The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1867-11-13

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know how they got their pay? They
got it from the War Department
They could not get it out of the. treas
ury; they were civilians, but drawing
pay from the Military Department,
Yet he talks about usnpation That
is not all. On the I'd day of April,
1866, when Johnson issued his procla-
nation declaring peace established.
He has number of whereases: he. put
them all in this-six or eight of them.
| will not read them; he recites the
various proclamations by which these
States were declared in rebellion, and
then goes on and says: lTlG
"And whereas, the laws can be sus-
tanned and enforced therein by proper
civil authority, State or Federal, and
the people of said States are well and
Loyalty disposed" u.
No doubt they were we'll and Loyalty
disposed. You saw it when 500 ne
groes in the South were wantonly
killed since we made them free. You
have seen it in the outrages upon
white men because they were Union
men! You see his policy and its
results, which eliminated at Memphis
and New-Orlcans in the murder of
white men, whose crime was that they
sought to reconstruct on loyal basis.
He then adds, "Whereas standing
armies, military occupation, martial
law, military tribunals, &C., are in
time of peace dangerous" &c. Every
one knows that in time past but for
the army no Union man iu the South
was safe. He then goes on and says
that peace is established. The Con-
stitution says Congress shall have
power to declare war, &c. The power
to declare war carries with it the
power to make peace. Your fathers
knew if there was to be war the peo-
pie who were to lay down their lives
had the right to say when it should be
declared, and when it should be stop
ped, as well as to secure the nation
against its inconvenience. His pro-
clamation was not worth the paper on
which it was written. In July, 1862,
the Congress of the United States pass
ed law authorizing the President to
issue an Amnesty Proclamation, on
such terms as he might see fit, for the
purpose of ending the war. Mr..
Lincoln issued it, basing it on this
law, and it was spurned by the Rebels,
In January, 1867, not having as much
faith in Mr.. johnson as we had had
in Mr.. Lincoln, knowing that he was
pardoning Rebels with the very same
hand he was striking down Republi-
cans, we repealed the act we had pass
ed. Then, as ifto defy the law, he
issued this "Amnesty" proclamation
for the pardon of Rebels. A pardon
which the President has the constitu-
tional power to grant is no more like
an amnesty than a marriage license is
like statute. A license affects only
the parties procuring it, and they use
it ifthey please, as a person accepts or
reflects a proffered pardon. A statute
affects the whole community. He
knew he had no power to issue it f.; even
Jerry Black, who is SO constantly at
his ear, is reported to have told him
he had no power to issue it. sup
pose he found out last year that we
didn't want him for President, so per-
haps he thought we would have him
for king. Laughter.] Therefore, he
issued this amnesty proclamation, with
a number of "whereascs," that the
laws are now enforced in the States
lately in insurrection, and the people
of the said States are well and Loyalty
disposed that large standing armies
and milit6y governments are incom-
patible with the rights guaranteed by
the Constitution; that retaliatory
and vindictiye policy inAicting pains
and penalties, confiscation and disfran-
chisement, now as always, can only
tend to hinder reconciliation, therefore
he declared a general amnesty, excep-
ting only some two or three hundred
persons, with restoration of all their
privileges, immunities, and rights of
property, except as to property with
regard to slaves. / say that that am
ncsty proclamation was thrown inten-
tionally by him into the very teeth Of
the people and Congress by this would
be autocrat to show us how he defed
us, and how little he remembers or re-
CARDS his official oath. The preamble
of the original Military hill-and the
same doctrine is embodied in the two
supplemental bills-states that whereas
no legal State governments or adequate
protection Of life or property now exist
in the Rebel States of Virginia, &c.,
and whereas it is necessary that peace
and good order should be enforced in
said States, and loyal and Republican
State governments be legally estab-
lished, therefore it is provided that
there shall be five military districts,
and that those persons who have been
perjured as officers of the State or the
General Government, as we'll as trai-
tors, should not be voters, but should
occupy back seats. This bill declares
that no legal governments exist there,
and this, declaration is subsequently
repeated in the supplemental bills.
But Mr.. Johnson's amnesty proola-
nation declares expressly that they
have civil governments there. Al
though in that bill we demand the
disffanchisement for the present Of
S--k-s- 49, -H A