Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1868-02-29
lallas 1irrala.
Letter IRON lion. John Hancock.
ArsuS, Texas Fob, T. lsOs'

non. Aufs IL hAflHNn
Dallas, Texas,
DEAR JUDGE-liy last mail l re-
coiyed yours IT seth nit, in which
Won ask my views OF our depiorable
Political condition, aud what ] deem
the better course Ia pursue in the
approaehing election for onnven-
lion and delegates thereto, for the
purpose Of forming a Stale Govern
ment eonformable 10 what are usu-
ally denOmnatcd the Reconstrue,
tion Acts OF Congress, The limited
timo allowed me by other pressing
engagements, will prevent me an
sweriny YOU rs fully, ON all these
subjects, as ! could desire but will
briefly give you the opinion to which
have como, after tho best rclec'
tions | have been able TO give them
! regard these acts, without consti'
tutional authority, in open, palpable
disregard, and violation az the Fed
cral constitution. Their authors
claim for them no such authority,
but with an audarily characteristic
of conspiratOrs against tho liberties
of tho people, de,iantly proclaim
them without constitutional author
iiy, and intended 10 DO carried out
by the sword, ia disregard of law
and the most cherished rights of
irccmen. Where does the Congress
find warrant OF authority To pass
any act hut in the constitution, or
TO assemble even, rs legislative
body, except rs author lied by that
instrument wkic3, each member
swcars to support? In no legal sense
can these acts he otherwise regard
cd than revolutionary in character,
and Ms usurpations of power to con-
troll by force, and to dictate Mt tho
point of the hayonct desired form
of State government, and thereby
rob the people Of thoir rights. Tho
great, controlling, fundamental idea
in the government, thus to 10 cs.
tablishcd, is TO dcbasc and degrade
in political sense, Il large number
States below, and the remainder to
level with tho negroes, but ust
liberated, unused even TO provide
for or govern themselves too igno-
rant to distinguish between license
and liberty; knowing nothing of
tho structure Of government, the
duties and responsibilities Oft citi-
zen, not having had sufficient time,
if they shall ever prove they have
sufficient capacity to learn. Yet
are they to be panoplicd with the
sovereign power of franchise, which
is to be denied many of the most
intelligent whites, and to be clothed
with all the dignity, power and i'm
portancc of office, so that their po-
litcal superiority, shall secure for
them at least, social equality with
the whites Of the South. The peo-
pie of the represented States, oxcr-
cising but that right which the &C
MUS of our republican institutions
in tho absence of cons titutional pro-
visions, would guaranty to t h G
people of all the States, have repudi-
ated the introduction among them
of such demoralizing political ele
ment, though the danger, by reason
of the small numbers and more in
telligent negro population wi t h
them, would be inconsiderable in
comparison to what it is with us.
But in the Southern States the cf-
fort is being made by the calling
chains Of military power, by arbi-
trarily DISTINGUISHING large num-
bcrs of the whites, and by threats
of a more terrible vengeance should
the people hesitate to surrender
their government into the hands Of
the negroes, to overawc them, and
by force and fraud compel the es-
adjustment Of State governments
on the basis of negro domination.
is this just to any, but especially is
it lust to the thousands of Southern
men who stood firm and unfaltering
in their devotion to the Federal
Government through the darkest
days of her trials? What inteli-
gent Unionist, when no imperiled
liberty and fife for the government
of his fathers, anticipated that any,
acting in the name Of that govern
ment, would attempt to subject him
to so great humiliation? What
misguided or crring rebel soldier,
when he laid down his arms, did
not feel that the faith of the Federal
Government was pledged by the
act of Congress and the proclama-
tions of President Lincoln in pur-
suance thereof, that the object of
the war was the restoration and
preservation of the Union under
the Constitution.
But when the war was over, and
the Union was not only preserved,
but the whole people engaged in the
rebellion, having delivered up their
arms, were left impotent to make
resistance to any aggression, how
over oppressive or wanton, there
could be no excuse for seeking to
override the constitution to obtain
a different result than that claimed
by Congress and,by the President to
have been the object and aim of the
war, and for which tho ga liant SOL
diers, who triumphantly sustained
their county's cause, fought for and
achieved. The effort 10 an act of
perfdy to them, and an attempted
revolution Of the government itself,
so as to place the power, both State
and Federal, in ten States Of the
Union, hands IF the few whites
who seek to bring humiliation,
shame, poverty and unspeakable
woe on the people of these States,
that they, through the negroes they
expect to control as machines, may
hold Office and power. If it were
frue. as IL pretended. in justification