Year: 1866

ItnHCSStc hHItt LOldIlStS RccOnStfuc'


ton.


There was "A large meeting of the unconditiona
Union men Of Maryland at Hagerstown, Nd, OF
the l4th. The most noticeable speech was made by
the Hon. Horace Maynard of Tennessee, whose re-
marks we find reported in the Baltimore American.
as folows.-ED. REP.


M Presideat and feJyolg-citi-eiss Of the State o.


MarUIa1d:


Our friends are fortunate who have not been COM
PEELED TO know much of the rebellion as we know.
We heard its muttering and grumbing for years
before it came. We saw and understood the false
hoods and delusions that passed upon the peo-
pie of the country for months before it broke out
We felt the tyranny and oppression that marked the
earlier days of its power We have seen that mighty
structure they raised, like a monstrous wicked ness
il was struck down, disappear and perish in the
field Is it destroyed? Is the spirit that animated
it. that inspired it, that directed its purposes-s that
spirit extinguished and gone? Or does it still exist
smolderng unspent, it may be- but does it still ex-
ist in the hearts Of its votaries and friends ap-
peal to you TO ask yourselves seriously that question
for upon its answer very much depends; not merely
the safety Of the land, but the course you and /
ought to adopt to make that safety sure am sorry
10 say. | regret 10 believe as do believe that the
spirit of rebellion still exists in the hearts and pur-
poses of the hearts that fomented and enacted it.
believe if we give them another opportunity let



fair prospect of success they would rally to it by
thousands, if not hundreds of thousands Ny coun-
trymen, the nation is not safe; you and are not
safe until treason is etectualy crushed out in the
hearts of its advocates and votaries it was on the
field of arms What, then, is to be done? Will the
disa vowed and vanQuished rebels-those men whom
we are sometimes told have laid down their arms
yes, laid down their arms the murderer throws
aside his dagger when arrested by your sheriff and
confined in your prison-cease tostrive? Lay down
their armsl Their arms were torn from their grasp
They were compelled at the last extremity to give
them up. What, then, is to be done with these
men Have we not treated them Justly, mercifully,
kindly? This great country Of which you and l
have been proud in these past years, not af-
ford to treat rebels otherwise. We are COM
PEELED hv our high character as a people; by the
lofty magnitude of our past history we are compel
led TO do go, there no other consideration, TO
treat them Justly, mercifully and kindly Not from
anv such contemplate sentimentalty as we some
times listen to- that there has blood enough been
shed Certainly there has been blood enough shed.
Ave and there blood enough shed in the city of
Philadelphia the other day, when the whole family
of poor Deerng. he and his wife, and children, were
hurried to their deaths by the of the assassin
But is that the reason why the assassin should not
be punished? Do you say there is blood enough
shed and stop there Not in vengeance, but Justice
4 violated law 70 be vndcated demands that the
assassin himself shall be added to the bloody sacri-
fee that be has made. [ would do nothing for ven
geance; nothing in the spirit of revenge; nothing
that was not required to vindcate the majesty and
dignity of the law. What | would do is that which
your President has enunCiated upon more occasions
than one. even so late as on the 22d of February
last. when he announced to g listening crowd, upon
whose ears the remarks must have grated a little
unpleasantly, that leading, intelligent conscious
traitors must be punished that the fact must be iu-
diciously declared that treason crime. Let them
punish it. Let the highest judicial tribunal in our
land declare by unanimous vii! that treason is a
crime and let If be demonstrated that the American
is powerful enough to determine it and
punish it, 10 the utmost extremity lap
plausp7 When that is done and eclared and made
known, then l am willing TO unite with my friend
who has Just retired in saying to the race of them,
rs the nd-hearted Uncle Toby said to the trouble
some hv, get you gone, poor devil, the world is
wide enough for us all laughter But another
question comes up that concerns you and l q good
Zeal more than that Gen. Garfield has told Won |
hat they to be permitted to 60 with their lives
and their property. Well, have no desire to see
he land deluged with the blood of traitors |
nave already said what l wish to see, and what |
pope to live and see. But what shall be done with
hese men under the peculiar Constitution and char
cter of our Government? To give them their rights
md allow them to 60 on, and buy and sell and trans
nit their property TO their children and have the
,eneft of the same laws that have, is one thing
To give them the power to make the laws and TO
ule over Us, is another and very different thing
3 nj as i unQersItlQ the universal sentiment | |
lot aware that there Is a diversity worth speaking
,f The universal sentiment of the the Union men
IF the land Is, that these whipped rebels the men
who have been in rebellion against the Govern
nent shall not be allowed to do it. They shall not
% allowed to rule the land, nor elect the men who
10 rule If. TApplsuse. There have been various
objects suggested, various means devised how to
AIRY this resolve into practical form of express
ion. one plan that agitated and much spoken
If by various persons was to give the right of suf-
rage to the black man by reason Of his LOYALTY, bv
.eason of his opposition TO the rebellion believing
hat he would counterpose and Overbalance the vote
4 the rcbelliOus. That on examination and discus
ion has been abandoned as unfeasible and impract-
able We have an experience in the past that seems |
we are wise, well adapted to get us through the
,resent This is not the first time in the history of
,r Government that we have had TO deal with frai
ors, with men that hostile TO the country and
o the Government We live under The old revolu
ionary fathers, the close of that memorable struo
lie that resulted in securing our liberties in making
IS a nation, found their hands large number Of
,eople denominsted tories, as large a proportion
elative 10 the whole population snd l think some
hing larger than the present rebel population, to
ha whole people Of the I nited States They had |
be same question 10 dispose of precisely that we
ave II came upon them substantially in the same
hape that it did with Us. Now let us see how thev
laHaged il, and what the result was. Let Us take
" way Of example the State of North Carolina,



tories IL proportion TO the population than any
the thirteen original States At the close of the
Revolutionary War in I763 the Legislature of North
Jarolins passed what they called act Of pardon,
y which they pardoned all treasons and misprisons
j treason that hsd been committed after the 4th of
uiy I'.o, excepting out Of the general pardon the
names OF certain prominent and distinguished men
'he hAa fought as tories against the Government
tAink they went on further, and provided that
-ese men sIoGa neither elect nor be elected, nor
hould they hold any office of profit or trust what
yer. In other words, while they were hardened
heir crimes their property conceded To them their
ives spared, they not allowed to nsrticinatn ss
Oters at the polls to be elected to or hold Of
ce Similar legislation obtained in Virginia loo
Station in the same spirit in Maryland and If NV
memory is not at fault in most of the others of tb
riginal thirteen States. Who were these toro. in
hat day? have told you how numerous thew
-ere. They were the wealthy; they were the mon
rchical the aristocracy of that day, Just as the
sbes claim TO be the sristocracy of our own dav.
hat became of these men After the close of the
evolutionary War they disappeared from history
ley went under the surface, out of view, and you
ear Of them no more. Where were their children
me would have supposed they mnst have died child
sss. They had no intimate intercourse with the
American people. have never seen a man nor