Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1868-06-12

hasten to that because | do not wish to occupy
time) where is the danger, where is the hazard
of losing this constitutional amendment any more 1
by letting this State in than by keeping her out
will tell my friend where it appears to be; an .
trust my friend will believe me when tell him |
that, if | know myself, | am sincerely anxious /
to restore these people, and the other people OF /
the South, to their primal relations to this Union ,
as he is, or as any other Gentleman on this floor;
but am anxious, at the same time, to do it so 1
that it will be "A restoration and remain restOr
alton NV fear is this-and | confess that ii is .
not to my mind light fear-l hope il vii not /
happen-that when the State Of Arkansas, which /
is. perhaps. fair sample Of all the others, shall
have been admitted to representation, ard shall
have then put on the full robes Of statehood, as
my friend from New York Mr.. Conklug) very /.
happily expressed it the other day, she will have
then become entirely free from the operation OF
our military government, she will be no more the
subject Of military control, Of military suryeH- /
lance or military aid than the State Of Vermont
or the State of Indiana i. Her only rightful aid
in preserving the new institutions which she has
set up against the opposition that We know exists
there from those who have been in rebellion
against the Government viii be the aid and sup
port that she gets from the President Of theiU nj
ted States. We all know that My friend knows
that. BY the Constitution and the exis ing laws
the State Of Arkansas viii have no anchor to tie
to and no rock to lean upon but that Of Andrew
Johnson the President Of tie United States, the
moment she ceases TO be in the condition she now
is and becomes a State Of the Union.
1t is, therefore, worth a little while to inquire
what i the position Of the President Of the Uni
ted States as it respects this State government
that We are about TO set up IN Arkansas. How
does he feel toward it. v hat are his views Of
1off in lao tlarl-
about it. We know that in his opinion the whole
scheme Of restoration rs it exists in the laws Of
Congress. Is totally and grossly unconstitutional;
and we know that it is the opinion Of many SEN
ators ON this floor that he believes that he may
set those laws At defiance with impuuity that
there is no power in the land to punish him for
il that there is no power in the land to hold him
to the execution Of them, SO long as acting in
GOOD faith. he believes he is doing his duty by
undertaking to overturn them
Now, therefore, Whel the government Of Ar
kansas under this bill is set up, and the bill Is
passed over the veto Of the President Of the Uni
ted States-if he should still be Of the opinion
that he has been, that all this is unconstitutional
and should act upon that opinion-what Will be
the condition Of affairs He will be bound to
believe that this government thus set up is an
usurped government, and that the true govern
ment Of Arkansas is the one he instituted IN 1860,
and that the true voters Of Arkansas are the
white men and rebels, and nobody else. II he
has that belief rs an officer Of the Government,
what will he believe it to be his duty to 10 His
| friends must answer for him, | cannot | only
mean to say that have great fear in trusting to
the President Of the United States, and | am not
now impeaching his motives in the least degree;
am only alluiing to his opinions as they are re-
/ presented to US 10y himself have great fear in
trusting to the President Of the United States to
| uphold this new government Of Arkansas against
the rebels that are in il and around it and Of 1t.
Now then, to follow my friends question a
| little further. suppose it should happen that
there should be a domestic tumult in Arkans sas,
or there should be such pressure against the
organization Of this new government, when 1t Is
first organized, as TO make it impossible for 1t to
20 on without military aid. and the new Cover
nor should call upon the President for that aid,
what would the President say If he Is true to
his history and true to his opinions, as he has
represented them to Us, he will say 80 Go away /;
| know You not YOU are asurper yourself ;
YOU do not represent any State Of Arkansas ; it
is another man who Is the Governor Of that
/ State, and not YOU suppose be fails to say
that suppose be only yie'.s 90 that Governor a
slow, dilatoTy, reluctant support, such a. he has
| vieldel-if he has yielded any-to the recon
the new State government Of Arkansas hnd It,
self then. DO You suppose. | fear, Mr.. President,
that it will find itself upside down. If it does
! find itself upside down, and new Legislature
comes in elected by what they call " the white
mans party Of Arkansas, which Is another
name for " the rebel party, before this article
becomes part of the Constitution, and then
/ they retract. rs Ohio and New Jersey have done,
where are yvu then You have her Represeu-
tatiyes here. very good men dare say but
like Ohio and New Jersey, whose Representa-
tiyeS You have, very good men, here She has tax
/ gn the back ktrack.
know it is said by good lawyers that State
having once asscute1, cannot retrdce her steps.
doubt that, Mr.. President. That is one Of the
delatable questions which remain to be decided,
and if there Is any value in prophecy, assume
to prophesv that the Supreme Court Of the Uni
ted States. as it is now organized, viii, as GER
/ tainlv as the dav comes, decide that they have
right 10 take back their assent At any time before
the assent of three tourths Of the States finally
closes the thing into the Constitution. My fear,
therefore. Is that the haste We are making in re-
construction in the way that we are now pro
posing 70 m4Eeit, will De haste that viii prove
to be a haste backward and that is the sind Of
haste DO not wish to make.
Not to De misunicrst,cl. Mr.. President, re-
peat that the developments Of . few days may
/ satisfy me that this risk is worth taking but
am not satisfied of it yet wish Senators 10
think of it seriously, 10 prognosticate as far as
they can the future, and before they set mp a
/ State government in any Of these States, let them
feel assured as far as they well and can safely be,
that that government has either in itself thepow-
err Of self protection, As perhaps some Of these
States have. or else that they will receive it from
the source from which they are entitled to receive
it. the United States. do not know that either
Of these propositions is true now.
Therefore. Mr. President, what desire to do
do not know that it Will meet the approving
opinion Of a single other Senator'S To put the
government of Arkansas as now elected imme-
diately into the hands Of the persons who were
elected to administer it, but to put 1t into their
hands under the same military protection and aid
tbat ovists there now, So that the hand Of Con-
gress and the law will uphold that government
as it has upheld order there hitherto, 20 be adj
ministered by those loyal men who are elected,
and not hv the rebels who are appointed by the
President. until they shall have had time to get
themselves into practical working order; until,
as the shin builders say, they shall have made
trial trim and in the meantime this constitution
al amendment being adopted 10y the legislatures
Of the other States, to wh0n would make the
same provision will have become 4 part OF the
/ Constitution Of the United States, and then We
can admit their Senators and Representatives to
these Halls without any fear Of the consequences;
because then il a State government is overthroWh
there will be the harl-pan Of the Constitution Of
the L s. under their feet, and You viii toucn
bottom somewhere. These being my fears and
having taken more time than | ought to have
done. / make this motion, which expresses my
oninion that the bill be recommitted to the -om-
mittee on the Judiciary with instructions to re
port the same so amended as to provide Tor the
immediate Inauguration Of the officers elected un-
der the new constitution IL Arkansas, and Tor the
immediate termination Of the functions Of all per-
sons now and heretofore exercising civil duties in
said State. and so as to provide for the continu-
ance of the present military government IN aid
Of said officers until said State shall be admitted
to representation in Congress. and to provide for
the admission Of said State when the article pro
posed AS article fourteen shall become part Of
the Constitution Of the United States
OglrrARY.-The death Of Daniel B. Buck
lev. ESQ, of Burlington, aged 40 years, Is
announced. Mr. Buckley was graduate
of the University of Vermont, and subse-
ouently was admitted to pract ce at the Chit
tenden County Bar, of which privilege, how
ever. we believe be never ayailed himself, as
49, - q, ,,.r.,irtad (nuintv CLERK 10 succeed in