Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-10-22
sI55sHf9btE5fFtfNa15i II
The Hon; whitless sEl ~ 3 Z fteps sT'rasf' z

The Hon. Wm. whitifg on Rtcof fstras.
| tion. .
The Hon. VIM. Whiting late Solicitor
of the War Department., delivered an
elaborate address before the Grant Club
of Brooklyn, Mass, on Tuesday, on the
legality and validity OF the reconstruc-
ton acts of Congress a The following
is the summing mp paragrah of the ar
gument: -s7eissls t.'l-lsia
The authority of Congress to establish
our system of lawsi the reconstruction
acts)for governing rebels and restoring
them, on certain conditions, to their
lormer rights, as 1 have shown you, is
supported and demonstrated as q wise
and warra table use of the war power OF
our government. That authority may
also be found in iArtS.IV,, See 4, 4,of-the
lConstitutiori, which provides that The
United States shall guarantee to every
State i'm this Union a;fepublican form Of
government and shall project each of
them against invasion and ON applica-
ton of the Legislatufes or .ofstk Exc
cutige whenithe Legislature cannot be
|goiivt ned }yagainst domestic violence. ~ "
I. 1lhesi iii ha6ita OF the SO o6fh herR part
of the Union, having, by their own aett,
destroyed their former State governments
and having erected ether local and gem
terah governments hostile to ours, having
engaged in civil war, and having been
freeonized by US IS belligerent public
enemies, and having been conquered and
brought under military control, and
there being in existence no governments
established there except such as were
hostile, and had refused allegiance and
submission to the Union and were there
fore Illegal and void, It became necessary
either to hold the enemy as conQuered
people, under military rule, or TO allow
those who Were fit for it to form loyal
local State governments, with q view to
the ultimate restoration OF peace, and
return to their former position in the
Union. To encourage, TO facilitate, and
governments, republican inform, and
such as the guarantees of the CONSTITUTION
required before they could be recognized
as States in the Union; and moreover,
taking into consideration the general
feeling of hostility to the, North which
pervaded the leading and influential class
as well as the masses 'oftfle cofnsneni
people, and the elhorrible passions let loose
upon the friends Of. the Union in the
South, and their determination to de-
stroy the last vestige of loyalty in the
rebel States, and to oppfess the lcolofed 4
living among them, and 20 re-
sist the laws OF, the United States, Con-
gress has enacted series of laws for gov
erning and restoring the people Of The
rebel States, usually called Reeonstruc-s
ton acts, but more properly called
amnesty aud restoration acts. The
main purpose of all these acts may be-
described fairly and precisely in itheli
language of the Lpreamble to our Con- >
viz :: i.to establish justice; to
Insure domestic tranquility, to provide |.
for the common defense, to promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings
5fiiberfyt to ourselves and our posterityipia
the ldisorgsnized condition J,
If the hostile population over which this
is to be enforcedTa population
which must do its own duty in forming >
republican govern ments loyal to the +.
Union and fit to become a part. of it. /.
otherwise the guaranty cahnot De exc.
considering that loyal State
cannot be- formed or sts-
aimed unless their friends are clothed
With political power and their enemies
of it-and considering that,
Turing the process of restoration, law
Ind order must be maintained, and life
md liberty, if possible, must be protect.
dit is clearly within the power con-
erred on Congress by the guarantee
.lauser to pass the restoration acts, and 4
t is tile duty of the President to seethat 4
hey are faithfully enforced s'i: fssrs-,s,
Such, fellow citizens, are, the fOunda-
ions on which the Reconstruction acts
re based. Congress has been aSsaIled
> if u usurping powers which belong TO
he Executive and to the Judiciary
low false are. such accusations. Rebels,
and gentlemen, who have /,
o far forgotten what is due to themselves
nd to their country as TO Abecome theo
5or Office in the rebel party, 5
ave re7eehsed, the charge that these :,
cts are unconstitutional. Why do they
ot meet and answer the position / have
AIKEN? 80 5fI"tfiait h- Gils'l l-ss sasfs5'
have read their speeches. / hayei
card their debates, but no Democratic .
awyer, or Judge, or statesman, known
, me, has succeeded in any assault upon =
he impregnable fortress of constitutions
| law by which these positions are de-o
ended. ~, ii. h.,.is,t s,,,, ,,,,.-.....a ,,l-.r..
ill ofthe loyal citizens of this Union.
ne solemn. guarantys' of an honest and
enefous people that they will be faitho
ii to all their pledges, TO the living and
ne dead; faithful to the loysf Union
len of the South, who have wadea Al
trough blood anbcsrnage toserye their
,untry; faithful to the dark -browed pa
lots by whose daring our sacred flag
as held aloft in the gioomfest ho6rsaof .
le war; faithful 20 the rights Of man >:
nd to those divine, principles of justice
berty, and equal rights without which
4 human government is but legafized
.ime. The sacrifices of unnumbered -
II triotic hearts, tire assufnptfou oethree
lousa nd millions of debt, the bloody /.
ctories of hundreds of BATTLEFIELD ids, ser
Ire their final triumph over treason,
ily by the reconstruction policy of Con-
'ess. The amendments Of the Constr q
tion are the ;crowning. glory. Of thesoi
ar 81 = 4n-stflt .ECE xlsssi'l btslf I
Let Southern traitors go on burning
hool houses, killing Union men in cold
ood, arming their Ku Klux conspira-ssl.
rs until rebellion breaks out anew; yet 5a
ese laws and these amendments will .
and, as if defended by "a triple wall Of
ass, of iron, and of adamant,n and,
ey will be faithfully enforced with the I,
resistible power of that matehless hero,
no, by your votes, will drive the coun-
y's enemy from the White House on =
.e Sd day Of next November. lI9oh.ss- -
neet of the -Eisetisns In Washingten.i1.
A Washington letter writer. Says OF u
e effect of the late eiections:------