Year: 1866

VHE HEROHT DIX THE GONfrk kS8lVHAAx


COMMITTEE Vt


The report Of the Congressional Com
mittee upon Reconstruction is 50 able and
conclusive that we wish it might be uni
versally read. 1t is the Constitution and
common sense applied to the situation;
and after the passionate and peltif6gging
spirit in which Reconstruction, the most
important of all our present questions, has
been so often discussed its tone is manly
and dignifed. There is nothing exactly
new in the arguments of the Committee,
but the Report is an unanswerable state
ment of the conclusions to which the COM
mon sense of the loyal part of the country
had arrived, and upon which, as we be-
lieye, it now reposes. .-aT .Ffg
Those conclusions are in brief that the
rebellious States were left, at the close Of
the war, without other valid government
than the military authority of the United
States, directed by the President as Com
mander-in-chief; that the civil government
of those States could become valid only
upon recognition by Congress, and that
the resumption by those States of their
relations in the Union can occur only upon
such conditions as Congress may prescribe.
The folly of the assumption of Alexander
H. Stephens and the, late allies of the re-
bellion, that the moment rebel State was
forced by arms to surrender it regaired
untouched and without condition every
right and privilege it had enjoyed as a
part of the Union is conclusively exposed
by the Committee. 'sTo admit, such a
principle for one moment would be to de-
clare that treason is always master and
loyalty blunder. Such principle is void
by its very nature and essence, because
inconsistent with the theory of government
and fatal to its very existence" =


To know the condition of the late rebel
States it was necessary either to take the
opinion of the President solely, or to sift
the evidence upon which that opinion as
founded and enlarge the range Of testino-
ny. This latter course was adopted, and
the impression left upon the Committee is
again that of the great mass of Union men
in the country. The condition of the
States in question is precisely what was to
be expected. 1t is feeling of intense re- 4,
gret that the struggle could not be pro-
longed, and of bitter. hostility toward the
Government. But while this is natural to
any party defeated in 80 fierce contest,
the Committee find that it is peculiarly
strong in the States in question. 'gEhe
conciliatory measures of the Government
do not seem to have been met even half
way. The bitterness and defiance exhib-
tied toward the United States under such
circumstances is. without parallel in the
history of the world yss -. ..;a5


After the most careful consideration up
on ample evidence, the Committee believe
that adequate security should be required
for future peace and safety, and they sug-
gest, as the. result of mutual concession,
the amendment determining civil rights,
equalizing representation, disqualifying
certain persons for office under certain
conditions, and disowning the rebel debt.
This amendment has been already adopted
by the Senate in 2 moderate and generous
form, and approved by the House. As
there is nothing in it which is not strictly
in consonance with the views which the
President has often expressed, we hope
that for the sake Of harmony he will not
oppose it. II, however, a bill should be
offered for his signature, postponing the
admission of any late rebel State to Con-
gress until the-amendment had become
part of the Constitution and had been rat
fled by the State, he would undoubtedly
veto it. 1t seems to us, for many good
reasons, advisable that each suspended
State should be restored upon its individual
acceptance of the condition, and we hope
that such may be the final judgment Of
Congress.


Thus this most important Committee
concludes its labors, and concludes them
worthily. 1t has been fercely derided
and insulted by the most malignant enc
mics of the Union and Government at the
North and South; and even the Presidents
impatience has betrayed him into ,vituper-
alton of it. But we challenge any csyiler
to produce from history an instance of a
settlement by victorious government so
honorable, so reasonable, so free from yen-
geance, so tenacious of the spirit of a truly
free government. There is. no lately re-
bellious citizen of the, United States who,
'facquiesces" honestly in the situation, who
can declare it ungenerous or unjust, while
every faithful citizen will heartily com
mend it as the true popular platform
Harper's Weekly. .rs.s .1-r., e..