VOLUME 3. SPEECH OF HON. THOS. WILLIAMS In the House 01 Representatives, On tbv Reeonslruotlon l»ollcy of lb« President. from th* Pittsburgh Commercial. We have received the speech of Hon. Thomas Williams, of the 2Ud District, on •• Keconsti uctiou,"delivered on the lUth just. On account of the great length over uineteeu columns ot the (jitter,— we do not think it advisable to publish it cutire, which we intended to do. \\ e will secure it more readers, and thereby do Mr. r* iliiams more justice, by print ing extracts embracing the most pronii oent points, and giving a liberal abstract of the rest in order to preserve the thread of the argument from the begin ning to the end. The speech is regard ed as Mr. William's greatest effort, and we have no doubt that there are many ot his friends he e who will be glad to get it in the form we present it this morning. Mr. WillUnis began with the allusion to the course he had taken in Congress nearly two years ago ou the question i I the relations that had been produced by the war. By the infirm of laith his course then had been thought to bo pre mature ; but Congress thought otherwise, and passed a bill, which Hid not, howev er, "meet the approval of the Executive because it interfered with a plan of li s own that had not pioved acceptable to it. aud the question was adjourned without advice from that body, and in such a way as to leave the field open for experiments with which it was not in condition t> In terfere." The people by their representatives — the law making power —are here again "to decide for themselves what slill be done with the Territories that have been couquetcd by their arms" While it is agreed oil all hands that tlicy shall event ually be readmitted to the Union, it is not pretended by any that they can come back of their own volition and without our consent. Our power to ex .elude thcui does uot depend upon our right to determine the qualifications of our own members. There is an organic lesion forbidding their return, wli.eli can only be supplied by a new orguniz itum The first inquiry is, what is the posi tion of these Territories as it has b"*eu aff< cted by the progtess and results of the war, which has just been determined bv their enforced sunmission to the authu.i ty of lie nation ? 80 far as armed resistance is e interned the war is at an end. The d iuue i com munities lie conquered and heipiesi and iu social ruins at our lect, deprived "I all the organism that was essential to llio maintenance of their old idali-ios to the Union. The civil law of ill I uioii is ■dethroned, and its military pO'.ver is ail that remains to bold ttiese Stales in suti jeetion to our authority. The l'leMiieut, feel in/ that tiny were not in a rendition to be trusted to themselves, instead ol sheathing the swoVd, lias preferred to aw lit the U'.ual t >eriod of out assemblage, and appointed li.s lieutenants an I pro-ruli siils to goveiu the 1 111 tiie mean tine with the ail of armies ami the arbitrary rule of martial 1 iw. Our first duty is tore hove tli it officer, and to furnish some se etirity to the conq tureJ pt- <jjie by (.be aubslitu im ol a geot er iule. He did not question the exercise of »urli a gov ereignty in the aosence of 1 ong es>, a he bad previously maintained ilitt thus • Stales hid eeuset toe nrember* »>f the Union, and ha I passed into th - 0 mdition of territories. Had they v.'utuiued t> be States until their resistance eeised, •they would have ut once re-tuned their e>Mistitutiouil rights unimpaired, and all that has been done aiuee would h.ve been dearest usurpation. '•Taking theui, however, to have been 'deprued,' in the language of the proe tarnations,'of all civil government wlnt ever,' it was but a I •gitimate interference of the Kxeoutive tlwt they 11.1 I not only forfeited their elective tran.di si, and lost their property in slaves, but placed them selves in a conditiou where they were no longer entitled even to th benefit of the constitutional guarantee without a new birth. The idea of any State, except that of natfcc, without any 'civil gov ernment whatever,' is as incomprehensi ble to me as that of a State being in the Union, or indeed anywhere, thu is u liuit ted to have no existence whatever. '•No more would Ib inclined to quar rel with those who, starting from these premises, are still disposed to insUt that these States were never out. The differ ence is perhaps only the result of a want ■of precision in the use of terms, or a di versity of opinion in regard tothoir mean ing. Mr. Burke bis furnished us with * distinction here that meets the case pre eisely. 'TUe w-ird S.ate,' lie roinarks in his letter to Sir Hercules Ltnigrishe, 011 the subject of the extension of the elec- tive franchise to the Irish Catholics, 'is ' one of much ambiguity. Sometimes it i< used to signify the whutc common all its orders,with the several privileges belonging to each Sometimes it sigmties only the higher, •od ruling part of the commonwealth .which is couiuioniy called tlio govern naent.' Io the former of these senses, il is not to tie doubt«d that Uicse-comuni fies still exist, and are in the Unpin, orof the Union, because their territories belong 1 to it, and their people owe it allegiance. In tin Litter. howe\er—and thut is the one that connects them with our political •ystem as the proclamations concede— they are admitted by the s.inia proclama tions to have been destroyed, i«d faß, of > •our*t\ to nowhete." can be n i d'tpnte between the President and his Northern friends as to Aba; postal* of tbero dilapidate! members. AMERICAN CITIZEN: liy lii» treatment tie lias practically ore" gard<yj them as conquered provinces.— Mr. Williams deprecated the fullacio" doctrine which hud encouraged the dis affected in the North and the unrepent ant robels in the S"U'h that these »1 !«• r g tnized States have never ceased to be members of the Federal Union That is the present theory of every traitor. North and Soqth, who has been insisting lor four lung your* of war on the right as well as the tact ot secession. With as surnnees of pardon, they can afford to ri-k their plea of belligerency upon which they claimed immunity for their crime, if it will restore them to their rights.— • Jraut that secession WAS not a fact, and it tlicy cannot invalidate the war and the debt made by it. they will stagger your court# with the question, by what author ity you have deprived the people ot a Slate in the Union by proclamation and without judgment of law, of their fran chises and property. Once in, they will insist that all your intermediate acts as well as theirs are nullities. The next inquiry is whether they are in a condition to return, and what agen cies and terms through and upon which the consummation is to be effected. This question more than any othor belongs to the people of the loyal States. Eleven of the columnar supports of our political cdiliec are lying around us in ruins. Who is to these columns to their places? The questions arising out of tl is are problems which might well embarrass the profoundest of our statesmen, and will require the wisdom of the nation tosolve Ihe war itself was nothing in compari son I'here never Wis a reasonable doubt of the suppression of the rebellion, if the 1 iyal States proved true to themselves. Ihe only real danger was in the process of reconstruction. Although the rebel lion, so far as armed resistance iB concern ed, is over, we still tread on the ashes of an unextinguished volcano. If these State governments have been destroyed and must be organized snsw, nothing short of an act of Congress can accom plish that woik. Hut there is no hurry even as to this. To heal the wounds in flicted by a four years' civil war, is not i lie work of a day. We must begin at the bottom and work slowly to the sur face The Piesidenf, acting OR the preval ent idea that it is the duty of the Govern ment to take the initiative in the process of restoration, without waiting for an expression from the people of the rebel States of their desire to return to the Union, lias, in the recess of this body, ordered their organization, and has "in dicate I bis plan iu a scries of proclama tions, which are all of the lik« tenor, though differing in some respects from the plan of his predecessor." It was [we suuied that this would conform to the iaw lie prescribed, and having completed that he. although admitting ihe alternate decision to rest with Congress alone, would recommend and enforce their ad mi-s'.on with all the power he could law fully exert. The proclamations rest on tho idea of assuring to all these Stairs a republican form of government. 'J hey do not de cl ue the war to be at an end, but llie contrary. Mr. Williams makes the fol lowing analysis of the prop sitions con tained in the proclamations: '•1. They admit the continuing exis* truce of a stale of war, and profess to rest on the twofold authority of the Pres ident as Commander in Chief of the Ar my and Navy of the United States, as well as supremo civil executive magis trate of the Union. '2. They declare tho pepplo of these Stats to have been deprived by their .own acts of i.ll civil governments what ever. ''3. They confess the necessity of a new organization for the purpnso of re sStr.ns* their constitutional relations with the Federal Government, and presenting such|form of Government as will entitle them to the benafit of its guarantees, and therein admit that they are not so enti tled in their present condition. ' 4. They concede that the new organ i izatiou must receive its impulse and di rection from without, and be assisted by the co-operative action of the Federal authorities. ' 3 Confessing, however, that these States are not now entitled to the benofit of the constitutional guarantee, they as sert, in effect, that under it the Federal Governuieut is bound to place them in a position which will enable them to claim it, and assume that tho fulfillment of that guarantee, is purely executive function, to be porf'ormed in such a way as the judgmeut of the President may determ ine. "6. They direct accordingly, tho as semblage of conventions at the earliest practicable day, and define and ascertain the qualification of the voters. "7. In fixing these qualifications, they adopt a standard that is entirely new, by limiting the frnnchise, not to the white niofl generally, but to such only of the people who were invested with that pre-' rogative uuder the government that is admitted to have been destroyed aa are I yal, and will swear to support, not the Constitution only, but all laws aud proc lamations during the rebellion having reference to the emancipation of slaves. "8. Admitting, moreover, that these States are without any civil government whatever, and that they Jfiust necessari ly organize anew, they insist that it shall be done upon the partial recognition of a goveruuient that has been de-troyrd, )jy a p ocess, not of organization at all, but of amendment and alteration only, that sh ill work simply on part of the (defunpt corpus which was left untouched by the ordinances of secession, and who&c contiuucd would involve a de nial of the right (if Federal interference "Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end,dare to do our '<jty as we understand it"— A. LINCOLN BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 18GG. and is in direct contradiction of the prem ises on which these proclamations rest. '•0. They look, moreover, to the em ployment of the military arm in the exe cution and enforcement of the scheme of restoration which they will inuolve." These were evidences either that the proclamations had not been properly di gested. or that the ?B KH might profitably have been transferred from tl.c "other end of the avenue" to the proper forum —Congress—which is vested with the exclusive power iif leaiil a ting for the Territories and the admission of new States. A .state of war is utterly irreconcilable with such an organization as the genius and texture of our Government demand. A republican State cannot exist without the spontaneous volition of the majority of the people. A minority Government, sustaiued by armies, would be the merest mockery of a republic; and so long as it needs an army or a Federal legate—by what name soevor called—to govern it.it is uot in condition to govern itself. The President holds the Territory by milita ry law—a power that is absolute, and it is folly to talk of restoring civil govern ment by the people, for he is supreme.— flic power he wields is above and sileu ces the law, and be is essentially a dicta tor, whether his motive be good or bad. Our fathers were jealous of military law, and made it subordinate to the civil.— Conventions assembled, voters named and Congressmen elected by it, are its crea tures and a reyublic organized by if,can not be the product of a free people.— Freedom recoils at the idea. It will not do to say that the sword bearers were not present in the body. When the fiat went forth to the North Carolina synod to repudiate the rebel debt, every knee weut down in humble submission to the Commander-in-Chief. .The rebel Gener al and Governor of Mississippi, Hum phreys, stated in a recent message that it was under the pressure of Federal bay onets that the people of that State had abolished slavery. These so-called con stitutions are dictated by the Executive as a conqueror. Governor Orr, of South Carolina declared that the State Conven tion had "done all that the President had requested to be done." lieneral Hamp ton of that State tie lined to run fbrUov crnor because he might embarrass the I'jzecutive in his benevolent designs in favor of the South, lie did not approve all that the Convention had dotfe, but advis ed acquiescence, as the President had shown a disposition to protect the South against Northern radicals. When Ilainp ton talks about "the radicalism of the North," we know he means the Union party that fought down the rebellion and elected the President. The President answers this presentation by informing us that wc have nothing to do with the terms of settlement. It is urg#d that this is a measure of peace, to enable loyal people there to dis pense with armies. It'suehr was the pur ple there tail be no permanent piacj without continued protection, as is the case in Tennessee. The idea is, if not to make the disloyal majority our nmsterj, to tree them of our authority in the hope ol peace and submission in tho future.— t'lns is not peace. The victory is ifut al ways to the strong. The demon spirit which animate! the rebellion, and caused all the crimes ooiiimitted by it during the war, ending with tho murder of our Pies iuent, "still lives' unrepentant, unsub lu ed, ferocious and devilish as ever" The battle still rages under a new phase. As to the admission that the seceded States have been deprived of all civil government. Taking the word State as contra-dis tinguished from that of government, it may be admitted that they arc ttill in the Union. Jt must then signify tho terri tory, or the people, or both. It cannot be the territory only, for'it would con tinue to be a State; nor the people only, because that would make theui a Slate.— In this sense it is a compound idea, one element of which is necessarily a loyal people. It is enough for my purjio.se that their political organizations have been destroyed. The proclamations say that they have been deprived of all civil gov ernment. lie means all local govern uieut. lie cannot affirm a condition of anarchy, as he maintains that th3y are still in the Union, and subject to its laws. It is admitted that they have not the pow er of self-resurrection —that tl.ey must roceive impulse from \yitbout. The Pre* ident has undertaken to give the impulse, and the question remains, where the pow er resides and how it is to be exercised. The proclamations assume that the power is an executive one, ou the ground that each State Government must be republi can in form and that it is the President's duty to execute the laws. If this be true the President must be the Uuited States, or that this executory uj're^ent ll ' aw that cau be enforced by the sword only Hut it is not true. Congress itself has ■ uotyet decided what a republican form of government is in tho meaning of the clause or how it is to be erected i n case of overthrow, lu the former plm the power was conferred on a tithe of the vo ters, who might take the oath cf allegi ance and forswear slavery. In the pres ent one it is confined to the loyal men who had voted before without reference to number, though it was clear that there was scarcely a loyal man in those States that was not excluded. There is no high er act of sovereignty than that whiab founds or reconstructs a State and pre scribes suffrage. Tho ijian that makes the elector makes the law and is a dicta tor. In the extrepiity of a State sueh'a power is necessary for its safety, and the Presideut was right to goyefo the con quered territories by martial in the recess of Congress. The occasion for these things has passed away. But there never was anythiug in the power to war rant the erection of a State by executive proclamation. The object iu bringing these new gov ernments to our d Kirs at the opouing of the session was to anticipate the action of Congress. 'J'he President like his prede cessor had his plan; he had a right to his opinions. Hut being a Southern man, a citizen of one of the offending States, he was uot likely to think as do the twenty millions of the loyal Slates who fought the a eat battle. He had never declared strongly against slavery except as It was in antagonism to the Union. He bad been loyal and faithful under great trials and for that was the choice of the Uuiou party for tho second office in the Repub lic The bloody hand of treason opened the way for his succession to the first.— Although it was his right and duty to urge his opiti iou upon Congress,he should bave tfken no step without us. He has taken a difficult course, by treating with the rebels directly. I regard his course as a challenge to Congress and the free North upon a question of jurisdiction. Mr. Williams then referred to the great importance of meeting the assumption uf executive power promptly. The great discretion of the President, his immense patronage, durin? the war, had given to the belief that it was he.and neither Congress or the people, who had saved the nation, and that it was his business to restore the parts. His claim of pow er iu the proclamation of December, lhOo, provoked no aniiuadvorsion here, and the Hons , bill failed ou a second trial. The press and politicians uf the nation have been silent, only complaining iu whispers that he has extended suffrage to the black man. People inquire only wlnt does tho Pres ident inteuci and the Associate Press by daily bulletins reports every phase uf the imperial pulse. The tiu>e has come to rectify these errors, and assert the powers of this bydy. "With the highest admiration of the constancy and heroism ol the present. Ex ecutive under the severest trials, and with every disposition to support his Admin istration-so far as fidelity of my own high trust will allow. 1 cannot consent that a question like this, in which the interests of so many generations are involved, shall be withdrawu frota the people of the loyal States, who hatfe suffered and sac rificed so largely, aud settled by the de cision ofauy one or even seven oieu, no matter whence they come or what posi tions they may hoid. No more can I al low myself to be instructed here, that while the power of setting the terms of read mission is with the President, I have no jurisdiction as an American legislator except to register the acts that he has done, and thou humbly inquire as a member of this House only, whether the candidates who present themselves for admission here have complied with the mere formalities which his Legislatures have prescribed. It is here only—iu these Halls, that American liberty can live.— They arc her inner sanctuary, her holy of holies, her strong tower of defense, her last refuge and abiding place. Here are her altars, and here her priesthood. It is only here, too, that my owu great State, whose blood has been poured out like ruin, and whose canonized dead are n ivv sleep ing on every buttle field of freed Jin, has been called iuto counsel during the last lour years. She has no voice elsewhere. On tho theory of the President aud the results of his experiments she has given out no uncertain sound. She bids her sons whom she has placed on guard at the Cnpitoi iu this liour'of the • natjons trial, stand firmly, as did her heroes in the bloody trench, by theiv triists as Rep resentatives, and resist with jealous watchfulness every attempt from what ever quarter to encroach If the per formance W this duty should involve a difference with the Executive of her owu choice, whjlc she would deplore the necessity she will expect her .Represent atives to take counsel from those who sent them here, alike una wed by the frowns and unsedueed by the blandishments of power. I dread the conflict, which is not a new one in the world's history, but I cannot choose but meet it when it comes; and 1 have a trust that we shitlt yet be able to discuss the great question of the times, and to settle it, too without prejudice, aud in utter oblivion of the tact that the Executive has any theory on the subject. It has been said that these plans were merely experimental, and that C'ongre-s must at least judge of the eligibility of its members. It appears, howeyer, that the power referred to us is only that of each House to act separately as to its in | dividual members. The President hav ing founded the new governments, claims for his offn creation the right to resume, of course, atjd without inquiry into his work or rtleirs the places they held be fore among us, inakiug, as he says,"the work of restoration thereby complete," aud instructs us then it will be our duly to judge of the smaller matters ot the law -' the election, returns and qualifications of our own members." Nothing is left to Congress but to register the edicts and ratify the work of the Executive. The speaker objected strongly to the courseof the President, and said that he might as well have prescribed the whole law to the Sonth as a part of it. There is no occa sion for experiments which tend to a con flict between Congress and the President. The function is legislative and not exe cutive—the President having his veto only. The reply may be made to this tha the object was ujt to found a new Stat«, but to alter and amend the old form ot of government and to restore it to its fyjjner relations to the Federal authority. 'J'he proclamations state these as a part of the objeet; bat the reojtals npon which they rest say that the States have been deprived of "all civil government," and authorise the conventions not to "alter or amend" but to "organ le." The ex pressions "reconstruction" and "restoiara tion" were then commented on. Mr Williams would accept either, but pre terred the former. The lntter is sufficient to hupiy. if not destruction, at least dis placement. Ihe revolting States have defleote i from thcirorbits, gathered round a ucw centre, and ceased to be parts o( our system, or to be obedient to our laws. They compose a part of our system de jure only, but not in fact. Something must be done to reestablish their former relations. They cannot do it themselves. The Ulere repeal of their secession ordi nances is not sufficient. The Executive thinks that by their treason the people have forfeited the right ol self govern ment, that to this extent their Constitu tions as they stood before tha rebellion are abrogated, and tnat their sovereignty has elapsed—but not to us. A commit tee of the last llouso insisted that it, re turned to the conquered ptoplc. The President claims it for himself, aud has acted accordingly. The President says the State still lives, with ouly an "impaired vitality,"although its government has been destroyed, aud it is contended that he has power to re store all its parts and former vitality,and to lead it forth as full and perfect as it was before the rebellion. Let us exam ine the question. If the acts of the State had been simply an excess of power, this view might be correct. But here the fundamental law was changed, whether rightfully or not is not the question True one of the stated objects is to ena ble theui to restore themselves. Hut this is inconsistent with the grounds on which the proclamations rest. If these States were still in the Union, no pro cess of restoration to their rights was nec essary, because they were entitled to them by the Coustitutiou. It is because they are not that the President proposes ma king them so by his own act, without our agency. It' these Stale constitutions arc in force as they existed before secess ion, because all that lias been enacted since in violation of Federal law is simp ly void, what then was the occasion for any amendment? In that case they may return tit any time without any legislation. As a ques iju of amendment tney may amend or not, and if they are in the Union there is no power there to say what or when they shall amend, The executive admits tliat something must be done to restore their original status. We agree in thinkingthat by the war the slaves have beeu emancipated, and suff rage destroyed with the government. — Emancipation is a question for the courts, aud cannot he drawn in here except by assuming that these States a-re out aud must be formerly re admitted. Then you may prescribe terms. Without that you must open when they knock without in quiry as to their constitutions. Taking it that their constitutions re quire to be amended, how is it to be done? Not by the Executive, for he has no more power to set up a new class of elec tors in South Carolina than in Massacbu setts. The only way is in accordance with their own law, which must have sur vived if any part of thoir constitution did. To ignore the law, as do the proc lamations, is revolutionary. The people had not asked for the privilege of coming back, although it is urged that the proc lamations were intended to cn ible thein to do the work for themselves. It was not essential that they should come back until they were ready for it. The proc lamations were imperative not permltisive Suffrage was more than a right—a duty. The wliito men who could take tho oath must reconstruct the State Mr. Williams then discussed the way in which the power claimed by the Presi dent ha* bcen^sxcrcised. If the funetran were nieroly an exceu t:ve one it could extend no further than permissisn to the people to instruct. To say who should or should not vote was more than an executive act. In the ab >ence of ail government, as the procla mations admit, all were remitted to the natural equality recognized in the l>ec laration of and which had been suspen ded by the force of civil institutions, which had then ceased to exist. The negro, whether bond or free, previously h d the same rights as the white man, and neather could deny to th? other the right to vote. All privileges of eastc and complexion had disappeared with the constitutions which established them. If* cannot be said that it was not right for the President to confer the privilege on this particular class. "It was not his to eonfer on anybody, white or black. If he had left the elec tion to the citizens who owed allegiance, paid taxes, and were subject to bear arms, they must have voted without distinction of color. The only question was, not whether he could confer it but whether he could take it away. He has taken it away from others—from all who were uot qualified jinder the old constitutions, and from all who are disloyal or refuse the oath to support the laws and proclama tions in regard to slavery. Tho old gov ernment with their black codes, which were the fruitful nurseries of treasonable sentiment, and have destroyed themselves by hurrying their people into the rebel lion. are alloyed to furnish the rule and standard of electoral fitness, on the hypo thesis that there y something left of them still lives, like the tail of a defunct reptile after the life has been crushed out of its body, and are only to undergo alteration and repair .at the hands of the same cunning workmen who had destroyed their machinery alto gether. It is the same class precisely that is to renovate the Iruc, it i< with the condition of loyalty, and a n»w oath, oapen'Jded. But who aretheloy al? Nut certainly those who committed treasoßagaiD.st lie nation by naming war against it, or giving aid acd counsel to its enemies? Hut if they are excluded who are to be the voters, when tlie only class that proved true to its allegiance is precisely the one which was excluded under the old rei/ime that is uow sought to restore? How mauy of the original voters, beyond those who were driven iutj exile, have stood by the old flag in the hour of trial ? Was it a majority— was it even a tithe ? Ca.j there be as many such uien found as would have sa ved Sodom from destruction ? We know that there cannot, because we know that they would uot have beeu tolerated ou Southern soil. We know it, too, from the declaration of the Governor of Vir ginia, that unless the law that disfran chised the trators only froui January, 1861, was repealed, there would not be men enough left to orguuize the State. And is it seriously proposed that the pow er ol erecting governments, ip order to enable these States to resume their phi ces iu the Union, shall be vested in a score of men out ot a population counting by millions? Hut how is the question of loyalty to be determined ? Not by oath, because that is merely cumulative, and is not o(Tared either as a test, or by way of purgation for the past offenses.— If as a test, the word might as well have been omitted altogether. How then ? Is there a virtue in the amnesty which works not only oblivion for the past.but con verts a pardoned traitor into aloval man? Is it by judgment of law on conviction of Crime? Is it by attainder on procla mation by the Executive ? Is it by a trial in pais or by compurgators at the hustings ? Tf the old constitutions are still in force, either by construction of law or by virtue of the proclamations, tho exclusion a ven of those who may bo impeached of disloyalty looks amazingly like the forfeiture of a legal franchise, without judgment and without law,' and is too high a power to be exercised by any other than the saverelgn. ••Hut there is anothef condition super added by way o' abridgmentof the right; and that is the execution, even from the loyal, of the oath to support the procla mations and laws relating to slavery.— No friend of the country will of course object to any wholesome limitations upon the privilege ; but if it was not compe tent to the President, not to confer, but only to permit it to the black man, what authority was there to limit it in this way to the white man ? Neither the Constitution of the Uniled Statei nor that of any of the States has ever re quired an oath of this sort from the vo ter. If he could impose this, what was there to prevent him 112 rom swearing them to the observance of all acts of Congress acd all proclamations, or requiring them to swear that .hoy hail never given any aid or countenance to the rebellion ? If he could disfranchise the unconvicted traitor, what was there to prevent him from enfranchising tlje loyal man who has become free ? Hut what is the secu rity which it furnishes ? How long is tho obligation to endure? Did it hind the . members of the conventions ? And if theso bodies have defined the qualiiica tion in a different way, are the voters uow free ?" The effect of the programme is to re commit these governments into the hands of the very men who hurried them into rebellion, upon the only condition of a new oath of fealty after having broken a previous one, and tosurrendor the field to the conquered as soon as it is won.— Hut there is nobody in the loyal Stutes willing to release all the securities, rights and advantages gained by the war, upon such terms. Our past experience teach es us that these pe.iple have never kept faith with us. Yhosa who were most forward in abjuring their allegiance hero, will be the first to viola'e their new made vows by swearing themselves back into legislative power and honor. Will you surrender your few faithful white allies and thousands of friends among the blacks t i these unrepentant rebels ? If you are wise you will not be content with such pro fessions as have beeu purchased by ne cessity. Security is much more to bo de sired than punishment, and you must render them unable to deceive you again. If the function be executive, how does the performance square with the object Bought to lv,e attained? "The obligation u toassurc a «ovcrn ment that shall be republican. The meaning of this is that it shall be a gov ernment ot the people. The process adopted, iu direct contravention of the principles of the message, is to the power in the hands of a priviledgcd class, the same that held it before, distinguish able only by the accident of color, along with a disloyalty to the Union that was almost universal, and composing, in some instances, a minority of the whole popu lation. i>oes this look like a fulfillment ot'the obligation, or even a squint in that direction ? 'I he form, it is true, may be republican, because it looks to reprcscn t»tioq by election. But that is not the ' test; if it were, e.very constitutional mon archy in Europe might be brought with in the category. It is thp distincton of classes, the permanent limitation of the right of suffrage to a favored few, that makes the difference between the aristo cratic and republican forms, and tboro U none other. Ju this case the right is confined to the loyal white man who will take the oath. This, however, if not an oligarchy, or Government of the tew, is at least an aristocracy or government of classy, furnishes a perfect exemplifi cation of just that species ot legislation which is so earnestly reprobated in those passages of the uiesiage where the Presi dent informs us that 'this Government springs from and wan made for the peo- NUMBER 12 pic; that'it should, from the veiy con sideration of its origin, bo strong in its power of resistance against the establish ment of inequalities;' that 'monopolies, perpetuities, and class legislation are con trary to the genius of a free Government, and ought not to be allowedthat 'hero there is no room for favored classes or monopolies,' and that 'we shall fulfill our duty as legislators by according equal and exact justiiw to all men, special priviliges to none. It I have found to commend his practice at the expense of his theory upou the question of State sin lessness an J State injnjortality, subscrib ing as most heartily to these 'axioms of political science, I shall feel myself compelled to adjust the account by follow ing his advice in opposition to his practice here, 'Class legislation* and privileges'of a sovereign character are the distinguishing features ot his plan, and it is, therefore, by the erection of ai) arisfocrasy that the guarantee of a repub ic to be made good !" Whether these States be in or out of tho Union, the President, by his effort to provide them with Governments, admits that they are without them. Tho same result would have followed the condition of change in the slavo. A Government is uot Republican that not only denies to the majority of its citizens a share in its administration, but refuses their testimo ny and interdicts thcin in the pursuit of knowledge. The speaker quoted from Uurke in regard to the exclusion of class es, and said that in America office woulcj Stand on the same ground as franchise. Mr. Williams contended that t|ie elec tive franchise is a natural right, although he had in Congress heard it called a po litical right. Our institutions are frco because they allow us the privilege <JTgoy. erning ourselves, and wc are freemen for no other reason than that we are armed with tho ballot for our protection as citi zens. Strip mo of that and lam at your mercy. You may deal gently with me, but that makes no difference. You may as well deny me all rights of a citiien— because they nre all pojitical—as that one, which is necessary to protect tho resiJhe. You must cither settle the principle that this is a white man's Government,or sharo all political privileges with men of al} complexions. '•The proclamation has made the negro nominally free. He counts in the rcpre uitation. Ho pays taxes, and must bear arms if necessary, and he has done if.— No sensible man now pretends to doubt that he is a citizen, or can doubt it in view of these considerations. The inter ference of the Executive i« pi}t express ly on the ground of the obligation of the national authority to secure a republican form of government to each of the states To effect this, it is essential that a nls. jority be allowed to enjoy tho political rights of governing, and that all should share alike in its direction. To put any class under the State would be to deprive them of the rights of citizens, and to re duce them in the words of the authority just cited, to a state of civil servitude.—• It is essential, moreover, that it shrnld rest, in the language of tho Dpclaration, on 'the con-ent of the governed.' An establishment that docs not conform to these principles is not republican, wheth er the power bo lodged with the r.Ugoi or she orinlni. No matter as to its forms.— We are not to be cheated "by appearances or names. It was more than the mere form tlmt the Constitution intended to secure. And yet the process here ignores things, and rests cither upon the dimmest perceptions of free government, or upon tiio Southern theory that fbe n*- gro is not a man, or that this Government was only intended for white men. If the proposition were to exclude all men of Celtic blood, what a sensation would it not produce among the democracy ? If the difference, however, is only against the African, consistency would require that he should also be excluded from tho euumeration hereafter. With the end of the 'divine institution,' the three-fiftfyq clause, which stipulated for a representa tion, not of or for him, who was not then a man, but for his master, has ceased to operate. If the freed slave is now a cit izen, he has the right to all the privileges, as he i? confessedly subject to all the du ties which that relation involves. If in stead ol rising from the fractional valuq to that of an integer, he is no longer a member of the Btate, ho must cease to owe any other than a domiciliury allegi ance, and tho idea of a representation founded on his existence here, mast bq exploded forever. And from this dilem ma there is no escape. Ii he is a citizen, the elective franchise is his right. If he is nor, representation on that basis is log ically inadmissible." The effect of this oligarchic process 1* to restore the governing class as before witfiouf any check upon it. This we cannot afford to do. Fortunately there is a loyal element among tliein which help-r ed us to tiring them back, and may Le used in keeping tho peace by restoring to them tho rights of which they have been deprived. If a State government it not Republican in form, we have full power to make it so This powei cannot be ex ercised by the President, neither by a re fusal upon the part of Congress to admit, tor that would be non-pcrformanoo, but by an act of legislation, to enforce whipfe will be the President's duty. These States being without Governments, it is our duty to supply them with new ones, republican in form. If theijr black, pop ulation ina sts upon a government that shall admit them tothe rights of citizen ship we cannot evade performance upon the plea of a want of constitutional pow er. According to our practice and the spirit of our institutions the duty should be left to the peoplo themselves in the first instance, but if they falF'to 'do it, I know of no other way than for
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