The Evansville journal., 1868-02-21

I |r.
59Gds al So. = !9~@s az, .'g... "a %
81 4....,..,...................... 90 90
! Paid carriage aud cab nire for my
self and aids during the week of Il
the 70 90
Here you see, from an official docu-
ment recently brought to the notice of
Congress by Gen Butler, that these
rebel officials of New Orleans account
} for siIty-hiae loads of dead and
wounded Union men murdered in
cold blood. $50
! The blood of these slaughtered
ones crying from the ground, must
have inspired Hr. Her tricks when
he asserted that the people of the
South yielded obedience to law. and
respect to the authority of. the United
States. And vet these are the people
for governing whom. gallant Phil.
Sheridan was removed from command
by the President, 10 the great delight
OF the Democratic party, North and
South.
But we are assured not only that
the people Of the South did yield obe-
dience to law and respect to the au-
thOrity of the United States, but that
they entirely acquiesced in the results
Of the war
One of the results of the war, as
is now conceded on all hards, was the
abolition of slavery in the insurgent
States, and the consequent obligation
to protect the freedmen in their ina
lienable rights, among which, there is
good authority for saying, are life.
liberty and the pursuit OF happiness"
Indeed, the founders of the Republic
are reported to have declared that,
to secure these rights governments
are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of
the gOverned.H
When Mr.. johnson assumed to be
the United States, and arrogated to
himself the law-making power of the
Government, he was not unmindfulof
the fact that slavery had been abol-
lshed in the insurrectionary
States by Executive proclama-
ton as a necessary war measure,
and that this abolition had received
the sanction of Congress and the peo-
pie.
In his amnesty proclamation of
May 29, 1865, he required every |
rebel, as a condition of pardon, TO /
take and subscribe the following,
oath, viz: a-
" | do solemnly swear, or affirm, in
the presence Of Almighty God, that I /
will heneeforth faithfully support,
protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States, and the Union
of the States hereunder; aud that / 4
will in like manner abide by and faith
fully support all laws and proclama-
tions which have been made during
the existing rebellion with reference
to the emancipation of slaves. So
help me God" .l
By the Presidents other proclama-
ton of the same date, MAY %, 1862
appointing Provisional Governor for
North Carolina, and providing for the
re- establishment of civil government
in that State, one of the qualifications
prescribed for every voter was that he
should previously y to voting take and
subscribe the amnesty oath which
has just been quoted at length.
The North Carolina proclamation
was the model after which all the
other reconstruction proclamations
issued were fashioned;
the same oath being required In each
as condition precedent to the exer-
else of the elective franchise. The
rebelIious people of North Carolina,
South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi,
Florida and Texas, in reconstructing
under the Presidential plan, took this
oath.
These facts now passed into history.
are reproduced to show that so far as
swearing faithfully to support free
dom as against slavery is concerned,
the people of those States did acdui-
esce in the results of the war.
But to make his declaration good |
MIR. Hendricks must be prepared to
show not only that they thus swore.
but that they also in good faith kept
their oath.
In supplying the evidence on this
point, it will not be expected that
within the limits OF single speech
al the proofs of the entire acduies-
,ence will be adduced as to all the
seeded States. Instead of attempt s
ng this, some scraps from the history {
IF JohnsOnian reconstruction In a {
single State will be submitted as a t
ample of the whole. {
Let Mississippi be the model State I
elected, and let the evidence be a
lrawn from her legislative enactments I
,assed In 1865, before the meeting of $
in December of that year. t
The resucitated rebel Legislature of a
Mississippi met in October, 1865, and T
7as in session during that month, IT,.
lonth of November and few of tue /
rst days of December of the sam
ear.
1t was composed of men who had
Ist sworn faithfully to support the a
hoIitsnr, nf slararu and mill =.