The Portland daily press., 1867-12-04
memory of our fathers and the rights of our

memory of our fathers and the rights of our
children. FL
The plan of putting the Southern States
wholly and the General Government partially
lnto tne hahds oil negroes is proposed Ia time
PECULIARLY unpfopltious. The foundations of
society have been broken up by civil war, in
a1sry must be reorganized, Justice re-estab-
lshed, public credit maintained. and order
Drought out OF confusion. To accomplish these
eHuS would require all the wisdom and virtue
OF the great men wto formed our institutions
originally. confidently believe that their de-
seehdahts VIII De equal to the arduous task be-
lore them, but 1t is worse than madness to ex-
pect that negroes will perform it for us. Ger
ta'hIy we ouSht not to ask their assistance I'M.
tli we despair OF our own competency. The
great difference between the two races in phys-
lcai, mental ana moral characteristics will pre-
vent an amalgamation or fusion of them to-
gether IN one homogeneous mass. If the infe-
rior OBTAIN the ascendancy over the other, it
Will govern with reference only to its own in
terests, for it will recognize no common inter-
est, ana create such tyranny as this CONT
heht mas never yet witnessed. Already the
negroes are influenced by promises of confis
cat n1 anu paonaer. They are taught to re-
gard as an enemy every white man who has
any respect for the rights of his own race. If
this continues 1T must become worse and
worse, until all order will be subyerted, all in
dustry cease, and the fertile fields of the South
Slo" ihVV q "iiuCIHcSS. vi all the dangers
which our nation has encountered, none are
equal to those which must result from the sue
cess OF The effort now making to African2e the
half of our country.
gay THE PUBLIC CREDIT.
would NOT put considerations of money in
compenon with Justice and right but the ex-
penses incident to reconstruction. under the
system adopted by Congress, aggrayaue what
regard as the intrinsic wrong Of fine measure
itself 1t has cost uncounted millions already,
and, II persisted IN, will add largely to the
weight OF taxation, already too oppressive to
be borne without just complaint. and may
finally reduce the treasury of the nation to
condition of bankruptcy. We must not de-
Jude ourselves,-it will require strong stand
ing army ana probaoly more than two hun
dred millions OF dollars per annum to main
tain the supremacy of negro governments after
they are established. The sum thus thrown
away would, if properly used, form a sinking
fund large enough to pay the whole national
deut IN less than fifteen years. 1t is vain to
hope that negroes will maintain their ascen-
dancy themselves; without military power
they are wholly incapable of holding in SUBJ
lection the white people of the South sub
NIT to the Judgment of Congress whether the
public credit may not be iniuriously affected
by system of measures like this. With our
debt and the vast private interests which are
complicated with it, we cannot be too CAUTIOUS
of policy which might by possibility impair
the confidence of the world in our Govern
lIdt COuHueuce can Only De retained
by carefully, intoxicating the principles of JUS
tiee and honor on the popular mind, and by
the most scrupulous fidelity to all our engage
ments of every SORT Any serious breach of
the organic law persisted in for a considerable
time cannot but create fears for the stability
of our institutions. Habitual violations of pre-
scribed rules which we bind ourselves to OBJ
serve must demoralize the people, Our only
standard of civil duty being set at naught, the
sheet anchor Of our political morality is lost,
cxpi,,
and yields to every impulse of passion and in
tersst If we repudiate the Constitution we
will not be expected to care much for mere pe-
cuniary obligation. The violation of such
pledge as we made on the 22d day OF July,
1861, will assuredly diminish the market value
OF our promises besides, if we now acknowl-
edge that the national debt was created. not to
hold the States in the Union, as the tax
payers were led to suppose, but to expel
them from it and hand them over to be gov
efned by negroes, the moral duty to pay it
may seem much less clear. 1 say it may
seem SO, for l do not admit that this or any
other arsument in favor of repudiation can be
entertained as sound, but its influence ON
some classes of minds may well be apprehend-
ed. The financial honor of a great CONNER
cial nation largely indebted and with a repub-
lIcan form of government administered BY
agents Of the popular choice, is a thing of such
delicate texture and the destruction of it
would be followed by such unspeakable calam-
ity that every true patriot must desire to avoid
whatever might expose it to the slightest dan
ger.
The great interests of the country require
immediate relief from these enactments
Business in the South is paralyzed by sense
of general insecurity, by terror of confisca-
ton and the dread OF negro supremacy. The
Southern trade, from which the North would
have derived so great profit under govern
ment OF law, still languishes and can never be
revived until it ceases to be fettered by the
arbitrary power which makes all its operations
unsafe. That rich country, the richest in nat
ural resources the world ever saw, is worse
than lost if it be not soon placed under the
protection of free constitution; instead of
being as it ought to be source of wealth and
power, 1t will become an intolerabe burden
upon the rest of the nation.
THE RECENT ELECTIONS.
Another reason for retracing our steps will
doubtless be seen by Congress in the late man
Hesitation of public opinion upon this subject.
We live in country where the popular Will
en,orces obedience to itself sooner or later 1t
is vain TO think of opposing it with anything
short Of legislation backed by overwhelming
force. 1t cannot have escaped YOUR attention
that from the day ON which Congress fairly
and formally presented the proposition to gov
ern the Southern States by military force with
aview to the ultimate establishment of negro
supremacy, every expression of the general
sentiment has been more or less adverse to it,
The affections OF this generation cannot be de-
tached from the institutions of their ancestors.
Their determination to preserve the inherit
ance OF free government i'll their own hands,
and transmit it undivided and unimpaired to
their own posterity, is too strong to be sue
cessfully opposed. Every weak er passion will
disappear before that love of liberty and law
for which the American people are distinguish
ed from all others in the world.
RESISTANCE TO UNCONSTITUTIONAL LEGIsLA-
II TION. - 80
How far the duty of the President Ito PIE
serve, protect and defend the Constitution"
requires him to go in opposing an unconstitu-
tonal act OF Congress, is very serious and
important question on which have deliberat-
ed much, and felt extremely anxious to reach
proper conclusion. Where an act has been
passed according to the forms of the Constitu-
ton by the supreme legislative authority, and
is regularly enrolled among the public statutes
OF tue country Executive resistance to ties
pecially in times of high party excitement,
would be likely to produce violent collision be-
tween the respective adherents of the two
branches of the Government. This would be
simply civil war, and civil war must be resort
ed to only as the last remedy for the worst of
evils. Whatever might tend to provoke it
should be most carefully avoided. A faithful
and conscientious magistrate will cOncede yery
much to honest error, and something even to
personal malice before he will endanger the
public peace; and he will not adopt forcble
measures or such as might lead to force as long
as those which are peaceable remain open to
him or to his constituents. 1t is true that cases
may occur in which the Executive would be
compelled to stand on his rights, to maintain
them regardless Of all consequences, if Con-
gress should pass an act which is not only in
palpable conflict with the Constitution but
will certainly, if carried out, produce immedi-
ate, lrreparable injury to the organic structure
OF the Government, and if there be neither
judicial remedy for the wrongs it infiicts nor
power in the people to protect themselves
without the official aid of their elected defend
er. Ii, for instance, the legislative department
should pass an act, even through all the forms
of law, to abolish coordinate department of
the Government, in such a case the President
must take the high responsibilities of his office
and save the life of the nation at all hazards
The so-called Reconstruction acts, though as
plainly unconstitutional as any that can be
imagined, were not believed to be within the
class last mentioned. The people were not
wholly disarmed of the power of self-defence.
In all the Northern States they still held in
their hands the sacred right of the ballot, and
it was safe to believe that in due time they
would come to the rescue of their own insti-
buttons. 1t gives me pleasure to add that the
appeal to our common constituents was not
taken in vain, and that my confidence In their
wisdom and virtue seems not to have been
misplaced. -' 3 -ss. ,ssE
FRAUDS ON THE TREASURY.
1t is well and publicly known that enormous
frauds have been perpetrated ON the Treasury,
and that colossal fortunes have been made at
IL public expense. This species of corrup-
ton has INCREASED, is increasing, and if not di-
mlnlshed will soon bring us into total ruin
and disgrace. The public creditors and the
taxpayers are alike interested in an honest
administration of the finances and neither
class will long endure the large-handed rob-
berries OF the recent past.
For this discredtable state of things there
are several causes. Some of the taxes are so
laid as to present an irresistible temptation to
evade payment. The great sums which officers
may win by connivance at fraud create a pres