Year: 1867

To the House of Representatives:


/ have examined the bill to provide for tn
more efficient government of therebel States witt
the care and anxiety which its transcendent impOr
tance is calculated to awaken. am unable II
give it my assent for reasons so grave that l hop
statement of them may have some influence OF
the minds of the patriotic and enlightened mel
with whom the decision must ultimately rest.
| The bill places all the people of the ten State
therein named under the absolute domination o
military rulers; and the preamble undertakes +
give the reason upon which the measure is based
and the ground upon which it is justified. tide
clares that there exists in those States no lega
governments, and no adequate protection for hf
or property, and asserts the necessity Of enforccn
peace and good order within their limits Is thi
true as matter Of fact? ....f


1t is not denied that the States in question hav
each of them an actual Government with all tn
powers, executive, judicial and legislative, whic!
properly belong to free State. They are organi
ged like the other States of the Union, and, hk
them, they make, administer and execute the law
which concern their domestic affairs. An existing
de tacto Government, exercising functions as these
in its jurisdiction. Topronounce the supreme law
making power Of an established State illegal, is t.
say that law itself is unlawful.


| Inc pIOV1SOuS WHICH, IucSS OOfSIuuACuCo haN'
made for the preservation Of order, the suppress
sion of crime, and the redress of private injuries
are, in substance and principle, the same as thos
which prevail in the Northern States and in 9th
er civilized countries They certainly have no
succeeded in preventing the commission Of all crime
nor has this been accomplished anywhere in tn
world. There, as well as elsewhere, offender
sometimes escape for want of vigorous prosecution
and occasionally, perhaps, by the ineficieney Q
courts or the prejudice Of jurors. 1t is undoubted
ly true that these evils have been much increased
and aggravated, North and South, by the demon
alizing influences of civil war, and the rancorou
passions which the contest has engendered; Blu
that these people are maintaining local Govern
ments for themselves, which habituaDy defeat th'
object of all government, and render their own live
and property insecure, is in itself utterly improba
bic, and the avernent of the bill to that effect ii
not supported by any evidence which has come II
my knowledge All the information have on tht
subject convinces me that the masses of the South
ern people, and those who control their public
acts, while they entertain diverse opinions on ques
tions of Federal policy, are completely united ii
the effort to reorganize their society on the basil
of peace, and to restore their mutual prosperity a
rapidly and as completely as their circumstance
will permit.


The bill, however, would seem to show upon it
| face that the establishment OF peace and good or
der is not its real object. The fifth section de
clares that the preceding sections shall cease to op
crate in any State where certain events shall have
happened These events are first, the selection
of delegates to State Convention by an election
at which negroes shall be allowed to vote. Secono
the formation of State Constitution by the Con
ventions so chosen. Third, the insertion into the
State Constitution of provision which will secure
the right of voting at all elections to negroes, anG
to such white men as may not be disfranchised fo
rebellion or felony. Fourth, the submission of tht
Constitution for ratification to negroes and white
men not disranchised, and its actual ratification BY
, their vote. Fifth, the submission Of the Statt
Constitution to Congress for examination and ap
proval, and the actual approval of it by that body
Sixth, the adoption of certain amendment to tht
Federal Constitution by vote of the Legislator,
elected under the new Constitution: Seventh, th'
adoption of such amendment by a sufficient mum
Der of other States to make it part Of the Const
tuition of the United States All these condition
must be fulfilled before the people of any of thes
States can be relieved from the bondage Of militar
domination but when they are fulfilled, then i'm
mediately the pains and penalties of the bill are t.
cease no matter whether there be peace and orde
or moi, and without any reference to the securit
of life or property. The excuse given for the bI
in the preamble is admitted by the bill itself not t
be real. The military rule which it establishes
plainly to be sed-not for any purpose Of order