Year: 1867

The following is the message of the Presi-
dent of the United States, returning to the
House of Representatives bill entitled ian
act to provide for the more efficient govern
meut of the Rebel States"


To the House of Representatives.:


l have examined the bill ito provide for
the more efficient government Of the rebel
States" with the care and anxiety which its
transcendent importance is calculated to
awaken. / am unable to give my assent
for reasons so grave that hope state
mcnt of them may have some influence on
the minds of the patriotic and enlightened
men with whom the decision must ultimate
ly rest.


The bill places all the people of the ten
States therein named under the absolute
domi It IN f II ilitary rulers, and the pre-
amb'c unl,r axes to give the reason upon
which the measure is based and the ground
upon which it is justified. 1t declares that
there exists in those States no legal govern
ments, and no adequate protection for life
or property, and asserts the necessity for en-
forcing peace and good order within their
limits. Is this true as matter of fact?


1t is denied that the States in question
have each Of them an actual government,
with all the powers-executive, judicial and
legisla,ive-which properly belong to free
State. They are organized like the other
States of the Union, and, like them, they
make, administer and execute the laws
which concern their domestic affairs An
existing de Jdcto government, exercising
such functions as these, is itself law of the
State upon all matters within its jurisdic-
ton 10 pronounce the supreme law-mak-
ing power of an established State illegal is
70 say that law itself is unlawful.


The provision which these governments
have made for the preservation Of order,
the suppression Of crime, and the redress of
private injuries, are in substance and princi-
pie the same as those which prevail in the
Northern States and in other civilized coun-
tries They certainly have not succeededin
preventing the commission Of all crime. nor
has this been accomplished anywhere in the
world. There, as well as elsewhere, offend
ers sometimes escape for want of vigorous
prosecution, and occasionally, perhaps, by
the inefficiency CT courts or the prejudice Of
Jurors. 1t is undoubtedly true that these
evils have been much increased and agra
waited, North and South, blythe, demoraliz-
ing Influences Of civil war, and by the ran
corous passions which the contest has en-
rendered. But that these people are main
tanning local governments for themselves
winch habitually defeat the object Of all
governments, and render their own lives
and property insecure, is in itself utterly
Improbable, and the averm mt of the bill to
that effect is not supported by any evidence
which has come to my knowledge. AL! the
information have on the subject convinces
me that the masses Of the Southern people
and those who control their public acts,
while they entertain diverse opinions on
questions of Federal policy, are completely
united in the effort to reorganize their So
ciety on the basis of peace, and to restore
their mutual prosperity as rapidly and as
completely as their circumstances will per-
nit.


The bill, however, would seem to show
upon its face that the establishment Of peace
and good order is not its real object. The
fifth section declares that the preceding Sec
tions shall cease to operate in any State
where certain events shall have happened.
These events are:


First. The selection of delegates to q
State Convention, at which negroes shall be
allowed to vote.


Second. The formation of State Consti-
tuition by the convention so chosen.


Third. The insertion iato the State Con-
stitution of provision which will secure
the right Of voting at all elections to me-
groes, and to such white men as may not be
disfranchised for rebellion or felony.


Fourth. The submission Of the Constitu.
ton for ratification to negroes and white
men not disfranchised, and its actual ratid.
cation BY their votes.