Year: 1866

! chISemeub OF all persons who have been
| involved In the rebellion On the con
| tTary there can be no reconciliation at all
without amnesty in large measure. Even
| the Divine government does not ask sin


ners to repent without promising them
| forgiveness and restoration. The Con
stitutiOn, which is the supreme law of the
| land, does not authorize so sweeping a
disfranchisement The class I speak of
reply to these arguments that the rebels
cast off the Constitution and became IN
solent belligerents, that therefore, they


are now not citizens, but conquered enc
mics The advocates of reconciliation
rejoin that although the Constitution was


IN many of its provisions displaced or
suspended in the loyal States by the war,


yet that it necessarily Fegains its abs0-
lutte authority on the return Of peace. 1t


takes time to settle this dispute. AnOth


er class of partlsans object that the Pres


ident ought not to have recognized the
plan of reconciliation, but on the other


hand that ne ought to have left it exclu-
sively to the legislative department. 1t


belongs, however, to the Executive to
conduct war with means furnished by
Congress, and with the exercise Of all
military powers not denied by the Con-
stitutiou and laws of all nations. The
tender of amnesty and pardon by the
President, and his invitation to the reb-
els to return to their constitutional rela-
tions, like the proclamation against sla-
very, were not forbidden by any law Of
Congress, or by the law Of nations. Con
gress nevertheless retains and reserves all /
necessary powers over the question of re-
Cancellation, IN their reserved and lnde
feasible right to determine the qualIhca


tions of members elected to the respec-
tive Houses. Another class Of these
partisans insist that Congress shall secure
the right of suffrage for the African race
in the States lately involved in the rebel
lion. Six months have been, perhaps not
unproftably spent, In bringing Congress
to accept the fact that the subject OF At
rican suffrage has only begun now to be
debated, with no prospect that the assent
Of a constitutional number Of States to an
amendment Of the Constitution to that
effect could In any way be secured, through
any form of action which Congress could
adopt at the present time A fourth class
Of these. .partisans are so apprehensIve OF
renewed dislOyalty in the Southern States
that they would prefer to disfranchIse all
the people of those States, and hold them
in the condition of subjUgated provinces
and territories for an indefinite future,
rather than to accept reconstruction on
any terms Six months reflection has
not been unwiseIy bestowed by Congress
in reaching the conclusion that, not only
would territorial or provincial govern
ment in one-fourth or one-third of the
States be more ImpractIcable 10 itself ana
more inconsistent with the Constitution
than any other form of government, but
that such provincial or territorial govern
ment is of all others, most thoroughly N
compatatible with the existence OF the
federal Union itself.


It was not until after all these topics
were exhausted, that committee OF Con
gress reached the point at which they
made by implication, the confession
that rather than agree with the RresI-
dent, it would be ezpedient and proper at
present, to shuttle off the question OF re-
Cancellation altogether Such l under
stand to be the effects of what IS called
the third section" in the first article OF
the Reconstruction Committee report
and their supplemental bill. They do
not, however, IN so many words insist
that reconstruction shall be forever denied,
nor even that It shall be indefinitely post
noned Thev have reason for this for


bearance. Indefinite pOstponement IN
Congressional action IS equivalent to alb
solute rejection. Pressed by this difficult


ty they content themselves with recon-
mendiDg that representatives in Congress
and in the electoral college shall only be
admitted upon impracticable conditions,
and In every case that those representa-
tives be excluded until 1870. But on
the other hand this Congress must ad-
| iourn sometime this year and must cease
| to exist in 1868, and then be succeeded
/ by another Congress. It Is seen at once,
| therefore, that the postpOnement of re-
Cancellation by this Congress at It's pres
! eut session until 1870 Is equivalent to a
rejection SO far as their own action Is
| concerned, unless that being enlightened
! by the Autumnal elections, they shall
| conclude to review and reverse their pro-
/ ceedings next winter. To this complex
ion, then, the question Of reconciliation
/ In Congress has come, or If 1t has not al
! ready come to this complexion, it must
come before the present Congress shall
/ expire. Either loyal Representatives
| coming from States that stand IN an at


titude of loyalty to the Union, must now
! be admitted, or we have now no reconclI-
| iation except through an appeal to the
people in future popular elections. Upon
/ such a question, we may patiently and
hopefully await the final decision of Con-
gress. No Congress, 1 think, could be
inconsiderate enough to leave the question


In that fearful shape. A failure Of recon


ciliation for an indefinite period would be
nothing less than a practical abandon


ment of the nation to the rebellion. Ii


would be disunion and revolution. Ii


would be Mexican and French anarchy
Il
fear, abhor and detest disunion, reVOlu.
ton and anarchy. Neither hope, mol
fear, nor anger. nor revenge, nor ambition
nor height, nor depth, nor any other crea'


ture can separate them from this inherent
life-saving love of Union. The expert


ence of the war has convinced the rebels
: of this truth. 1t has convinced the
whole outside world. and it will no
fail in due time TO convince all the peO


pie in the loyal States, and all their lOya
= Representatives In Congress of the SAM
5 great truth. [ can now speak of anothe,
misguided class who love turbulence ant
= willingly SOW the seed of discord. Thes
, represent to the loyal Union people that tn
t President has been still and is unfaithfu
? to his party, and Of course, as they allege
0 unfaithful to the cardinal principles o
= public policy which that party cherishes
= First. Congress proposed a bill to en-
+; large and continue the bureau which wa
t established during the war for the pro
. lection of freedmen or emancipated slaves
= The President withheld his assent froI
+ the bill II was Immediately argued tina
e the President proposed, with unnecessar
3, inhumanity and cruelty, to abandon th
d freedmen to oppression and persecutio
e by their former masters, and thus to ren
il der possible the restoration of slavery
q The result of the discussion, however
n established in the public mind a clea
), conviction that slavery can never, in an
i case, be renewed in this or any Othe
i Christian country. That the freedmen
II bureau, in a state of peace, is not onl
e unconstitutional, but that it is desirabl
a, and necessary only as "A temporary meas
IS ure during the civil war and the trausitio