The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1867-12-12

the dignity, equality and rights Oi
States or individuals and that when
this was done the war should cease. i
do not say that this declaration is
personally binding on those who join
ed in making it, any more than indi-
vidual members of Congress are per-
s0nafIy bound to pay a public debt
created under a law for which they
voted. But it was a solemn, public,
official pledge of national honor, and
l cannot imagine upon what grounds
reputation of it is to be justified
! It 1t be said that we are not bound to
keep faith with rebels, let it be re-
membered that this promise was not
made to rebels only. Thousands of
true men in the South were drawn to
our standard by it, and hundreds of
thousands in the North gave their
lives in the belief that it would be car
ried out. 1t was made one day after
the first great battle of the war had
been fought and lost. All patriotic, i'll
telligent men then saw the necessity
of giving such an assurance, and be-
lieyed that without it, war would end
in disaster to our cause. Having
given that assurance in the extremity
of our peril, violation of it now, in
the day of our power, would be a
rude rending Of that good faith which
holds the moral world together. Our
country would cease to have any
claim upon the confidence of men. It
would make the war not only a failure
but fraud.
"Being sincerely convinced that
these views are correct, would be un-
faithful to my duty if 1 did not recon-
mend the repeal Of the acts of Congress,
which place ten Of the Southern
States under the dominion of military
Iul6sters, II calm reflection shall sat
iisfy a majority OF Jour honorable
bodies that the acts referred to are
not only a violation Of national faith,
| but in direct conflict with the COnsti-
tuition, I dare not permit myself to
doubt that you will immediatly strike
them from the statute books.
"TO demonstrate the unconstituti-
tiOnal character of those acts, I need
do no more than refer to their general
provisions. It must be seen at once
that they are not authorized. To dictate
what alteratiOns'shalI be made in the
Constitutions of the several States; to
control elections of State legislators
land State officers, members of Con
greSs and electors of the President and
Vice President, by arbitrarily declar-
ing who shall vote and who, shall be
excluded from that privilege; to dis
solve State legislatures or prevent
them from assembling; to dismiss
Judges and other civil functiOnarias of
the State, and appoint others, without
regard to State law; to organize and
operate all the political machinery Of
the States; tO. regulate the whole ad-
ministratiOn Of their domestic and 10
cal affairs according 70 the will of
strange and irresponsible agents sent
among them for that purpOse-these
are powers not granted to the Federal
Government, or to any one of its
branches. Not being granted, we vi
Olate our trust by assuming them as
palpabIy as we would by acting in the
face of positive .interdict; for the
Constitution fOrbids us to do what
ever it does not affirmatively author
ize, either by express words or by
clear Implication. If the authority
we desire to use does not come to us
through the Constitution, we can eX-
ercise it only by u5urpation, and usur-
patton is the most dangerous of pOlit- |
ical crimes. BY that crime the enc
mics of free government in all ages
have worked out their designs against
public liberty and private rights.-It
leads directly and Immediately to the
establishment of absolute rule, for un-
delegated power is always unlimited
and unrestrained.
"The acts of Congress in question |
are not only Objectionable for their as /
sumption of ungranted power; but
many of their provisions are in con-
fiict with the direct prohibitions Of the
Constitution. 1t commands that Re |
publican form Of government shall |
be guaranteed to all the States; that |
no persons shall be deprived Of life, |
liberty or property without due pro- |
CESS Of law, arrested without a fair
judicial warrant, or punished without |
a fair trial before an impartial jury; .
that the privilege of hUbenS corpus .
shall not be denied in time of peace, /
and that no bill of attainder shall be .
passed, even against single individ-
ual Yet the system ofmeasures es-
tablished by these acts of Congress
docs totally Subvert and destroy the .
form as well as the substance Of Re
publican government in the ten States
to which they apply. 1t binds them
hand and foot in absolute slavery, and /
subjects them to a strange and hostile
power, more unlimited and more like
Iy to be abused than any other now
known among civilized men. 1t
tramples down all those rights in
which the essence of liberty consists,
and which free government is always
most careful to protect. 1t denies the
Hu6eus corpus and trial by jury. Per
sonal freedom, property and life, if
assailed by the passion, prejudice or
incapacity of the ruler, have no securt-
tv whatever. 1t has the effect of bill
of attainder or a bill of pains and pen
aIties, not upon a few individuals, but
upon whole masses, including mil
lions who inhabit the subject States,
and even their unborn children.
" These wrongs being expressly for
hidden, cannot be cOnstitutionally in
ficted upon any portion ofOur people, i
no matter how they have come with
in our jurisdiction, and no matter
whether they live in States, Territor-
les or Districts" d"
Mr.. johnson argues That the re-
measures Of Congress are
unjust, even if considered as a punish
ment for rebellion, and says:
"The punitive justice of this age, es-
pecially of this country, does not consist
in stripping whole States of their lib
critics, and reducing all their people,
without distinction, to a condition Of