The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1868-10-14

Democratic Convention Il (cheeIs[-do-
claling that in his judgment the Re-
construction acls passed by Congress
were unconstitutional, npll and void
that these acts had been so decided by
the Supreme Court Of the United States,
a court organized under the Cunstitu.
tion to pass upon the oonstitutionality
Of all octs of Congress, and that the
President, who was sworn to maintain
and support the Constitution, could not
without violating the oath, permit these
uct in pllpable violation of the Consti-
tuition to be executed. The speaker
then minutely examined the Recon-
struction acts, which he firmly submit
ted were directly antagonistic and made
in open defiance of the Constitution.
He contended that the Reconstruction
act had supplauted civil government in
ten States of the Union, aud substituted
military despotism in its place that
they had abolished the right of trial by
jury the writ Of habeas corpus, which
by the laws of the Constitution, should
never be suspended except in times of
domestic insurrection, though at pres.
ent profound peace prevailed that
through the Reconstruction acts bill
of attainder and &c post tacto law had
been passed against the whole States
and communities, depriving them of
their most sacred rights of citizenship /;
that its reconstruction acts took from
the President all prerogative as com.
mander and general of the Amy, and
placed in his stead the equal power Of
the President in the hands of the Gen.
eral of our armies, the candidate desig.
mated by the Radicals for the Presidency,
who stands with the whole army at his
back, and his bayonets at the throats OF
eight millions Of white people in the
South, pinning them to the earth to
compel them to support him onl submit
to the domination of an alien and semi
barbarous race of blacks. The same
fragment Of Congress guilty of these
uncoustitutiona, acts has invaded the
sacred precincts of the court of justice
and overawed its decisions. Am l Q
rcvolutionist because l advocate the res
toration of rights provided by the Con-
stitution ! And we're those usurpinS
usurping men who had degraded it,wert
they guilty of revolution ? 1 hold my
accuscrers up before the nation as revo
lutionists, as maletactors that haue trod
den under foot the CONSTITUTION whicl
they had sAorn to maiutain, and hav,
/ laid MACK perjury to their souls. Ia
quiring the motives that suggested Ger
tain measures towards the Southern
people, General Blair inferred that i
was for the purpose Of familiarizinS tn
Northern people to acts of tyranny. l
was the military instincts Of the candi
date OF the Radical party, the Genera
of the army, and the other leading off
GERS which taught them that theirs wa
the party of despotism, and which ha,
brought them to its support; because
Government, an arbitrary and des
potic government, resting upon force
to be established in this country, tn
great chiefs of the army, who WELD al
the power upon which the governmen
stands, will necessarily be the men q
the greatest importance in the country
General Grant, against whom [ hav
not one syllable to utter, to whom l al
grateful for the services he HIS rendere
= .ho country, from whase laurels | woul
not pluck fingle leaf il it were in IN
power to do so,has in my judgment, how
= ever, allowed himself to be seduced b
, his ambition. l know and have a Iigh
; to speak of his public acts since he is
public man, asking the favor of ahe pei
! pie of this couhtry--I know, and tn
D country knows, that he does not al
D prove of the Radical programme thl
s he disapproves Of it, and that he ga,
c his coreial support to Mr.. johnson
t the beginning cf his administration, ,an
e testified before the Congressional Can
: nittee upon his oath that the Pres
;, dents measures were indentically tho
!. of Mr.. Lincoln. When the North Ca
u olina proclamation, the first paper
S which Mr. johnson disclosed his polit
il was written by L. NJ. Stanton, und
n tho instauctiods of President Lincoln
G arbinet, and approved by every memb
It of it, and when General Grant himsC
e cordially assented to it, why has
h changed What does he go back
g his own report, which he made to Pie
< dent Johuson after having visited Il
l. Southern States subsequent to the Wa
IT in which he declared that the people
d the South accepted the situation in 81
Sc cerity and good faith, and that he hop
ID soon to see the representatives and t
IN States meet in the Senate of the Unit
Ig States I? Why does he now accept
i'll different police from that to which
le promised to General Lee in his parol
ID 1t is not that General Grant has a
ry affinity with the negro, because on
is knew hsm when he was a pTo.slavt
ID Democrat. 1t is not that he has a
9 hatred for the soldiers or the people
ID the South, because he asked and obta
al ed amnesty for those who were in ar
BY against the Government; but it is
Nv cause his military instincts teach h