Year: 1866

and money should be furnished to put
down the rebellion. And the answer of
Mr.. Stephens before the Committee of
Reconstruction, is that the South are not
bound hy any thing done in their alb
sence: and the bounties of our soldiers
are not binding upon them-pensions of
our widows and orphans are not binding
lupon them, because they were unfortu
nately absent when they were voted
Applause In the spring of 1865 they
were ready to accept any terms, but they
went on claiming right after right until
I at last the question came between the
President and Congress. The President
claimed the right to say when they were
in a fit condition to become a portion of
the Union, and Congress claimed tina t it
was the right of the law-making power,
including the House of Representatives
and the President, to say when these men
were fit to come back, and this is the
struggle.


Congress says to the President, you
have the veto power, but it is the duty of
/ the House of Representatives and the
President to say when these men are in
! fit condition to came back, and that is
the issue. l would be more rejoiced
than at any thing else of political ma
ture. if l could believe that these men
were ready to come back and take. part
in the Government. There are men in
the South that ought to be received back
men who have been true at the risk of
property and life-and there are no men
/ in this country to whom l would rather
extend the arms of friendship than the
true loyal men of the South. Who shall
saw when these men are fit TO come back?
The President says they are fit now; that
he has theright to say; that neither he
nor anybody else has the power to keep
| them back that they shall come back,
not as citizens protected under these laws,
not as men who have done any wrong,
but men who claim the right to make
/ laws against you and me; and how just,
how kind, how affectionate these laws
will be let Belle Isle, Libby and Ander-
Psonville answer. - r-ry---


Tho issue is now made. When we talk
with anybody who claims to support the
policy of President johnson he immedi-
ately tells US about the Constitution and
| the wisdom of our fathers, and that he is
content to do as our fathers did. So am
II. What did our fathers do? won't
cite Massachusetts,, for she has always
thought to be rabid, but will take the
State of North Carolina, and at the end
of the revolution what law did she passH
She gave the tory amnesty for all his
past demeanors, protection for his life,
liberty and property, but never-forever
should he have any part in the govern
ment of the State. / go back to the wis
dom of the fathers, and every State in the
Union at that day passed the same or
similar orders, except South Carolina,
and she let the tory pack take part IN
her government, and the consequence Is
that she has never had republican gov
ernment to this day. 1t seems that here
i tofore, under the Constitution of the
States, the President has never before
undertaken to say State was or was not
fit to come back, but by the law of Con-
gress. States carved out of Western ter
ritory come in by laws of Congress, and
in the purchase of Louisiana nobody
doubted that it was the right of Congress
to recognize the right of taking States in
the Union by purchase or otherwise.


We see that the issue now turns upon
another question: Are those men fit to
come back? What is. the evidence on that
point? Whether the right of Congress
or of the President, let us pass ito the
second Ilnint-are they ready to come
back? On that point we have lately had
some instruction. There assembled at
Philadelphia on the 14th of this month,
these men in convention, as delegates
went on their own hook-a convention OF
men assembled and undertook to tell US,
by proclamation, what our political rights
and duties were, and how we are to set
tie this war-wh;ch they did not favor
did not fight. speak with great earn
estness and interest on this point. Let
me put case to you. At the time when
you had bad news from the army IN Vlr-
ginia, were not certain of your fellow-clt-
liens seen in the streets with smiling and
Joyous countenances and saylng-'dld
not tell YOU soF Il knew it would be so;'
Il told you this war was a failure'-and
when news came of glorious victory, like
Farragut at New Orleans or Mobile,
would you not see the same men saying,
L don't believe that telegram; we shall
hear the true account in few days. =
T'True-that's so,' &c. That is the class
of men sent as delegates to Philadelphia
When they undertake to instruct you on
your duties, you should ask them, did
you fight on your side-did you favor 1t!
No, they ssy--but we want to settle 1t
now. Much obliged-but we want to
settle it ourselves-we fought it in the
field, and we will settle it here.


The delegates of South Carolina and
Massachusetts, walk arm in arm into that
Convention, and, therefore, the whole
matter is fraternized, the whole country
is fraternized; then extremes have met.
am reported to have said-and am
willing enough to adopt it-that L said'
that was what puppy said when ne
chased his tail, but they were different
ends of the dog striking together.
daughter and Applause.l And 1t DON'T
seem to me to have made much differ
ence. You remember what IS the en-
blem of South Carolina-the rattlesnake.
And whenthe rsttlesnake and copper
head twine and twine, it don't seem 10
make much difference to the rest OF the
beasts of the field. Therefore, if you Will
allow me to go back moment to the
language of my profession, i demur. TO
these men instructing me in my poltical
duty. And these men come togetner
representing neither section. We know
that the men who went from here do not
represent Massachusetts, There is no
man so blind-no child so foolish-who
can not see that these men are not the
4 representatives OF MaSsacnuseLtS' hoA0
our old friend, Mr.. Winthrop, for whom,
personally, have the highest regard =
Every body knows that he has not, for
ten years, controlled any body's vote but
his own. Take that very respectable
lawyer, Judge Curtis, an admirable judge
and a profound scholar; it was only in
1851 that he published an opinion that
certain conditions were an indictable Of
fense, and since then we have not heard
word from him, until this Philadelphia
Convention. 1 will only say this, gentle
men, that when you find anybody from
this State supporting slavery, you will
find that he only carries with him the
clothes on his back.


have said to you that these men do
not represent the North, and in this res
pect that Convention was the most me-
morable that was ever held. Not speech
allowed from Southern men, and not