, . . -,,... 7. - . . ~ . ..• . •• • .f.. .... ‘ - . . ...., : ~ . . i 4 :' i . :.... Ati . S-i -1 . II - , .. 1 • , ...:. .._ . , ,5 : ._..,.„...„,.„.. i ..„....,, ~.,. „......, ...„, „..i.,,.; ~ .....: • . :• ,:,..• „.., . ~.. .... ..,... C .... i ~„ ~.,•,•.•, ~,.. ~.. - 7 . •,. • ” " ' ' 1 '.. f ~. . . •• -.• 7 ;',. i ''' i ' • .1 !T-1 , 1.i....?, .. ... - ,-.• '.l- '.-...:.• , ...: . ii ...':, .-.%': ~,.', .:. .t .: : .. r• .% . '... .!,. 4.1--' liti 45 ; , 'h•'... -a. . . i..," ' • • f .... NN.I ~..: 4,1 ...,- . A. 4'. GERRITSON, Proprietor. President's Message, Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives The continued disorganization of the Union, to which the President has so of ten called the attention of' Congress, is yet a subject of profound and patriotic concern. We may, however, find some relief from that anxiety in the reflection that the painful political situation, • .al though untried by ourselves, is not new in the experience of nations. Political science, perhaps as highly per fected in our own time and country as in any other, has not yet disclosed any means by which civil wars can be abso lutely prevented ; an enlightened nation, however, with a wise and beneficent Con stitution of free government, may dimin ish their frequency and mitigate their severity, by directing all its proceedings in accordance with its fundamental law. When a civil war has been brought to a close, it is manifestly the first interest and duty of the State to repair the inju ries which the war has inflicted, and to secure the benefit of the lessons it teach es, as fully and as speedily as possible.— This duty was, ugon the termination of the Rebellion, promptly accepted, not only by the Executive Department but by the insurrectionary States themselves, and restoration in the first moment of peace, was believed to be as easy and certain as it was indispensable. DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATION The ,expectations, however, then so reasonably and confidently entertained, were disappointed by legislation from which I felt constrained, by my obliga tions to the Constitution, to withhold my assent. It is, therefore, a iohrce of profound regret that in complying with the obligation imposed upon the Presi dent by the Constitution, to give to Con gress from time to time information of the state of the Union, I am enable to communicate any definitive adjustment satisfactory to the Americfin people, of the questions which, since the close the Rebellion, have agitated the public mind. On the contrary, candor compels me to declare that at this time there is no Union as our fathers understood the term, and as they meant it to be under stood by us. The Union which they es tablished can exist only where all the States are represented in both H rinses of Congress, "where one State is as free as another to regulate its concerns according to its own wil,," and where the laws of the central government, strictly confined to matters of national jurisdiction, apply with equal force to all the peop!e of ev ery section. That such is not the present "state of the Union" is a melancholy fact, and we all must adknowledge that the restoration of the States to their proper legal rela tions with the Federal Government, and with one another, according to the terms of the original compact, wou'd be the greatest temporal blessing which God, in his kindest providence, could bestow lip on this nation. 0 lift DITTY. It becomes our imperative duty to con sider whether or not, it is impossible to effect this most desirable consummation. The Union and the Constitution are in separable. As long as one is obeyed by all parties, the other will be preserved ; and if one is destroyed, both must perish together. - The destruction of the Con stitution will be followed by other and still greater calamities. TITS CONSTITIITION. It was ordained Snot only to form a ,more perfect Union between the States, but to 'establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common de fense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our selves and our posterity." NOthing but implicit obedience to its requirements, in all parts of the country, will accomplish these great ends. Without that obedi ence we can look forward only to contin ual outrage's upon individual rights, inces sant breaches of the public peace, nation al weakness, financial dishonor, the total loss of our prosperity, the general cor ruption of morals, and the final extinction of popular freedom. To save our coun try from evils so appalling as , these, we should renew our efforts again and again. To me the process of restoration seams perfectly . plain and simple. It consists merely • in - a faithful application of the Constitution and the lass. The execu tion of the laws is not now obstructed or opposed by physical force; there ,is nil military or other necessity, real or pre tended, which can prevent. - obedience to the Constitution; either North or South. All the rights and all' the obligations of States and individuals can be protected Mad enforced by means perfectly consist ent with the fundamental law. The courts suly-be everywhere open, .are, if open, theTprocesti would be' unimpeded. Crime against the United States 'can be prevented or punished by the proper ju dicial/authorities in a manner entirely prieticable'aed There is, therefore, no reasoniwhy lthe :Constitution should not' be .obeyed, unless those,who exercise its power have deter mined;tbst Wendt be disreerded,andli elated. Theinere naked will 'ofthis goy- ernmeut, or of some one or more of its branches, is the only obstacle that can exist to a perfect Union of all the States. On this momentous question , and someof the measures growl, out it, I have had.the misfortune to differ from Con gress, and have expressed my convictions without reserve, though with becoming deference to tihe opinions of the Legisla tive Department. TliE PRESIDENT'S POSITION UNCHANGED Those convictions are not only 110- change 4, but strengthened by subsequent ev'enks . anii further reflection. The trans cendent importance of the subject will be a sufficient excuse for calling your atten tion to some of the reasons which have so strongly influenc&l my own judgment. The hope that we may all formally con cur in a mode of settlement consistent at once with our true interests, and with our own sworn duties to the Constitu tion, is too natural and too just to be easily: relinquished. TUE LATE INSURRECTIONARY STATES It is clear to my apprehension that the States lately in rebellion are still mem bers of the National Union. When did they cease to be so ? The 'Ordinances of Secession" adopted by a portion—in most of them a very small portion—of their citizons were mere nullitieS. If we admit inovhat they were valid and ef fectUal for the purpose intended by Their authors, we swety from under our feet the whole ground upon which we justi fied the War. Were those States after ward expOed from the Union by the war? The direct contrary was averred by this country to be its purpose, and was so understood by those who gave their b'ood and treasure to aid in its prosecution. It cannot be said that a successful war, waged for the preservation of the Union, had the legal effect of disolving it. The victory of the nation's arms was not the disgrace of her policy; the defeat of Se cession was not the triumph of its lawless principles; nor could Congress, with or without the consent of the Executive, do anything which would have the effect, directly or indirectly, of separating the States from each other. To dissolve the Union is .to repeal the Constitution which holds it together and that ix tl power wliteh does not belong to any de partment of the government, or to all of them united. This is so plain OA it has been an knowledged by :el branches of the Fed eral Government. The Executive, my predecessor, as well as myself, and the heads of all The departments have ruti ftrtnly acted upon the principle that the Union is not only undissolved, but indis 'solublt.. Congress has submitted an amendment to the Constitution to be ratified by the Southern States, and ac cepted their acts of ratification as a nec essary and lawful exercise of their highest function. If they were not States, or were States out of the Union, their con sent to a change in the fundamental law of the I_,Thi6rt would have been nucmtory, and congress in asking it committed a political absurdity. • Theiudiciary has also given the F.o: - emn sanction of its authority to the same View of the case. The Judges of the Su preme Court have•included the Southern States in their circuits, and they are con stantly, in bunco and elsewhere, exercis ing jurisdiction which does not belong to them, unless those States arc States of the Union. If the Southern States are component parts of the Union, the Con stitution is the supreme law for them, as it is for all the other States. They are bound to obey it, and so are we. The right of the Federal Government, which is clear and unquestiOnable, to enforce the Constitution upon them, implies the corelative Obligation on our part to ob• serve its limitations and execute its guar anties. Without the Constitution we are nothing; by, through, and under the Constitution we are what it makes us. We may doubt the wisdom of the law; we may not approve of its provisions, but we cannot violate it merely because it seems to confine our powers within limits narrower than we could wish.— It is not a question of individual, class, or sectional interests, much less of party predominance, but of ddty—high and sa cred duty—which we are all sworn to perform. If we cannot support the Con stitution with the cheerful alacrity of those who love and believe in it•, we must give to it, at least, the fidelity of public servants who act under solemn obligations and commands which they dare not disregard. The constitutional duty is not the only on64vhich requires the States to be restored ; there is anoth er consideration, which, though of minor Importance, is yet of great weight. OBJECT OF THE LATE WAR On the 22d day of July, 1861, Congress• declared, by an almost unanimous vote of both Rouses, that the war should be onduOted solely for the purpose of pre serving the Union and maintaining the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and laws, without impairing the dignity, eivality, and rights of the States or of individuals, and that when this was done the. war should cease. Ido not say that this:declaration is-personally binding on those whojoinediti making it,.any more thank individual members of Congress are MONTROSE, PA., TUE S DAY, DEC. 40, 1867. personally bound to pay a public debt created under a law for which they vot ed. Bnt it was a solemn public official pledge of the national honor, and I can not imagine upon what grounds the re pudiation of it is to be justified. If it be remembered, this promise was not made to Rebels only. 'Thousands of true men in the South were drawn to oar standard by it, and hundreds , of thous ands in the North gave their lives in the belief that it, would be carried out. It was made on the day after the first great battle bad been fought and lost. All pat riotic and intelligent men saw the. neces sity of giving such an assurance, and be lieved that without it the war would end iu disaster to our cause. Having given that assurance in the extremity of our peril, the violation of it now, in the day of our power, would be a rude rending of that good faith which bolds the moral world together. Our country would cease to have any claim upon the confi dence of men. It would make the war not only a failure but a fraud. Being sincerely convinced that these views are correct, I would be unfaithful to my duty if I did not recommend the repeal of the acts of Congress which place ten of the Southern States under the domination of military masters. If' calm reflection shall•sitisfy a majority of your honorable bodies that the acts re ferred to are not only a violation of the national faith, but in direct conflict with the Constitution, I dare not permit my self to doubt that you will immediately strike them from the statute book. To demonstrate the unconstitutional charac ter of those acts, I need do no more than refer to their general provisions. It must be seen at once that they are authorized to dictate what alterations shall be made in the constitutions of the several States; to control the elections of State legislators and State officers, mem• bers of Congress and electors of Presi dent and Vice-President by arbitrarily de claring who shall vote and shall be ex cluded from that privilege; to dissolve State legislatures or prevent them from assembling ; to dismiss judges,and other civil functionaries of the State and ap point others without regard to State law ; to organize and operate all the jMr V.I. YCG. 1.0 regu late the whole administration of their do mestic and local atlairs according to the mere will of strange and irresponsible agents sent among them for that purpose. These are powers not granted to the Federal Government or to any one of its branches; not being granted, we violate in the face of a positive interdict, for the Constitution forbids us to do whatever it does not affirmatively authorize even by express; words or by clear implication. If the authority we desire to use does not come to us through the Constitution, we can exercise it only by usurpation, and usurpation is the most dangerous of po litical climes. By that crime the ene mies of free government in all ages have worked out their designs against public liberty and private right. It leads direct ly and immediately to the establishment of absolute rule, for undelegated power is always unlimited and unrestrained. Tue acts of Congress in question, are nut only objectionable for their assump-. tion of ungranted power, but many of their provisions are in conflict with the direct prohibitions of the Constitution.— The Constitution commands that a re publican form of government shall be guarantied to all the States; that no person shall bedeprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; arrested without a judicial warrant, Aar punished without a fair trial before an impartial jury; that the privilege of ha beas corpus shall not be denied in time of peace, and that no bill of attainder shall be passed even against a single individu al. Yet the system of measures estab lished by these acts of Congress does to tally subvert and destroy the form as well as the substance of republican gov ernment. In the ten States to which they apply it binds them hand and foot in absolute slavery, and subjects them to a strange and hostile power more unlim ited than any other now known among civilized men. It tramples down all those rights in which the essence of liberty consists, and which a free government is always most careful to protect. It denies the habeas corpus and trial by jury. Personal free dom, property, and life, if assaulted by the passion, the prejudice, or the raci ty of the ruler, have no security whatev er. It has the effect of a bill of attaind er, or bill of pains and penalties, not pp on a few individuals only but up on whole masses, including the millions who inhabit the subjected States, and ev en their unborn children. These wrongs being expsessly forbidden, cannot - be con stitutionally inflicted upon any portion of our people, no matter how they may have come " - within our jurisdiction, and no matter whether. they, live in States, Territories, or Districts. I have no desire to save from the prop er and just consequences of their great crime, those _who engaged in rebellion againsttbe government; but as a mode of punishment, the measures under,consider. ation are the most ,unreasonable that couldle invented: - Many of those people are perfectly innocent. (Many kept their fidelity to the Union untainted to the last)• Many were incapable of any legal offence. A large proportion even of the persons able to bear arms were forced to rebellion against their will,.and of those who are guilty with their own consent, the degrees of guilt are aavarious as the shades of their character and temper. • But these acts of Congress confound' them all together in one doom. Indiscri minate vengeance upon classes, sects, and parties, or upon whole communities for of fences committed by a portion of them against the government to which they owed obedience, was common in the bar barous., age of the world. But Christi anity and civilization have made such pro gress, that recourse to a punnishment so urge' and unjust would meet with the con demnation of all unprejudiced and right minded men. The positive justice of this age, and especially of this country, does not consist in stripping whole States of their liberties and reducing all their peo ple, without distinction, to the condition of slavery. It deals separately with each individual, confines itself to the forms of law, and vindicates its own purity by an impartial examination of every case before ti competent judicial tribunal. If this clod not satisfy all our desire with regard to Southern Rebels, let us console ourselves by reflecting that a free Constitution, triumphant in war and un broken in peace, is worth far more to us and our children than the gratification of any present feeling. TEMPORARY AND PERPETUAL EVILS I am aware it, is assumed that this sys tem of government for the Southern States is not to be perpetual. It it.true that military government is to be only provisional, but it is through this tempor ary evil that a greater evil is to be made perpetual. If the guaranties of the Con stitution can be broken provisionally to serve a temporary purpose, and in a part only of the country, we can destroy them everywhere, and for all time. Arbitrary measures often change,but they generally change for the worse. It is the curse of.despotism that it has no halting place. The intermitted exer cise of its power brings no sense of seenri ly for its subjects, for they can never Lo Vnow Alia more then will be called upon enu.fe AL, • xsa... o•ut..<4 armed to plague them again. Nor is it possible to conjecture how or where power unrestrained by law may seek its next victims. The States that are still free may be enslaved at any moment, for if the Constitution does not protect all it protects none. NEGRO btFFRAGE It is manifestly and avowedly the ob ject of these laws to confer upon negroes the privilege of voting, and to disfranchise such number of white citizens as wpfgive the former a clear majority at all elections in Southern States. This, to the minds of some persons. is so important, that a violation of the Constitution is justified as a means of bringing it about. The morality is always 'false which excuses a _wrong because of its purposes to accomplish a desirable end. We are not permitted to do evil that good may come. But in this case the end itself is evil as well as the means. The subjugation of States to negro domination would beworse than the military despotism under which they are now suffering. It was believed beforehand that the people would endure any amount of military oppression for any length of time, rather than degrade them selves by subjection to the negro race.— They have been left Without a choice. Negro suffrage was established by act of Congress, and the military officers were commanded to superintend the progress of clothing the negro race with political privileges torn from the white man. NEGRO SUPREMACY Fhe blacks in the South are entitled to be well and humanely governed, and to have the protection of just lawS for all their rights of person and property. If it were practicable at this time to give them a government exclusively their own, un der which they might manage their own affairs in their own way, it would become a grave question whether we ought to do so, or whether common humanity would not require us to save them from them selves. But, under the circumstances, this is only a speculative point. it is not propos ed merely that they shall govern them selves, but that ditty shall rule the white race,makeand administer State laws, elect Presidents and menbers of Congress, and shape, VI a greater or less extent, the fu tures destiny of the whole country. Would such a trust and power be safe in such hands ? The peculiar qualities which should characterize any people, who are fit to decide upon the management of public affairs for a great State, have seldom been combined. - A, WRITE MAX'S GOVERNMENT. It is the , glory of white men , to know that they have had these qualities id suf-; Eclat measure to build upon this condi'• era a great political fabric,and to preserve its stability for more than ninety , years, while in every other part of the world all similar experiments have failed. But if anything can be proved by known facts; if all reasoning upon evidence is not -abandoned, it most be acknowledged that in the progress of DatiOiff Degrees have shown less capacity tor government than any other race of people. No indepen dent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the contrary, wherever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbar ism. In the Southern States, however, Con gress has undertaktrito confer upon them the privilege of thetallot. Just released from slavery, it may be doubtful whether as a class they know•more than their an cestors how to organize and regulate civ il society. Indeed, it is admitted, that the blacks of the South are not only re gardless of the rights of property, but so utterly ignorant. of public affairs that their voting can consist in nothing more than carrying a ballot to the place where they are directed to deposit it. I.IiPOBTANCE OF THE BALLOT I need not remind you that the exercise of the elective franchise is the highest at tribute of an American citizen, and 'that, when guided by virtue, intelligence and patriotism, and a better appreciation of oar free institutions, it constitutes the true basis of a democratic forni of govern ment, in which the sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people—a trust artificially created, not for its own sake, but solely as a means of promoting the general welfare ; its influence for good must neeessarily depend upon the eleva ted character and true allegiance of the elector; it ought therefore to be reposed in none except those who are fitted, mor ally and mentally, to administer it well, for if conferred upon persons who do not justly estimate its value, and who are in different as to its results, it will only serve to place power in the bands of the unprin cipled and ambitions, and must eventual ly end in the complete destruction of that liberty of which it should be The most powerful conservator. I have, therefore, heretofore urged up on your attention the great danger to be apprehended from an untimely extension of the elective franchise to any new class in out country, especially when the large majority of that class in wielding the pow er thus placed in their hands, cannot be expected to comprehend the duties and responsibilities 11,,,L v a g, rta l i,i j a u t o ihrificari persons were held in a condition of slave ry that had existed for generations. To day they are freemen, and are assumed by law to be citizens. It cannot be pre sumed from their previous condition of servitude that as a class they are as.well informed as to the nature of our govern naent as the intehigent foreigner who makes our land the home of his choice. In the case of the latter, neither a resi dence of five years nor the knowledge of our institutions which it gives, nor at tachment to the principles of the Consti tutiot. are the only conditions upon which he can be admitted to citizenship. He must prove in addition a good moral character, and thus to:give reasonable ground for the belief that be will be faith ful to the obligations which he assumes as a citizen of the Republic. 'Where a people, the source of all polit ical power, speak by their suffrage thro' the instrumentality of the ballot box,- it must be carefully guarded against the con trol of those who are corrupt in principle and enemies of free institutions, for it can only become to our political and social system a safe conductor of healthy popu lar sentiment when kept free from demor alizing influences. Controlled through fraud and usurpation by the 4esi g nin g' an archy and despotism must inevitablyfol low. In the hands of the patriotic and wor thy, our government will be preserved up on the principles of the Constitution in herited from our fathers. It follows, therefore, that in admitting to the ballot box a new class of voters,not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise, we weaken onr system of gov ernment instead of adding strength and durability. UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE I yield to no one in attachment to that rule of general suffrage which distinguish. es our policy as a nation. But there is a limit, wisely observed hitherto, which makes the ballot a privilege and a trust which requires of some classes a time sui table for probation and preparation. To give it indiscriminately to a new class, wholly unprepared by previous ha bits and opportunities to perform the trust which it demands, is to degrade it, and finally destroy its power, for it may be safely assumed that no political truth is better established than that such indis criminate and all-embracing extension of popular suffrage must end ttt last in its overthrow and destruction. cv I repeat my willingness to join in any plan within the scope of our Constitution- al authority which promises to,better, the condition of the negroes in the South, by encouraging them 'in industry, enlighten ing their minds, improving their morals, and giving protection to all their just rights as freedmen. Bat the transfer of our political inheritance to them, would in my opinion be an-abandonment of the du• ty which we owe alike to the memory of our fathers and to the fights of our child ren. • The plan of putting the Southern States VOLUME XXIV, NUMBER 50. wholly, and the general government par tially Into the hands of negroes, is propos ed at a time peculiarly unpropitious. The foundations of society have been broken up by civil war. Industry Must be reor ganized, justice re-established,public cred it maintained, and order brought out of confusion. To accomplish all these ends would re quire all the wisdom and virtue of the great men who formed our Constitution originally. I confidently believe that their descendants will be equal to the arduous task before them ; but it is worse than madness to expect that negroes will per form it for us. Certainly we ought not 'to ask their assistance until we despair of our own competency. The great difference between the two race's in physical,. mental, and moral char acteristics, will prevent au amalgamation or fusion of them in a homogenous masa. If the inferior obtains ascendency over the other, it will govern with reference to only its own interes ts — for it will re cognize no common nterest—and create such a tyranny as this continent has never yet witnessed. Already the negroes are , influenced by promises of confiscation and plunder ; they are taught to regard as an enemy every man who has any respect for the rights of his own race. If this continues it must become worse and worse until all order will be subvert ed, all indpstry cease, and _the fertile fields of the South grow up iatib a wilder ness. Of all the dangers which our na tion has yet encountered, none are equal to those which must result from the suc cess of the effort now making to African ize half of our country. I would not put considerations oT mon ey in competion withlustice and right,but the expenses incident to reconstruction under the system adopted by Congress aggravate what I regard as the intrinsic wrong of the measure itself. It has cost uncounted millions already, and it' persisted in will add largely to the weight of taxation already too oppressive to be borne without just complaint, and may finally reduce the treasury of the na tionto bankruptcy. We must not delude ourselves. It will I n . u . ir v e,,.. ? s,tr,o,rig kr ajV cl ‘ Embably morsi Luc uvg governments after they' are establisheT. Thesum thus thrown away would if pro perly used, form a sinking fund large en , ough to pay the whole national debt in less than 15 years. It is vain to hope that negroes will maintain their ascendancy t hemselvcs.— Without military power they are wholly incapable of holding in subjection the whitelpeople of the &mat. I submit to the judgment of Congress whether the public credit may not be injuriously af fected by a system of measures like this. With our debt, and the vast private in terests which are complicated with it, we cannot be too cautious of a policy which might, by possibility, impair-the confi dence of the world in our government.— That confidence can only be retained by carefully inculcating the principles of jus tice and honor in the public mind, and by the most scrupulous 'fidelity to all our engagements of every sort. Any serious breach of the organic law, persisted in for a considerable length- of time, cannot but create fear~ fit the sta bility of our institutions. Habitual viola tions of prescribed rules; which we bind ourselves to observe, must demoralize - the people. Our only standard of civil liberty being set at naught, the sheet anchor of our po litical morality is lost, the public can science swings from its moorings, and yields to every impulse of passion and in terest. If we repudiate the Constitution we will not be expected to care much for mere pecuniary obligations. - The violation of such a pledge as was made on the 22d day of July, 1861„will assuredly diminish the market value of our promises ; besides, if wo now acknowl edge that the national debt was created not to keep the States in the Union, as the tax-payers were led to suppose, but to expel them from it and hand them over to be governed by regroes, the moral du ty to pay it may seem much less clear. I say it may seem so, for I do not ad mit that this or any other argument in favor of repudiation can be entertained as sound; its influence on some classes of minds may well be apprehended. The Op uncial honor of a great commercial nation, largely indebted, and with a republican form of government administered by agents of the popular choice, is kthing of such delicate texture, and the destruction oe it would be followed by such unspeak able calamities, that every' true patriot iust desire to avoid whatever might ex- Pose it , to the Slightest danger. The great interests' of the country re quire immediate relief from these,enaet meals. Business in the South is paralyz ed by a sense of general insecurity, b3r a terror of conflication and the,ikead of ne gro supremacy. From which the North would 'lave' de rived so great a profit under a govern ment of lbw, still languishes, and can nev er be revived until it warm to be Yet tared by tbe arbitrary 'power: which makes all its operations "unilafe. 'That ItIiSTAEY RECONSTRIICTION TUE SOIITUEIM TRAXits
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