The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-03-24
THE LAW IN THE CASE.

The So-CaIled Southern Confederacy Never
had a Legal Existence, and there can be no
Legal Rights Connected with 1t.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: In your
issue of February 25 in an editorial
headed "On Returning Flags" you say
THE rebel flags were taken from the repre-
sentatives of a Government which we always
| denied was legitimate, and which we crushed
| because it had no right to exist. 1t conse-
| quently left no successors to whom we coulu
return the flags if we wished to. Mt Cleve-
land made the grossest kind of legal blunder
! when he proposed to return them to the states
| to which they belonged The decision OF that
| stern Judge-the Sword-to whom the case was
| appealed in 1861, decided that no States had
been in rebellion; that States could not rebel
as States, and that whatever had been done had
been the unlawful acts of men pretending TO
act for the States. Consequently, the present
State Governments Of the South are not the
successors of the organizations which had been
in rebellion, and legally they could have no
Governments of any of the other States.
There was nobody with whom the United
States could lawfully deal in the matter
This extract is a complete answer to the crit
icisms which were made to my proposition That
the National Government should provide homes
for INDECENT. MANNED. so-called ex-Conied-
crates, whose wounds were received at the
hands of United States troops. / foresaw
the time when on humane prctexts the South
ern States would propose pensoning those men,
and realized the full significance OF such an
act.
/ endeavored to point out, as best i could,
the inconsistent position the Union soldier
would occupy when this time came In answer
to an editorial of the National Republican, of
this city, some years ago, which commended
resolution of Mississippi Democrats in favor of
&la. ,I; Il HI nA
ex-rebel soldier, | wrote the following: ITO
my mind it seems that any reason against the
granting of pensions TO those men by the Fed
eral Government will also apply with equal
force to the granting of pensions by State
Government. The Mississippi of to-day-one of
the United States-received no service at their
hands, and cannot therefore pension them.
The State they served is dead, and had, ac-
cording to the Union theory, no legal existence
at any time. The improperly of taxing Union
men in the State of Mississippi to pension Con-
federates would be as conspicuous as would be
the impropriety of taxing the people OF the
United States for the same purpose. The only
soldiers Mississippi may pension are those who
fought for the old flag"
Clause four of the Fourteenth Amendment
Of til Constitution of the Unite States says:
"But neither the United States nor
any State shall assume or pay any debt or obli-
CATION incurred in aid of instruction or rebel
lion against the United States" etc. Webster
thus defines the word pension: Specifically.
stated allowance to person in consideration
Of past services"
We thus see that pension presumes service
and obligation, and / maintain that the action
Of those States in granting those allowances is
unconstitutional in fact and in law. Nor is
this the only Objectionable feature of this bust
ness. By our acquiescence we concede the
whole rebel case, and write ourselves down as
invaders Of territory and political rights. We
are guilty Of murder and pllage and tho only
small atonement we can now offer is to restore
that which We took and maintained by force,
and publicly recognize the Southern Confed-
eracy with suitable apology.
] read in a short history of the United States
contained in Webster's Dictionary, about
Northern troops" and Southern troops;
the same sort of expression is often TO be found
in THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE even, and only
little while ago. in a resolution passed by a
Camp of Sons of Veterans, the words occur - the
war between the States" We cannot blame
posterity if they regard our history with pecu
liar feelings, or fail to understand it. AS for
me, only recognize United States troops and
insurgent troops, aud on that line / shall fight
il out TO the end. / shall never recognize the
Southern Confederacy" in word or deed.
! feel that events have vindicated the posi-
ton which | assumed in regard to Ma
tional homes for so-called ex Con fcderates.
They should have been provided las an act of
grace" the only ground on which their legality
could have rested, and then the State action We
are witnessing should have been fought tooth
and nail, aud we should have rallied to the as
sistance of our comrades III the South. But
under the circumstances our mouths are closed.
since the humane instincts that honor mank ind
cannot be stifed, and the wrecks of the war
mast be provided for, if not by the United
States then by the State, for private charity is
not equal TO the task.-SID NJ. DAVIS, 300 ID
street n. e., Washington, ID. c.