Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-04-11
q MILLERsBURe, COUNTY, O., THURSDAY 1872

: Thank God. the war was prosecuted;
f the nation was not permitted to perish
e by fratricidal hand. 1t still lives, and
= it is to be hoped, will live until its grand
example of the capacity of man for self
e government shall be accepted by all na-
: tionalities.
: The war was prosecuted, under the
a brilliant lead of Sherman in the South,
and of Grant i'll the wilderness of Vir-
5 ginia. The war was prosecuted, until
the people triumphed, and the broken
battalions of treason surrendered to the
a victorious legions of the Republic on
the field of Appomattox. The war was
prosecuted, until the armies of the
: Union were everywhere victorious, un-
| til the sickle dropped from the hand of
: the pale reaper on the field of mortal
, combat, and the darkness was lifted
from the land, and the heavens again
, filled with the serene light of peace.
This was the victory, not of the Uni
ted States alone, but the victory as well
of humanity, the world over, the tri-
) umph and vindication of law, justice
and liberty.
1t was victory that delivered, saved
and regenerated a nation, that freed
one portion of its people from the crime
and another from the bondage of chat
tel slavery.
The people are asked to forget the
past, to let by-gones be by-gones. They
may forget the crime of the rebellion;
they may forgive, and L trust will for
give its atrocities, but they cannot for
get, and ought not to forget, the great
deliverance of the United States of
America, and the political organization
by which it was accomplished.
The war being ended, the party of the
Union entered upon the third struggle
for the national life, and the national
life, and the national supremacy. When
the conflict of arms closed, there were
eleven States extending from the Poto-
mac to the Rio Grande, covering an
erea half as large as Continental Eu-
rope, without constitutional govern
ment, republican in form, and without
representation in the Congress Of the
United States.
The Union was shattered not destroy
ed. 1t was the first duty of the people
to restore the broken fabric of their
government, and to take new securities
for the future. This great duty was
faithfully performed by the Republican
party, the party of the people. In the
discharge of this duty, the party of the
Union sought only to perfect and place
beyond the reach of accident, the sys-
tenn of government devised by the ma
kers and builders of the original struc-
ture. The people restricted, in the
work of reconstruction, no legitimate
right of the States. They guarded only
against the abuse of powers in the
States. They adhered to the dual sys-
tenn adopted by the fathers of the Re-
public. They took away from the State
or home governments none of their just
original powers. They decided, and de-
dided wisely, that State governments
were auxiliary to the general govern
ment They counted them useless, and
worse than useless, if they were per-
mitted to legalize treason and shatter
the fabric of American empire. The
people therefore amended the Constitu- |
ton of the United States, so rs to pro-
hibit States from enslaving and making |
merchandise of the citizens of the Re
public, from making or enforcing laws
which should abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United
States, and from assuming any debt or
obligations incurred in aid of rebellion,
and from deny ing to any person, wheth-
er citizen or alien, within their juris-
diction, the equal protection of the laws
and especially the equal protection of
the Constitution of the United States,
which guarantees those "rights Of hui
man nature" which are imprescriptablel |
and universal. The Democratic party,
in this third conflict for justice and lib
erty, opposed the efforts Of the Repub-
lican party-the party of the Union
in this essential reform of the National
Constitution. This reform was the
want of the Nation, of the great body
of American freemen, organized as one
people into States for local government
and into nationality for general gov
ernment, especially to establish justice,
to provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty.
The reforms thus proposed by the
Republican party, and resisted by the
Democratic party, prohibited slavery,
secured every citizen in the full enjoy
ment of his rights of person, and de-
clared against any denial of the elective
franchise among citizens of like quail
fications, on account of race, color or
previous condition of servitude. These
reforms were presented as amendments
to the Constitution. They were adopted
by the people, and thereby became part
of the Constitution. They thereby be-
came the law and basis of reconstruc-
tion. The Democratic party, ,forgetful of
the country, and of the peace and hon
or of the country, opposed these amend
ments; these great measures Of recon-
struction. They were measures ofheal-
ing to the nation. They imposed neither
confiscation nor Punishment upon the
yanquished enemies of the Republic.
They placed all the citizens of the Uni
ted States under the equal protection of
the law-those who had kept inviOlate
their fealty and those who had broken
it. They deprived no citizen of the
) elective franchise, or of any privilege
of citizenship, except this, that no citi-
zen who had taken an official oath to
support the Constitution Of the United
States, and had afterwards, in violation
of his oath, engaged in rebellion, should
again hold the trust of office, State or
National, until his disabilities should
first be removedb by Congress, two-thirds
of each House concurring therein. The
world never before saw such magma
nimity. The fact that the people showed
e., T.