Year: 1866

piracies and felonies on the high seas"


And yet thus to overwhelm the powers ef
the State was this law, avOwedIy to pro-


tect the negro in civil rights, chiefly got


ten up and urged.


On the 18th Of January last an order


was issued from the War Department to


the military in the Southern States, TO
protect from persecution or salt in any
State court, all officers or soldiers, or any


other person subject to military author
lity, for acts done pursuant to orders,


and to protect all loyal citizens for acts


done against rebel forces, and all persons.


their agents or employees, charged, with


the occupancy of abandoned lands, and


the possession and custody Of any kind
of property, who used, possessed, or


controlled the same, pursuant to the or


der of the President or of any civil or


military department, and also to protect


eolored persons from persecution in any


State for offenses for which white per-


sons are not punished in the same
manner and degree That is to say,


the citizen shall have no redress if any


military officer or the President, or the


head of any department shall have strip
L ped him of his property, driven him from


his home, upon some false or trivial


charge, or to crafty some personal ha--


tired or i'll will. The order is more law


less than the act could be. The judge
who would obey it, unless compelled by


mere brute, force. would deserve to be de-


prived of his Office, and to be made a


by-Word and scorn among all men. pass


over the infamy of embodying such pro-


visions in a military order. In law


they would be intolera5le They are
the ftmeans of subverting not only this


but any system of free government


And not content with striking thus d.
rectly at the States,s these Radicals are


attacking the well settled system of the


Executive authority. They find how, in


time Of peace, that the patronage of the


President is enormous-that it may be


used to thwart their schemes-that it is


dangerous to liberty We heard nothing


OF this when the officers of a million


Of soldiers were to be appointed by Mr.,
Lincoln, and the Conscription law and


the Internal Revenue bill clothed him


with the power of filing the land with


Presidential partizans. They now seek


to break down ana degrade the Presiden-


tial Office, and to reduce it to a mere de-
pendent upon the will and whim Of this


Congress, which has in its fanaticism and
folly degraded itself to a, mere Central


Directory. And these are the proofs


which ! adduce of desire and deter


mination to overthrow our system OF
Government. u


l know, OF course, these gentlemen will


deny my conclusions. understand their


theories and the arguments by which


they support them. | understand their


thimblerig logic by which the States are
in the Union in order that they may be
governed. and out of it that, they may


have no rights-under the Constitution


when duties are to be exaeted, and not


under it when protection is to be accorded


within the law when taxes are to be


paid, beyond it when representation lis


demanded. The President ofthe United


States confronts these gentlemen He


denies their, theories. He brushes away


their cob-web sophistries He stands


consistently on the ground occupied by


him and them at the beginning of the


war. He denies that the ordinances oi
secession were valid in law. He denie:
that they were made effective by success.


of arms: He maintains that the States
never were, and are notsnow out of, ,tht
Union, and he,is prepared to secure t.
them the enjoyment of all their rights
as they are ready to perform all their du
ties. Gentlemen, let US give him, il


this effort, a cordial and hearty support
! Let it bethe more Jealous and outspoken
i because he is not the President Of ou
choice, because we have no favors TO asl
t mo offices to seek--no patronage to en-
,ljoy, let us verify unsel6shly the CLAIM
j which we made during the heat of tn
sIwar, that we we're devoted to the integ
e rity of the Union and the maintai name,
E of the Federal compact We disagree
D with the President in many things-w
I dissent from many of his doctrines-w
, question the wisdom of many Of his acts
e but we agree with him on this presen
r question of restoration; and it does seer
to me to be our highest duty to co .ope
e rate with all who cooperate with him i
: making it effective. There is no ROOF
: for hesitation or delay. TheConstitutio
: is in peril The Government is in per-
1t liberty is in peril He seeks to reScu
e them from the radicals and destruction
y the blind and bigoted Jacobins of OF
i revolution. M a2sa8 e4


e In these days of danger to our libe


ties when in its frenzy, the central .pow'
i is seizing upon all the guarantees of POI
IF ular rights, where shall we find place
q safety for our Constitution till this darl
it ness be overpast, and the sunlight of rel
IL son again appears. Two centuries ag
y in crisis of deadly peril, the true mt
le of Connectlcut, in the haze Of twiligh
IS snatched their charter from the counc
. table, and placed it in the Charter Ga
E. within whose sturdy trunk and under Il
of protection of whose spreading branche
IS it was hidden from the reach of the t
re rant. That noble tree had for centu.i
le escaped the lightnlngs of the tempest, al
he the violence of the tornado, By tt
". event, it acquired an Immortality of fan
,g Two centuries longer it stood unscathe
be but it exists no more. 1t bowed
or head to the storm during our territ
he civil war; and the hiding place of t
lit charter was exposed to the gaze Of its g