The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1867-12-06

"hiSh huSe iCoui0 ilOm tuc SuCCce
of the effort now making to African
ize half our country. 1 would nc
iput considerations OF money in com
petition with justice and right. bu
the expenses incident to Reconstruc
ton, under the system adopted b
Congress, aggravate what l regard a
intrinsic wrong OF the measure itself
1t has cost uncounted millions al
ready and if persisted in, will ad,
largely to the weight of taxation, al
ready, too oppressive to be born
without just complaint, and may f
ually reduce the Treasury of the na
Sion to condition of bankruptcy
We must not delude ourselves.
will require standing army, an,
probably more than two hundre,
Millions of dollars per annum, t,
maintain the supremacy of negro gov
ernments after they are established
This sum, thus thrown away, would
if properly used, form a sinking fund
large enough to pay the whole Ma
tional Debt in less than fifteen years
1t is vain to hope that negroes viii
maintain their ascendancy them
selves, without military power. They
are wholly incapable of holding in
subsection the white people of the
South. submit to the judgment
OF Congress, whether the public. cred.
1t may not be injuriously affected ty
a system of measures like this. With
our debt aad vast private interests
which are complicated w.sh il, VIC can
not be too cautious of policy which
might by possibility impair the con-
fidence OF the world in our Govern.
ment. That confidence can only be
retained by carefully intoxicating the
principles OF justice and honor on the
popular mind, and by the most scru-
pulous fidelity to all our engagements
of every sort. 8. Any serious breach
of the organic law, persisted in for a
considerable time, can not but create
fears for the stability of our lnstitu-
tions. Habituei v;-'etion of the pre-.
scribed rules which we bind our
selves to observe, must demoraIize
the people. Our only standard of
civil duty beng set at naught, the
sheet anchor of our political morality
IS lost. the public conscience swings
frors its --AOorlngs and yields to ev.
cry impulse, passion and interest. If
nc repudiate the Constitution we will
not b9expected TO care much for
mere pecuniary obligations.
The violation of such pledge as
We made on the 22d of July, 1861,
will assuredly diminish the market
value of our other promises. Be-
sides, if we now acknowledge 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 governed by negroes,
the moral duty to pay it may seem
much less clear. say, it may seem
so, for do not admit that this or any
other argument in favor of repudia-
tion can be entertained as sound, but
its influence on some classes of minds
may be we'll apprehended. The finan-
cial honor of a great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with a
form of Government,
administered by agents of the popular
choice, is thing of such delicate
texture, and the destruction of it
would be followed by such unspeak
able calamity, that every true patriot
must desire to avoid whatever might
expose it to the slightest danger
The great interests of the country
require immediate relief from these
Business In the South
is paralyzed by the sense of general
insecurity, by the terror of confisca-
ton, and the dread of negro suprem-
acy. Southern trade, from which
the North would have derived SO
great profit under a Government of
law, still languishes, and can never
be revived until it ceases to be fet-
tered by arbitrary power, which
makes all its operations unsafe. That
rich country, the richest in natural
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, it will become an intolerant
burden upon the rest of the nation.
Another reason for retracing our
steps, will doubtless be seen by Con-
gress, in the late manifestations of
public opinion upon this subject
We live in a country where popular
will always enforces obedience to
tself sooner or later. 1t is vain to
'hink OF opposing 1t with anything
short of legal authority, backed by
overwhelming force.
1t can not have escaped your atten-
ion, that from the day on which
Congress fairly and formally pre-.
'ented the proposition to govern the
southern States by military force,
With q view to the ultimate establish
nent of negro supremacy, every ex-
preston Of the general sentiment has
,een more or less adverse to it. The
Election of this generation can not
,e detached from the institutions of
heir ancestors. Their determination
o preserve the Inheritance of free
government in their own hands, and
ransmit it undivided and uniInpaired
0 their own posterity, is too strong
o be successfully opposed. Every
weaker passion viii disappear, before
he love Of liberty and law, for which
he American people are distinguish
d above all others in the world.
How far the duty of the President
o preserve, protect, and defend thei
Constitution requires him to 90, in |
an unconstitutional act Of
congress, is very serious and i'm
ortant question, on which I have
much, and felt extremely
nSious to reach proper conclusion.
When an act has been passed, accord
1g to the forms of the Constitution,
y the supreme legislative authority
t the country, Executive resistance
D it, especially in times of high party
xcitement, would be likely to pro.
uce violent collision between the
espective adherents of the two
ranches of Government. This would |
e simple civil war, and civil war
Just be resorted to only az last
emedy for the worst of evils. What
yer might tend to provoke it should
e most carefully avoided A faith