Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-09-24
Mr.. Pendleton as a Historian
and a Financier.
Review by Ex- Gov. Koerner, Of
Illinois.

There must be some great charm
in the delivery of Mr. Pcndleton's
speeches, for we are told that they
are everywhere received with very
great applause. His voice, his man
ner, must be irresistible, for Ger
tainly the matter of his public ad-
dresses is of the slightest texture,
and betrays such an entire absence
of statesmanlike reflection and seri-
ous thought as to make his reputa-
tion Of being the greatest states
man Of the West wholly inexplica-
bic. l
On the 30th of July last he de.
liver'd a carefully prepared speech
at Lafayette, Indiana, which may
be presumed to be the prototype Of
those he is delivering now in the
East and elsewhere. 1t would be
tedious to disscctit at large, though
almost every sentence of it furnish
cs occasion for severe criticism. l
shall confine myself to a few points
made by him. -..
In reply to the assertion, which
he said was made by the ablest Re
| publican Senator, that at the end
of the war the South was without
governments, and that it was the
duty of Congress to create them,
Mr.. Pendleton has the assurance to
say "They had constitutions they
had forms of government; they
were in full operation. Some of
their officers had fed. Some of
them had been killed. Some of
them were liable to indictment and
punishment. But these only crea-
ted 0ac0ncieS an the Offices. 1t on
ly needed that the vacarcies shonld
be filled, and their governments
were fitted for operation and vigor."
| Applause
Mr.. Pendleton forgets that there
was not one officer found in the
rebel States, who held his office
under the United States, as the
constitution of the United States,
and as all State constitutions require
it. They all and every one Of them
had sworn fealty to foreign gov
ernment, and even if they had not,
their offices under the old consti-
tuition had long since expired by
lapse of time. Ifthere were vacan-
cies by reason Of some of their Off
GERS having fled or been killed, they
were vacancies under the rebel con-
stitutions, and who could have pro-
vided for their filing them? Even
Mr.. Johnson, whom Mr.. Pendleton
in other portions of his {
speech, had to appoint provisional
governors, unknown to the constl-
tuition and laws, to reach q starting {
point from which to reorganize the |
States lately in rebellion. We found t
4 perfect "tObeda rosa," and no hui {
man ingenuity could have pointed a
out a mode of proceeding by which C
hey could have been constructed =
lgain out of the chaos into which t
hey had thrown themselves, ex- d
'ept the same action which we ap- Il
,ly to mould territories into States. q
Mr.. Pendleton at any rate has Il
allied to show by whom the people 4
'ould have been called upon to fill L
'acancies occasioned by absence or s
Ieath, since no authority existed e
which we could recognize to perform tt
hat office. IL
AS Mr.. Pendleton makes this y
TRANCE, not to say absurd doctrine, Il
he very substratum of his charges c'
gainst the Republican reconstruc- C
ion policy, it necessarily follows d
nat these charges fall hopelessly to =
he ground. s~ nj
One great burthen of his speech NJ
!, Of course, reconciliation" and p
e indirectly, at least, charges the sc
with a cruel severity III
nd a spirit of revenge toward our tl'
brethren of the South, III
nd he seeks to enforce his views nj
y yhistorical illustration. Ireland" W.
G says, "will be a hostile province W.
England, owing to the bloody ne
onduct and confscations of the III
tier On the other hand" he TO
ontinues, "Scotland was the pet
lid of King James; its laws were la
1t turns out to-day an
Iat Scotland is the most loyal and no
itnful subject of the British fin
rome" Sc
This is history indeed James u'
as King of Scotland before his II
ood relationship to James VIII gr'
lied him to the throne of England. eA
II 10 o.