Jfr <LnVBT' SIOHUjan, Proprietor
NEW SERIES,
A weekly Democratic _ -•&
paper, devoted to Poll jr rf ~ r
tics, News, the Arts J* fa . '
®nd Sciences Ac. Pub- "" | fc •
ished every Wednes- Js
pay, at Tunkhannock ~ R
Wyoming County,Pa * \ ifilw •[T ji'
ey HARVEY SICKLERa
Terms—l copy 1 year, (in advance) f 2.00
• t paid within six months, #2.50 will be charged
NO paper will be DISCONTINUED, until all ar
rearages arc paid; unless at the option of pu.disher.
ADVER.TISI3MG.
10 lines or . { ) I <
less, make three) four j tiro , three', six one
n• square weeks>vreeks]mo , th\md'thUnd th year
1 Sauare I,oo' U2a
2 2 00! 2,50, 3,25 3.50 4 50; 6,00
\I ' 3 00, 4,75/ 5,50 7.t-0 9,00
iCo hi inn 400 4 50' 6,50' P.OO, 1<M)0 15,00
do 600 - 6,50 10,00' 12.00 17-00 25,00
{ ,n RIM ' 7.50 14,0u. is.oo 25,00(35,00
1 do. loW 12 00 17 .0°1 22,00 28.00 40,'0
"EXECUTORS, ADMINISTPATOhS and AUDI
TOR'S NOTICES, of the usual length, *'2,50
OBITU \RIES - exceeding ten lin s, each ; RELI
GlOl'Sand LITERARY NOTICES, not of genera
interest, one half tue regular rstes.
Business Cards of one square, with paper, *r>
JOB WOBIi
Mankinds neatly executed, and at prices to suit
he times.
All TRANSIENT ADVERTISEMENTS and JOB
WORK u:ust be paid for, when ordered.
ftosiiuss Jtotirs.
TV o L\\ E IjITTIjK, attorneys at
K LA*W Office on Tioga street, Tunkhannocki' a
rT 8. COOPER, PHYSICIAN A SURGEON
Ll Newton Centre, Luzerne County Pa.
/-lEO 8. TUTTON, ATTORNEY AT LAW
\J Tunkhonnock, Pa. Office n Stark * Brick
ock, Ttoga stieet.
\t7 M. i*l. PIATT, ATTORNEY AT LAW, 0
\\ fice in Stark's Brick Block Tioga St., Tank
hannnek. Pa
giir sUfliTrr f^oitSL
IIA R KISHinUi I*KN NA •
The undersigned having lately purchased the
BUEHLER HOUSE " property, has already com
mence 1 each alterations and improvements as will
render this old and popular House equal, it not supe
rior to any Hotel in the City of Harrisburg.
a'continuance of the public patruuugs is refpeet
fully solicited. QEo j BOLTOJf .
WALL'S HOTEL,
LATE AMERICAN HOUSE,
Til N K.H AN N OCK, W YOMING CO., I*A.
rHIS establishment has recently heen refitted an
furnished in the latest style Every attention
will be given to the comfort and convenience of those
who patronize the Hou*e.
T b WALL, Owner and Proprietor .
Tunkhannock, September 11, IS6I.
NORTH BRANCH HOTEL,
MESHOPPEN, WYOMING CO! NIY, PA
Win. U. CORTRIGHT, Frop'r
HAVING resumed tbe proprietorship of the above
Hotel, the undersigned will spare no effort to
reader the bouse an agreeable place ot sojourn for
all who may favor it with their custom.
* 3 Win. H CORTRIGHT.
June, 3rd, 1863
fjjfaits lotfl,
towanba, P-A--
n. B. BART LET,
/Lata of i . "BRAINARD HOUSE, ELMIHA, N. Y.
PROPRIETOR.
The MEANS HOTEL, i one of the LARGEST
nd BEST ARR ANGED Houses in the country—lt
is fitted up in the most modem and unproved style,
and no pains are spared to make it a pleasant and
agreeable stopping-place for all,
v 3. n2l. 'y
CLARKE, KEENER* 'cO.,
M ANCEACTCRERS AND WHOLESALE DEALERS IN
LADIES', MISSES' & GENTS'
§ ilk anil £ assiiiifrf flats
AND JOBBERS IN
HATS. CAPS, FURS, STRAW GOODS,
:PARASOL.S AND UMBRELLAS.
BUFFALO AND FANCY ROBES,
. 849 BROADWAY,
CORNER OF LEONARD STREET,
HUSW .
B V CLARK, J
A • KEENKV, £
S. LKKENKY 3
M. GILMAN,
DENTIST,
T GTLMAN, has permanently located in Tunk
I L hannock Borough, and respectfully ter.derhi
professional services to the citizens of this placeand
anrrounding country.
ALL WORK WARRANTED, TO GIVE SATIT
I ION.
Office over Tutton's Law Office near the Post
Office
NEW
TAILORING SHOE
The Subscriber having had a sixteen years prac
tical experience in cutting and making clothing,
now offers his services in this liue to the citizens of
NICHOLSON and vicinity.
Those wishing to get Fits will find his shop the
place to get them.
Je*L, R, SMITH.
W-a6O-imo
ADDRESS
OF TUE
NATIONAL vONVEfITIOW.
I
TO THE FEOPLE OF THE WHOLE UNION,
Tlie Hon. HENRY J. RAYMOND, Chair
man of the Committee on Resolutions and
an Address, at the late National Convert
vention at Philadelphia, read the following
address which had received the unanimous
approval of the Cominitt e and which was
adopted by the Convention without a dis
senting voice.
ADUnESS
To tin' People of the Putted State*:
Having met in Convention at the city of
Philadelphia, in the Slate of Pen-ylvania,
this 16 11 day of August, 1866, as the rep
resentatives of the people in all sections
aid all the States and Territories of
the Union, to consult np-u the condition
and t! e wants •'• r "common c untry, we
address t< yon this d< claraiion <>f our prin
cip-es and of the p litical purposes we se> k
to promote.
Sine ■ the meeting of th • last National
Convention, in ihe year 1860, events
have occurted which have changed the
character of our internal policy, and given
tin- Unit d States a taw place among the
nations of the earth. Our 'Government has
pasred through the vicissitudes and the
! perils of civil war-a war which, though
mainlv sectional in it- character, has never
theless decid d poliii al differences that
from tlx- very b. ginning of the Govern
ment had threatened the unity of our na
tional exis ence, and ha* ieft its impress,
deep and imfaceable, upon all the interests,
the sentiments, and the de-tiny of the Re
public- While it has inflicted upon tin
whole country severe losses in iile and in
property, and has imposed burdens which
must weigh on its resources for generations
tocome.it has developed a degree of noble
courage in the presence of national dangers
a capacity for military organizations and
achievements, and devotion on the part of
the people to the form ofgovernment which
tbev have ordained, and to tf e principles
of liberty which that Government was de
signed to promote, which must confirm the
confidence of the nation in tlie perpetuity
of its republican institutions, and command
the respect of the civilized world Like all
great contests which rouse th" passions and
test the endurance of nations, ti is war has
rviven new scope to tlw ambition of p-diti—
eal parties, and fresh impulse to plans of
innovation and reform. Amidst the chorus
of conflicting sentiments, inseparable from
such an era. while the public heart is keen
ly alive to all the passions that can swav
the public judgment and affect the public
action, while the wounds of war are still
fresh and bleeding on either side, and fears
fo" the future tak* injust proportions from
the memories and resentments of the past,
it is a difficult, but an imperative duty
which, in your behalf.we who are here as
sembled lave undertaken to p"rform.—
For the fir*t time after six long years of
alienation and of conflict,we have come to
'"•ther from ever-. B'at" and evCry section
of our land, a* citizens ot a coiuui >n coun
try, tind. r that flag, the symbol aga'r. of a
common glorv. to consult together bow best
to secure and perpetuate -that 1 nion which
is ami in the object of our common love,and
thus secure the blessing* ot lib rty to our
selves and our posterity.
In the fir*t place, w<- invoke you to re
member alwavs and everywhere that the
war is ended, and the nation is again at
peace. The shock of contending arms n<\
longer assails the shudderi g heart of th"
Republic. The insurrection against tlie
supreme aiithoritv ot the nation has been
=uppreed, and that author tv lias been
again acknowledged by w<_>rd „ud act in
I evrv State and by every citizen within its
Jurisdiction. We are n.. longer teqiiired
or permitted to regard or treat each other
as etn-mies. Not only have the acts of war
been discontinued and the weapons of war
laid aside, but the >tate of war no longer
oxi*ts. and the sentiments the passions. the
relations of war have no longer lawful or
rightful place anywhere throughout our
broad dominion. We are again people of
the United Siate*. fellow-citizens of one
country, bound by the duties and obliga
tion- of'a common nation, a"d having neith
er tights nor intere-t apart from a common
destiny. The duties that devolve upon us
now are again the <1 ities of peace, and no
longer the dntie- of war. We h .ve assem
bled here to tak<- counsel concerning the
interests of peace, to ilcide how we mav
nn>st wisely and effectually heal the wounds
the war has made, and perfect and perpet
uate the benefits it has secured, and the
blessings which, under a wise and benign
Providence, sprung up in its fiery track
This is the work not of passion, but of calm
and sober judgment ; not of res< ntineut
for past offences pro'onged beyond the lim
its which justice and reascn prescribe, but
ofalibeial statesmanship which tolerates
w hat it cannot prevent and builds its plan
and its hopes for the future rather upon a
community of interest and ambition than
upon distrust and the weapons of force.
In the n-xt place we call upon you to
recognize, in tfeir full significance, and to
accept, with all their legitimate conse
quences, the political results of the war just
closed. In two most important particulars
the victory achieved by the National Gov
ernment, has been final and decisive, first :
it has established beyond all further oontro-
"TO SPEAK HIS THOUGHTS IS EVERY FREEMAN'S RIGHT. "—Thomas Jefferson.
TUNKHANNOCK, PA., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1866.
versy. and by the highest of all human
sanction, absolute supremacy >f tlie Na
tional Government, as defim d and dire<-ted
by the Constitution of th - United States,
and the permanent integrity and indissolu
bility of the Federal Union is a necessary
consequence ; and secondly, it has put an
end, finally and forever, to the existence of
slavery upon the soil or within the jurisdic
tion ot the United States, Both these
points became directly involved in the con
test, and controversy upon both has ended
absolutely and finally by the result.
In the third place, wt deem it of the ut
rao-t importance that the real character of
the war, and the victory by which it was
closed, should be accurately understood.
The war wa* carried on by tlie Govern
ment of the United States in maintaiiunce
ol its own authority ami in defence of its
own existence, both of which were men
aced by the insurrection which it sought to
sutipress. The suppression of that insur
rection accomplished that result. The Gov
ernment of the United States maintained
by force of arms the supreme authority
over all the territory and over all t> e States
ami people, within its jurisdiction which the
Constitution confers upon it, but it acquir
ed thereby no new power, no enlarged
jurisdiction, no rights.either of territorial
possesion or of civil authority, which it
did not possess before the rebellion b.oke
out Ail tlie rightful power it can ever
possess is that which is conferred upon it in
express temi*, or by fair and ne-essarv iin
plica ion, by the Constitution of the United
States. If was that power and that an
thoiity which the rebellion sought to over
throw, and the victory of the Federal arms
was sirnplv the defi at of that aitenipt.
The Government of the United Mates
acted throughout the war on the defensive
It sought only to hold possession of what
was already its own. Neither the war nor
the victory by which it was ended changed
in any way the Constitution of the Unite!
States. The war was carried on by virtue
of it* provisions and under the limitations
which they prescribed,aridthe lesuli of the
war lid not either enlarge, abridge, or in
any way change or affect the powers it con
fins upon the Federal Government, or re
lease that Government from the restrictions
which it has imposed.
The Constitution of the United States is
to-day precisely a* it was before the w t r—
the supreme law of the land, anything in
the constitution or laws of any State to the
contra y not viihstauding. And to-day al
: so, precisely as before the war, all tin
powers; not conferred by the Constitution
1 upon the General Government, nor prohib
■ ite.' bv it to the States, are reserved to the
Several States or to tlie people thereof.
This pos tion is vindicated not only by
tlie essential nature of "Ur Government and
j the language and spirit of the Constitution,
but bv all the acts and the language of our
' Government, in all its departments and at
all times, from the outbreak ot the rebell
j ion to its final overthrow. In the messa
! ges and proclamations of the Extcutive it
was explicitly declared that the sole object
and purpose of the war was to maintain
j the authoiity of the Constitution and to
Feserve the integrity of the Union, and
i • it.
: Congress more than once reiterated this
solemn declaration, and aided the a**n r .
ance, that whenever this object should be
attempted the war should cease, arid all the
States should retain their equal rights and
dignity unimpaired. It is only since the
war has closed that other l ights have been
asserted on behalf ot one department of tlie
General Government. It has been D>O
, claimed by Congress that in addition to the
i powers conferred upon it by the Constitu
: tion, the Federal Government may now
claim over the States an i the territory,
and th" people involvt d in the insurrec
tion, the rights of war —rights of conquest
and of confiscation, the right to abrogate
all "xisting governments, institutions, and
laws, and to subject the territory conquer
ed and its inhabitants to sncli terms and
regulations as the legislative department of
the Government may see fit to impose, tin
der the broad ami sweeping claim that t, : ,e
clause of the Constitution whicii provides
that no Stat" shall without its consent be
deprived of its equal suffrage in the Sen
ate of the United States has been annull
ed ; and States have been refused, and are
still refused, representation altogether in
both branches of tlie Federal Congress ;
and the Congress in which only a pait of
the States ami of the people of the Union
are represented has asserted tlie right to
exclude others from representation ami
from all share in making their own laws
and choosing their own rulers, unless they
shall comp.y with such conditions and per
forin such acts as this Congress, thus com
posed, may itself prescribe. That right
has not only been asserted, but
it has been exercised, anil is
practically enforced at the present time.—
Nor does it find any support in the cry
that the States thus excluded are in re
bellion against he Government, and are
therefore precluded from sharing its author
ity. They are not thus in rebellion. They
are one and all in an attitude of loyalty
towards the Government, and of sworn al
legiance to the Constitution of tlie United
States. In none of them is there the slight
est indication of the resistance to this au
thority, or the slightest protest against its
just and binding obligations. This condi
tio iof renewed loyalty has been officially
recognized by solemn proclama'ion of the
Executive Department. Tlie hws of the
United Statss have been extended by Con
gress over all these Stales, and the people
thereof. Federal Courts have been re
opened, and Federal taxes imposed and
levied, and in every respect, except they
'are denied representation in Congress and
I the Electoral Collage, the States once in
i rebellion are recognized as holding tlie
same obligations and subject to the same
duties as the other Slates of our common
Union
It seems to us, in the ex'-rcise of the
calmest and mo*t candid judgment we can
bring to the subject, such a claim *o enforc
ed involves as fatal an overthrow of the
authority of the Constitution, and as com
plete a desti notion of the Government and
Union, as that which wa* sought to be ef
fecled by the States and people in armed
insurrection against them. It cannot es
cape observation, that the power thus asser
ted to exclude certain Mates from repre
sentation i* made to ie*t wholly ir. the will
and disci et ion of the- Congress that asserts
it. It i* not tnade to depend upon speci
fied conditions or circumstances, not to be
subject to any rules or regulations whatev
er. The right asserted and exercised is
absolute, without qualification or restric
i tion, not confined o St 'te* in rebellion nor
jto States that have rebelled. It is the
i right of any Co gress, in formal possession
i ot legislative authority, to exclude any
| State or States, an I any portion of the peo
| pie thereof, at any time from represents—
| tion in Congress, ami in the Elecioral ( al
lege, at its own discretion, a d until they
j shall perforin >uch acts and comply with
! such conditions a* it .nay dictate Obvi
ously. the reasons for such exclusion being
wholly within the discretion of Congress,
may change as the Congress it-eit shall
change.
One Congress may exclude a State fiom
all share in the Government for one rea
son, and that reason r moved the next
Congress may exclude it tor another. One
State mav he excluded on one ground to
day. and another may be excluded on the
! opposite ground to morrow Northern as-
I cemlency in iv exclude Southern States
I from one Cotigrass —the ascendency ot
j We stern oi South rn interests, or ot both
I combined, my exclude the Northern or
' th' Fa*t' rn Mates from the next.
Improbable a* sueii usurpation may seem
the establishment of the principle now as
serted and acted upon by Congtess will
tender tiiera by no means impossible. Tlie
character, indeed, the very existence of
Congress and the Union, is thus made
dependent *°L '. v }, n>l entirely upon tlie
party ami sectional exigencies or forbear
aticeof th-* hour. \\ e need not stop to
show that such action not only finds no
wairant in the Constitution, but is at war
with every principle of our Government
and with the \er\ existence of free insti
tutions. It is, indeed, the identical prac
tice wh eh lias widen d fruitless all attempts
hitherto to est ibli*li and maintain free gov.
i rnments in Mexico and tlie States of
South America. Part) necessities asscr
themselve*- as superior to futnlam ntal lay.
which is set aside in tickles* obedience of
behests. Stability, whether in the exert
cise of power in the admi istralion of gov
ernment oi in the enjoyment ot rights, be
comes impossible, and tlie conflicts of party,
which under constitutional governments
are tne conditions and means <>f political
progress, aie merged in the conflicts of
arms, to which they directly ami inevit
ably tend.
It was against this peril, so conspicuous,
and so fatal to all tree governments, that
our Constitution was intended especially
to provide. Not only the stability, but the
verv existence of the Government is mad"
bv its provisions to depend upon the right
and the tact of representation. The Con
gress, upon which is conferred all the leg
islation power of the National Government,
consists of two branches—the Senate and
House of Representatives—whose joint
concurrence or assent is essential to the
validity of any law. Of these, the House
<>f Representatives, savs the Constitution,
( Article Ist., section 2d,)shall be compos-d
of members chosen every second \ ear by
the j> opleof the several States. Not only
the right of representation thus recogniz d
as possessed bv all the States and by every
State, without restriction, qualification, or
condition of any kind, but the duty of
choosing Representatives is imposed upon
the people of each and every Stat • alike,
without distinction among them for anv
reason or upon any grounds whatever.—
And in the Senate, *o c ireful is tlie Con
stitution to secure to every Srate ilii* riglt
of representation, it t* expressly provided
th it no State shall without its consent be
deprived of its equal suffrage in that body,
even by ah amendmentto tlie Constitution
itsi If. When, therefore, any State is ex
eluded from such repr< sentation, not only
is the right of the State denied, but the
const itutional integrity of tlie Senate is im
paired, and the valid ty of the Government
itself is brought in question. But Con
gress at the present moment tints excludes
from representation in both branch<-s?of
Congress ten States of the Union, denying
them all share in the enactment of 1 tws bv
which they are to be governed, and all par
ticipation in the election of the rulers by
which those laws are to be enforced. In
other ▼'ords, a Congress in which only
twentv-six Slates are repr sented asserts
the right to govern, absolutely and in its
own discretion, all the thirty six States
which compose the Union; to make their
laws and choose their rulets, and to exclude
the other ten from all share in their own
government, nutil it sees lit to admit them
tlier to. What is there to distinguish the
power thus asserted arid exercised from
the most absolute and intolerable tyranny ?
Nor do these extravagant and unju*t claims
on the part of Congress to powers and au
thority fi"Ver conferred upon the Govern
ment by the Constitution, tind any war-
raut in the arguments or excuses urged on
their behalf. It is alleged—
b ir*t. That these States, by the act of
rebellion and by voluntarily withdrawing
their members from Congress, forfeited
their right of icpresentation, and that they
can only receive it again at the hands of
the supreme legislative authority of the
Governm nt, on its own terms and at its
<>wn discretion. If representation in Con
gress and participation in the Government
were sirnplv privileges conferred and held
bv favor, his statement might have tlie
merit of plausibility. Hut representation
is, under the Constitution, not only ex
pressly recognized as a right, but it is im
posed as a duty, ami it is ess--ntial in both
aspects to the existence ot tlie Govern
ment and to the maintenance of its au
thority. In free governments fundamen
tal and essential rights cannot be forfeited,
except against individuals by due process
of law, nor can constitutional unties and
obligations be discard-d or laid aside.—
The enjoyment of rights may be for a
time suspended by the failure to claim
them, and duties may be evaded by the
refusal to perform them. The withdrawal
of their members from Congress by the
State* which resisted tlie General Govern
ment was among their acts of insurrec _
tj o!l —was one of the means and agencies
by w h eh they sought to impair the author
ity and defeat the action of the Govern
ment ; ami that act was annulled and ren
dered void when the insurrection itself
was suppressed. Neither the right of rep
seutatii n nor the duty to be lepresented
was in tlie least impaired by the fact of in
surrection, but it may have been that, by
n ason ot'lh" insurrection, the conditions on
which the enjoyment of that right and the
performance of that duty for the time de
pended. could not be fulfilled. Hiis was,
in fact, the case. An insurgent power, in
the exeteise of usurped aud unlawful au
thority in the territory under its control,
had prohibit! d that allegience to the Con
stitution and laws of the United States
wh-ch is made by that fundamental law
the essential condition of representation in
Government. No man within the insur
g nt-Mates was allowed to take the oath
to support tlie Constitution of the I nited
States, and a* a necessary consequence no
man couUfclawlully represent those States
in the councils of the Union. But this
was only an obstacle to the enjoyment of
tiie right and to the discharge of'a duty ;
it did not annul the one nor abrogate the
other, and it ceased to exist when the
usurpation bv which it was created had
been overthrown and tlie States had again
resumed their allegiance to the Constitu
tion and laws of tlie United States.
Second. But it is assertedjn support of
tlie authority claimed by the Congress
now in possession of power, that it flows
directly from the laws of war; that it is
amo-g the rights which victorious war al
ways confers upon the conquerors, and
which the conqueror, may exercise or
waive, in Ids own discretion. To this we
r> plv, that the law* in question relate sole
ly, so far as the rights they confer are con
j cerncf, to wars waged between alien and
i,.dependent nations, and can have no place
or force in this regard tu a war waged by
a government to suppress an insurrection
of its own people upon its own soil agaiast
j its authority. If we had carried on suc
cessful war against any foreign nation, we
might thereby have acquired possession
and jurisdiction of their soil, with the
right to enforce our laws upon their peo
ple, and to impose upon them such laws
and snob obligations as we might choose.
But we had. before the war, complete ju
ri-diction over tlie soil ot the Southern
State 3, limited only by our own Constitu
tion. Our laws were the only national
laws in force upon it. The Government
of the United States was the enly Govern
m nt through which those States and t icir
people had relations with foreign nations,
and its flag was the only flag by which
tliev were recognized oi known anywhere
on the face of the earth. In all these re
spects, and in all other respects involving
national interests and rights, our possession
was perfect ami cotiipL te. It did not need
to be acquired, but only to be maintained;
and victoiious war against the rebellion
could do nothing more than maintain it.—
It C'uld onlv vind cite and re-establish
the disputed supremacy of the Coiistitu
tion. It could neither enlarge nor di
minish the authority which that Constitu
tion confers upon the Government by
which it was achieved. Such ail enlarge
ment or abridgement of constitutional
power can be effected only by amendment
of the Constitution itself, and such amend
ment can be made only in the modes which
the Constitution itself pi escribes.
Tlie claim that the suppression of an
insurrection against the Government gives
additional authority and power to that
Government, especially that it enlarges
the jurisdieti m ol Congress and gives that
bo l\ the right to exclude States trom rep
resentation m the National Councils, with
out which the nation itself can have no au
thority and no existence, seems to us at
variance alike with the principles of the
Constitution and with the public safety.
Tliiid. But it is alleged that in certain
particulars the Constitution of the United
United States fails to secure the absolute
justiceahd impartial equality which the
piinciples of our Government require; that
it was in these respects the result of com
promises and concessions to which, howev
er necessaiy when the Constitu ion was
formed, we aie no longer compelled to
submit; and that now, having the power
through successful war, a.id just, warrant
for its exercise in the bostiU conduct of the
TEXTIVr®, 02.00 PEn AN-Ivn &£
VOL. 6 NO. 4.
insurgent section, the actual Government
of the United States may impose its own
conditions and make the Constitution con
form in all its provisions to its own ideas
of equality and the rights of war. Con
gress, at its last session, proposed amend
ments to the Constitution, enlarging, in
some very important particulars, the au
thority of the General Government over
that of the several States, and reducing, by
indirect disfranchisement, the representa
tive power of the States in which slavery
formerly existed; and it is claimed that
these amendments may be made valid as
parts of the original Constitution without
the concurrence,of the States to be most
seriously affected by tliem; or may be im
posed upon those States by three fourths
of the remaining States, as conditions of
their readmission to representation in Con
gress and in the Electoral College.
It is the unquestionable right of the
people of the United Stats to make such
changes in the Constitution as they upon
due deliberation may deem expedient.—
Cut we insist that they shall be made in
the mode which the constitution itself
points out, in conformity with the letter
and spirit of that instrument, and with the
principles of self government and of equal
rights which lie at the basis of our repub
lican institutions. We deny the right of
congress to make these changes in the fun
daniental law without the concurrence of
three-fourths of all the States, including es
pecially those to be most seriously affected
by tln m, or to impose them upon States or
people as conditions of representation or of
admission to any of the rights, duties, or
obligations which belong, under the consti
iUtion, to all the States alike; and with
still greater emphasis do we deny the right
of any portion of the States from any share
in their councils, to propose or sanction
changes in the constitution which are to
affect permanently their political relations,
and control or coerce the legitimate action
< f the several members of the common
Union. Such an exercise of power is sim
ply a usurpation, just as unwarrantable
when exercised by Northern States as it
would be if exercised by Southern, and not
to be fortified or palliated by anything in
the past history either of those by whom it
atompted or of those upon whose rights and
liberties it i<- to take effect. It finds no
warrant in the constitution. It is at war
with the fundamental principles of our form
of go/eriiment. If tolerated in one in
stance it becomes the precedent for future
invasions of lib< rtyand constitutional right,
dependent solely upon the will of the party
in possession of power, and thus leads by
direct and necessary sequence to the most
fatal and intolerable of all tyrannies, the
tyranny of shifting and irresponsible politi
cal factions. It is against this, the most for
midable of all the dangers which menace
the stability of free government, that tb
constitution of the United States was in
tended most carefully to provide. We de
maud a strict and steadfast adherence to it.
In this, and in this alone, can we find a ba
sis of permanent union and peace.
Fourth. But it is alleged in justification
of the usurpation which we condemn, that
the condition of the Southern States and
ppople is not such as render safe their re
admission to a share in the government of
the country ; that they are still disloyal in
sentiment and purpose, and that neither
the honor, the credit, nor the interests of
I lie nation would be safe if they were re
admitted a share in its councils. Wo
might reply to this—
First That we have no right for snch
reasons to deny to any portion of tho
States or people rights expressly conferred
upon them by the Constitution of the Uni
ted States.
Second, That so long as their acts are
t'Tse of loyalty ; so long as they conform
in all their public conduct to the require
ments of the Constitution and laws, we
have no right to exact from them conform
ity in their sentiments and opinions to our
own.
Third. That we have no right to dis
trust the purpose or the ability^of the peo
ple of the Union to protect and defend un
der all contingencies, and by whatever
means may be required, its honor and its
welfare. These would in our judgment, be
full ond conclusive answers to the plea thus
advanced for the exclusion of these States
from the Union, But we say, further, that
this plea rests upon a complete misappre
hension, or an unjust perversion of existing
facts. We do not hesitate to affirm that
there is no section of the country where
the Constitution and laws of the United
States find a more prompt and entire obe
dience than in those States and among
those people who were lately in arm 9
against them, or where there is less pur
pose or danger of any future attempt to
overthrow their authority.
It would sepm to be rational and inevita
ble that in States and sections so recently
swept by the whirlwind of war, where all
the ordinary modes and methods of organ
ized industry have been broken up, and
the bond*: and influences that guarantee so
cial order have been destroyed ; where
thousands and tens of thousands, of turbu
lent spirits have been suddenly loosed from
the discipline of war, and thrown without
resources or restraint upon a disorganized
and chaotic society, and where the keen
sense of defeat is added to the overthrow
of ambition and hope, scenes of violence
should defy for a time the imperfect disci
pline of law and excite anew the feara and
forhodings of the patriotic and well dis
posed. It is unquestionably true that lo
cal disturbances of this kind, accompanied
bv more or less of violence do still occur.
But they are confined entirely to the citi