Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-12-04

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cure a strong standing army, and prOba-
IIy more than the two hundred millions
OF collars per Rnnum to maintain
The supremacy of the negro governments
after they are established. The sum thus
thrown away would, if properly used,
form a sinking fund large enough to nav
the whole national debt in less than IF
teen years. 1t is vain to hope that the Ie-
groes will maintain their aseendancy
themselves, without military power; thew
are wholly ineaDable of holding in sub
lection the white people Of the South. I
submit TO the judgment of Congress
whether the public credit may not be in
juTiOusly affected by q system of meas
uTes like this. With Ourdebt and vast pri-
vate interests which are cOmDlica-
tedl with il we can not be too eau
tons of a policy which might BIZ
a possibility impair the confidence of the
world in our government That conf
dence can only be retained by carefully
intoxicating the principles Of Justice and
honor on the popular mind, and by q most
scrupulOus fidelity to all our engagements
Of every sort. Any breach of the organic
law persisted in for q considerable time,
cannot but create fears for the stability of
our institutions. Habitual violation of
prescribed rules which we bind ourselves
to observe, must demOralize the people.
Our only standard of civil duty being set
at nought, the sheet anchor of our political
morality is lost, and public conscience
swings from its mOOrings, and yields to
every impulse of passion and interest
If we repudiate the Constitution, we will
not be expected to care much for mere
pecuniaTy obligations. The violation of
such a pledge as W. made on the 22d of
July, 1861, will assuredly diminish the
market value of our other promises; be-
sides, il we now acknowledge that the ma
Gonal debt was created, not to hold the
Statesin theUniOn, as tax payers we areled
the states in the Union, as tax payers were
led TO suppose, but to eXpel them from it
and hand them over to be governed by ne
grces, the moral duty to pay it may seem
muchless clear. Isay it may seem 50,
for | do not admit thar it.,or any other ar
Tangemen.i in favor of reputation can be
--.5rrtained as sound, but its influence on
some classes of minds may well be appre-
hended.m
The financial honor of a great CONNER
mercial nation, largely indebted, and with
a republican form of government admins
tered by the agents OF popular choice, is a
thing of delicate texture, and the deStruc-
lion of it would he followed by such IN
speakable calamity that every true patriot
must desire to avoid whatever might ex-
pose it to the slightest danger. The great
interests of the country require immediate
relief from these enactments. Business in
he South is paTalyzed by a sense of gen
cral insecurity, by terror of c~onfiscation,
and dread OF negrO supremacy. Southern
trade, from which the North would have
derived so great a profit under a govern
meLt of law, still languishes, and can never
be revived until it ceases to be fettered by
arbitrary power which makes all its
operations unsafe That rich country
The richest in natural resources that the
world ever saws worse than lost if il be
nOt o placed under the protection of a
free Cons tuition. Instead of being, as it
ought to be. a source of wealth and power,
it viii become an intOlerable burden upon
the rest of the nation. AnotherreasOn for
retrscing III steps will doubtless be seen
by Congress in the late manifestations of
public opinion upon the subject. We live
in a country where the popular will al
ways enforces obedience to itself
sooner or later. Il is vain to think
of opposing it with anything short of
legal authority, backed by an Overwhelm-
ing force. Il cannot have escaped yOur
attention that from the day on which
Congress fairly and formally presented the
proposition to govern the Southern States
by military force, with a view to the ulti-
mate establishment of negro supremacy,
every expression of general sentiment
has been more or less adverse to it. The
affections Of this generation cannot be de-
tached from the institutions of their anceS-
tors, The determination to preserve the
inheritance of free government in their
W hands and transmit it undivided and
unimpaired to their own posterity is too
strong to be'suocessfully opposed. Every
weaker passion will disappear before the
love of liberty and law, for which the
American people are distinguished above
all Others in the world.
How far the duty Of the President to
preserve, protect and defend the constjtu,
ton requires him to 90 in opposing an IN
constitutional act of Congress, is a very
serious and important question, and one
on which have ~deliberated much, and
felt extremely anxious to reach a proper
conclusion. Where an act has been pass
ed accordingto the forms Of the constitu-
ton by the supreme legislative authority
of the country, executive resistance to it,
especially in times of high party excite
ment, would be likely to produce a VIC
lent collision between the respective adhe-
rents of the two branches of the govern
ment This would be simply civil war,
and must be resorted to only as a last re-
medy for the worst of evils. Whatever
might tend to provoke it should be most
carefully avoided. Afaithful and cOnscien-
tiOus magistrate will concede very much 10
honest error, and something even 10 per-
verse malice, before he will endanger the
public peace. And he will not adopt for
chile measures, or such as might lead 10
force, as long as chances which are FEAST
bic remain open to him or his cOnstitu-
euts. II is true that cases NAV occur in
which the Executive would be compelled
TO stand on its rights, and maintain them
regardless of consequences. IfCOngress
should pass an act which IS not only in
palpable conflict with the Constitution,
but will certainly, If carried out, produce
immediate and irreparable injury to the
organic structure of the government, and
if there be neither Judicial remedy for
the wrongs it ~infiicts, nor power in the
people TO protect themselves without the
official aid of their elected defenders #,
for instance, the legislative department
should pass an act, even though with all
the forms oflaw, to abolish a coordinate
department of the government, in such
a case the President must take the high
responsibilities Of his Office and save the
life of the nation at ali hazards. The so
called reconstruction acts, thougha as PLAIN
" unconstitutional as any that can be i'm
agined, were not believed to be within the
class last mentioned. The people are not
wholly disarmed of the power of selfde-
tense in all the Northern States; they still
hold IN their hands the sacred right of the
ballot, and it was safe to believe that in
due time they would come to the rescue
of their own institutions. Ii gives me
pleasure to add that appeal to our COM
constituents was not taken IN vain,
and that my confidence in their wisdom
and virtue seems not to have been mis-
1t is well and publicly known that
enormous frauds have been perpetrated on
the Treasury and that colossal fortunes
have been made at public expense. This
species of corruption has increased and is
increasing, andifnot diminished viii soon
bring us into total ruin and disgrace. Pub
lie creditors and tax payers are alike in
in an honest administration of the
finances, andneither class will long endure
the large handed robberies of the recent
past. For this discreditable state of things
there are several causes. Some of the
taxes are so laid as to present an irresista-
bic temptation to evade payment. The
great sums which officers may realize by