Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-09-06


that they are men and women, before
the law and before the world, and you
will thus have almost perfect security
against the evils of aInalgamation.
To withhold suffrage from the coIOred
race is to violate other fuudamen 5aI
principles of our Government. Wesay
tnaJ the " Government exists only by
tne consent of the governed" /" and here
Is race that is governed, but has never
eoilsehteo, and has no means to consent
or dissent.
We say that taxation and repfesen-
tatiOb should go togethgr!p and here is
a race that is taxed but n 1t represented.
But more than all this, the colored
man has helped to fight your battles.
and has mingled his blood with YOURS,
on many a field he has been patriotic
and loyal, while thousands Of whites in
your midst have been dislngal be has
/ paid taxes and helped to. bear an the
/ burdens of the State he has shown I'M
! telIecU and capacity; he has displayed
| enterprise and valOrs and why Should
/ he not vote? The answer Is prejudice,
/ prejudice which is ever strongest in the
/ weakest breast. 4 .a.frHF lsaf-
/ To that unfortunate class Of people
/ who have no politics but hatred TO the
I negro, and who live in deadly fear of
! amalgamation, and that if he has equal
rights given to him he viii become their
/ superior socially, intellectually and po-a
/ litically, tender my profound sympa-
/ thies. Their case is beyond the reach
/ of human aid, and all that we can do is
I to smooth their passage to that bourne
where they are not married or gwen IA
marriages and where they VIII be SAFE
! from the social dangers to which they
are exposed here. HeHlEt
RECONSTRUCTION. Hf
When tine war ended in the spring Of
! 1865, nine Of the rebel States were left
| without governments of any kind. The
officers composing the rebel state gov
ernments We're either killed, captured
or had fled and State authority of ali
kind had disappeared. This presented
a case expressly provided for By the
Constitution Of the United States, which
declares that the United States shall
guaranty to each State a republican
form of government. State govern.
ments had ceased to exist, and it was
the duty and the right of the Govern
meut of the United States to reOrganize
new ones upon a loyal republican basis.
Mr.. johnson recognized this condition
of things and the power Of the Gov
ernment of the United States, but as-
sumed tie right to initiate a plan Of
reconstruction himself, independent Of
Congress.
This of course was clearly without
the limits of his constitutional power,
but it was declared by him at the time,
and by Mr.. Seward, Secretary Of State,
chat these new governments would be
DEuNAGlDLAdl 0lAANa 4ALAA lAAlN WgAg NeNAA@
toned BY Congress, and that the whole
business would be submitted to Con-
gress for its consideration at the
next session. Had the President ad-
hered Co this purpose it Improbable all
would have gone we'll at last, and the
present state of things would not exist.
But unfortunately he failed to submit
his work to Congress. lie assumed
the right to accept their new state con-
stitutiOns without the consent Of Con-
press. HereeeiVed and treated their
new governments as legal and repu bli-
can, and thus actually exercised the
power OF. Reconstruction without the
sanction Of the people as expressed
through their representatives In Con-
gress. The power to form the govern
meuts of nine States that had been ia
rebellion was too great to be exercised
BY one man. The settlement we had to
make with the rebels, and the read
justment Of their Institutions on alloy
al basis which would give security for
the future. Has a matter flthe greatest
importance, in which all the people
we're interested. and upon which they
must be heard Though Congress. AS
the President had no power of blm-
self to establish State governments
and as they were never sanctioned
by Congress, they were uuauthoTized
and illegal, and are in that condition
o-day. To the. summer Of 1866. Con-
gress still disposed to harmonic mat
ters with the President If possible,
and to disturb as little as might be
the existing state OF things, submitted
to the rebel f5Hutc5 faE tEae5ls- aeeeF,taVsoe
and amendment TO the Constitution of
the United States, containing four con-
ditiODs which we're regarded as of .vi-
tai Importance to the future peace and
security of the Republic, with the .taeit
understanding that if accepted and du-
ly ratified they should constitute o
basis of settlement and reconstruction.
The effect of this would have been to
accept the existing rebel State. Cr0veru-
ments and make them legal, suhject
to conditions and restrictions contaih-
ed In the amendment. The Northern
States promptly ratified the naHdendr
ment, but the people Of the South, acts
ing under the Vehement. advice and per- 8
suasion of the Northern Demncrnoy.o
rejected it scornfully and declared they
would accept no terms but the uncon-
ditiOnal recognition of their State Gov
ernments and admission of their Rep +
'resentatives into Congress And thus
the issue was made up between Com
gress and the President, and between q
the loyal people and the rebels on tle
1st of January, 1861 In the meas .
time these State Governments had been
in the possession of the most violent
and malignant rebels, whose utteranees
and influences we're all dlslOyal and
against submission to any terms of re-
construction, Loyal men, both white
and black, were denied protection l of
the lawag and a system of murderous
persecution instituted which was in-.. 8
tended to drive all white Union men p
from the South and eXtirpate thealast 2
traces of loyal sentiments. The poor
freemen were driven from their hum
ble homes and murdered with the
bold,e,st imPuPity,5 and g reign ot terror
I established which excited the horrors
| of the civilized world. The bloody
riots of Memphis and New Orleans, ta-
/ king rank with the New York riots Of
I 1868, viii ever be regarded as among
/ the greatest atrocities that have oc-
l cured 10 a christian land. During
/ this period the Democratic party of
/ the North were jubilant It habitual-
I Iy denied the existence Of the crimes
4 and outFages committed in the South,
and when that was impossible sought
to mitigate them by laying the blame
upon the Radicals, who were slander-
| ously charged with prosecuting the
harmless rebels By whom they We're
| surrounded.
Ltstimulated by every means ia its
/ power the Southern people to coptin-
/ ued disobedience, TO Increased hatred
/ Of the Government, and 10 the con
4 temptuous defiance and rejection ofall
/ terms that might be offered.
/ NEW RECONSTRUCTION ON A NEW PRIE-
CIPLE.
4 Up to this time every plan Of recon
struction had been based upon the
4 white voting population, leaving to the
/ decision Of that population the ques-
ton of enfranchising the colored men.
IL was so in Lincoln's plan, iu the Win
II IN - g., V.a,v .fs. .e.ls