Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1867-12-04

, tlOnal surrender of the armies had deter
mined that power. To hold the conquered
territory within our military grasp until the
sovereign power of the nation rested in the
representatives-the same which had gir,
the sword upon the thigh Of the Executive
and placed the resources of country in men
and money at his command-should be ready
to declare its will in relation to the Rebels
1t had conquered, was all that remained for
him to do. But the duties of the sovereign
were not yet at the end. An extent of ter
ritory of almost continental dirnentions,
| desolated by war, but still swarming with
millions OF people, was at our feet, awaiting
the sentence which it had deserved
The local governments, swept away AS
they had been, in the opinion of the Presi-
dent himself, by the whrlwind of the Re
| bellion, were ID ruin whole communities
were in anarchy; the courts outlawed, the
social tie dissolved, system of pretended
laws existing in deadly conflict with the law
OF the conqueror; a people subdued, but
sullen and tull of hate, and hostile as ever
to the power that had overthrown them
a loyal element asking for protection--a
new and anomalous relation without par
allel in history. about which the wisest of
statesmen might well hesitate and differ,
supernduced by tracticidal strife, that had
|
su5jectsin the condition Of public enemies;
g large army to be disban1ci, and such in
duigence extended such punishment in
| HIcted, and such securities demanded for
| the future, as the interests of peace and
justice might require.
| Never IN the history Of this or any other
| State have questions more numerous ari
vital, more delicate or difficult, requiring
graver deli ,eration or involving the exer
| else of higher governmental powers. pre-
sented themselves for the consideration of
t people, and never was Congress convo-
| ked IN more serious crisis of a State. The
duties and responsibilities of the men who
| founded the Union of these States, and Of
those who assembled here in 1861 to consult
upon and provide the means for suppresSing
this great Rebellion, wee as nothing in the
comparison, and demanded certainly not
higher sagacity and no broader wisdom than
the task OF bringing back the dismenbered
States, aud Infusing these jarring and dis
cordant elements with one harmonious
whole. For this great work the supreme
Executive OF the nation, even though he
had been endowed by nature with the very
highest ol Organizing iacltles, was obvious
ly untitled by the very nature of his office.
1T Mr.. Lincoln had survived, it is not to
be doubted, IRON his habitual Difference to
the public.N Will, that altough a citizen of a
loyal State AID enjoying the public conf
dence i'll the highest possible degree, he
would have felt it his duty to convoke the
Representatives of the people, te lay down
his sword in their presence, and to refer it
to their enlightened and patriotic jud gment
to decide what was te be ecne with the ter
rtories and people that had been brought
under the authority of the government by
our arms. The bloody hand of treason, uu-
/. fortunately. hurried him away In the very
hour of the nations triumph But If these
were reasons which could have made this
duty an imperative one with him, how pow
erfully were they reinforced by the double
effect of the tragedy that -only deprived
the nation of its trusted head, but cast the
reIns OF government upon successor. The
new President was hImself in tic doubtful
and delicate position of citizen OF one OF the
revolving States, which were to be summon
ed for Judgment before the bar OF the Amer
lean people
1t was, perhaps, but nat6ral THAI he
should sympathize with the communities
from which he had recently differed only on
prudential reasons, or Ia others words. as to
the wisdom of the revolt at that particular
juncture of affairs. If ether argan eats had
not sufhced to convince him of the necessity
Of referring all these great questions to the
only tribunal on earth that had the power to
decide them, it ought to have been sufh-
eient that he owed alike his honors and his
accidental powers to the generous confidence
of the loyal States. II
He expected. of course, that they would
insist, as they had a right to do, upon such
conditions as would secure to them. if not
indemnity for the past, at least the amp1est
security for the future. Instead, therefore,
- ha 4 III
States to deliberate upon the condition of
the country, he seems to have made up his
mind to undertake that mighty task himself,
to forestall the Judgment and the wishes Of
the loyal people and to neurralize the power
to undo his work by bringing in the rebel
States themselves to participate in the de-
liberations upon any and all questions which
might be left for settlement.
To effect this object he issues his imperi-
al pro- ma o s. beginning with that OF the
29th of May. in virtue, as he says, of his
double authority as President OF the United
States and Commander in chief OF the ar
mics, declaring the governments OF these
State to have perisf ed, creating, under the
denomination of provisional governors civil
officers unknown to the law, appointing to
these Offices men who we're VIGOROUSLY dis
qualified, by reason of their participation
in the Rebellion, from holding any office un-
der this government and yet allowed to
hold the same and exercise the duties there
of, at salaries fixed by himself, and paid out
of the contingent fusId of one of the depart
ments, in clear violation the acts of July
?, 1862, and February 9, 1868.
Declaring, moreover, that the govern
mopts of these States had been destroyed, he
assumes it to be his individual right as be-
ing himself the State-rather the United
States-to execute the guarantee of the