Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-04-06

resolved to withdraw from the q Mon
They withdrew their representatives from
Congress, abolished every Federal office
in the Rebel States, and turned every
new stolen gun against the Union.
| Wheather lawful orunlawful, the treason
was committed, both by States and in.
diyiduals. We overwhelmed them by
the might of our arms, and utterly de.
stroy their Rebel Governments. Now,
were they in the Union or out? The
speaker would verify his position out Of
the mouth Of Andrew johnson himself
On the 29the Of May s65Aonly a few
days after the deplorable accident, nay,
| the horrible crime, which made him Chief
Magistrate-Andrew Johnson, in his proc
lamation referring to North Carolina and
other States, said /: Whereas, the Rebel
hon, in its revolutionary progress, has de
prived the State of North Carolina of all
civil government, Gtherefore,I, Andrew
Johnson, proclaim, etc. Here is distinct
avowel that the last vestige of State
Governments was swept away in all those
eleven rebel States. There was not the
smallest office that had not been held by a
rebel, and since the rebel authority has
been utterly swept away, herebel officers
fell There was no Governor, no sLegis-
lature, no Judge, no constable and no
man had the right to act as such. What
was to be done? The Constitution of the
United States had provided. for such a
contingency. rz,z-...s ts3,.. l.,.,- 2. p. ~. q
'sThe United States shall guarantee to
every state in the Union republican form
of Government" Il, by any crime, these
States shall destroy their Governments,
there is power authorized to rebuild, to
reconstruct" and that power is the Uni
ted States :? Applause. Who is the
United States "a very humble individ-
ual" from Tennessee declared from the
portals of the White House., 81 ana the
United States !"a Laughter Louis XIV
once said, The State, that is l. . but un-
der his despotic rule, and in his age, the
assertion was less absurd than now and
here. We have been taught in a differ
ent School. The people of the United
States are sovereigns, and they have in
vested the supreme law making power of
the nation in their Representatives in
Congress. Here in New England, you
had an instance ofthe attempt to defy
the supreme power, when Rhode Island
set up two Governors and two Legisla-
lures, and began each to make laws and
levy taxes But he2Supreme court with
Judge Taney at its head, decided that it
lay with Congress TO settle the question.
[Cheers One year ago Andrew John
son came knocking at, the door of Con-
gress with whole arrnful of new made
States, and demanded their Immediate
adoption by Congress. But Congress re-
piled: "Y ou have nothing to do with ma
king States. They must stay out until
we have fixed the conditions Of their re-
turn. Great applause. Congress also,
in its magnanimitys said taWe will do
nothing for vengeance, but every thing
for security and peace" But let us con-
slider what Congress might have done.
The law ofl79o says Any citizen who
shall take up arms, or levy war, against
the United States, shall, on conviction
thereof suffer death by hanging So, we
might have lawfully hanged every rebel
in the south. We might have erected
5000, 900 gibbets, and hanged a rebel on
each. Yet, would not this have been
lawful? You hang murderer; but
what is amurderef compared to a rebel !?
The former only. kills one man, the rebels
killed half a million of our best and no
blest; and we are told that we could not
lawfully hang them. Secondly, we could
have disfranchised them, utterly-debar-
ing them from all the privileges and
blessings of citizenship. Wecould have
done this by law, and noman dare deny
that it would have been just. Thirdly,
we could have taken every rebel dollar
confiscated everything they had IN the
world-to pay our national debt. How
did our revolutionary fathers~treat their
rebels and tories $? When the war was
ended, not one of them was permitted to
remain in the country, and all their prop.
erty was confscated. By different Co
lonial laws, some were given 20 days to
leave, some foo days; but all were. COM
PEELED to go. Our forefathers even taxed
themselves heavily in order to send away
these. tories who were too poor to go,
so desirous were they that not even
their seed should be left behind. Three
ship loads left Boston, four ship loads left
New. Y ork and the wfetches were drop
ed all along the neighboring coast--in
Canada, New Brunswick and Noyia SEQ
tia. So many were left in the latter prov
ince that the term of ''Go to Halifax"
has passed into our language as MALE
ediction, consigning an enemy to a place
which was SO odioussas the residence OF
Tories. Laughter. But what was
Tory compared to a rebel He at least
had plausible argument on his side. A
tory was al white hearted saint and a
patriot compared to a rebel OF 1851.
Cheering. Perhaps we made a mistake
in not copying more closely the example
set us by our revolutionary fathers. u But
Congress, was magnanimous. eve give
YOU your lives; you may stay upon your
farms, and 60 to work and enjoy all the
privileges Of the government; only gne
thing YOU shall not, do-you shall not
again rule u.s." Such magnanimity de-
fy you to find in history. AS father
would rule rebel son, who sought to de-
stroy the household, and, after cor
recting him, say to him, "yon are still
my son, but my thrashed son. But now
YOU are unrepresentable-you are gener-
ally in bad order. Go and wash yourfac (;
come in and touch your hat to me, and
then YOU can sit down at the table with
the rest of the family" So the federal
government deals with the rebelheas
man,bers of its Eamily.z.i For instance Al