Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-07

eleven States seeded, with all the
pride and circumstance of persistent
war. They taxed every expedient,
strained every muscle, robbed the
cradle and the grave for material
strength, and perpetrated barbarities
that make humanity blush that they
might overturn the established au-
thority of the land During the con-
test they were public, avowed, ac-
knowledged enemies. We applied to
them all the laws of nations regulat-
ing war. Foreign powers recognized
them as belligerents. They sneered
at the idea of having any constitu-
tional connection whatever with the
United States, and would have sneer-
ed at it still if success had crowned
their bloody efforts, but having failed
therein, what is their real status !?
Plainly this; no more, no less They
are conquered enemies, disarmed
traitors, vanquished rebels, subjugat-
ed provinces. We may prevaricate,
dodge, wriggle as we will, to this
common sense complexion must it
come at last, and when Congress
plants itself squarely upon this posi-
tion it's course out will be as plain as
a turnpike.
On the other hand, twenty-fve e
States hooked their shields together,
and around the altars of a common
destiny, swore by the love they bore
to the fathers, those affairs should be
defended even to the hearts blood,
and they did it. While the war was
progressing, who constituted the Uni
ted States-who was the embodiment
Of all constitutional authority in the
land? Plainly those twenty-five Sta
tes who clung to the stars and stripes.
Their plenipotentiaries were received
abroad as the legitimate exponents
of national authority at home We
considered them the repositories of
plenary power. 1t was theirs to
make laws, organize armies, contract
debts, and by every agency within
their grasp, to conquer a common
foe. Answer me, sir, ore question {:
If these twenty-five States were the
embodiment of all constitutional au-
thority, when struggling against an
armed enemy, have they diminished
their authority by conquering that
enemy? If armed traitors had no
rightful connection with the Govern
ment while armed, does the circum-
stances of their mourned defeat re-
place them in authority? No, sir, no
more than the capture of any crimi-
Ial reinstates him as he was before
his misdeed.
If it be said the rebels have been
pardoned by the President and all
disabilities are thereby removed, my
reply is, such wholesale forgiveness
is a prostitution of the pardoning
power, and, therefore, the pardon is
a nullity-while he who thus de-
grades his authority gives too pain
full proof of smuggled treason in his
own heart. The deductions from all
this are very plain. The sovereign
people of the loyal States who fought
the battles of the country and achiev-
ed the victory are now masters of the
situation. Having saved the Gov
ernment from rebel clutches, theirs is
the right and duty to provide for the
future peace and liberty of the whole
land. They, and they only, should
determine when and upon what terms
the rebel States should come into
legislative power and fellowship
They have the rightful authority to
amend the Constitution, or enfran-
chise the freedmen, and the traitor
has no more right to participate in
the decision of these matters than
the horse thief has to sit upon the
jury when his own case is being tried.
In the broadest, strongest terms pos
sible, the whole truth is condensed
into single sentence, the loyal peo-
pie are the ultimate and supreme au-
thority theirs is the right and duty
to provide fully for the country's safe
ty ; whoever end whatever throws
itself athwart their pathway is to be
set aside as reasonable in principle
and usurping in practice.
Crime must be punished. This prin-
ciple is old as creation-has been re-
cognized by both civilized and bar
barous communities, and underlies
the very existence of society itself.
Your penal codes, criminal courts and
gloomy prisons are outstanding de-
monstrations both of its justice and
necessity. The forms of punishment
must be determined by the dictates
of wisdom and the demerits of the
guilty. But abolish that fundamen-
tai idea, throw down all retributive
barriers to evil, give full license to
human passion, and such is the per-
versity of many, that no interest
would be safe, no right respected,
and without the restoration of retri-
butive justice, community, disrupted
and ravaged, would dissolve amid
riot and carnage.
Armed treason with its concomit
ants is the greatest of crimes-the
agglomeration of war, rapine and
blood. Verify, sir, disrupting civil
ties, shifting down hundreds of thou
sands If the best men of the age,
piling up debt that must descend
to distant posterity, convulsing the
land with groans and agonies, all to
perpetuate human servitude and graf
ify diabolical ambition fired from
hell itself, is the superlative of guilt,
the maximum of criminalities, deserv-
ing corresponding retribution. Yet
to this hour never hair of treason
has been harmed. Lands confscated
have been restored. Privileges for.
feited have been restored. Leading