The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-10-31

the bare annunciation of which by
John G.. Calhoun, President Jackson
bad threatened to hang him. The
author of this plank was Wade Hamp.
ton-a beautiful mar to talk of the
Constitution. A man whose life was
forfeited to his country, but who had
been magnanimously pardoned be-
cause the country did not want his
| blood.
He described President Johnson's
attempt at OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
how he had restored the government
of the rebel States to the very men
! who had inaugurated the rebellion
under whom the Union men of the
South had been prosecuted, ostracised
and oppressed; who had enacted laws
of the most oppressive character, such
as the laborIng men OF no country
would submit to.
The President had no power to re-
construct the rebel States; he was
simply the Executive of the ration,
who, according to his peculiar oath,
had to be careful to see that the law
were faithfully executed. He had
no more power to make laws than a
child. The only power he had was
to see that the laws were faithfully
execu ed, or to veto them, when a
two-thirds majority could pass them
| over his head.
The reconstruction measures of
johnson had revived the spirit of the
rebellion, and the State Legislatures
had passed laws practically Te-essab-
Ii hing slavery.
Congress took the matter out ofthe
hands of the President, and legislated
to restore the power to the hands Of
loyal Union men.
He discussed the 18th Amendment,
which fixed the basis of representa-
ton according to the voting poDula-
ton of the several States. Declared
the debt of the nation sacred, and
pledged the faith of the Government
10 pay it. 1t had cost much to save
the nation. It would have. cost more
to have lost it. 1t secured TO soldiers
widows and children their bounties
and pensions, and forever repudiated
the rebel debt.
Encouraged by the Democrats of the
North who dec AIRED they were about
to come into power. and would give
better terms, the South rejected this
just and -magnanimous proposition.
We took the matter out of the hands
of the President, and did reconstruct
the States, and that reconstruction
will stand as minute Die as the eternal
hills. We could have restored the
rebels to power. but thank God we
did not do it. He inspired US not to
do it.
We did not rule out all but really
loyal men, or the Southern States
would be blacker than they arc now.
He confessed that the negroes were
ignorant, but this was the crime Of
the nation, not the fault of the negro.
IF white men had been for centu
ries enslaved, forbidden to learn to
read, and oppressed as were the
blacks, our status of intelligence
would not be the same as it is now.
Ignorant as the blacks were, not
one of them raised his hand against
the flag of his country. He appealed
to the Democratic soldiers, if any were
! present, if they did not always place
| implicit confidence in the negro,
while they carefully avoided the
whites of the South. In this con-
n%ection he portrayed in most thrill
ling colOrs the terrible prison
pens of the South. d~elineating their
CHASTITY horrors in such coiors as eX-
cited the sympathy of the entire audi.
enee, and brought tears to the eyes OF
the stoutest heart. No negro had
ever betrayed a Union man in the
South, and he would rather entrust
them to-day than an unrepentant
rebel.
We put it that any man who had
only been a traitor should vote, but
required that perjured rebels should
not vote. The reconstruction was
necessary, and he stood by it. and will
stand by it, sink. or swim, survive or
perish. Il voted for every man to
be relieved from the penalty Of his
treason who protested repentance"
He did not ask for revenge, or con-
fscation, or justice to be dealt out to
traitors. He knew it could not be
done, even to JEFF. Davis. The re-7
bellion is only to be remembered in
broken and bereaved hearts, in empty
chairs and broken households. We
cannot have indemnity for the past,
but we can and will have security for
the future. He could forgive all who
repented. God himself never forgave
the unrepentant. One thing / cannot
do. / cannot put back the dagger
into the hands Of the traitor to again
attempt the life of the nation.
\ He referred to the present condi-
ton of the South, and the outrages
committed against Union men there,
whether native born or emigrants,
and declared the policy of the Repub-
lican party to be that all American
citizens should enjoy equalrights in all
the States. He spoke of the whole
sale murder aud assassination of
Union officers, members Of Congress,
and other Union men, in the South
of the 1856 Union men murdered in
Texas during five months, and the 200
or upwards murdered in Louisiana.
The Republican party was the only
party that rebuked these crimes; the
other party rather palliated them. IF
there is a spot where loyalty should
exist, it is In the South, where the
ashes of the brave dead repose.
He read an extract from the speech
of Toombes, showing how these as
sassinations and murders were In
spired by the political leaders Of the
South.
Talk Of our flag protecting our cit
liens. We we're about 20 20 to war
in the very heart of Europe to protect
a quasi American citizen, and at the
same time suffered our own citizens
to be hung and assassinated at the
South.
He gave a definition of s~callawag
and carpet-bagger, as interpreted at
the South The SC llawag was the
original Union man, who. despite all
his surroundings, stood true to
his country's fag-one in a thousand
the man most 10 be admired. The
! CARPET. baegsr was the Union man of