The Placer herald. [volume] (Auburn, Placer County, Calif.) 1855-1991, 1868-09-12

DOtn unwlse ana oppressive nau ~ Ueeii
separately submitted, az it should have
been, if at all; and by the votes of the other
States imposed upon the States of the
South. But to demand it of them at their
own hands, was cruel IN us to require, and
would have been dishonor in them to
yield. The amendment was submitted to
them as whole, and, of course, the sections
had to be ratified as a whole. As you are
aware, all the ten States rejected the
amendment. Who will say that in this they
were wrongp What American-North or
South-what man will condemn them, then,
that they would not be parties to their own
dishonor We honor them for it as cur
countrymen and fellow citizens. Loud
applause
cial necessity, to settle questions of govern
meut. The war might, however, hav,
gone against us, in the good provi
dence of the Almighty Lord of Hosts
If it had, cad they had come upon
us, PROSTATE, helpless and bleeding al
every pore, and had demanded such condi-
ton of our restoration to the Union, what
should we have done? Well do We know
what would have been our reply We
should have said to the conqueror though
his sword was at our throats, you ask us
to put the mark of dishonor on the lead
GERS who risked everything for us and our
cause-to take our Sherman and Grant
"and Hancock and Mcclellan prolonged
"applause) and place on their brows the
"brand of the felon. Whatever they may
"faithful to us. We cannot do it. We
care beaten, broken, very helpless be-
"neath your hands but, thank God, we
"are still Americans. NO-forever, no !"
[Great applause.
SO we should have said in California, and
so we know would have said every other
State that stood with us in the contest.
Massachusetts,, which has so much in her
history to be proud of, as to make us the
more regret her conspicuous rigor towards
the people of the South-how she would
have spurned the offer That heart of
steel would have broken ere it bent to the
dishonor.
There is no degradation like self-degrada-
ton. The people of the ten States, had
they so far dishonored themselves rs to
ratify the amendment, would have deserved
all the wrongs since inflicted on them
though they had been--were this possible
ten-told greater.
have spoken at large of the action Of
these States in regard to the 14th amend
ment, because their necessary rejection of it
on account of the disabling section, has
been made by our opponents i'll great meas
ure, the pretext for the reconstruction
measures of Congress. by which the rejec-
ton WAS rapidly followed up in 1867. or
course when a pretext Is needed by par
tisan power, one is easily created or pre-
tended.
RECONSTRUCTION MEASURES.
The theory of these measures was in gen.
eral accordance with the most extreme
views of the advanced Radicals, who,
though long minority in the kepnbli-
can party, had at last become its leaders.
cannot Cypress you with the repulsive
details of this policy of Congress. l will
only state its leading features.
The ten States of the South had previ-
viously been dealt with as States in the
Union, by Congress and the other branches
of the Executive, and the Supreme Court
Under the new policy the central idea of se
cession was adopted, and they were treated
as having gone out of the Union, and as be-
ing conquered territories.
AS such they were divided up into five
military districts, the reference to item us
States in the acts of Congress, being as
lawyers say, mere matter OF description.
Each district was under the command of u
Brigadier General, General Grant being
the general commander, with the powers
virtually ola military dictator.
In those districts there was no trial by jury;
no writ of habeas corpus; aman's house had
no security; there was no liberty OF the
press; every civil Office, executive, legisla-
tive, judicial, was at the will of the military
power. The only courts or trials were by
military boards Every guaranty Of per-
sonal rights given by the State or Federal
Constitution was sweptaway. Martial law,
by act of Congress, reigned supreme.
Under this reign of military force Con-
gress proceeded to build up its new States,
through conventions to frame State Consti-
buttons. 10 make sure work of it, the en-
tire mass of negro freedmen, field hands
and all, were invested with the suf-
frage. Enough of the whites were dis
flanchised to give the control to the negro
vote aided by a small minority Of whites,
adherents of the Radical party, and a most
unfair system of registration. If with all
these advantages the requisite majority was
not obtained for convention, the polls
were kept open or re-opened till it was OBJ
tanned. Or if it could not be obtained as
in Alabama, the State was admitted without
a constitution in violation of the act of Con-
gress requiring majority of the votes to
make an election.
In this fashion, and under such policy,
our opponents claim to have brought into the
Union, seven new, that is, reconstructed
States. Three States, Virginia, Mississippi
and Texas, have not yet been brought in by
this process. No reason for this can be given,
unless it be that one of them, Mississippi,
recently rejected Reconstruction and
Radicalism by decided majority, and the
other two are equally insensible to the
blessings Of the new Radical dispensation
in politics.
1he Democratic and Conservative ele-
ment of the country has always opposed
this Reconstruction system as clear viola
ton of the Constitution Of the United
States, and of the States affected. We have
also condemned it as being fragrant breach
of the pledges of the country in the war,
and of the most primary ideas and princi-
pies of American liberty and in the last
degree oppressive and impolitic.
THE NEW EXPERIMENT OF GovERNMENT--IrS
DANGERS.
To subject the ten Southern States of the
Union to the practical control OF uni
versal negro suffrage, is an experiment
which is not only new, but OF criminal
rashness in American Government. No
man can say with certainty that 1t will sue
coed. Every man not blinded by passion,
party prejudice, or wild philanthropy must
see that the experiment wants the main
elements of success.
The essential idea of American political
institutions is disagreement; and with
this the utmost distribution practicable Of
the mass of powers between the Govern
ments, State and Federal; and again
between the several branches of those
Governments; and among the people them-
selves. This distribution of powers is the
distinguishing feature between free and
despotic Governments more than mere
forms. Our institutions have always been
supposed to rely for their basis on the
highest average intelligence and worth OF
the people. Nothing but this, united with
the greatest political activity, OF thought
and action, diffused through the masses OF
the people in a hundred forms OF move
ment, has enabled us thus far to maintain
successfully the American idea of govern,
ment. No other people could have stood
the test, because no other could have borne
the political burden.
The American people did not come new
and untried to their great plan OF sell gov,
ernment after the Revolution. They had