Year: 1864

HN Ing uOWn lnclT dTIIlSs IL utlllpS UUeln


political existence which enables them {


come back upon any terms; it holds tha


States in the revolted section of the countr
must be re-established;" that States here
after made may or may not hold names O
boundaries Of the States thus destroyed
although "it is suggested as not improper
that these names and boundaries, etc, shoul,
be maintained.


The war, therefore, is not to be brough
to an end by the submission of these State
to the Constitution and their return to tn,
Union, but it must be prolonged until the
South is subjugated to the acceptance, no
of its duties under the Constitution, but o.
such terms as may be dictated. Until State:
are thus "re-established," 1t Is held that
there are no political organizations which
can bring back the people to their allegi-
ance; that if the nine States spoken of In
the Proclamation of the President should
lay Gown their arms, and should return to
the performance of their duties, they would
not be recognized nor received. This the
ory designs sweeping revolution in the
section of our country now in rebellion, and
the creation of a new political system by
virtue of executive DEGREES.


Is this calculated to stop the waste OF
blood and treasure? If the South is revo-
lutionized, its property devastated, its in
dustry broken up and destroyed, will this
benefit the North?


Those who urge the restoration of the
Union, and the preservation of the Consti-
tuition, contend that in addition to uphold
' ing our armies and our navies, every meas
ure of wise craftsmanship and conciliatory
policy shall be adopted to bring this war to
successful close.


Only the ends for which this war has be-
gun should be sought; because they are the
most easily attained, most beneficial when
gained, and in their support the most va
ried, the most enlarged and the most patri-
otic influences can be eXerted.


On the other hand, it is insisted that the
war shall be prolonged by waging it for
purposes beyond those avOwed at the out
set and by making demands which will ex-
cite desperate resistance. A demand is
made that the people of the South shall
swear to abide by proclamation put forth
with reluctance; and which is objected to
by large share of Northern people, as un-
wise and unjust, as it makes no distinction
between the guilty and the innocent.


They are to take an oath to which no re-
putable citizen of the North of any party
will subscribe, that they will uphold any
future Proclamation relating to slavery
They are to submit themselves to uttered
and unuttered opinions and DEGREES. No
longer regarding the war as directed against
armed rebellion, it is to be waged against
people, property, and local institutions =
1t is held that the whole population within
the limits of certain States are stripped of
all political rights until they are purged by
Presidential clemency.


The disorganization and destruction of
the South are not to save us from the cost
of war. The plan for the future Govern
ment of the seeded States demands the
maintenance of armies and q continued
drain upon the persons and property of our
people. Whenever One-tenth of the voters
of either of these States shall submit them
selves to the conditions imposed, they may
form new Governments with new or old
names and boundaries. This inconsiderable
minority is to be supported in the exercise
of power by the arms and the treasure OF
the North.


There will be no motives on their part to
draw the remaining population into the
support of the Governments thus created-
There will be every inducement of power,
of gain, and of ambition, to perpetuate the
conditions of affairs so favorable to individ-
ual purposes. 1t will also be for the interest
of the National Administration to continue
this system of Government so utterly at
variance with representative policy. Is
not this the same mistaken theory upon
which other nations have tried to govern
their dependencies Has complete subju-
CATION for centuries produced the quiet, the
obedience to law, the order, the security to
life and property, the kindly feelings or the
mutual contributions to prosperity which
belong to real peace?


thrc form n1 would WANNA
sent not the interests of their citizens, but
the wills and interests of the power that
creates and sustains them. The nine States
thus controlled would balance i'm the House
of Representatives in the choice of Presi-
dent, and at all times in the Senate. New
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana,
Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky and Wis
consin, with a united population of 16,533
333, which is more than one-half of that
Of our whole country. The one-tenth who
would accept the proclamation for the price
of power would not only govern the States
made by Government DEGREES, but they
would also govern the North. Fourteen
hundred men in Florida would balance in
the Senate of the United States the power
of New York. Less than seventy thousand
voters in the nine States named in the Pres
ident's proclamation would WELD a power
sufficient to weigh down that of the nine
most populous States in the Union.


We should thus have, with the nominal
States of Eastern and Western Virginia, a
system of rotton boroughs which would
govern the Union and destroy the repre-
sentative nature of our government. This,
in connection with existing inequalities in
State representation, would be dangerous
invasion of the rights of majority of the
American people. 1t would enable an Ad-
ministration to perpetuate its power.
1t is fact full of significance, that every
measure to convert the war against armed
rebellion into one against private property
and personal rights at the South, has been
accompanied by claims to exercise military
power in the loyal States of the North.


The Proclamation of Emancipation at the
South, and the suspension of the writ ol
habeas corpus at the North; the confiscatior
of private property in the seeding States
and the arbitrary arrests, imprisonment anC
banishment of the citizens of the loya
States; the claim to destroy political organ
izations at the South, and the armed inter
ference by government in local elections
have been contemporaneous events.


These acts at first were justified upon tn,
ground that they were necessary to say,
the national existence. We now find tina
new and more extreme claims to arbitrar,


power are put forth when it Is declared tina


the strength of the rebellion is broken ant


that our armies are about to trample OH


every vestige of its incendiary fires. Nor


prerogatives are asserted in the hour of tri