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The Wade-davis Protest

The Wade-davis Protest image The Wade-davis Protest image
Parent Issue
Day
19
Month
August
Year
1864
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

To the Supporters of the Gorcrnment : We have rond without surprise, but not without indignation, the proclamation of tho President of the 8th oí July, 1864. The mipporters of tho ridmiiistration are responsible to the country for ts coixluot; and it ia their right and duty to check the encroaehments of the Executive on the authwity of Coogres?, and to require it to. conline itseii to its proper apliere. It is impossible In pass n silence this prochimalion without npglecting thatduty; and, having taken a rnuch responsibilit-y as any ethers in supporting the administralion, we are not dispoeed to fail in the other duty of asserting the rights of Congroso. The President did not pign the bill "to guaiantoo to certain States whose governments have been usurped, a ropublican form of governnipnt" - passed )y the supporters of his administraron n both hoiues oí Congress after mature k-libenition. Tho liill did not thcreforo become a huv and it is therefurc nothing. The prochimation is oeither an approvitl nor a veto of the bill ; it is thereoro a document unknown lo the laws ind Ooustitution of the United States. So lar as it contains an npclogy for not igïiing tlie bilí, it w a politica! manifestó igainst tho frieiida of the jTOvernment. ö far as it, proposes to -xi'cuto the bill which ia now a law, it s a grave executive nsnrpation. It is fitting that the faets neeeesnry to enable the frionds of the administraion to appreciate the apology and the usnrpution lui spread before them. The proclamation says : "And, wheroas, the said bill was presented to tho Trepident of the Uniter States lor his approval less than an our before tho sine die adjonrnment f said possioi, and was not t-igned hy him- " II tha' bo accurate, stül tlus bill was iresented with other bilis whiuh were fignedi Wilhin that hour the timo for _ the iive ilie ndjournment was tbree times rwstponed by the voto ot botli rlouses; ind the least intimation of a desiro for more time by the President to eonnider his li!l would have seonred a further postponement. Yet the co'nmittce sent to ascertain if iho President had any further oommunication for the Houso of Itepresentativis reported that h had none; and thü friends of the bill, wiio had nnxiously wniled on him to Mscerlain his late, had alrcady been inforinod that the President had resolved not to sign it. The time of presentation, therefore, luid nothing to do with his failuro to approve it. The bill had been cl scussed nnd considcred for moro than a month in tho House of Ui-nresentativea in whieh i pnssseil on the -Ith of May; it was reported to tho Senate on the 27fh of May without material airendment, and nasped the Señóte absolutely asit came from the House on the 2d of July. - Ignoranco of ts contents is out of the queRtion. Indeed, at hm roques!, a draft of a bilí substantially the sanie in all material points, and identical in the points ohjected to by the proclamation, had been laid beforo him f.T his consideration in the winter of 1802-63 There is, thereforo, no rcason tp sup pose the provisions of tho bill took the President by purpri-e. On the contrary, we have ïeason to believo them to have been so well known thnt this method of preventi.ig the bil! from becoming a láw without the Constitutional responsibility of a veto, had beon rf solvod on long beforo tho bill passod the Senate. We aro itiforrned by n gentleman ontitli'd to entire conlidenco, that before the 22d of Juno, in New üileana it was stated by a member of Gen. Banks' stuff, in tho presence of otl.er gentloincn in official position, that Senator Doolittlo had vritten a letter to.the Duparttnent that the House Reeonstruction bill wnuld bo stavéd off i tho tíenate to a period too lato in th session to reuiru tho l'i-esident to vot it in order to clotcnt B, nnn wat mr. Lincoln would retain the bill, t necessary, and theroby defoat it. The experiencc of Senator Wado in his vnrious efforts to pet the bill considcred in the Senate, was quite in accordance with that plan ; nnd tho f;ito of tho hill was accurately prodictcd by letters hom New Orleans before it had passed tho Senato. nad tho proelarnation stopped thore, it would havo been only nnn other defoa't of tho WÍÜ ol tho pcople by an Executivo perversión of the constitution. But it goes fui'tf.v The President says : " And whereas, the said bill containf, among other thins, a plan lor restoring tho Stutes in rebcllion to a proper practical relation in the Union, vvhich plan expresses the sense of Congress upon that subject, and whieh plan it is now thortglit fit to lay before tho people frr their consileration - " By what authority of tho constitution? In what i'orinH ? The result to bc declarcd by whom ? Witl) what effect when ascertained ? Is t to be n law by tho aproval of th pcople without tho approval of Congres at the will of the President? Will tho President, on his opinión of the popular íipprovul, txecute it" ns law ? ' Or is this merely a devico to avoid ie serious responsibility of defenting law on which so inany loyal henrts epose for seenrity ? But the reasons now asulgned for not pprovingthe bill are iull of ominous gnificuace. The President prooeeds : " Now, therefore, Í, Abraham Linoln, President ot the United States, o proclaim, declaro, nnd mako known, hat, whilo I arn (as I was in Decem)er last, vvhen by proolamation, I prowunded a plan ! r restoration) unpre)arerl by a formal approval of tliis bill, o be in'flexibly comraitted to any single ilan of restoration" - That ifi to say, the President is roolved that the people shall not by law ake any securitios fro.n the rebel States gainst a renewal of the febellion, be'ore restoring thom power to govern s. Hír wisdom aad prndenee are to be our suffiüient guarantees! He further sava : "And while I am also unprepnrod to declare thut tbe Ireo State con.stitutions and governments already ndopted nnd nstalled in Arkansas nnd Louisinna hall be set aside and held for naoght, ;horeby repelling and discouraging the oyal oitizens who have set up the same as to iurther effort" - That is to say, the President persista n recognizing thosc s-hndows of governments in Arkansas and Lóutsiana. which Congress formally declared should not bo recognized - wlioso Representativos and Senators were repelled jy formal votes of both House? of' Con ress - which it was deelared formally Should have no electoral vote for Prcedent and Vicy President, They are the mere creatnres of his will. Thcy cannot live a day without his support. They are mere oligarchies, imposed on the people by military orders under the forms of Bleef dn at "which generáis, provost marshals, soldiers, camp-fcllowers were the chief actors, assisted by a handful of resident citizens, and urged on to premature ac tion by private letters frora tho Preei dent. In noither Louisiina nor Arknnsrs, before Bank's defeat, did tho United States control half the territory or helt tho popnlntion. In Louisiana, General liank's proclamation deelared : "The fundamental law of the State iamartial law." On that foundation of fraedom. hc erectpd what the President calis " the free Gonstitutiou and government oí Louisiana." But of this state, whose fundamental law was martial law, only sixteen parishes out of forty-eight parishes, were held by the United States, and in five of the sixteen we held only our camps. The eleven parishes we snbstantmlly held had two himdred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and cighty-five inhabitants ; tho rcsidue of tho State not held by ás, tivc hundred nnd ?eventy-fivo thousand and six hundred and seventeen. At the farce called an election, the officers of Gen Banks roturned that eleven thousand three hundred and forty-sis ballots werc cast; but whether any, or by whom, the people of the United States have no legal as-surance ; but it is probable that tour thousand were cast by soldiers or employees of the United States, military or municipal, but none according to any law, state or national, and seven thousand bhllots represent the State of Louisiana. Such is the free constitution nnd governmcnt of Louisiana ; and like it is that of Arkansas. Nothing but the failuro of a military expedition deprivod U8 of a liko one in the ewflinpa of Florida; and bofore the presidential election, like ones may be orgnni.ed in ovory rebeL Stnto whoro the United States have a camp. The President, by prevonting tliia bilí from becoming a law, holds the electoral votes of the rebel States at the dictation of his personal ambition. If those votes turn the balance in hts favor, is it to ie supposed that hls com■petitor, defented by such means, will acquiesce f If the reb.l majotity asfert their rhpormacy in those State, nnd send votes whïch elcct an onemy of the government, will ho not repel his claims? And is not that civil war for the Presidency inaugnrated by the votos of rebel States ? Seriously mpressed vvith these dangerp, Congress, ' the proper constituTional authority," formally declared that thero are do Stato gnvernmoDts in the rebel States, and providod for their crection at a proper time ; and bolh the Serate and House of ReproPentatives rejectcd the Senators and Representativos chosen under the authority of what the President calis the constitution and n-overriTr.ent of Afkansns. The Presidenta proclamation " holils for naught" this judgment, and discards the authority ol the Supremo Court, and Rtrides headlong toward the anarchy bis proclamation of tho 8ih of December inaugurated. If electora for President bo allowed to be choscn in either of these States, a sinister light will be cast on the motives which indnced tho President to "hold ior naught" tho will of Congress ratherthan nis government io Louisi.ina and Aikansrie. That .judgment. of Oongrcsa which the President defies was tho fexaroivè of an authority exclusively vested in Congress by the Oonstitution to determino what is the estabhshed governvnent iu a State, and in lts o'.vn nature, and by tbo highest judicial authority, binding on all other dopaitrnents of thé g -vernment. The Supremo Court has lormally declured (.hut undor the 4th section of the 8th articlo oí the Constiiution requiring the United States to guflr&ötoe to every State a republican forin of government, it rests ith Congres to decide what govcrnmont is the established ono in a State; and when tionators and Representativos of a Stme are adinitted into the councils ot lbo Union, the autliority of the government undor which tíiey aro appointed,as well as its republiean chai ueter, is recognized by the proper constitutional authority, and its decisión is binding on evcry dupartuicnt of tho governmonc and could not be queslioned in a judicial tribunal. It ia true th:.t the contest in this case did not last long enough to bring this matter to this issue' and, as no Senators or Representatives were elected under the uuthority of tho government oí which Mr. Dorr was tho head, Congresa was Dot called upon to decide the oontroversy. Yet tbe right lo decide is I nlaced there" Even the President's proclamation of tho 8th of December l'ormally declares thíit ' whether membors sent to Oonpress from any State hall be admitted to seats eonstitutionally, rests cxclusively with tho respectivo líouses, and not to auy extent with the Esecutivo. And thnt ifi not the less truo because wholly inconsistent with the .President's afsumption in that proclumution of a right to institute and recognize Statu governraenta in the robel States, nor because the President is unable to perceive that his recognition is a nullity if it be not conclusivo on Congress. Under the (Jonstitution, the right to Senators and Representativas is inseparable from a tititte government. Jf there bi a Statu government the right is absolute If there be no State government there can be Seimtors or resentatives chosen. The two Housea of Coogross are expressly declared to be the solo judges of their owu merabers. Whon, tliereforo, Senators and Representativos ir? admitted, tlic State goverriment ñodér whoso authority ■they ere chosen, ís eonclusively otabüshed ; when they were rejeeted, ita existence is a cormlueively rejectod and denied ; and to this judgment tho President is bound to submit. Tho President proceeds to express bis unwillingness "to declaro a constitutional competeney ín Congress to abolish ftluvcry in States" as another renson for not signing tlie bilí. But the bilí nouhere proposes to abolish slavery in States. Tho bilí did piovide lliat nll slüveí in tho rebel slave Status sbould be mnnumitted. But as the President bas olready signed throe bilis manurnitting several classes of slaves in Stules, it is not conceived possible that he oonceived any scruples toucliing tbat provisión of the bilí respecting vvhieb he is siten t. Ho had already himself assumed a riglit by proclumntioQ to free much the larger number of slaves in tho rebel States, under the authority given him by Oongre-s to uso military power to suppress tho rebellion ; and it is quito inconsiderado that tbc President should ihink Congress could vest in him a discretion it could not exercise itself. It is the more unintflligible from thff fact that, exeept in respect to a small pnrt of Virgluiö and Louisiana, the bill covered only what tho proclamation covered - ndded a Congressional titlo and judicial remedies by law to tho disputed tillo under tho proclamation, and perfected the work the President professed to be so anxious to accomplish. Slavery iis an institutinn can lieabolished only by a change of the Conntitution of tho TTnited Otates or of tho law of the Stale ; and this is the principie of the bill. It requirud the new Gonstitution of the State to provide for theprohibition ; and the President, in tho faco of hls own proclnmution, does not venture to object to insisting on that cndition. - Nor will the country toloriiu its abandonmenf-- yet he defeated tho only provisión imposing it. But when ho desci'.bcs himself, in spitc rf this great. blow at emancipation, aa "sincerely h-ping and oxpecting thnt i (jonstitiitinnnl amenúment alolishino; sl:ivery th:nuyhout tho nation may be adopted," we curiously inquiro on whftt hts espoctation rests. after Ihe voto of the lloiiso of Rcpresentatives at the recent session, nnd in the face of tho politleal complexión of moro than onouph of tho StateR to prevent tho possibility of its ado])tion within any reasonablo timn ; and why lie did not indulge liis binocre hopoH with so large an installmpttt of the Messing as hts approval of the bill vvould have bocured. After thiti asslgnmont of his roa'sons for preventin.' the bill from beconiing a law, the Prefident proceeds to declaro his purpose to execute it a a law by his plenary dictatorial power. He sa"& : "Neverthelcss, I ara fully satisfied with the systein for restoration container! in the bili an ono vory propor plan for the loyal peoplo of nny State choosinc: to adopiit; and that I am, and ut all times shall be, propared to givo tho expcutivo aid and nssis'ance to any such peoplo so soon as the military rosistance to tho United States shall have been suppressed in any Htich State, and the people thereof nhnil have snfficiently rotvirned tr their obedience to tho Oonstitution and tho laws of thft United States; in which cases military governors will bo appointed, vvith directions to proceed according to the bill." A nniie stnoicd )'.i!n:c mi the Icgislutive [i ittmrily of he peopfa has nuvur I h ei i porjuítrutod. Cunare jittSHcd a bul; thc Pn-idwit rei'uxed tu upproVè ;t, imd theu by pvoclitina'iiofj puts un n,ucli i.f it in l(rc ne lie síes fit, and propuse to execuLu those parís by officers iinknown tu tbe Ihwh df the CJuitud Stutua uncí not sulijuct to tlio ooiilininilio!; of tho tíeiiiito. Tho bilí diruciuü tli o appointmcnt oí provisional góvernora by and with tho ncivicc nul uniitiont of the Ssaato. The Presiílentj nfter defeafing tho lnw, proposes to ajipoint, without jtiw, and without tho advi'ce and oonsent of the SeD:ite, íailitnry go'veniörs for thu rebel State I He has ulready exercisud tlii.s dictaf ori.il ñturulíin in Louismnn, and he dcTáted thc bi: tu provont its liiutition. ITenceforth we tuust regtird Iho ful fowirig jueceduit a.s the iVfmlcütkil Jaw of tlie rebol States : " ffasci tuk ATj.vaii'.v. i . Wiiuixwfü,, Mtirsli.Jfi. IS'4 ( "Hm Exetllenry Mjurfeiel HUui, (toyuyui ui t.ouisiuwi ; "Until lurther ord rs jou aro hei: by invesUd with the oCveis eswowed hitherto by tho Military (jevcrnor o) Louisiana. Youis, " ARI:.U1.M I.IN'COl.N.'' TIüm Miciiael Iluhn is no i.fficcT pï the United Statw ; Iho Presiden!, ivith out !w, wilbout tho Bdvïce. nd couscMituf Ihc SeiKiti', by a piiv::(o noto, not even cojiriterBJg'ned by tho Secrc' tarv of State, raiikes iliJ dictator c Louisiuna. Tho bill provuk'd lor tho civil alriiii,istrution ui tholi.wsof the Slalo lili it shoHid bo in a fit temper to guvepii itself - ropeafine :ill lans rueogiiiziug Hhivery, and inakmg nll men ijqu.a] before tho law. Tbcso bonpfiuent provisions tho Pies ident hng unnulkcj. Puoiile will cüo, ind iniirrv, aod tniDsfer property, and huy and b.-II ; and to these nots 'í civil life courts and officers of ;he luw afe nocc-isary. UngroK8 leWatod for these noecssary thlhgp, aiid Iho Proi-i den' dejtrives thcin uf tho proteclion ol the luw. _ Tho Piosident'.s purpcfo to in.struot bis military govornor 'tb proccéü ac cordinglo bilí"- a malte t-hift to calm Miy Mi.-ip;iijuiiciii its ileluat husocca moned - i.s nut merely i gravo. usurpa tioR, luit a Irañsparoat dc-lusíon. II cann.it "proceed ucunrdiug to Iho bul after preventing t rom Lccojiiiug ; Itivr. Whatever i.s done will bo ut liis uil and ploasure, by persona rcsjxD--ibl to no law, and moro interonteS lo se cure the interest aud exocuto-the will o the President Ihan of the people; une tho wil f -Congress i.s to b " beJil fo naught" ':unless the loyal peoplo o tho robel States ehoose to adnpi t." If they shouH graciously pivfer the stringent bilí to the easy proclatnation, still the registraron will bu made under no legal Banctioh ; t will give no assuranee that a mujortty pf the people of the States have taken the oath ; if admini.-tered, it will be without le'gal authority, and void ; no ïndictment will lio for falso swearing at the eluctioii, or for udmitling bad, or njecting gpod votes; it will be the farcu of Louisiana and Arkansas actod over again under tho forms of this bill, lut not by au thority of law. But when we come to the guarantees of future pcace which Congress meant to enact, the forms, ns we?l au the substanco of tho bill, must yield to tho Presidont's will that none shoukl be imposed. It was the solemn rcsolve of Cougress to prolcct tho loyal n en of the nntion agair.st threo great dungers, first, the return to power of the guilty lea ders of the robellion ; second, the contintiance of slavery, and third, the burden ol the rebel debt. Gongress requirtid asent to thost provisions by the convention of the State; and if refused it was to be dis solved. "The President " holds for naught" that rosolve of Congress. because he is unwilling " to be inflexibly O'MiiuiiUed to any ono plan of restora' tion," and the " peoplo of the üniied States are not to be allowed to protect themselvos unlcss their enemjes oarue to it. e The order to proceed aceording to the bill is thorefore merely at the will of the rebel States ; and they havo the optii n to rejoct it, accept tho proclamation, and domand ihe Presidenl's recognition. Mark the contrast ! Tho bill re quires a majority, the proclamation is satisfied with ooe-tenth ; the bill re quirea onc oath, the proc;lamation another ; the bilí ascertains vocera by registericg; tho proelamation by guess ; the bill exacte adherence to existing territorial limita, the proclamation admits of others ; the 'bill governs the rebel btates by law, equalizing all be fore it, the proclumntion cornmit-s thcm to tho lawless discretion of military Goveruors and Provost Man-huls ; the bilí forbids electora for President,' the proelamation and defeat of the biil threatons us with civil war for the admiBsion or exclusión of bucL votes ; the bilí exaoted exclusión of dangerous enemies froin powor and the relief of the nation ironi the rebtj debt, and the prohibition of slavery forever, so that the puppreseion (.f the rebellioo will doublé our resources to bear or pay the national debt, free the inas.-eis from the old douiination of the rebel leaders, and omdicate tliu causo of tho war; thu proclarualioii sucuros -noither of these guáranteos. It is silent respecting the rebel debt and the politica! exclusión of rebel leaders; leaving cluveiy exact'v where it was by law at the outbreak of the robollioii, and udds no guarantee evoi of tho frooúmn of thu slavcs hu ander took to rnanumit. It i miimncri up in nn illegal oalh without sanction and therefore void. Tba oath is to support all proohunutions of tho President, during the robfllion, liavintr rcfurcnJc to laves. 'ernment id to bc accoptd at the teiridd of one-tunth oí thu puoplo :iot, i;o[';-:v!i)ng iliat or.tli. Now that nyxh ui ■:.': -..!■ .sccuroH tho ubolition of .slaviiiy ;-■ adds auy sucurily to the tho claves thu President declares free. it does uot securo the abolition of s!tvary ; for the proelamation of dom luoroiy pmiisi.'d tu freo eurhiin chiv.es wnilg 'il reohguiaod the ihs'ittt lion. Kvci v co'nütuii.n o! tlic reliul States il tlic iiutlircak of llid rebelliuii rnay lio ! ui. .picd w(hM!í, ihe cjrunn: (1 a lottef j , fur tibne of theni üontruvene thut pmci himation ; none ol thom OBhillisli tilaVuvy'. It üdds no seeurity to the freedtmi of the claven. Kor thair tnlo kg tho prdulamatmn oí fi'redoni If it be uncnriHtitiitionul, Bn oth to Mipport it is void. Whether consütutionitl pr'tnot, tho oalh is without auih.'i-ity of law, aiid thoreforo voitl. If it ho v;iliil and obsorvcd, it exncts ik enactment by ihv Staio, eitlier in law or conslituiioii, to udd a Siate guaran' e to tlic proclaination tilín, aid ttin righi of m ulaye to freedom ia in opon qucstion boloro tho .statu courts on tho relativo authorily (f tho tato law and the proclamaron. II (,::tli blud.s Jliu imu-luulh ulio tkc it, t Ls nut exactetl Í tho irtticr nine-tentlis wl;o Miutxvd to tho control oi tlic State gcnvriiiiifiii ; ao tli;it ij, w aiujulled inoiarilly h the act of.rooog uition. Whut the Stato uonrts ivonU] uy ol Uil' )ruiluuiatioii, wlio eau doubt. liut tho niasler wnuid not go into court - he would fcizy lus sluvo. Whut tho Öiipromc üourt would say, who can teil ? Wboi! and bow is the quoslion to gel thci-D ? No habías corpus üos ior liitit in tho United Slatcs Court; aixl tho 1'rcM dunt dcfeated with m bili ts o.tonBÍon of lh;it urit to tlii.s case. Such aro tho iïuits dl thi rash and latal iet ol tho Pj-oxiiient- a bluvv ut the friendi of bii administration, at tho righl8 ol liiliiianitv, and ut the princi plea of' rupnbüoan ovenmuiin. The President has srroatlv urefumiml ,n .h forboaranoo which the supporters oí bis administnition havo so 'oug praclbed, in view of the arduous uonfliot in which' wo aro ongagod, and tho ruckless forocity of our politica] o)po,-onts. Jut ho must iMidcrstiind that our support ia of a eausu nul not of' a man ; tlmt th.; authority (,f Congivss n p.-a-a' Miount and raust regpootod ; that tho whole body of thu Uniou men of ConSfcBS wil! not .submit to ho iuipou-ihed by him of rash and nnconstitiiti-mal logislation, and f ho wishes our .support ho must confino him.elf' to bis executive (.1 litios- to suppress by anr.s armud rohollion, and Inavo pclitical rcorgunization to (Jongifss. lf tho Miipportors of tho governmont füil to insist on this, th-v beoome spon.Hible lor tho usurpationa uhicli iifv fuil to rebuto, aai! aro iwliy lubie to the iiidignution of tile icii.]c" whose riglits an.l .svcuritv oominittud to their kecp;i)g, tiioy saciifioo. Lot thei.-j cnnsiiliT the ivmedy fr these usurpatron.-i, and, liüving ftiuud i', tl-iulossly cxccute t. B. F. WADE, Chairraan Sonate Com, JI. WINTER DAVJS, Cliaii-nian Committee House Heprpsontatjvcs cm the Rebelüous States.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus