrOEen in peace, is worth far
more to Us and our children than the gratifca-
ton Of any present feeling. | am aware it is
assumed that this system of government for
the Southern States is not to be perpetual
1t it true this Military Government is to be
only provisional, but it Is through this tenn
porary evil that greater evil is to be made
perpetual. II the guarantees c? the Constitu-
tion can be broken, professionally, to serve a
temporary purpose, and in part only of the
country, We can destroy them everywhere and
torall time. Arbitrary measures often change,
but they generally change for the worse 1t
is the course Of desPotism that it has no
haking place. The iltcrn;tted exercise of
It's power brings no sense of security to its
subjects, for they cal never know what more
they will be called to endure VIXEN its red
right hand is armed to plague them again.
Nor is it possible to conjecture how or where
power, unrcstraiued by law, may seek its next
victim. The States that are still free may be
enslavcd ut any moment, for, if the COnstitu-
tion does not project all, it protects none. 1t
is manitestIy and avOwedly the object of these
laws to confer upon negroes the privilege of
voting aud to disiranchise such a number of
white citizens as will give the former clear
majority atall elections in the Southern States.
This, to the minds of some persons, is SO
important that violation Of the Constitution
Is justified as means Of bringing it about.
NEGRO SUFFRAGE.
The morality is always false which excuses
a wrong because IT proposes to accomplish a
desirable end. We are not permitted to do
evil that good may come. But in this case
the end itself is evil as we'll as the means,-
The subjugation of States to negro domina-
tiOu would be worse than the military dcs>
POtism under which they are now suffering.
1t was believed beforehand that the people
would endure any amount of military oppres-
sion for any length Of time rather than de-
grade themselves by subjection to the negro
race Therefore, they have been left with
out choice. Negro suffrage was established
by act of Congress, and the military officers
were commanded to superintend the process
Ot clothing the negro rare with the political
privileges torn from white men.
The blacks i'll the South are entitled TO be
wei! and humaneiy governed. and To have the
protection Of just laws for all their rights of
person and property. IL it were practicable
at this time TO give them a government
exclusively their own, under which they
might manage their own affairs IN their own
way, |; would become grave question
whether We ought to do so. or whether com.
mon humanity would not require us to save
them from themselves. But under the cir
cunIstanceS, this IS only speculative point
Ii Is not proposed merely that thew shall
govern themselves, but that they shall rule
the white race, make and administer State
laws, elect Presidents and members of Con-
grcss, and shape to greater or less extent
the future destiny of the whole country
Would such trust and power be safe in such
hands ? The peculiar qualities which should
characterize any people who are lit to decide
upon the management of public aiIairs for 4
great State have seldom been combined 1t
is the glory of white men to know that they
have had these qualities in sufficient measure
to builG upon this continent great political
fabric and to preserve its stability for more
than ninety wears while in every other Dort